{{short description|American politician}} [[File:Gardner Stow (New York Attorney General).jpg|thumb|From the April 6, 1867 issue of ''Harper's Weekly'']] '''Gardner Stow''' (August 1789 – June 25, 1866) was an American lawyer and politician who served as New York State Attorney General.
==Early life== He was born in Orange, Franklin County, Massachusetts, the son of Timothy Stow and Mary (Kendall) Stow.<ref>{{cite book |last=Deyoe |first=Peter A. |date=1855 |title=A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6guAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA24 |location=Saratoga Springs, NY |publisher=G. M. Davison |page=24 |ref={{sfnRef|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''}}}}</ref> The family moved first to Warrensburg, and in 1802 to Bolton.{{sfn|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''|page=24}} In 1806, he moved to Sandy Hill, New York to study law with Roswell Weston. There, he met fellow students Silas Wright, Zebulon R. Shipherd, and Esek Cowen, who were studying with Roger Skinner.{{sfn|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''|page=24}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Enos R. |date=1876 |title=The Bench and Bar of Saratoga County |url=https://archive.org/details/benchandbarsara00manngoog |location=Ballston, NY |publisher=Waterbury & Inman |page=[https://archive.org/details/benchandbarsara00manngoog/page/n266 268]}}</ref> When Cowen was admitted to the bar and began practice, Stow continued his studies at the office of Gansevoort and Cowen in Gansevoort's Mills, Saratoga County, New York.{{sfn|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''|page=24}} He was admitted to the bar in 1811 and practiced with Cowen in Northumberland before later relocating to Elizabethtown.<ref>{{cite book |last=Stone |first=William L. |date=1875 |title=Reminiscences of Saratoga and Ballston |url=https://archive.org/stream/reminiscencesofs01ston#page/360/mode/2up |location=New York, NY |publisher=Virtue & Yortson |page=360}}</ref>{{sfn|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''|page=24}}
==Military service== Stow served in the War of 1812 as a member of two different units of the New York Militia: a company commanded by John Calkins of Elizabethtown and a regiment commanded by Ransom Noble of Essex.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com/ |title=War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815 entry for Gardner Stow |website=Ancestry.com |publisher=Ancestry.com, LLC |location=Provo, UT |access-date=September 15, 2017 |url-access=subscription |ref={{sfnRef|"War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index"}}}}</ref> He held the ranks of corporal in the company and sergeant major in the regiment.{{sfn|"War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index"}}
Stow remained in the militia after the war. In 1819, he was appointed Judge Advocate of the 40th Brigade; later that year, he was appointed adjutant of the 37th Regiment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hastings |first=Hugh |date=1901 |title=Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, 1783—1821 |url=https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/research/DigBooks/MilMinsCouncilApp.pdf/MilMinsCouncilApp_vol%203.pdf |location=Albany, NY |publisher=James B. Lyon |pages=1977, 2016}}</ref>
==Early career== Stow was active in politics and government throughout his career. He began as a Federalist member,<ref>{{cite news |date=April 18, 1816 |title=Meeting of Federal Republican Delegates |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Northern Post |location=Salem, NY |page=3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> then joined the Democratic-Republican,<ref>{{cite news |date=September 12, 1834 |title=Essex County: Convention of Democratic Republican delegates |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Albany Argus |location=Albany, NY |page=1 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and later the Democrat. He served as a justice of the peace starting in 1813,<ref>{{cite news |date=April 29, 1813 |title=Appointments by the Council |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Albany Gazette |location=Albany, NY |page=3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> was Elizabethtown's Postmaster,<ref>{{cite book |last=Skinner |first=Roger Sherman |date=1830 |title=The New-York State Register |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6o0UAAAAYAAJ |location=New York, NY |publisher=Clayton & Van Norden |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6o0UAAAAYAAJ/page/n82 78] |ref={{sfnRef|''The New-York State Register''}}}}</ref> and also served terms as Essex County Treasurer.{{sfn|''The New-York State Register''|page=169}}
==Temperance advocate== In 1808, Stow was a co-founder of the Moreau and Northumberland Temperance Society, the first such society organized in New York State.<ref name="chickens">{{cite news |date=February 27, 1858 |title=Items: Or Crumbs for All Kinds of Chickens; Gardner Stow |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Plattsburgh Republican |location=Plattsburgh, NY |page=2 |url-access=subscription |via=GenealogyBank.com }}</ref> In 1834, in an address delivered before a Temperance Society in Keeseville, he was described as "the first man to advocate legislation to prohibit all traffic in intoxicating liquor, as a beverage."{{sfn|''A History of Temperance in Saratoga County, N.Y.''|page=27}} Newspaper articles in 1858 noted that four members of the original Moreau and Northumberland temperance society were still living, including Stow, and that he had advocated for temperance throughout his career.<ref name="chickens"></ref>
==Later career== Stow later moved to Keeseville, New York, and served as District Attorney of Essex County from 1838 to 1844.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Edwin |date=1836 |title=The New York Annual Register |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxpIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA401 |location=New York, NY |publisher=James Van Norden |page=401}}</ref> During the session of the In 1840, he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the New York State Senate.<ref>{{cite news |date=November 4, 1840 |title=Democratic Republican Nominations |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/41004578/ |work=The Evening Post |location=New York, NY |page=2 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the 1840s, he also performed court-related duties as commissioner in bankruptcy,<ref>{{cite news |date=June 28, 1842 |title=H. R. Ross, P. R. Halstead and Gardner Stow, esqs., have been appointed Commissioners in Bankruptcy for Essex County. R. H. Peabody, esq., of Keesville, assignee |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Albany Argus |location=Albany, NY |page=2 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> master in chancery,<ref>{{cite news |date=January 31, 1840 |title=Appointments and Removals |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=Albany Argus |location=Albany, NY |page=3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and examiner in chancery.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 4, 1843 |title=Appointments by Governor and Senate |url=http://www.genealogybank.com/ |work=The Spectator |location=New York, NY |page=2 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1845, Stow moved to Troy, New York, where he continued his law practice.<ref>{{cite news |date=February 8, 1845 |title=Appointments by the Governor: Wednesday, February 5 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/79060294/ |work=New-York Tribune |location=New York, NY |page=3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> After the resignation of Levi S. Chatfield, Governor Horatio Seymour appointed him New York State Attorney General on December 8, 1853, to fill the vacancy until the end of the year.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 9, 1853 |title=Appointment: The Albany Evening Atlas of yesterday, announces the appointment by Governor Seymour of Gardner Stow, Esq., of Troy, as Attorney General, in place of Levi S. Chatfield, who has left the State. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/50450799/ |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |location=Brooklyn, NY |page=2 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Death== He died in Troy on June 25, 1866.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 30, 1866 |title=All Sorts: Gardner Stow |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/233589750/ |work=Hartford Courant |location=Hartford, CT |url-access=subscription |page=2 |quote=Gardner Stow, long a prominent lawyer in Troy, New York, died a few days ago, aged 78. He was once attorney general of New York.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Weise |first=A. J. |date=1876 |title=History of the City of Troy |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofcityoft01weis#page/360/ |location=Troy, NY |publisher=William H. Young |page=361}}</ref>
==Family== Stow's first wife, Charlotte, died young. In 1831, Stow married Sophia Patrick of Windsor, Vermont.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 7, 1831 |title=Vermont, Vital Records 1720-1908, entry for Gardenier Stow and Sophia Patrick |url=https://www.ancestry.com |work=Ancestry.com, LLC |location=Provo, UT |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
His daughter, Evelina Charlotte Stow (1812–1839), married Sewall Sylvester Cutting (1813–1882) in 1836. Their only son was Gardner Stow Cutting (1838–1883).
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/stoutenburgh-strang.html Gardner Stow] at ''Political Graveyard'' *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080417014716/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nekg3/files/news-danville-northstar-g-1807-32.htm Marriage notice] Danville, Vermont ''North Star'', at ''Rootsweb'' *[https://books.google.com/books?id=2PQCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA373 ''The New York State Register for 1843''] edited by O. L. Holley, page 373, (J. Disturnell, Albany NY, 1843) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=UPcCAAAAYAAJ ''The New York State Register for 1847''] edited by Orville Luther Holley, page 83, (J. Disturnell, New York NY, 1847) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=E3sFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA36 ''The New York Civil List''] compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858) *[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1882/02/08/98581580.pdf Obituary of Sewall S. Cutting], in New York Times on February 8, 1882 (giving wrong middle initial "H." for his older son)
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{succession box | before = Levi S. Chatfield | title = New York State Attorney General | years = 1853 | after = Ogden Hoffman}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stow, Gardner}} Category:1789 births Category:1866 deaths Category:People from Orange, Massachusetts Category:People from Warren County, New York Category:People from Northumberland, New York Category:Politicians from Troy, New York Category:People from Keeseville, New York Category:People from Warrensburg, New York Category:People from New York (state) in the War of 1812 Category:New York (state) Federalists Category:New York (state) Democratic-Republicans Category:New York (state) Democrats Category:County district attorneys in New York (state) Category:New York State attorneys general Category:19th-century New York state court judges