Francis Granger | |
---|---|
10th United States Postmaster General | |
In office March 6, 1841 – September 18, 1841 |
|
President |
William Henry Harrison John Tyler |
Preceded by | John Milton Niles |
Succeeded by | Charles A. Wickliffe |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 26th district |
|
In office March 4, 1835 – March 3, 1837 |
|
Preceded by | John Dickson |
Succeeded by | Mark H. Sibley |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 26th district |
|
In office March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841 |
|
Preceded by | Mark H. Sibley |
Succeeded by | John Greig |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 26th district |
|
In office November 27, 1841 – March 3, 1843 |
|
Preceded by | Mark H. Sibley |
Succeeded by | Amasa Dana |
Personal details | |
Born |
Suffield, Connecticut, U.S. |
December 1, 1792
Died | August 31, 1868 Canandaigua, New York, U.S. |
(aged 75)
Political party | National Republican, Whig, Anti-Masonic |
Spouse(s) | Cornelia Rutson van Rensselaer Granger |
Alma mater | Yale College |
Profession | Politician, Lawyer |
Francis Granger (December 1, 1792 – August 31, 1868) was a Representative from New York and United States Postmaster General. He was a Whig Party vice presidential nominee in 1836 and is the only person to ever lose a contingent election for Vice President.
His father Gideon Granger was also Postmaster General, the longest serving one in United States history.
Granger was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and pursued classical studies at and graduated from Yale College in 1811. He then moved with his father to Canandaigua, New York in 1814, where he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1816 and commenced practice. He married Cornelia Rutson Van Rensselaer and together they had a daughter, Adele Granger, born in 1820, one son, Gideon Granger II, born in 1821, and an unnamed daughter whom died with her mother in childbirth in 1823. His home at Canandaigua from 1817 to 1827, now known as the Francis Granger House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Granger was from a political family, with his father Gideon Granger serving in the Connecticut House of Representatives before being appointed Postmaster General by Thomas Jefferson and his first cousin Amos P. Granger serving two terms in the United States House.
Granger started his own political career as a member of the State Assembly from 1826 to 1828 and from 1830 to 1832. He ran unsuccessful campaigns for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1828, and for Governor of New York in both 1830 and 1832 with the National Republican Party. He was then elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the 24th Congress (March 4, 1835 to March 3, 1837).