Smith Ely, Jr.

Smith Ely, Jr.

Smith Ely, Jr. (April 17, 1825 – July 1, 1911) was the 82nd Mayor of New York City and member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.

Biography

He was born in Hanover Township, New Jersey on April 17, 1825.

He completed preparatory studies and was graduated from the University of the City of New York (now New York University) and, in 1845, from New York University School of Law. He was admitted to the bar the same year, but never practiced law. Instead, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York.

He was active in various public offices:

• school commissioner, 1856–1860;
• state senator, 1858 and 1859;
• county supervisor, 1860–1870;
• commissioner of public instruction, 1867;
• Democratic Representative to the Forty-second Congress, March 4, 1871 - March 4, 1873; 'not' a candidate for renomination in 1872;
• Representative to the Forty-fourth Congress, March 4, 1875, to the date of his resignation, December 11, 1876; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury; and
• mayor of New York in 1877 and 1878.

In 1895, he was appointed commissioner of parks and served until 1897, when he retired from public life. In 1911, he died in Livingston, Essex County, New Jersey, where he was interred in a private cemetery on his farm.

Sources

• Smith Ely, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

New York State Senate
Preceded by Mark Spencer	New York State Senate 5th District 1858–1859	Succeeded by Bernard Kelly
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Hervey C. Calkin	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 7th congressional district 1871–1873	Succeeded by Thomas J. Creamer
Preceded by Thomas J. Creamer	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 7th congressional district 1875—1876	Succeeded by David Dudley Field II
Political offices
Preceded by William H. Wickham	Mayor of New York City 1877–1878	Succeeded by Edward Cooper