Richard Pratt Marvin

Richard Pratt Marvin (December 23, 1803 – January 11, 1892) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Whig politician from New York who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1837 to 1841. He was born on December 23, 1803, in Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York, the son of Selden Marvin and Charlotte (née Pratt) Marvin. In 1809 his family moved to Dryden, New York, where he spent much of his youth. He came from a family that would become prominent in public life; his brother, William Marvin, later served as a United States federal judge and as the 7th Governor of Florida.

Marvin pursued a legal education in New York, reading law in the traditional manner of the period. He was admitted to the bar in 1829 and commenced the practice of law in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York. Establishing himself as an attorney in Jamestown, he quickly became a leading member of the local bar and a figure in community affairs, laying the foundation for a long career in public service. His legal practice and growing reputation in western New York brought him into state politics during the 1830s.

On September 8, 1834, Marvin married Isabella Newland (1811–1872), the daughter of David Newland and Jane (née McHarg) Newland. The couple made their home in Jamestown and had five children. Their son Selden Erastus Marvin (1835–1899) became Adjutant General of New York and married Katharine Langdon Parker in 1868. Another son, David Newland Marvin (1839–1875), married Julia Ormes, daughter of Dr. Cornelius Ormes, in 1870. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Marvin (1841–1907) married industrialist Benjamin Goodrich, founder of the B. F. Goodrich Company. A younger son, William Richard Marvin (1843–1863), died unmarried of disease contracted while serving in the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, and their daughter Isabella Marvin (1849–1881) also died unmarried.

Marvin’s formal political career began in state government. He was elected a member of the New York State Assembly from Chautauqua County and served in 1836. As a legislator he represented the interests of his region at a time when western New York was developing rapidly, and his service in Albany helped to elevate his profile within the Whig Party. His work in the Assembly led directly to his selection as a candidate for national office.

A member of the Whig Party, Marvin was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Whig to the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1837, to March 3, 1841. Representing New York during a significant period in American history marked by economic upheaval following the Panic of 1837 and intense debates over federal policy, he participated in the legislative process and the broader democratic life of the nation. During the Twenty-sixth Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department, overseeing matters related to fiscal accountability in one of the federal government’s largest and most important departments. Across his two terms, he represented the interests of his constituents in New York while aligning with Whig positions on issues of finance, internal improvements, and the balance of power between the federal government and the states.

After leaving Congress in 1841, Marvin returned to his legal practice in Jamestown but remained active in public affairs. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1846, contributing to the revision of the state’s fundamental law at a time of significant institutional and political change. The convention addressed judicial reorganization, elective offices, and other structural reforms, and Marvin’s participation reflected his growing stature as a legal authority in the state.

Marvin’s judicial career began the following year and became the principal focus of his public life. He was elected a justice of the New York Supreme Court for the 8th Judicial District in 1847, a position he held until 1871. In this capacity he presided over a wide range of civil and criminal cases during a period of rapid economic development and social change in New York. Under the judicial system then in place, justices of the Supreme Court periodically served ex officio on the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. Marvin thus sat as a judge of the Court of Appeals in 1855 and again in 1863, participating in the resolution of important appellate matters and helping to shape New York jurisprudence in the mid-nineteenth century.

After completing his long tenure on the bench in 1871, Marvin resumed the practice of law in Jamestown. In his later years he remained a respected figure in the legal community and in local civic life, associated both with his earlier congressional service and his extensive judicial work. He lived in Jamestown until his death on January 11, 1892, in Jamestown, Chautauqua County, New York. Richard Pratt Marvin was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Jamestown, closing a career that had spanned more than half a century in law, legislation, and the judiciary.