Samuel Beardsley

Samuel Beardsley (February 6, 1790 Hoosick, Rensselaer County, New York - May 6, 1860 Utica, Oneida County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician.

He taught school, studied law in Rome, New York and served as a lieutenant in the War of 1812, taking part in the defense of Sackets Harbor in 1813. He was admitted to the bar in 1815 and commenced practice in Watertown, New York. He was a judge advocate of the New York State Militia. In 1816 he returned to Rome, N.Y., and continued the practice of law. He moved to Utica in 1823.

He was a member of the New York State Senate in 1823. He was United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York from 1823 to 1830. He was elected as a Jacksonian to the 22nd, 23rd and 24th United States Congresses and served from March 4, 1831, to March 29, 1836, when he resigned. During the Twenty-fourth Congress he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.

In 1836, Beardsley was elected by the New York State Legislature to the office of New York State Attorney General after his predecessor Greene C. Bronson became a justice of the New York Supreme Court. He was elected as aDemocrat to the Twenty-eighth United States Congress and served from March 4, 1843, to February 29, 1844, when he resigned to accept the appointment as associate justice of the New York Supreme Court. He sat on the bench from 1844 to 1847, and was chief justice in the latter year. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law.

Beardsley died in Utica in 1860, and was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery there.

• United States Congress. "Samuel Beardsley (id: B000281)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• List of New York Attorneys General