Pomeroy, Theodore Medad, 1824-1905

POMEROY, THEODORE MEDAD, a Representative from New York; born in Cayuga, N.Y., December 31, 1824; attended the common schools and Munro Collegiate Institute, Elbridge, N.Y.; was graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, N.Y., in 1842; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1846 and commenced practice in Auburn, N.Y.; district attorney of Cayuga County 1850-1856; member of the State assembly in 1857; delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1860 and 1876, and served as temporary chairman of the latter convention; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1861-March 3, 1869); chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department (Thirty-eighth Congress), Committee on Banking and Currency (Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses); during the Fortieth Congress was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on the last day of the session, March 3, 1869, serving one day only; declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1868; first vice president and general counsel of the American Express Co. in 1868; engaged in banking in Auburn, N.Y., after 1870; mayor of Auburn in 1875 and 1876; member of the State senate in 1878 and 1879; died in Auburn, N.Y., March 23, 1905; interment in Fort Hill Cemetery.

<p>Theodore Medad Pomeroy (December 31, 1824 – March 23, 1905) was an American businessman and politician from New York who served as the 26th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for one day, from March 3, 1869, to March 4, 1869, the shortest American speakership term in history. He represented New York's 24th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1861 to 1869. He also served as the mayor of Auburn, New York, from 1875 to 1876, and in the New York State Senate from 1878 to 1879.</p>

<p>Theodore Medad Pomeroy was born on December 31, 1824. He spent his childhood in Elbridge, New York, where he went to live when he was nine years old.</p>

<p>He was educated at the Monroe Academy and at 15, entered Hamilton College as a Junior, as students under 13 were not admitted. He graduated in 1842 at age 17 and was ranked in the first division of 6 in a class of 24.</p>

<p>In May 1843, at the age of 18, he left his parents' home and moved to Auburn, where he entered the firm of Beach & Underwood as a law student. William H. Seward was counsel for the firm as he had just finished serving as the Governor of New York from 1838 to 1842. Christopher Morgan and Samuel Blatchford, who later became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, became associated with the firm. On May 23, 1846, he was admitted to practice as an attorney in the state of New York.</p>

<p>In 1847, he was elected by the Whig Party as clerk of Auburn and in 1851, he was nominated by the Whigs and was elected district attorney. He was reelected again in 1853 and served a second term. At the end of his second term he was chosen to be a Member of the New York Assembly by the Republicans to represent the second district of Cayuga and served in the legislature in 1857 but declined renomination.</p>

<p>In September 1860, he was nominated and elected by the Republican party to represent the 25th Congressional district, composed of the counties of Cayuga and Wayne, in the House of Representatives. On July 4, 1861, he took his seat at the extra session of the 37th Congress convened by President Abraham Lincoln, right after the start of the Civil War.</p>

<p>He was nominated by acclamation in 1862, 1864, and 1866 from the 24th Congressional district which comprised the counties of Cayuga, Wayne and Seneca. On March 3, 1869, Pomeroy's final full day in office at the close of the 40th Congress, Schuyler Colfax, who was to be sworn into office as vice president the next day, resigned as speaker of the House. Upon his resignation, the House passed a motion declaring Pomeroy duly elected speaker in place of Colfax. In office for one day, his is the shortest tenure of any speaker of the U.S. House.</p>

<p>After leaving Congress, Pomeroy was briefly out of politics. He returned to public life in the mid-1870 and was elected mayor of Auburn, New York, serving from 1875 to 1876, then as a member of the New York State Senate (25th D.) in 1878 and 1879.</p>

<p>After the war ended, a boom in business production and industry began around the country. In the spring of 1866, the Merchants Union Express Company was organized to transport trade and goods across the United States with Elmore P. Ross as president, William H. Seward Jr. as vice-president, John N. Knapp as secretary, William C. Beardsley as treasurer, and Pomeroy as their attorney. By October 1866, the company was transporting goods across the major U.S. railroads and by the beginning of 1867, the company operated a network of express lines across the entire United States. The huge business incurred equally huge debts and in 1868, the company was acquired and merged with the American Merchants Union, now known as the American Express Company. Pomeroy stayed on and served as first vice-president and general counsel, along with co-founder William Fargo and later with William's brother, J. C. Fargo, in 1868.</p>

<p>On September 4, 1855, while serving his second term as District Attorney, he married Elizabeth Leitch Watson (1835–1892), the second daughter of Robert Watson, also of Auburn. Elizabeth's sister, Janet MacNeil Watson (1839–1913), married William H. Seward Jr. (1839–1920). Together, they had five children.</p>

<p>Pomeroy retired from public life in 1879 and lived at 168 Genesee Street in Auburn, where he died in 1905. Harriet Tubman (1822–1913) was a close friend of the family who helped care for the Pomeroy children. She attended his funeral and it was reported that only her flowers and letter were placed on his casket and buried with him.</p>