Hosea Moffitt (November 17, 1757August 31, 1825) was a U.S. Representative from New York.
Biography Moffitt was born in Killingly in the Connecticut Colony on November 17, 1757.Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), entry for Hosea Moffitt, retrieved December 27, 2013 During the Revolutionary War he served in the Albany County Militia as an Ensign and later Lieutenant of the 4th Regiment (Van Rensselaer's Regiment), also called the 2nd Rensselaerwyck Battalion.Jerry Kail, Who Was Who During the American Revolution, 1976, page 250
Moffitt studied law and was admitted to the bar. In addition to practicing as an attorney, he was the Stephentown agent for Stephen Van Rensselaer, whose Manor of Rensselaerswyck included Stephentown. Moffitt was also an active businessman and banker.A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 22
He served on the local school board,Stephentown Genealogy, Schools, retrieved December 27, 2013Weed, Parsons & Co., Laws of the State of New York, Volume IV, 1887, page 356 was named a Justice of the Peace in 1791,A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 7 and he was Town Clerk in 1791 and 1797.Stephentown Genealogy, Stephentown's Officials, retrieved December 27, 2013 He served as member of the New York State Assembly from 1794 to 1798, and again from 1800 to 1801.New York State Assembly, Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, Volume 75, Issue 7, 1852, pages 183-184
He remained in the militia after the Revolution, and attained command of a brigade and the rank of Brigadier General.A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 130George Baker Anderson, Landmarks of Rensselaer County, New York, 1897, page 82Council of Appointment of the State of New York, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment, Volume 1, 1901, page 876
He was elected Town Supervisor and served from 1806 to 1809.Stephentown Genealogy, Stephentown's Officials, retrieved December 27, 2013 From 1810 to 1811 he was Sheriff of Rensselaer County, New York.David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy, 1965, page 305Troy Times, A Rare Find: Friend of Former Trojan Discovers Old Newspaper in Trunk In London, January 1921Weed Parsons & Co., Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York, 1868, page 211
Moffitt was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1813, to March 3, 1817.Weed, Parsons & Co., Civil List and Forms of Government of the Colony and State of New York, 1865, page 206
He was a trustee of the Stephentown Presbyterian Church, and was appointed to the board of managers of the Rensselaer County Bible Society in 1815.A. J. Weise, History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County, From the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time, 1880, page 25, page 132
He died in Stephentown on August 31, 1825Congressional Quarterly, Inc., Guide to the Congress of the United States, Volume 2, 1971, page 1270 and was interred at the Old Presbyterian Cemetery on "Presbyterian Hill" in the Stephentown hamlet of Garfield.Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 1998, page 246
Sources
External links
Hosea Moffitt at The Political Graveyard