{{short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Commodore Perry Vedder | image = Portrait of Commodore Perry Vedder (1838–1910) from Genealogical and Family History of Western New York.png | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1838|02|23}} | birth_place = Ellicottville, New York | death_date = {{Death date and age|1910|12|24|1838|02|23}} | death_place = Manhattan, New York | resting_place = | other_names = | occupation = Lawyer, politician | spouse = {{Plainlist| * {{Marriage|Betty E. Squires|1862|1884|end=d.}} * {{Marriage|Genevieve Wheeler|July 12, 1892}} }} | children = | awards = | education = | party = Republican | signature = Signature of Commodore Perry Vedder (1838–1910) from Genealogical and Family History of Western New York.png | office1 = Member of the New York State Senate | constituency1 = 32nd District | term1 = 1876–1877, 1884–1891 | office2 = Member of the New York State Assembly | constituency2 = 1st District | term_start2 = 1872 | term_end2 = 1875 }} '''Commodore Perry Vedder''' (February 23, 1838 – December 24, 1910) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

==Life== Commodore Perry Vedder was born in Ellicottville, New York on February 23, 1838, the son of Jacob Vedder.<ref name=Cyclopaedia>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U11DAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA508 |title=The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography |volume=II |publisher=James T. White & Company |page=508 |year=1921 |access-date=2021-05-14 |via=Google Books}}</ref> He attended the common schools, and then spent five years as a sailor on the Great Lakes. In 1858, he entered Springville Academy, and afterwards began to study law.<ref name=Sketches>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/govofficesket00mceliala#page/300/mode/2up |title=Life Sketches of Government Officers and Members of the Legislature of the State of New York in 1875 |first1=W. H. |last1=McElroy |first2=Alexander |last2=McBride |pages=301–303 |year=1875 |access-date=2021-05-14 |via=archive.org}}</ref>

During the American Civil War he enlisted as a private in the 154th New York Volunteers, fought in the battles of Chancellorsville, Wauhatchie, Lookout Mountain, Bentonville and others; and finished the war as a lieutenant colonel of Volunteers.<ref name=Sketches/>

After the war, he finished his law studies, was admitted to the bar in 1866, and practiced in Ellicottville.<ref name=Dead>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1910/12/25/105899887.pdf |title=Commodore P. Vedder Dead |newspaper=The New York Times |page=9 |date=December 25, 1910 |access-date=2021-05-14}}</ref> He was Assessor of Internal Revenue from 1869 to 1871.

He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Cattaraugus Co., 1st D.) in 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875.<ref name=Dead/>

He was a member of the New York State Senate (32nd D.) in 1876 and 1877. He was State Assessor from 1880 to 1883.<ref name=Dead/>

He was again a member of the State Senate from 1884 to 1891, sitting in the 107th, 108th, 109th, 110th, 111th, 112th, 113th and 114th New York State Legislatures.<ref name=Dead/> He ran once more in 1891, but was defeated by James T. Edwards.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/10/24/103345017.pdf |title=Vedder Made a Blunder |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |location=Albany, New York |date=October 24, 1891 |access-date=2021-05-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/11/08/103349341.pdf |title=Commodore Vedder's Successor |newspaper=The New York Times |location=Salamanca, New York |page=13 |date=November 8, 1891 |access-date=2021-05-14}}</ref>

He married Betty E. Squires in 1862, and they had one son. She died in 1884, and he remarried to Genevieve Wheeler in Chicago on July 12, 1892.<ref name=Genealogical>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami0002will_j7w0_g9c4/page/662/mode/1up |title=Genealogical and Family History of Western New York |volume=II |editor-first=William Richard |editor-last=Cutter |editor-link=William Richard Cutter |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |place=New York |page=662 |date=1912 |access-date=2025-10-17 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/07/16/104098017.pdf |title=Ex-Senator Vedder Married |newspaper=The New York Times |page=2 |date=July 16, 1892 |access-date=2021-05-14}}</ref> The couple went to live in New York City. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1894.

He died of heart disease at the Majestic Hotel in New York City on December 24, 1910, and was buried at the Sunset Hill Cemetery in Ellicottville.<ref name=Dead/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|14684369}} * [http://politicalstrangenames.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/commodore-perry-vedder-1838-1910.html Commodore Perry Vedder] at ''The Strangest Names In American Political History''

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | before = Claudius V. B. Barse | title = New York State Assembly <br>Cattaraugus County, 1st District | years = 1872–1875 | after = Harrison Cheney}} {{s-par|us-ny-sen}} {{succession box | before = Albert G. Dow | title = New York State Senate <br> 32nd District | years = 1876–1877 | after = Loren B. Sessions}} {{succession box | before = Norman M. Allen | title = New York State Senate <br> 32nd District | years = 1884–1891 | after = James T. Edwards}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vedder, Commodore P}} Category:1838 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Republican Party New York (state) state senators Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Union army officers Category:People from Ellicottville, New York Category:Politicians from Cattaraugus County, New York Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature