Freeborn Garrettson Jewett (August 4, 1791 Sharon, Litchfield County, Connecticut - January 27, 1858 Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York and was the first Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.

[edit] Life

He moved to Skaneateles in 1815, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1817. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1818 and commenced practice in Skaneateles. From 1824 to 1831 he was Surrogate of Onondaga County.

He was as member from Onondaga County of the New York State Assembly in 1826. Jewett was elected as a Jacksonian to the 22nd United States Congress and served from March 4, 1831 to March 3, 1833.

He was Inspector of Auburn Prison in 1838 and 1839, and District Attorney of Onondaga County in 1839. He was appointed an associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court on March 5, 1845.

On June 7, 1847, Jewett was elected one of the first judges of the New York State Court of Appeals. On June 22, he drew the shortest term (2 years and a half), and when the judges took office on July 5, he became the first Chief Judge. He was reelected in 1849 to an eight-year term, but resigned in June 1853 on account of ill health.

He was buried at the Lake View Cemetery in Skaneateles.

[edit] Source

• [1] Political Graveyard
• Freeborn G. Jewett at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 284, 348 and 415; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)
• [2] Obit in NYT on January 30, 1858 (giving wrong middle initial "J.", and almost all years given are wrong)

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.