Erastus D. Culver

Erastus Dean Culver (March 15, 1803 – October 13, 1889) was an attorney, politician, judge, and diplomat from New York City.

Culver was active in the anti-slavery movement and, while in Congress in the 1840s,opposed the extension of slavery to Texas and the territory of Oregon. As an attorney, Culver was part of a team that defended eight Virginia slaves in a freedom suit, Lemmon v. New York (1852), successfully gaining their freedom in New York City's Superior Court. Culver was later elected judge of Brooklyn's City Court, serving from 1854 to 1861. In 1857 Culver decided the well-known freedom suit of a fugitive slave named "Jeems" and set him free by ruling against the people who had detained him, including police officers who hoped to collect a bounty under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

From 1862 to 1866 Culver served as Minister to Venezuela. He later returned to his former hometown of Greenwich, New York, where he was active in several business ventures until his death in 1889.

Culver was born in Champlain, New York on March 15, 1803. He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1826, taught school for a period, and read the law with an established firm. He was admitted to the bar in 1831 and commenced practice in Fort Ann, New York.

He joined the Whig Party and became active in government and politics, including winning election as Fort Ann's Town Clerk and serving from 1833 to 1835.

In 1836 Culver moved to Greenwich, New York. He was elected the New York State Assembly in 1838 and 1841.

...
Wikipedia