Timothy Childs Jr. (January 1, 1790 – November 25, 1847) was a U.S. Representative from New York. He represented Monroe County for eight non-consecutive terms in Congress between 1829 and 1843.
Early life Childs was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1790.Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, birth entry for Timothy Childs, retrieved via Ancestry.com, October 4, 2013 He was the son of Rachel (née Easton) Childs (1760–1852) and Timothy Childs (1748–1821), a Revolutionary War officer who studied at Harvard, became a medical doctor and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Timothy Childs graduated from Williams College in 1811William Thomas Davis, Bench and Bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Volume 2, 1895, page 291 and Litchfield Law School in 1814.Marian C. McKenna, Tapping Reeve and the Litchfield Law School, 1986, page 189 He completed his studies at the Albany firm of Harmanus Bleecker, afterwards practicing law in New York, first in Canandaigua, and then in Rochester.Blake McKelvey, Rochester on the Genesee: The Growth of a City, 1993, page 21
Career Originally a Federalist,Rochester Historical Society, Publications, Volume 21, 1943, page 63 while residing in Canandaigua, Childs served in offices including Ontario County Commissioner and the judicial position of Master in Chancery.Index to the Newspapers Published in Geneva, New York, Volume 1, 1981, page 19
He served as district attorney of Monroe County, New York, from 1821 to 1831, the first to hold this position.William Farley Peck, Semi-Centennial History of the City of Rochester, 1884, page 369William Farley Peck, History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York, Volume 1, 1908, page 358 He served as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1828,W. H. McIntosh, History of Monroe County, New York, 1877, page 39 and in the late 1820s he also served as Monroe County judge.Rochester Daily Advertiser and Telegram, Legal Notices, April 1829Batavia Republican Advocate, Legal Notices, April 1829National Youth Administration, Index to Newspapers Published in Rochester, New York, 1818-1897, digitized 2006, page 271
Childs was elected as an Anti-Mason to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831).E. and G. W. Blunt, The American Annual Register for the Year 1829-30, 1832, page 473Sherry Penney, Patrician in Politics: Daniel Dewey Barnard of New York, 1974, page 17 After his term expired he returned to practicing law in Rochester.
In 1833, he was elected again to the New York State Assembly.Edwin Williams, editor, Williams's New York Annual Register, 1833, page 278
In 1834, he was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress.Niles' Weekly Register, Elections, Volume 47, November 15, 1834, page 166 He was reelected as a Whig in 1836,Niles' Weekly Register, Elections, Volume 51, December 10, 1836, page 177 and served from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1839. During his 1837 to 1839 term, Childs was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department.Perry M. Goldman, James S. Young, editors, The United States Congressional Directories, 1789-1840, 1973, page 337
Childs was elected to Congress again as a Whig in 1840 and served one term, March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843.Niles' Weekly Register, Elections, Volume 59, November 21, 1840, page 170 He resumed practicing law following the completion of his final term in Congress.
Death In the late 1840s, Childs traveled to Saint Croix, where he went to improve his health.Judy J. Stebbins, Painesville Telegram microfilm transcript, Dec. 8, 1847 Wed., May 8, 2012, pages 203 (two entries)Watertown Chronicle, Death notice, Hon. Timothy Childs, December 22, 1847 He died aboard the ship Emily on November 25, 1847, while en route from Saint Croix to the United States.Oneida Morning Herald, From Saint Croix, December 8, 1847Chapin Family Association, The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data: With Brief Biographical Sketches of the Descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin, Volume 1, 1924, page 179Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, death entry for Timothy Childs, Esq., 1848, retrieved via Ancestry.com, October 4, 2013Geneva Courier, A Telegraphic Despatch , December 8, 1847Batavia Republican Advocate, Legal Notices, April 1829National Youth Administration, Index to Newspapers Published in Rochester, New York, 1818-1897, digitized 2006, page 274Note: Some sources indicate that Childs died in Santa Cruz, New Mexico. This seems unlikely, given the newspaper references to his travel to the West Indies and his death aboard ship. Vera Cruz, Mexico is also unlikely, given that the Mexican-American War was happening at the time of Childs's death, meaning he wouldn't have gone there to restore his health.
Personal life In 1817, he married Catherine Adams.Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva Newspaper Index , entry Childs, Timothy, April 9, 1817, retrieved October 4, 2013Some Finger Lakes NY Genealogy, Transcript of Marriages for 1817, retrieved October 4, 2013
In December 1830 he married Louisa Stewart (née Shepherd) Dickinson of North Carolina in a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia.George Hobart Tucker, Abstracts from Norfolk City Marriage Bonds 1797-1850, 1934, page 122Norfolk County, Virginia Genealogy Trails, Miscellaneous Marriages , published in the National Intelligencer, January 1, 1831 Louisa was the widow of Joel Dickinson.Charles Poytnz Stewart, Historic Memorials of the Stewarts of Forthergill, Perthshire, and their Male Descendants, 1879, page 148
References
External links
Timothy Childs, Jr., Litchfield Historical Society, The Ledger: A Database of Students of the Litchfield Law School and the Litchfield Female Academy