Calvin Fillmore

Calvin Fillmore (April 30, 1775 – October 22, 1865) was an American farmer and politician from New York. He served as coroner of Erie County, New York and a member of the New York State Assembly, and is best known as the uncle of President Millard Fillmore.

Life

Fillmore was born in Bennington County, Vermont on December 12, 1775.[1] His father, Nathaniel Fillmore Sr., was a farmer and officer in the Green Mountain Boys who was a veteran of the American Revolution.[1]

Calvin Fillmore was educated in Bennington, and became a farmer.[1] In 1798, he married Jerusha Turner (d. 1852).[1] Fillmore was close with his brother Nathaniel Fillmore, and in 1798, they moved to an area then located in Onondaga County, New York, which is now in Summerhill, Cayuga County.[1]

During the War of 1812, Fillmore was appointed a captain in the 13th Infantry Regiment of the New York Militia, and took part in several battles in upstate New York and Canada.[1] He was promoted to major, and then lieutenant colonel, and commanded the regiment before the end of the war.[1] He later served as lieutenant colonel of the militia's 17th Regiment.[2]

In 1819, Nathaniel and Calvin Fillmore and their families moved to Montville, then in the Town of Sempronius, now in Moravia.[1] Later they moved to East Aurora, in Erie County.[3] In addition to farming, he kept a tavern and hotel, and owned a sawmill and other businesses.[4] He also became involved in the development of the local transportation infrastructure as an original incorporator of the Aurora and Buffalo Railroad.[5]

Fillmore was coroner of Erie County, and a deputy U.S. marshal.[1] He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Erie Co.) in 1825,[6] elected as a Democratic-Republican.

He died in East Aurora on October 22, 1865, and was buried at East Aurora Cemetery.[1]

U.S. President Millard Fillmore was his nephew.[1]

References

1. Genealogical and Family History of Western New York, p. 812.
2. Our County and Its People, p. 261.
3. American Presidential Families, p. 410.
4. History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, pp. 314, 453, 464, 540, 546-547.
5. History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County, p. 542.
6. Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, p. 66.

Sources

• Brogan, Hugh; Mosley, Charles (1993). American Presidential Families. Stroud, England: Alan Sutton. ISBN 9780750905824.
• Cutter, William Richard (1912). Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. 2. New York, NY: Lewis Historical Publishing.
• New York State Legislature (1852). Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York. 7. Albany, NY: C. Van Benthuysen.
• Smith, Henry Perry (1884). History of the City of Buffalo and Erie County. 1. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co.
• White, Truman C. (1898). Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York. 1. Boston, MA: Boston History Company.

Further reading

• Millard Fillmore by Robert J. Scarry (2001; ISBN 978-0-7864-4340-6 ; pg. 14f and 22)
• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 202 and 273; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)