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Edward Oliver Wolcott
United States Senator from Colorado
In office March 4, 1889 – March 3, 1901
Preceded by	Thomas M. Bowen
Succeeded by	Thomas M. Patterson
Member of the Colorado Senate
In office 1879–1882
Personal details
Born	(1848-03-26)March 26, 1848 Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Died	March 1, 1905(1905-03-01) (aged 56) Monte Carlo, Monaco
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Frances Metcalfe Bass ​ ​(m. 1890; div. 1899)​
Education	Yale University Harvard University (LLB)
Military service
Branch/service	Union Army
Unit	150th Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Edward Oliver Wolcott (March 26, 1848 – March 1, 1905) was an American politician during the 1890s, who served for 12 years as a Senator from the state of Colorado.

Early life

Wolcott was born on March 26, 1848, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. He was one of eleven children born to Harriet Amanda (née Pope) Wolcott and Samuel Wolcott, D.D., a Congregationalist minister, missionary, and writer of hymns. Among his siblings was Anna Wolcott Vaile, an educator who established the Wolcott School for Girls. A native of Hampden County, Massachusetts, Wolcott moved to Ohio as a boy.

He was a descendant of Oliver Wolcott, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. He graduated from Yale College before attending Harvard Law School, from where he graduated in 1875.

Career

He served in the 150th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War. He enlisted at age 16.

Legal and political career

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1875, he moved to Colorado where he set up a law practice. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, one of the partners in his practice was Charles W. Waterman, later a United States senator.

From 1876 to 1879 he served as a district attorney in Colorado. In 1879, Wolcott moved to Denver, where he began his political career as a Colorado state senator (1879–1882). In 1889, he was chosen to represent Colorado in the U.S. Senate, as a member of the Republican Party. When he entered Congress, he was the youngest member of the Senate. He was reelected in 1895, and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1901, 1902 and 1903.

While in Washington, D.C., Wolcott was a leading advocate for the coinage of silver. In 1897, President McKinley named him chairman of the commission sent to Europe to report on international bimetallism. He was a popular host and guest in Washington society. He was chairman of the Committee on Civil Service and Retrenchment (51st and 52nd Congresses), and the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (54th through 56th Congresses).

In 1900, Wolcott was denied renomination to the Senate, which ended his political career. He once again took up the practice of law in Colorado, and maintained that practice until his death.

Personal life

In 1890, Wolcott was married to Frances Esther (née Metcalfe) Bass (1851–1933) by The Rev. Francis Lobdell at St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. Frances, the widow of U.S. Representative Lyman K. Bass, was the daughter of James Harvey Metcalfe and Erzelia Frances (née Stetson) Metcalfe of Buffalo. From her first marriage, she was the mother of Lyman M. Bass, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. They later divorced in 1899.

Wolcott died on March 1, 1905, while he was on vacation in Monte Carlo. Wolcott's remains were cremated in Paris, and the ashes were interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.

Legacy

The town of Wolcott in Eagle County, Colorado, is named after him. It was originally known as Bussells, but was changed to Wolcott in his honor.

References

1. ^ "The Wolcott Family". The National Magazine: (Cleveland) a Monthly Journal of American History. Magazine of Western History Publishing Company. 1889. pp. 627–629.
2. James Bretz (2010). Denver's Early Architecture. Arcadia Publishing. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7385-8046-3.
3. ^ Sketches of Colorado. Vol. 1. Denver, CO: Western Press Bureau Company. 1911. p. 167.
4. "THE WOLCOTT BOYS.; THE NEW COLORADO SENATOR AND HIS BROTHER". The New York Times. 21 January 1889. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
5. "200 Wolcott Descendants To Have Reunion in Camden". The New York Times. 10 August 1927. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
6. Thayer, W. R. (1894). The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. p. 77. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
7. Nevins, Allan. Henry White : Thirty Years of American Diplomacy. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1930.
8. ^ "EX-SENATOR WOLCOTT DEAD.; Passes Away in Italy, Where He Had Been on a Visit". The New York Times. 2 March 1905. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
9. ^ United States Congress. "WOLCOTT, Edward Oliver (id: W000667)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
10. Dawson, Thomas Fulton (1911). Life and Character of Edward Oliver Wolcott: Late a Senator of the United States from the State of Colorado. Knickerbocker Press. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
11. "SENATOR WOLCOTT MARRIED.; THE YOUNGEST MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE WEDS MRS. BASS". The New York Times. 15 May 1890. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
12. "EDWARD O. WOLCOTT'S DEATH.; Body to be Cremated in Paris and Ashes Sent Home". The New York Times. 3 March 1905. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
13. Bright, William (2004). Colorado Place Names. Big Earth Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-55566-333-9. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

v t e United States senators from Colorado
Class 2	Teller Chilcott Tabor Bowen Wolcott Patterson Guggenheim Shafroth Phipps Costigan Johnson Allott Haskell Armstrong Brown Allard Udall Gardner Hickenlooper
Class 3	Chaffee Hill Teller Hughes Thomas Nicholson Adams Means Waterman Walker Schuyler Adams Millikin Carroll Dominick Hart Wirth Campbell Salazar Bennet

v t e Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil Service
Post Office and Post Roads (1816–1947)	Wilson Stokes Lanman Johnson Bibb Grundy Robinson Henderson Merrick Niles Rusk Yulee Gwin Collamer Dixon Ramsey Hamlin Ferry Maxey Ferry Hill Conger Sawyer Vilas Wolcott Mason Penrose Bourne Bankhead Townsend Sterling Moses Phipps Oddie McKellar Chávez
Civil Service and Retrenchment (1873–1921)	Wright Clayton Blaine Teller Butler Hawley Chace Wolcott Call Jarvis Pritchard Baker Perkins Cummins Pomerene McKellar Sterling
Civil Service (1921–1947)	Sterling Stanfield Couzens Dale Bulow Downey
Post Office and Civil Service (1947–1977)	Langer Johnston Carlson Johnston Monroney McGee

• 1848 births
• 1905 deaths
• People from Longmeadow, Massachusetts
• Republican Party United States senators from Colorado
• Republican Party Colorado state senators
• Colorado lawyers
• Union army soldiers
• People of Ohio in the American Civil War
• Politicians from Denver
• Harvard Law School alumni
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 19th-century American lawyers
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly