Wilson S. Bissell

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Wilson Shannon Bissell (December 31, 1847 – October 6, 1903) was an American politician from New York and considered one of the foremost Democratic leaders of Western New York.[1]

Early life

Bissell was born on December 31, 1847, in Rome, New York. He was the son of John Bissell, a prominent forwarding merchant in Buffalo,[2] and Isabella Jeanette (née Hally) Bissell. His older brother, Arthur D. Bissell, was the president of the New York State Bankers Association and president of the People's Bank of Buffalo.[1] He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry.[3]

He prepared at Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale University in 1869 and was a member of Skull and Bones.[4]Template:Rp

Career

Following his graduation from Yale, he began the study of law in Buffalo with Lanning, Cleveland & Folsom.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1871 and began practicing.[1]

From 1873 to 1882 he was a law partner of future President Grover Cleveland and acted as chief groomsman when Cleveland was married.[5] Bissell entered Democratic Party politics as a candidate for presidential elector in 1888. He served as Postmaster General under Cleveland from 1893 to 1895.[6] In 1896, he was a delegate to the 1896 Democratic National Convention.[7]

Apgar's Corners in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, was renamed in 1893 to the village of Bissell in an effort to sway him into ordering that a post office be created in the settlement. A small post office building (no longer in existence) was established soon thereafter.[8]

From 1902 until his death in 1903, Bissell served as the Chancellor of the University of Buffalo.[9]

Personal life

On February 6, 1890, Bissell married Louise Fowler Sturges of Geneva, New York.[1] They were the parents of one child.[2]

Bissell died at age 55 on October 6, 1903, at his residence in Buffalo, New York.[10] After a funeral at Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo (where former President Cleveland was a pallbearer),[3] his body was cremated and his ashes were buried in the family lot at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo.[10]

References

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  4. Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society, vol. 7, 1904.
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  7. Wilson S. Bissell, United States Postmaster
  8. Stevenson, R. P.; Potter, M., Oldtime Days In Mountainville, and Surrounding Towns, (1990), p. 92.
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External links

Political offices
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check United States Postmaster General
Served under: Grover Cleveland

1893–1895 Template:S-ttl/check
Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

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Template:USPostGen Template:Cleveland 24 cabinet Template:University at Buffalo leaders

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