Richard Hansen Franchot (June 2, 1816 – November 23, 1875) was a U.S. Representative from New York and then an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was also an executive of two railroad companies, Albany and Susquehanna Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad.
Biography
Franchot was born in the town of Morris, Otsego County, New York, the son of French immigrant Paschal Franchot.[1] He attended the public schools and the Hartwick and Cherry Valley Academies. He studied civil engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. He served for several years as president of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad.
Franchot was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1861 – March 3, 1863). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1862.
He moved to Schenectady, New York, and raised the 121st New York Infantry.[2] Franchot was commissioned as a colonel on August 23, 1862, and was brevetted as a brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers dating from March 13, 1865.
After the war, he was associated with the Central Pacific Railroad.
Franchot died in Schenectady on November 23, 1875. He was interred in Vale Cemetery.
Family
New York Superintendent of Public Works Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot (1855–1943) and State Senator Stanislaus P. Franchot (1851–1908) were his sons, Assemblyman Nicholas V. V. Franchot II (1884–1938) was his grandson, actor Franchot Tone (1905-1968) was his great-grandson, and former Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot (1947–) is also his descendant.
References
- ^ Bacon, Edwin Faxon (1902). Otsego County, New York; Geographical and Historical. Oneonta, NY: The Oneonta Herald. p. 56 – via Google Books.
- ^ 121st Infantry Regiment History, New York State Military Museum.
External links
- United States Congress. "Richard Franchot (id: F000334)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-11-01
- "Richard Franchot". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
- Antietam: Colonel Richard Hansen Franchot
- Family of Morris and Niagara Falls, New York
Further reading
- Becker, Alfred LeRoy. The Ancestors of Nicholas Van Vranken Franchot (1941)
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
