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Roswell Pettibone Flower
30th Governor of New York
In office January 1, 1892 – December 31, 1894
Lieutenant	William F. Sheehan
Preceded by	David B. Hill
Succeeded by	Levi P. Morton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York
In office March 4, 1889 – September 16, 1891
Preceded by	William B. Cockran
Succeeded by	Joseph J. Little
Constituency	12th district
In office November 8, 1881 – March 3, 1883
Preceded by	Levi P. Morton
Succeeded by	Orlando B. Potter
Constituency	11th district
Personal details
Born	(1835-08-07)August 7, 1835 Theresa, New York, U.S.
Died	May 12, 1899(1899-05-12) (aged 63) Eastport, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Parent(s)	Mary Ann and Nathan Monroe Flower
Signature

Roswell Pettibone Flower (August 7, 1835 – May 12, 1899) was an American politician who served as the 30th governor of New York from 1892 to 1894. He also served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1881 to 1883 (NY-11) and from 1889 to 1891 (NY-12).

Biography

He was born on August 7, 1835, to Nathan Monroe Flower and Mary Ann Flower, the sixth of nine children. As a youth, he worked in odd jobs, which enabled him to cover the cost of his education at a local village school. He graduated from high school in 1851, and for a short period thereafter he worked as a teacher in a district school.

In 1853, he became Deputy Postmaster of Watertown, New York, at a salary of $600 a year, and after six years had saved $1,000 and opened with a partner a jewelry store. Two years later, he bought his partner out and continued in this business until 1869.

In 1869, Henry Keep, a former President of the New York Central Railroad, was dying and asked Roswell Flower, whose wife was a sister of Keep's wife Emma, to manage the $4,000,000 estate for his widow. Flower asked Keep for guidance on who he could trust and named a business associate, Daniel Drew. Keep replied, "He is as honest a man as there is in the State of New York, but for fear that somebody else will cheat, he will always begin first." The business brought Flower to New York City where he became known as a shrewd financial administrator and opened the banking house of R. P. Flower & Co.

He was elected as a Democrat to the 47th United States Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Levi P. Morton upon his appointment as Minister to France, and served from November 8, 1881, to March 3, 1883. He was also elected to the 51st and 52nd United States Congresses, and served from March 4, 1889, to September 16, 1891, when he resigned upon his nomination for governor.

He was Governor of New York from 1892 to 1894, elected in 1891, the last one to serve a three-year term. During his term, he signed into law the creation of the City of Niagara Falls.

In the years after his term as governor, Flower gained a reputation as a canny investor and attracted the attention of traders and investors from all over the United States. As a result of this strong following, Flower possessed an extraordinary capability to influence market sentiment. His aggressive move on Brooklyn Rapid Transit drove the share price of this company from $6 to over $130 a share in a relatively short period of time. The dramatic rise of this stock was widely credited with triggering the bull market that ran from 1898 to 1899.

Flower was Chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees from 1897 to his death in 1899.

Flower was president of the New York State Agricultural Society in 1899.

He died of a heart attack on May 12, 1899, in Eastport, New York, at the Long Island Country Clubhouse. His death disrupted the planned purchase by a consortium of investors, including Flower and William Henry Moore, of the steel-related holdings of Andrew Carnegie about a year and a half before J. P. Morgan purchased the same interests in the deal that formed U.S. Steel.

Legacy

A monument to Flower, designed by noted sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1902, is located on lower Washington Street at Watertown. It is in the Public Square Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library was built in 1903–04 as a memorial to Flower. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

References

1. Redmond, George. Stock Market Operators. London, 1924, pg.62
2. Murlin, Edgar L. The New York Red Book - an Illustrated Legislative Manual. Albany: James B. Lyon, 1895, p. 78.
3. Redmond, George. Stock Market Operators. London, 1924, pg.66
4. Cornell University Board of Trustees
5. "NYS Agricultural Society". www.nysagsociety.org. NYSAS Past Presidents (2019). Retrieved September 19, 2020.
6. "Roswell P. Flower Dies Suddenly. Ex-Governor Succumbs to Heart Disease at Eastport, L.I. Had Gone on Fishing Trip. Taken Ill Yesterday Afternoon and Died at 10:30 o'Clock P.M. The Second Attack Proved Fatal. Doctors Arrived on a Special Train. The Widow Prostrated". New York Times. May 13, 1899. Retrieved May 12, 2011. Ex-Gov. Roswell P. Flower died here suddenly at 10:30 o'clock to-night of heart disease. He was at the Country Clubhouse, where he usually spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of every week during the Spring and Summer, resting and enjoying the fishing.
7. "Amazon Sign-In".
8. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

External links

• United States Congress. "Roswell P. Flower (id: F000217)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Off-Hand Portraits of Prominent New Yorkers by Stephen Fiske (re-published by BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009, ISBN 1-103-16701-4, ISBN 978-1-103-16701-2, pages 148ff)

v t e Governors and lieutenant governors of New York
Governors	G. Clinton Jay G. Clinton Lewis Tompkins Tayler D. Clinton Yates D. Clinton Pitcher Van Buren Throop Marcy Seward Bouck Wright Young Fish Hunt Seymour Clark King Morgan Seymour Fenton Hoffman J. Adams Dix Tilden Robinson Cornell Cleveland Hill Flower Morton Black T. Roosevelt Odell Higgins Hughes White J. Alden Dix Sulzer Glynn Whitman Smith Miller Smith F. Roosevelt Lehman Poletti Dewey Harriman Rockefeller Wilson Carey M. Cuomo Pataki Spitzer Paterson A. Cuomo Hochul
Lieutenant governors	Van Cortlandt S. Van Rensselaer J. Van Rensselaer Broome Tayler Clinton Tayler Swift Tayler Root Tallmadge Pitcher P. Livingston Dayan Throop Stebbins Oliver E. Livingston Tracy Bradish Dickinson Gardiner Lester Fish Patterson Church Raymond Selden Campbell Floyd-Jones Alvord Woodford Beach Robinson Dorsheimer Hoskins Hill McCarthy Jones Sheehan Saxton Woodruff Higgins Bruce Raines Chanler White Cobb Conway Glynn Wagner Schoeneck Walker Wood Lusk Lunn Lowman Corning Lehman Bray Poletti Hanley Wallace Hanley Moore Wicks Mahoney DeLuca Wilson Anderson Krupsak M. Cuomo DelBello Anderson Lundine McCaughey Donohue Paterson Bruno Skelos Smith Espada Ravitch Duffy Hochul Stewart-Cousins Benjamin Stewart-Cousins Delgado
Italics indicate acting officeholders

• 1835 births
• 1899 deaths
• Democratic Party governors of New York (state)
• American Presbyterians
• People from Theresa, New York
• New York (state) postmasters
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
• Politicians from Watertown, New York
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives