Joseph S. Cabot Explained

Joseph Sebastian Cabot
Order2:4th Mayor of
Salem, Massachusetts
Term Start2:1845
Term End2:1849
Predecessor2:Stephen Palfrey Webb
Successor2:Nathaniel Silsbee, Jr.
Birth Date:October 8, 1796
Birth Place:Salem, Massachusetts
Death Place:Salem, Massachusetts
Party:Democratic
Spouse:Martha Laurens Stearns
Residence:Chestnut Street, Salem, Massachusetts
Alma Mater:Harvard, 1815
Profession:Bank president

Joseph Sebastian Cabot (October 8, 1796 – June 29, 1874) was a Massachusetts banker and politician who served as the fourth Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts.

Cabot was president of the Asiatic Bank, the Salem Savings Bank, and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. He was also the Massachusetts State Bank Commissioner.

In 1838, Cabot's name was submitted for a fourth consecutive Democratic nomination to the United States House of Representatives from the south Essex County district, but the district convention at Salem chose Robert Rantoul Jr. The nomination provoked a dispute between Rantoul and Benjamin F. Hallett, who supported Cabot and was in competition with Rantoul for the position of United States Attorney.[1] Rantoul went on to lose to Whig incumbent Leverett Saltonstall I with a significant write-in vote for Cabot.[2] Rantoul claimed these votes were cast by Gloucester fishermen returning from long months at sea who had been misinformed that Cabot was the Democratic nominee by "disorganizers."

References

  1. Book: Darling, Arthur. Political Changes in Massachuestts, 1824–1848. Yale University Press. New Haven, Conn.. 1925. 222–24.
  2. Web site: MA District 2, 1838. 22 Mar 2011. 1 Jun 2021.