Education
Born in Tarrytown, New York, Odell completed preparatory studies.
United States representative politician
Born in Tarrytown, New York, Odell completed preparatory studies.
He was appointed entry clerk in the New York customhouse in 1845 and became public appraiser. Odell was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1865). He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (Thirty-seventh Congress).
He served on the United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War during the American Civil War.
He was appointed Navy agent at the city of New York in 1865 and served until his death in Brooklyn, New York, June 13, 1866. He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.