Samuel B. Garvin

Samuel Bostwick Garvin (October 8, 1811, Butternuts, Oswego County, New York – June 28, 1878, New York City) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life

He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Norwich (Chenango Co.). On January 14, 1836, he married Julia Maria Mitchell.

In 1840, he removed to Utica and continued the practice of law there. He was District Attorney of Oneida County from 1851 to 1853.

In June 1853, he was appointed by President Franklin Pierce U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and remained in office until 1857. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law in New York City.

In 1859, D.A. Nelson J. Waterbury appointed him an Assistant New York County District Attorney. In 1863, Garvin was elected to the New York City Superior Court. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1867-68.

In January 1869, he resigned from the bench to accept his appointment by Gov. John T. Hoffman as New York County D.A. to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of A. Oakey Hall who took office as Mayor of New York City. In November 1869, Garvin was elected on the Democratic ticket to succeed himself for a full term. In 1869, he prosecuted Daniel McFarland for the murder of Albert D. Richardson, but McFarland was acquitted.

He died of apoplexy at his residence at the Hotel Royal, located on the corner of Sixth Ave. and 42nd Street.

Sources

• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough, Stephen C. Hutchins and Edgar Albert Werner (1867; page 531)
• Genealogy of the Bostwick Family in America
• LATEST INTELLIGENCE in NYT on June 9, 1853
• POLITICAL.; THE ELECTION TO-MORROW in NYT on November 1, 1869
• OBITUARY.; SAMUEL B. GARVIN in NYT on June 29, 1878

Note:

1. Henry A. Foster was appointed in April 1853, to succeed Lawrence, but declined. Then, John B. Skinner was appointed, but declined too.