Cowdin, Elliot C. (Elliot Christopher), 1819-1880

Born in Jamaica Vermont. Entered business in Boston during the 1840's, where he mastered the intricacies of silk trade. In the 1850's, he established his own firm in New York York City with a branch in Paris, and lived alternately in one place or the other. He married Sarah Kate Waldron, circa 1853. Cowdin served in the New York Stat Assembly in 1877.

From the description of Papers, 1835-1883. (New York State Library). WorldCat record id: 51299834

Elliot Christopher Cowdin (1819-1880) was a silk merchant in New York in the mid-nineteenth century. He was United States Commissioner to the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867.

From the guide to the Report to the Department of State on Silk and Silk Manufacture, [1868?], (Special Collections Research Center)

Merchant, New York City and Paris; legislator and farmer from New York.

From the description of Speeches and letter, [1874]-1875, 1880. (New York University, Group Batchload). WorldCat record id: 58662680

Merchant, dba Elliot C. Cowdin & Co. of New York City and Paris; legislator and farmer, New York.

From the description of Papers, 1852-1903. (New York University, Group Batchload). WorldCat record id: 58662684

Anson Burlingame was born in New Berlin, New York, on November 14, 1820, and graduated from the University of Michigan's Detroit campus in 1841. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1846, he joined a Boston law firm. An ardent Free Soiler, he served in the Massachusetts Senate and in the United States House of Representatives (1855-1860), and received an appointment from Abraham Lincoln to be a diplomat to Austria, though the Austrian government refused to accept him because of his associations with Hungarian nationalists. In 1862, he was reassigned as the United States minister to China, where he oversaw alterations in trade policies between China and the major European economic powers. Following his 1867 resignation, he negotiated the Burlingame Treaty (1868) between the United States and China, with positive consequences for China's trade and emigration policies. He died in St. Petersburg, Russia, on February 23, 1870, while attempting to forge a similar treaty between Russia and China. He and his wife, Jane Cornelia Livermore, had three children.

Elliot C. Cowdin was born in Jamaica, Vermont, in August 1819, and received his education in Boston, where he lived until moving to New York City in 1852. In New York, he founded the importing firm of Elliot C. Cowdin & Co., and became involved in the Union League Club shortly after the beginning of the Civil War. He also served as a member of the New York City Chamber of Commerce, and spent time in France and Germany during the Franco-Prussian War. A close friend of Anson Burlingame, he organized a celebratory banquet for the diplomat in 1868, and spoke at a memorial service held in Burlingame's honor in 1870.

From the guide to the Anson Burlingame collection, Burlingame, Anson collection, 1849-1870, 1865-1870, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)