Samuel Riker

Samuel Riker (April 8, 1743 – May 19, 1823) was an American politician who represented New York’s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1804 to 1805 and again from 1807 to 1809. He served as a member of the Republican (Democratic-Republican) Party during a formative period in the early republic, participating in the legislative process and representing the interests of his Long Island constituents in the Eighth and Tenth Congresses.

Riker was born on April 8, 1743, in Newtown on Long Island, then part of the Province of New York, into a family of Dutch origin long established in the region. He was the son of Andrew Riker (1699–1762) and Jane (née Berrien) Riker (1703–1775). His great-grandfather Abraham Ryker (1619–1689), born in the Netherlands, had emigrated to New Netherland in the seventeenth century, helping to establish the family’s presence in what became New York. Riker attended the common schools of his community, receiving the basic education typical of colonial New York, and grew up in an environment shaped by both Dutch heritage and British colonial governance.

By the time of the American Revolution, Riker was already active in local affairs. In 1774 he served as a member of the Newtown committee of correspondence, part of the network of colonial bodies that coordinated resistance to British policies and fostered intercolonial communication. During the Revolutionary War he was a lieutenant of Light Horse, reflecting his participation in the patriot military effort. After the conflict, he continued in public service at the local and county level, serving as supervisor of Suffolk County in 1783, a position that placed him in charge of important administrative and fiscal responsibilities during the difficult postwar period.

Riker’s state-level political career began soon after independence. In 1784 he was a member of the New York State Assembly, participating in the early legislative work of the new state government as it adjusted from colonial to republican institutions. His involvement in state politics and local administration established him as a figure of some prominence on Long Island and prepared him for later service in the national legislature.

Riker was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative John Smith. He represented New York’s 1st congressional district and served from November 5, 1804, to March 3, 1805. After a brief interval out of office, he returned to national politics when he was elected again to represent the same district in the Tenth Congress, which met from March 4, 1807, to March 3, 1809. During his two nonconsecutive terms, he served as a member of the Republican Party in the era of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, contributing to the legislative process at a time marked by debates over foreign policy, commerce, and the consolidation of federal institutions in the early United States.

Riker married Anna Lawrence (1749–1833), a member of a prominent New York family. She was the daughter of Joseph Lawrence and a niece of merchant and New York State Senator Jonathan Lawrence, and her cousins included Samuel, John, and William T. Lawrence, all of whom were active in New York’s commercial and political life. Samuel and Anna Riker had a large family whose members were closely connected to the civic and professional life of New York. Their children included Joseph Lawrence Riker (1770–1796), a sailor who died in Jamaica; Andrew Riker (1771–1817); Richard Riker (1773–1842), who became Recorder of New York City and married Jennet Phoenix, daughter of New York City Treasurer Daniel Phoenix (1737–1812); Abraham Riker (1776–1821), who married Harriet Pierson; Patience Riker (1778–1851), who married John Lawrence (1758–1817) in 1802; Samuel Riker (1780–1811), a lawyer; Jane Margaret Riker (1782–1868), who married merchant John Thom and, after his death, Irish-American physician William James MacNeven; Anna Elvira Riker (1785–1860), who married Douwe Ditmars; and John Lawrence Riker (1787–1861), who married Maria Smith.

In his later years, Riker remained identified with Newtown and the Long Island community in which he had been born and to which his family had been tied for generations. Through his daughter Patience, he was the grandfather of Patience Riker Lawrence, who married Timothy Gridley Churchill, and the great-grandfather of Jane Lawrence Churchill, who married Henry Y. Satterlee, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, extending the family’s influence into later generations and into religious as well as civic life. Samuel Riker died in Newtown on Long Island on May 19, 1823. He was interred in the Dutch Reformed Cemetery, reflecting both his family’s Dutch origins and their longstanding presence in the region.