Hezekiah Lord Hosmer

Hezekiah Lord Hosmer (June 7, 1765 – June 9, 1814) was a United States representative from New York and a lawyer and local official in Hudson, New York. He was born into a prominent New England family; his father, Titus Hosmer, was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Articles of Confederation for Connecticut, and his brother, Stephen Hosmer, later became Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. Raised in this milieu of public service and legal distinction, Hezekiah Hosmer was prepared from an early age for a career in the law and in public affairs.

Hosmer pursued legal studies and was admitted to practice in the mayor’s court of Hudson, New York, a growing river port on the Hudson River that had been incorporated as a city in the 1780s. Establishing himself as an attorney there, he quickly became involved in municipal legal administration. In 1793 and 1794 he served as recorder of Hudson, an office that combined judicial and administrative responsibilities and made him a key legal officer of the city during its formative years.

Building on his local prominence and Federalist affiliations, Hosmer was elected as a Federalist to the Fifth Congress, representing New York in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served a single term from March 4, 1797, to March 3, 1799, during the administration of President John Adams. While in Congress, he was selected in 1798 as one of the impeachment managers appointed by the House of Representatives to conduct the impeachment proceedings against U.S. Senator William Blount of Tennessee, one of the earliest impeachment cases in federal history. In this capacity, Hosmer participated in framing and presenting the House’s case in a matter that tested the scope of congressional impeachment powers.

After leaving Congress, Hosmer returned to Hudson and resumed his legal and civic activities. He again held the office of recorder of Hudson in 1810, 1811, 1813, and 1814, reflecting the continued confidence of the community in his legal judgment and public service. His repeated appointments to this position underscored his role as a central figure in the city’s legal affairs in the early nineteenth century.

On November 30, 1805, Hosmer married Susan Throop. The couple had five children, several of whom died in infancy, a common tragedy of the era. One son, also named Hezekiah Lord Hosmer, was born posthumously in 1814, shortly after his father’s death. This younger Hezekiah Lord Hosmer (1814–1893) later achieved distinction as an author and as the first Chief Justice of the Montana Territorial Court, extending the family’s legal legacy into the American West.

Hezekiah Lord Hosmer died in Hudson, New York, on June 9, 1814. At the time of his death he was still serving as recorder of the city, closing a career that had combined local judicial service with a brief but notable tenure in the national legislature during the formative years of the United States government.