Gideon Lee
Gideon Lee (April 27, 1778August 21, 1841) was an American politician who was the 60th Mayor of New York City and United States Representative from New York. Early life. Lee was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on April 27, 1778 and attended the common schools there. He was a son of Gideon Lee (1747–1811) and Lucy ( Ward) Lee (1746–1817). The first known member of the Lee family was John "Leigh" of an ancient and honorable family of Burton street, London, England. He was born about the year 1600, came to New England, and settled at Agawam (now Ipswich), Essex  Co., Mass., in 1635. In 1677 his sons agreed to change the spelling of the family name from "Leigh" to "Lee." Gideon belonged to the sixth generation of this family. Career. He became a shoemaker in Worthington, Massachusetts. He moved first to New York City and then to Georgia, where he was in the mercantile business, of the old firm of "Gideon Lee, Shepard Knapp and Charles M. Leupp." He returned to New York in 1807 and engaged in the leather business. He served as member of the New York State Assembly in 1823, and as alderman from 1828 to  1830. He was Mayor of New York from 1833 to 1834, but declined to be a candidate for reelection. Lee was elected as a Jacksonian to the 24th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Campbell P. White and served from November 4, 1835, to March 3, 1837. He then retired and moved to Seneca Lake in Geneva, New York. He was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840, voting for William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Personal life. On April 28, 1823, Lee was married to Isabella Williamson (1800–1870), who was the  daughter of the Rev. David Williamson, a minister of the Church of Scotland. Together, they were the parents of: Lee died on August 21, 1841 in Geneva, New York. He was buried at the Washington Street Cemetery in Geneva, New York.