Biography

From Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "SCHOONMAKER, Marius, (grandson of Cornelius Corneliusen Schoonmaker), a Representative from New York; born in Kingston, Ulster County, N.Y., April 24, 1811; attended the common schools, Kingston Academy, and was graduated from Yale College in 1830; was admitted to the bar in 1833 and commenced practice in Kingston, N.Y.; member of the State senate in 1850 and 1851; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1852; resumed the practice of law in Kingston, N.Y.; auditor of the canal department of New York State in 1854 and 1855; superintendent of the banking department 1854-1856; president of the Kingston Board of Education for nine years; president of the village of Kingston in 1866, 1869, and 1870; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1867; president of the board of directors of Kingston; died in Kingston, N.Y., January 5, 1894; interment in Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery." Mentioned in a letter from Elizabeth Schoonmaker to Frances Seward, Feb. 13, 1852- "Since I commenced writing I have received a letter from Mr. Schoonmaker now on business at Kingston, enclosing a note of inquiry from you, in relation to the letter I am now answering. "