John I. De Graff

John Isaac De Graff (October 2, 1783 – July 26, 1848) was a U.S. Representative from New York.

De Graff was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of American Revolution veteran Judge Isaac DeGraff and Susanna Van Epps, and he attended the common schools and the Schenectady Academy, a school operated by Schenectady's Dutch Reformed Church. He engaged in mercantile pursuits and banking in Schenectady, and his firm prospered, maintaining offices in London and Paris. He was also a successful real estate investor and landlord, and owned several houses, farms, commercial buildings and pastures in and around Schenectady.

In the early 1800s De Graff served in the militia, and was appointed an Ensign in the Schenectady regiment commanded by Jacob Swits.

He attended Union College in 1811, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

He played a key role in the War of 1812 by lending the government money to use in equipping a naval fleet. He pledged both private funds and his personal credit to the amount of $100,000 (about $1.1 million in 2015), and with this financing Thomas Macdonough was able to build and outfit the ships he used to defeat the British at the Battle of Plattsburgh. Due to the depreciation of the treasury notes with which he was repaid, De Graff lost about $30,000 (about $330,000 in 2015) in aiding the war effort.

De Graff was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twentieth Congress (March 4, 1827 – March 3, 1829).

He served as mayor of Schenectady from 1832 to 1835 and again from 1836 to 1837. In 1834 De Graff became the first popularly elected Mayor, because prior holders of the office had been appointed by the city council.

In 1837 De Graff was one of the incorporators of the Schenectady Lyceum and Academy, a boarding school for boys, and he served on its original board of trustees. As Mayor he oversaw the setting aside of land for and construction of a school for African Americans, and as President of Schenectady's school trustees in the 1840s he included details on Schenectady's African School in his annual report to the state superintendent of common schools.

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