Background
Reuben Eaton Fenton was born in Carroll, Chautauqua County, New York, the youngest son of George W. and Elsie (Owen) Fenton.
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banker governor of New York senator
Reuben Eaton Fenton was born in Carroll, Chautauqua County, New York, the youngest son of George W. and Elsie (Owen) Fenton.
Forced to curtail his academic and legal studies at the age of seventeen when his father failed in business, he devoted himself assiduously to lumbering in an effort to retrieve the family losses.
For years his life was spent in the logging camps and in piloting his rafts down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. At length, having paid his father’s debts and secured a comfortable competence for himself, he entered upon a crowded political career, partly prefaced by a term of eight years as supervisor of Carroll, beginning in 1843.
In 1849 he was elected to the Assembly as a Democrat. He was sent to Congress in 1852 when the controversy arose over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. His maiden address against this measure (Congressional Globe, 33 Cong. , 1 Sess. , pp. 156 ff. ) , marked his secession from the Democratic party on the slavery question.
He was one of the leaders in the formation, and afterward in the conduct, of the Republican party, serving in 1855 as presiding officer of the first Republican state convention in New York.
In 1854 he was defeated for Congress on the Know-Nothing ticket, but in 1856 he was elected as the Republican candidate, serving until 1864, when he resigned to become governor of New York.
Nominated to bead the state ticket in 1864, he fully appreciated the importance of vindicating the President by bringing about Governor Seymour’s downfall, and was credited with a vigorous campaign. His vote exceeded that of Lincoln and he at once became a figure of national importance.
In the campaign of 1866, despite many obstacles, he was reelected by a majority of over 13, 000 (E. A. Werner, Civil List . .. of the . State of New York, 1888, p. 166). Fenton’s conduct in office gave rise to conflicting estimates of his ability as an executive. He is associated with proposals of reform in the registry law and the prison system, and with numerous educational reforms, —the establishment of Cornell University, of state normal schools, and the abolition of the school rate bills (Messages from the Governors, V, 605, 695, 697, 778-81, 850-55).
Hence, even the New York Times (Feb. 4, 1868) conceded that his “administration of state affairs” had in the main been a success. A contrary impression, however, was created by ugly newspaper allegations. When, in 1868, Fenton signed the bill which legalized the acts of the Erie directorate, charges were made that his signature had been bought (New York Herald, Apr. 21-30, 1868; New York Times, Apr. 20-May 8, 1868; Sun, Apr. 21, 1868; also New York Commercial Advertiser, Jan. 2, 1869; the Nation, Mar. 18, 1869), although a subsequent investigation did not support them (see Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, 1869, no. 52, pp. 146-48, 151-55).
Having resolved to become a priest, in 1805 he took up the study of theology at the Sulpician Seminary, later St. Mary’s, Baltimore. When, however, in 1806 the Society of Jesus was reestablished in the United States and a novitiate was opened at Georgetown College, Fenwick was one of the first to be admitted.
On March 12, 1808, he was ordained priest by Bishop Leonard Neale. The following year, with Father Anthony Kohlmann, S. J. , he was sent to New York City where the two took charge of St. Peter’s Church. The Diocese of New York had been erected in 1808, but its first bishop, Richard Luke Concanen, died before he could reach America, and his successor, Bishop John Connolly, did not arrive until November 24, 1815.
Father Kohlmann administered the diocese until early in 1815 when he was recalled to Maryland, and thereafter, until Bishop Connolly came, Father Fenwick was in charge. During this critical period these two priests labored devotedly and successfully. They soon opened a school for young men, the New York Literary Institution, which, under the direction of Father Fenwick, came to be held in high regard by Protestants as well as Catholics. In accordance with plans prepared by him, St. Patrick’s Cathedral was commenced on a plot of ground between Broadway and Bowery Road.
Traveling extensively through the diocese, he reclaimed many wandering Catholics and made some notable converts. In the spring of 1817 he was transferred by his superiors to Georgetown where he served as president of the college and as pastor of Trinity Church. In the fall of 1818, however, at the request of Archbishop Marechal, who conferred upon him the power of vicar-general, he was sent to Charleston, S. C. , where, displaying great tact and administrative ability, he did much to heal long-standing schisms. After the erection of the Diocese of Charleston in 1820, and the coming of Bishop John England, Father Fenwick was retained for a time as vicar-general, but in May 1822 he was appointed minister of Georgetown College and procurator-general of the Society of Jesus in the United States (Clarke, post).
He succeeded his brother, Rev. Enoch Fenwick, S. J. , as president of the college, serving from September 1822 until 1825 (Shea, Memorial), when he was sent to assume spiritual direction of the Carmelite Convent, then located in Charles County, Md. On May 10, 1825, he was made bishop of Boston, and November 1 of that year was consecrated in the Cathedral at Baltimore.
A task of great magnitude confronted him upon his arrival at Boston. His diocese comprised all of New England, and in its whole extent there were only two or three church buildings worthy Edward D. Morgan for the senatorial nomination.
His success, due to his liberal disposition of choice assignments, aroused much factional feeling (Harper’s Weekly, June 24, 1871). After his election to the Senate in that year, he made strenuous attempts to keep in the favor of President Grant. When it was obvious that Conkling was to be the distributor of the state patronage, Fenton offered to withdraw his own candidacy for the presidency if the patronage question could be settled satisfactorily (New York Times, July 24, 1872).
Relations were terminated between him and Conkling. The latter, capitalizing the support of the administration, carried the feud to his own state, and brought about the defeat of Fenton in the state convention of 1871.
Finally, the recognition of the MurphyArthur organization in New York City was a stunning blow from which Fenton never recovered. In 1872 he supported the candidacy of Horace Greeley for the presidency.
On the expiration of his senatorial term in 1875, he devoted himself principally to his business interests. He served as president of the First National Bank of Jamestown and gained a reputation for his special knowledge of monetary affairs.
In 1878 President Hayes sent him abroad as chairman of the United States commission to the International Monetary Conference held in Paris in that year.
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He is associated with proposals of reform in the registry law and the prison system, and with numerous educational reforms, —the establishment of Cornell University, of state normal schools, and the abolition of the school rate bills (Messages from the Governors, V, 605, 695, 697, 778-81, 850-55).
His first wife, Jane, daughter of John Frew of Frewsburg, whom he married in 1838, died two years later.
His second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Joel Scudder, survived him.