Jesse Hoyt

Jesse Hoyt (June 28, 1792, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut – March 17, 1867) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

He was the son of Goold Hoyt and Sarah (Reid) Hoyt. He removed to Albany, New York, and became a merchant but failed. Then, he studied law with Martin Van Buren, was admitted to the bar in 1819, and commenced practice in partnership with Van Buren and Benjamin F. Butler in Hudson, New York. Soon after, Hoyt removed to New York City, and continued the practice of law there, specializing in Chancery cases.

He was a member from New York County of the New York State Assembly in 1823. On April 3, 1828, he married Cornelia Emeline Thurston (1803–1852), and their children were Cornelia Thurston Hoyt (b. 1829); Louis Thurston Hoyt (1834–1901); and William Henry Hoyt.

In 1838, Hoyt was appointed by President Van Buren as Collector of the Port of New York to replace Samuel Swartwout who had been Collector since 1829. Soon after Hoyt's taking office, Swartwout was accused of embezzlement, but in February 1841, Van Buren was forced to remove Hoyt by appointing John J. Morgan as Collector, after Hoyt had also been accused of embezzlement. The episode became known as the Swartwout-Hoyt scandal. Afterwards, Hoyt resumed the practice of law.

Sources

• A Genealogical History of the Hoyt, Haight and Hight Families by David W. Hoyt (page 503)
• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 199 and 282; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
• THE NEW-YORK CUSTOM-HOUSE in NYT on March 24, 1867
• WILL OF LOUIS THURSTON HOYT in NYT on September 4, 1901
• ESTATE OF LOUIS T. HOYT in NYT on March 5, 1903