Timothy Childs | |
Birth Date: | 1 January 1790 |
Birth Place: | Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US |
Death Place: | At sea aboard the ship Emily |
Office: | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York |
Constituency1: | 28th district |
Term Start1: | March 4, 1841 |
Term End1: | March 3, 1843 |
Preceded1: | Thomas Kempshall |
Succeeded1: | Thomas J. Paterson |
Constituency2: | 28th district |
Term Start2: | March 4, 1835 |
Term End2: | March 3, 1839 |
Preceded2: | Frederick Whittlesey |
Succeeded2: | Thomas Kempshall |
Constituency3: | 27th district |
Term Start3: | March 4, 1829 |
Term End3: | March 3, 1831 |
Preceded3: | Daniel D. Barnard |
Succeeded3: | Frederick Whittlesey |
Office4: | Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department |
Term Start4: | 1837 |
Term End4: | 1839 |
Predecessor4: | Albert Gallatin Hawes |
Successor4: | Richard P. Marvin |
Office5: | Member of the New York State Assembly |
Term Start5: | January 1, 1833 |
Term End5: | December 31, 1833 |
Alongside5: | Levi Pond, Milton Sheldon |
Constituency5: | Monroe County |
Predecessor5: | Samuel G. Andrews, Ira Bellows, William B. Brown |
Successor5: | Elihu Church, Fletcher Mathews Haight, Jeremy S. Stone |
Term Start6: | January 1, 1828 |
Term End6: | December 31, 1828 |
Alongside6: | Ezra Sheldon Jr., Francis Storm |
Constituency6: | Monroe County |
Predecessor6: | Peter Price, Abelard Reynolds, Joseph Sibley |
Successor6: | John Garbutt, Heman Norton, Reuben Willey |
Office7: | District Attorney of Monroe County, New York |
Term Start7: | 1821 |
Term End7: | 1831 |
Predecessor7: | None (position created) |
Successor7: | Vincent Mathews |
Spouse: | Catherine Adams Louisa S. Dickinson |
Profession: | lawyer |
Party: | Federalist Anti-Masonic Anti-Jacksonian Whig |
Alma Mater: | Williams College Litchfield Law School |
Timothy Childs Jr. (January 1, 1790 – November 25, 1847) was a U.S. Representative from New York. He represented Monroe County for eight non-consecutive terms in Congress between 1829 and 1843.
Childs was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1790.[1] He was the son of Rachel (née Easton) Childs (1760–1852) and Timothy Childs (1748–1821), a Revolutionary War officer who studied at Harvard, became a physician and served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
He graduated from Williams College in 1811[2] and Litchfield Law School in 1814.[3] He completed his studies at the Albany firm of Harmanus Bleecker,[4] afterwards practicing law in New York, first in Canandaigua, and then in Rochester.[5]
Originally a Federalist,[6] while residing in Canandaigua, Childs served in offices including Ontario County Commissioner and the judicial position of Master in Chancery.[7]
He served as Monroe County, New York District Attorney from 1821 to 1831, the first to hold this position.[8] [9] He served as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1828,[10] and in the late 1820s he also served as Monroe County Judge.[11] [12] [13]
Childs was elected as an Anti-Mason to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831).[14] [15] After his term expired he returned to practicing law in Rochester.
In 1833, he was elected again to the New York State Assembly.[16]
In 1834, he was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress.[17] He was reelected as a Whig in 1836,[18] and served from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1839. During his 1837 to 1839 term, Childs was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department.[19]
Childs was elected to Congress again as a Whig in 1840 and served one term, March 4, 1841, to March 3, 1843.[20] He resumed practicing law following the completion of his final term in Congress.
In the late 1840s, Childs traveled to Saint Croix, where he went to improve his health.[21] [22] He died aboard the ship Emily on November 25, 1847, while en route from Saint Croix to the United States.[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
In 1817, he married Catherine Adams.[30] [31]
In December 1830 he married Louisa Stewart (née Shepherd) Dickinson of North Carolina in a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia.[32] [33] Louisa was the widow of Joel Dickinson.[34]