Male

December 20, 1803

November 25, 1887

Canaan, NY

Great Barrington, MA
Syracuse, NY

Elizabeth Forman Leavenworth (1833)
Harriet Hall Leavenworth (1884)

Elias Warner Leavenworth was the son of David and Lucinda (Mather) Leavenworth. His mother was a descendant of Cotton Mather and his father worked first as a physician and later as a bookstore owner.

After attending the Law School, Leavenworth moved to Syracuse, New York and established a law firm in partnership with B. David Nolon in 1827 which lasted until 1850, and was reported to be one of the most prominent firms in the state.

In 1839, he was named supervisor of the old town of Salina, the first election at which the Democrats had been beaten for 15 years. He was president of Syracuse village from 1839 to 1841 and in 1846 and 1847, and was mayor of the town in 1849, 1850, 1859, and 1860. Leavenworth was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1850 and 1857, and ...was Secretary of State of New York in 1854 and 1855. He was president of the Republican State convention in 1860.

He was appointed president of the board of commissioners to locate the State asylum for the blind and a trustee of the State asylum for the insane in 1865, and was a member of the New York and New Jersey Boundary Line Commission in 1875.

Leavenworth was elected as a Republican to the Forty-fourth United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1875 to March 3, 1877. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1876 and resumed business activities in Syracuse. In 1861 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Leavenworth commissioner for the United States under the convention with Granadine Confederation in Washington, D.C. in 1861 and 1862.

When Leavenworth left politics, he became a Regent of New York University in 1861 and six years later became a Trustee at Hamilton College. In 1872, he received an honorary doctor of laws from Hamilton.

A resolution he introduced in 1888 procured Vanderbilt Square for the city of Syracuse. Additionally he persuaded the railroad to plant rows of trees on each side of the railroad from Beech Street to the heart of the city and install the first public sewer. He was considered father of the park system of the city. Fayette Park was obtained through his efforts. About 1860, Leavenworth Park was named after him.

His principal home, a mansion at 607 James Street in Syracuse, New York, was a significant Greek Revival style structure where he received visitors of national and international stature. The home was built on the first lot sold on James Street and completed in 1842. It was designed by renowned Syracuse architect, Deacon Elijah Hayden who was assisted by William B. Cogswell, a draftsman. Unfortunately, the Leavenworth Mansion was demolished in 1950 to make way for an office building.
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1825

Attended Hudson Academy in 1820. He then entered Williams College as a sophomore where he attended in 1821. In 1822 he entered Yale College and graduated in 1824.

Lawyer; Military; Political Office

Syracuse, NY in 1827

He studied with William Cullen Bryant of Great Barrington, MA.

Republican

U.S. Representative (NY) 1875-1877

State Representative (NY) 1850, 1857
Secretary of State (NY) 1854-1855

Mayor (Syracuse, NY) 1849-1850, 1859-1860

George C. Woodruff List.

Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1848.

Yale College Biographical Sketches of the Class of 1824. Norwalk, CT: A.B. Byington, 1855.

Ellis, Franklin. History of Columbia County, New York. J.B. Lippincott, 1878.