Richard Crowley

Richard Crowley (December 14, 1836 – July 22, 1908) was a United States Representative from New York and a prominent lawyer and public official in the late nineteenth century. He was born in Pendleton, Niagara County, New York, where he spent his early years in a rural community that was then developing rapidly along the Erie Canal corridor. Raised in western New York, he attended the local public schools and later the Lockport Union School in nearby Lockport, reflecting the expanding system of common schools in the state during his youth.

After completing his schooling, Crowley pursued the study of law, a common path to public life in his era. He read law in Lockport, New York, and was admitted to the bar in 1860. Immediately upon admission, he commenced the practice of law in Lockport, building a professional reputation in Niagara County. His early legal career coincided with the tumultuous years of the Civil War, during which he established himself as an able practitioner and began to enter local public affairs.

Crowley’s first significant public office was as City Attorney of Lockport, a position he held from 1865 to 1866. In the same year, 1865, he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, an indication of his growing stature in the legal profession. His local service and legal prominence soon led to state-level office. He was elected to the New York State Senate from the 29th District and served four consecutive terms in 1866, 1867, 1868, and 1869. During his tenure in the State Senate, he participated in legislative deliberations at a time when New York was addressing post–Civil War economic development, infrastructure, and veterans’ issues, and he became identified with the Republican Party’s policies in the Reconstruction era.

On March 23, 1871, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Crowley as United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, a key federal prosecutorial position in a large and growing region of the state. He was reappointed on March 3, 1875, and served in that capacity until March 3, 1879. As U.S. Attorney, he was responsible for representing the federal government in civil and criminal matters in the northern district, a jurisdiction that included important commercial centers and transportation routes. His eight years in federal service strengthened his reputation as a capable and experienced lawyer in both state and federal courts.

Crowley entered national legislative service when he was elected as a Republican to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses. He represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1883. During his two terms in Congress, he took part in debates over fiscal policy, veterans’ benefits, and administrative reform in the post-Reconstruction period. In the Forty-seventh Congress he served as Chairman of the Committee on Claims, where he oversaw the consideration of private claims against the federal government, a role that drew on his long experience in public law and federal practice.

At the conclusion of his congressional service in 1883, Crowley returned to Lockport and resumed the private practice of law. He continued to be an influential figure in legal and political circles in western New York, often consulted on matters involving federal and state claims. His expertise in claims and war-related issues led to another important public assignment later in his career. In 1896, Governor Levi P. Morton appointed him as counsel for the State of New York in American Civil War claims cases, a position in which he represented the state’s interests in seeking settlement of financial claims arising from New York’s role in the Civil War. He held this post for the remainder of his life, reflecting the confidence state authorities placed in his judgment and experience.

Richard Crowley died on July 22, 1908, at Olcott Beach, New York, while still serving as counsel for the State of New York in Civil War claims matters. His death marked the close of a career that had spanned local, state, and federal office over more than four decades. He was buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Lockport, New York, a community that had been the center of his professional and political life.