Simeon Baldwin Chittenden

Simeon Baldwin Chittenden (March 29, 1814 – April 14, 1889) was a United States Representative from New York and a prominent nineteenth-century merchant and civic leader. He was born in Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut, on March 29, 1814, the son of Abel Chittenden (1779–1816) and Anna Hart (née Baldwin) Chittenden (1784–1845). His family background linked him to established New England lines; his siblings included Henry Baldwin Chittenden and Sarah Dudley Chittenden, both of whom died young. Raised in coastal Connecticut, he attended Guilford Academy, receiving the classical and commercial education typical of aspiring professional and business men of his generation.

Chittenden began his career in commerce at an early age. From 1829 to 1842, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in New Haven, Connecticut, serving as a clerk with the firm of McCracken & Merriman. This long apprenticeship in the countinghouse provided him with experience in trade, finance, and business management during a period of rapid economic expansion in the United States. In 1842, he moved to New York City, then emerging as the nation’s leading commercial center, and continued in mercantile business on a larger scale. Over the ensuing decades he became a successful merchant and an influential figure in the city’s commercial community. From 1867 to 1869, he served as vice president of the New York City Chamber of Commerce, reflecting his prominence in business circles and his engagement with broader questions of trade policy, infrastructure, and economic development.

In his personal life, Chittenden married Mary Elizabeth Hartwell (1815–1852) on May 10, 1837. She was the daughter of Sherman Hartwell and Sophia Todd, and through her father was related to American founding father Roger Sherman, being the niece of Sherman’s first wife, Elizabeth Hartwell. Simeon and Mary Elizabeth Chittenden were the parents of three children: Mary Hartwell Chittenden (1840–1871), who married Dr. William Thompson Lusk (1838–1897), an Adjutant-General in the United States Volunteers during the Civil War; Simeon Baldwin Chittenden (1845–1922), a Yale graduate who married Mary Warner Hill (1847–1925); and Charlie Sherman Chittenden (1850–1852), who died in early childhood. After the death of his first wife in 1852, Chittenden remarried in 1854 to Cornelia (née Colton) Colton, the daughter of Oren Colton and the widow of the Rev. Walter Colton, a chaplain in the United States Navy. His family connections and marriages further linked him to prominent religious, military, and civic figures of his era.

Chittenden’s growing stature in business and civic affairs led him into political life. Although closely identified with the Republican Party, he first sought federal office unsuccessfully as a candidate for election in 1866 to the Fortieth Congress. Undeterred, he remained active in public affairs and continued to build his reputation as a representative of commercial interests in New York. In recognition of his achievements and standing, Yale University conferred upon him an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1871, underscoring his status as a self-made businessman who had attained national prominence.

As a member of the Republican Party representing New York, Chittenden contributed to the legislative process during four terms in the United States House of Representatives. He was elected as an Independent Republican to the Forty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Stewart L. Woodford, and took his seat on November 3, 1874. He was reelected as an Independent Republican to the Forty-fourth Congress and then as a Republican to the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses, serving continuously from November 3, 1874, to March 3, 1881. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, in the years following the Civil War and Reconstruction, when questions of economic policy, industrial growth, and federal authority were central to national debate. During these four terms in office he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his New York constituents, including the commercial and mercantile communities with which he had long been associated. In 1880 he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the Forty-seventh Congress and subsequently retired from public life.

In his later years, Chittenden remained a respected elder statesman of New York’s business and political circles. He continued to be associated with civic and charitable causes, reflecting the philanthropic impulses common among leading merchants of his generation. After the death of his second wife, Cornelia, in 1884, he divided his time between family, business interests, and public-minded activities. He died in Brooklyn, New York, on April 14, 1889. Chittenden was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, a resting place for many of the city’s notable figures. After his death, he was eulogized by Seth Low, a prominent reform mayor and educator, attesting to his public reputation. In his will, after making bequests to charity, he directed the establishment of two trusts, one for his son and one for the heirs of his late daughter, thereby providing for his family and perpetuating his philanthropic intentions. A sculpture of Simeon Baldwin Chittenden by Frank Edwin Elwell, created around 1890 and held by the Yale University Art Gallery, further commemorates his life and contributions.