Erastus Corning (1794 - 1872)

Born 14 Dec 1794 in Norwich, New London, Connecticut, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Harriet (Weld) Corning — married 10 Mar 1819 in Troy, Rensselaer, New York, USA [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 8 Apr 1872 at age 77 in Albany, Albany, New York, USA

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Biography

Erastus Corning is Notable.

Erastus Corning was born 14 December 1794 to Bliss Corning and Lucinda Smith in Norwich, Connecticut.^[1]

Erastus probably migrated to New York State with his parents, who are on the census in Chatham, New York by 1810,^[2] but in 1807, Erastus went to work with his uncle Benjamin Smith in Troy, New York.^[3]

Erastus and Benjamin must have grown quite close, as he became the main beneficiary and executor of Benjamin's estate in 1826.^[4]

Erastus struck out for Albany in 1814, working first with John Spencer & Co. in the hardware and iron business. He was a partner by 1816 and this firm eventually came to be called Erastus Corning & Company, operating the Albany Iron Works near Troy. He also entered the banking and railroad business, as well, in 1833, eventually becoming president of of the Albany State Bank and the New York Central Railway Company. He was also president of the company which St. Marie's Falls Ship Canal connecting Lake Superior with the lower lakes.^[3]

He was a regent of New York State University.^[3]

Erastus was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and represented Albany as its mayor for a term, and served in the State Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.^[3]

Erastus supposedly once tried to hire a young Abraham Lincoln to represent the New York Central Railway, and Lincoln's response was said to have been "Why, Mr. Corning, what could I do with $10,000 a year? It would ruin my family to have so much income. I don’t believe I had better consider it."^[5]

Perhaps it was this personal connection which led him to be chosen by a group of Democrats to write a letter to Lincoln during the civil war, challenging the constitutionality of the arrest and expulsion through Confederate lines of former Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham by General Ambrose Burnside. Lincoln's response to the challenge was widely praised and became a defining document on the subject of martial law in the United States.^[5]

Erastus married Harriet Weld, native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, daughter of Joseph Weld and Lois Baker, ^[6][7][8][9] on 10 March 1819,^[3] perhaps in Troy, where Harriet's family was living at this time.^[9][10]

Children:^[3]

• Benjamin Smith Corning, b. 1820
• John Spencer Corning, b. 1823
• Erastus Corning, b. 1827
• Joseph Weld Corning, b. 1829
• Edwin W. Corning, b. 1836

Erastus, Harriet and Edwin W, took a trip to Europe in 1856, along with a Miss Turner, a niece of Harriet's by her sister Mary (Weld) Turner.^[11][12]

Erastus died 8 April 1872 in Albany, and his remains were interred along with Harriet's, who died in 1883, at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, Colonie, New York.^[13]

A portrait of Erastus by Charles Loring Elliot dated 1864 is held by the Albany Institute of History and Art.^[14]

Further Reading

• Erastus Corning Wikipedia page.
• Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs' profile of Erastus Corning.
• Erastus Corning: Merchant and Financier, 1794-1872, by Irene D. Neu, 1960.
• Mayor Erastus Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma, by Paul Grondahl, 2007 -- the focus of the book is Erastus Corning the 2nd, a descendant of the proband who was also mayor of Albany, but this book also discusses the proband at some length.

Sources

1. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-1FXF : 13 December 2015), Erastus Corning, 1872; Burial, Menands, Albany, New York, United States of America, Albany Rural Cemetery; citing record ID 8660, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com. Find A Grave: Memorial #8660
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1810," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2V-KLK : accessed 30 April 2018), Bless Corning, Chatham, Columbia, New York, United States; citing p. 793, NARA microfilm publication M252 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 31; FHL microfilm 181,385.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Reynolds, Cuyler. Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co, 1911, 2: 771-772 (https://archive.org/stream/hudsonmohawkgene02reyn#page/n407/mode/2up).
4. ↑ Benjamin Smith, last will and testament, "New York Probate Records, 1629-1971," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GY4N-194?cc=1920234&wc=Q7P9-HZW%3A213304201%2C232966101 : 28 May 2014), Rensselaer > Wills and administrations 1822-1827 vol 7 > image 211 of 290; county courthouses, New York.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Erastus Corning (1794-1872)," Mr. Lincoln and New York, The Lehrman Institute, 2002-2018 (https://web.archive.org/web/20190728132234/http://www.mrlincolnandnewyork.org/new-yorkers/erastus-corning-1794-1872/ ).
6. ↑ The late Erastus Corning who is called John R. Weld's nephew in his obituary was Erastus (II), son of Erastus and Harriet (Weld) Corning. The Buffalo Commercial, Buffalo, New York, 21 Jun 1904, p. 11 (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19765104/john_r_weld_dead_1904/).
7. ↑ D. Pane-Joyce, "Family of Joseph Weld (33075) & Mary Ruggles (54144)," Pane-Joyce Genealogy, Massachusetts Society of Genealogists, Inc., 2014 (https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr23/rr23_307.html).
8. ↑ Neu, Irene D. Erastus Corning: Merchant and Financier, 1794-1872. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2010, p. 25-6 (https://books.google.com/books?id=jEDlH_ryLw4C&pg=PA26).
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Robinson, Charles Frederick,. Weld collections. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Priv. print., 1938, pp. 1256; Ancestry.com. "Weld collections." Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004 (https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/26609/dvm_GenMono007033-00063-1/122).
10. ↑ "United States Census, 1810," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH2X-W3K : accessed 3 May 2018), J Weld, Troy, Rensselaer, New York, United States; citing p. 372, NARA microfilm publication M252 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 35; FHL microfilm 181,389.
11. ↑ "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27R6-KKN : 12 March 2018), Erastus Corning, 1856; citing NARA microfilm publication M237 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm
12. ↑ "New York State Census, 1855," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K63Q-SV2 : 13 March 2018), Erastus Corning, E.D. Western, Ward 4, Albany City, Albany, New York, United States; citing p. 2, line #28, family #1, county clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 521,922.
13. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJ1-1FXF : 13 December 2015), Erastus Corning, 1872; Burial, Menands, Albany, New York, United States of America, Albany Rural Cemetery; citing record ID 8660, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.
14. ↑ Charles Loring Elliot, portrait of Erastus Corning Sr., oil on canvas, 1864, Albany Institute of Art, acc. no. 1974.71.1 (http://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/erastus-corning-i-1794-1872-alt.html); photo of two-dimensional public domain artwork reproduced under Bridgeman v. Corel precedent [36 F. Supp. 2d 191 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)].