{{Short description|American politician}} {{For|the American lawyer (1796–1871)|Zephaniah Platt (Michigan Attorney General)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Zephaniah Platt | image = NYS Historical Marker - Zephaniah Platt Home.jpg | caption = Historic Marker for Zephaniah Platt | office1 = Member of the New York Provincial Congress | term_start1 = 1775 | term_end1 = 1777 | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | office2 = Member of the Committee of Safety | term_start2 = 1777 | term_end2 = 1777 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = Member of the New York State Senate | term_start3 = 1777 | term_end3 = 1783 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | office4 = Member of the Congress of the Confederation | term_start4 = 1785 | term_end4 = 1786 | birth_date = May 27, 1735 | birth_place = Huntington, Province of New York | death_date = September 12, 1807 (aged 72) | occupation = lawyer | parents = | spouse = {{plainlist| *{{marriage|Mary Hannah Davis|1756|1761|reason=died}} *{{marriage|Mary Van Wyck|1761}} }} | children = 14, including Jonas, Charles | relations = Zephaniah Platt (grandson) | death_place = Plattsburgh }}
'''Zephaniah Platt''' (May 27, 1735 – September 12, 1807) was an American politician and lawyer, and founder of the U.S. town of Plattsburgh, New York.<ref name="nysed">{{cite web|title=Zephaniah Platt Papers, 1745-1846; bulk, 1785-1800|url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc9828.htm|website=nysl.nysed.gov|publisher=New York State Library|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref>
==Early life== Platt was born in Huntington, Province of New York, to Zephaniah Platt (1705-1778).<ref name="nysed"/> He was a direct descendant of Richard Platt (1603–1684), who was born in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, and settled in the Connecticut Colony.<ref name="Platt1891"/>
Platt received an English education.<ref name="Platt1891">{{cite book|last1=Platt|first1=George Lewis|title=The Platt Lineage: A Genealogical Research and Record|date=1891|publisher=T. Whittaker|page=[https://archive.org/details/plattlineageage00platgoog/page/n106 101]|url=https://archive.org/details/plattlineageage00platgoog|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref>
==Career== Zephaniah Platt practiced law in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was a member of the New York Provincial Congress (1775–1777),<ref name="ZPbioguide">{{cite web|title=PLATT, Zephaniah - Biographical Information|url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=p000384|website=bioguide.congress.gov|publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> Committee of Safety (1777), State Senate (1777–1783), Congress of the Confederation (1785 and 1786), Council of Appointment (1778 and 1781). He was a Dutchess County judge from 1781 to 1795 and delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention in 1788.<ref name="Weed1868">{{cite book|last1=New York (State) Dept. of State|title=Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, Relating to the War of the Revolution, in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N.Y.|date=1868|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Company, Printers|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_g4Q-AAAAYAAJ/page/n91 86]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_g4Q-AAAAYAAJ|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Lamb1880">{{cite book|last1=Lamb|first1=Martha Joanna|title=History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise, and Progress|date=1880|publisher=A. S. Barnes|page=31|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1s0NAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA31|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref>
In 1788, he founded the town of Plattsburgh in New York, and moved there in 1798 to continue practicing law.<ref name="Office1864">{{cite book|last1=Office|first1=New York (State) Secretary's|title=Calendar of N.Y. Colonial Manuscripts, Indorsed Land Papers: In the Office of the Secretary of State of New York. 1643-1803|date=1864|publisher=Weed, Parsons & Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/calendarofnycolo00newy/page/734 734]|url=https://archive.org/details/calendarofnycolo00newy|access-date=29 September 2017|language=en}}</ref> He was an originator of the Erie Canal, and was a regent of the University of the State of New York from 1791 until his death, in Plattsburgh, in 1807.<ref name="nysed"/>
==Personal life== Platt was married twice, first to Mary Hannah Davis (1741–1761) in 1756 and had two children:<ref name="nysed"/>
* Zephaniah Platt (1756–1830) * Hannah Comstock Platt (b. 1758)
In 1761, he married Mary Van Wyck Platt (1742–1809) and had 12 children including:<ref name="nysed"/>
* Jonas Platt (1769–1834), who was a U.S. Representative for the 9th Congressional District of New York (1799–1801), lawyer and associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court * Charles Z. Platt (1773–1822), who was a New York State Assemblyman for Oneida County (1807–1813) and New York State Treasurer (1813–1817) * James Platt (1788–1870), who married Eliza Floyd, daughter of William Floyd, and had four children. After Eliza's death, he remarried twice, first to Susan Katharine Auchmuty, and secondly, as his third wife, to Sarah (née Breese) Lansing, widow of Bleeker Lansing and sister of Rear Admiral Samuel Livingston Breese and U.S. Senator Sidney Breese.<ref name="Platt1891"/>
Platt owned two slaves in his lifetime, a man named "Tone" and a man named "Cato." Tone was manumitted in 1795, whereas Cato was manumitted by the Executor of his will, Jonas Platt, in 1808, four months after his death.
===Descendants=== Platt's grandson (son of Jonas Platt) Zephaniah Platt (1796–1871) was Michigan Attorney General.<ref name="Platt1891"/>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{CongBio|p000384}} *{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Platt, Zephaniah|year=1900 |short=x}} *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/pittsford-platzek.html#365.59.62 Zephaniah Platt entry] at The Political Graveyard *{{find a Grave|12139750}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Zephaniah}} Category:1735 births Category:1807 deaths Category:Founders of populated places in New York (state) Category:Continental Congressmen from New York (state) Category:Members of the New York Provincial Congress Category:New York (state) lawyers Category:New York state court judges Category:New York (state) state senators Category:People from Huntington, New York Category:18th-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:American people of English descent