Zephaniah Platt (March 31, 1796 – April 20, 1871) was an American lawyer and politician from Michigan. He was Michigan Attorney General from 1841 to 1843.
Zephaniah Platt | |
|---|---|
| Michigan Attorney General | |
| In office 1841–1843 | |
| Governor | James Wright Gordon John S. Barry |
| Preceded by | Peter Morey |
| Succeeded by | Elon Farnsworth |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 31, 1796 Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York |
| Died | April 20, 1871 (aged 75) Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse |
Cornelia Jenkins (m. 1818) |
| Relations | Zephaniah Platt (grandfather) Charles Z. Platt (uncle) John Henry Livingston (uncle) |
| Children | 7, including Mary |
| Parent(s) | Jonas Platt Helena Livingston Platt |
Life
editPlatt was born on March 31, 1796, in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York. He was the son of New York Supreme Court Justice Jonas Platt and Helena (nee Livingston) Platt (1767-1859),[1] and was baptized at the Presbyterian Church in Pleasant Valley, N.Y.[2] Among his siblings was sister, Helen Livingston Platt, who married Truman Parmelee and, after his death, Dr. Henry W. Bell.[2]
He was a grandson of Zephaniah Platt, and a nephew of Charles Z. Platt and of John Henry Livingston.[2]
Career
editHe removed to the Michigan Territory and practiced law at Jackson, Michigan. Platt, an antislavery Whig,[3] was Attorney General of the State of Michigan from 1841 to 1843.[4] He also served as a vice president in the American Anti-Slavery Society.[3]
He attended the 1842 Ojibwe treaty negotiations with the "Lake Superior Chippewa" at LaPointe and signed the treaty as a witness. Subsequently, Platt acted as representative for some of the American Fur Company's Ojibwe traders seeking recompense for past Indian debts.
After the end of the American Civil War, he removed to South Carolina, and was Judge of the 2nd Circuit Court from 1868 until his death.
Personal life
editOn September 30, 1818, Platt married Cornelia Jenkins (d. 1890), and they had seven children[2] including Mary Platt (1843–1911), who was first married to Samuel J. Agnew and after a divorce married her cousin, Theodore Weld Parmele (1833–1893).[5][6]
Platt died on April 20, 1871, in Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina.[2]
References
edit- ^ Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910). The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants. Knickerbocker Press. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e Platt, George Lewis (1891). The Platt Lineage: A Genealogical Research and Record. T. Whittaker. p. 124. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ a b Johnson, Reinhard O. (2009). The Liberty Party, 1840-1848: Antislavery Third-Party Politics in the United States. LSU Press. p. 1531. ISBN 9780807142639. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ Senate, Michigan. Legislature (1844). Documents Accompanying the Journal of the Senate, of the State of Michigan: At the Annual Session ... p. 33. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ "Col. Theodore Weld Parmele" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 May 1893. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ Platt 1891, p. 123.