Francis Granger, 10th U.S. Postmaster General

Francis Granger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Granger

Granger was a Representative from New York. He was the son of Gideon Granger, another Postmaster General, and the first cousin of Amos P. Granger.

Biography

Granger was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and pursued classical studies at and graduated from Yale College in 1811. He then moved with his father to Canandaigua, New York in 1814, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1816 and commenced practice. He married Cornelia Rutson Van Rensselaer. They had one son, Gideon Granger II, born in 1821, and an unnamed daughter whom died with her mother in child birth in 1823. His home at Canandaigua from 1817 to 1827, now known as the Francis Granger House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.[1]

Granger was a member of the State Assembly from 1826 to 1828 and from 1830 to 1832. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1828, and in both 1830 and 1832 was an unsuccessful National Republican candidate for Governor of New York. In 1836, he was unsuccessful as a Whig and Anti-Masonic candidate for Vice President, which he narrowly lost when it was voted by the U.S. Senate that Richard M. Johnson was the rightful winner, and also unsuccessful as a Whig candidate for election to the 25th Congress.

He was, however, elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the 24th Congress (March 4, 1835 to March 3, 1837), and was elected as a Whig to the 26th and 27th Congresses (March 4, 1839 to March 5, 1841).

Granger was appointed Postmaster General in the Cabinet of President William Henry Harrison and served from March 6 to September 18, 1841, after which he was again elected to the Twenty-Seventh Congress in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Greig. He served from November 27, 1841 to March 3, 1843 and was not a candidate for reelection in 1842.

A supporter of the Compromise of 1850, Granger led the pro-Fillmore group which became known as the Silver Gray Whigs after Granger's own silver hair. This faction would remain in conflict with the anti-Compromise Sewardites until the collapse of the Whig Party in the state in 1855.

Chairman of the Whig National Executive Committee from 1856 to 1860, Granger joined in the call for the convention of the Constitutional Union Party that was held in May 1860. He was then a member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C. in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war. He died in Canandaigua and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

[edit] Biography

Granger was born in Suffield, Connecticut and pursued classical studies at and graduated from Yale College in 1811. He then moved with his father to Canandaigua, New York in 1814, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1816 and commenced practice. He married Cornelia Rutson VanRensselaer. They had one son, Gideon Granger II, born in 1821, and an unnamed daughter whom died with her mother in child birth in 1823.

Granger was a member of the State assembly from 1826 to 1828 and from 1830 to 1832. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1828, and in both 1830 and 1832 was an unsuccessful National Republican candidate for Governor of New York. In 1836, he was unsuccessful as a Whig and Anti-Masonic candidate for Vice President, which he narrowly lost when it was voted by the U.S. Senate that Richard M. Johnson was the rightful winner, and also unsuccessful as a Whig candidate for election to the Twenty-Fifth Congress.

He was, however, elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-Fourth Congress (March 4, 1835 to March 3, 1837), and was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-Sixth and Twenty-Seventh Congresses (he served from March 4, 1839, to March 5, 1841). Granger was appointed Postmaster General in the Cabinet of President William Henry Harrison and served from March 6 to September 18, 1841, after which he was again elected to the Twenty-Seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Greig and served from November 27, 1841, to March 3, 1843. Granger was not a candidate for reelection in 1842.

A supporter of the Compromise of 1850, Granger led the pro-Fillmore group which became known as the Silver Gray Whigs after Granger's own silver hair. This faction would remain in conflict with the anti-Compromise Sewardites until the collapse of the Whig Party in the state in 1855.

Chairman of the Whig National Executive Committee from 1856 to 1860, Granger joined in the call for the convention of the Constitutional Union Party that was held in May of 1860. He was then a member of the peace convention of 1861 held in Washington, D.C. in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war. He died in Canandaigua and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.

[edit] External links

Francis Granger at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

Francis Granger at Find A Grave

Government offices

Preceded by

John M. Niles United States Postmaster General

March 6, 1841 – September 18, 1841 Succeeded by

Charles A. Wickliffe

United States House of Representatives

Preceded by

John Dickson Member from New York's 26th congressional district

March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837 Succeeded by

Mark H. Sibley

Preceded by

Mark H. Sibley Member from New York's 26th congressional district

March 4, 1839 – March 5, 1841 Succeeded by

John Greig

Preceded by

John Greig Member from New York's 26th congressional district

November 27, 1841 – March 3, 1843 Succeeded by

Amasa Dana

Party political offices

New political party Whig Party vice presidential candidate

1836

with John Tyler¹ Succeeded by

John Tyler

Notes and references

1. The Whig Party ran regional candidates in 1836; John Tyler ran in the Southern states, and Granger ran in the Northern states.

[show]v • d • eUnited States Whig Party Vice Presidential Nominees

Francis Granger / John Tyler · John Tyler · Theodore Frelinghuysen · Millard Fillmore · William Alexander Graham · Andrew Jackson Donelson · Edward Everett

[show]v • d • eUnited States Postmasters General

Pre-federal: Franklin • Bache • Hazard

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Cabinet level: Osgood • Pickering • Habersham • G Granger • Meigs • McLean • Barry • Kendall • Niles • F Granger • Wickliffe • Johnson • Collamer • Hall • Hubbard • Campbell • A Brown • Holt • King • Blair • Dennison • Randall • Creswell • Marshall • Jewell • Tyner • Key • Maynard • James • Howe • Gresham • Hatton • Vilas • Dickinson • Wanamaker • Bissell • Wilson • Gary • Smith • Payne • Wynne • Cortelyou • Meyer • Hitchcock • Burleson • Hays • Work • New • W Brown • Farley • Walker • Hannegan • Donaldson • Summerfield • Day • Gronouski • O'Brien • Watson • Blount

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U.S. Postal Service: Blount • Klassen • Bailar • Bolger • Carlin • Casey • Tisch • Frank • Runyon • Henderson • Potter

[show]v • d • eCabinet of President William Henry Harrison (1841)

Vice President John Tyler (1841)

Secretary of State Daniel Webster (1841)

Secretary of the Treasury Thomas Ewing (1841)

Secretary of War John Bell (1841)

Attorney General John J. Crittenden (1841)

Postmaster General Francis Granger (1841)

Secretary of the Navy George Edmund Badger (1841)

[show]v • d • eCabinet of President John Tyler (1841-1845)