Caleb Tompkins (December 22, 1759 – January 1, 1846) was a U.S. Representative from New York, and the brother of Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins.
Early life Caleb Tompkins was born on the Fox Meadows estate near Scarsdale in the Province of New York on December 22, 1759, and was the eldest son of Jonathan G. Tompkins, a prominent judge and landowner. He was educated locally, and trained for a legal career.Marquis Who's Who, Who Was Who in America, 1963, page 533Lyman Horace Weeks, John Hampden Dougherty, Legal and Judicial History of New York, Volume 3, 1911, page 112
American Revolution Tompkins served as a private in the 2nd Regiment of Westchester County Militia (Thomas's Regiment) during the American Revolution.Frank Lindsay Crawford, Charlotte Holmes Crawford, Morris D'Camp Crawford and His Wife, Charlotte Holmes Crawford: Their Lives, Ancestries and Descendants, 1939, page 7New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 112, 1981, page 95 In October 1776 he fled his home to escape British troops, successfully evading capture by submerging himself in a nearby swamp.Porter Sargent, A Handbook of New England, page 236 This incident was known to James Fenimore Cooper, who used a fictionalized version of it in his 1821 novel The Spy.Sarah Comstock, Old Roads from the Heart of New York, 1915, page 293John Thomas Scharf, editor, History of Westchester County: New York, Volume 1, Part 2, 1886, page 664
Tompkins remained in the militia after the war, and was a Captain when he resigned in 1797.Hugh Hastings, State Historian, Henry Harmon Noble, Chief Clerk, Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, 1783-1821., Volume 1, 1901New York State Legislature, Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Volume 9, 1902, page 365
Career Tompkins studied law, attained admission to the bar, and practiced in Westchester County. He also inherited Fox Meadows, where he resided throughout his life.Silas Constant, Emily Warren Roebling, The Journal of the Reverend Silas Constant, 1903, page 133
An Anti-Federalist who became a member of the Democratic-Republican Party and later a Democrat who identified with the Bucktails and Jacksonians, he was Scarsdale's first Town Clerk, and held other local offices including Town Supervisor.Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, 2006, page 234John Thomas Scharf, History of Westchester County: New York, Volume 1, 1886, page 662Westchester County Board of Supervisors, Proceedings of the County Board of Legislators of Westchester County, N.Y., 1795, page 148
Tompkins was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1804 to 1806.Stephen C. Hutchins, Edgar Albert Werner, Civil List and Constitutional History of the Colony and State of New York, 1891, pages 464-465 He served as Judge of the Westchester County Court from 1807 to 1820.Henry Townsend Smith, Manual of Westchester County: Past and Present, Volume 3, 1913, page 215
Tompkins was elected to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Congresses, and served from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1821.Charles Lanman, Dictionary of the United States Congress, 2006, page 379
In 1823 Tompkins returned to the position of Westchester County Judge, and he remained on the bench until his death.Henry Townsend Smith, Manual of Westchester County: Past and Present, Volume 3, 1913, page 215 In 1828 he was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress, losing a narrow contest to Henry B. Cowles.
Death and burial Tompkins died in Scarsdale on January 1, 1846.John Thomas Scharf, History of Westchester County: New York, Volume 1, 1886, page 662Westchester County Board of Supervisors, Proceedings of the County Board of Legislators of Westchester County, N.Y., 1795, page 148 He was interred in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery in White Plains.Thomas E. Spencer, Where They're Buried, 1998, page 254
References
External links
Caleb Tompkins at Political Graveyard Caleb Tompkins at Our Campaigns.com