Person:Stillman Foote (2)

Stillman Foote, Jr. attended Canton Academy and was Phi Beta Kappa at Middlebury College, graduating in 1838.

Subsequently he studied law with Elam Rust and James Reddington and then practiced at Waddington, New York from 1842-1845. In 1845 he came to Ogdensburg and until 1847 practiced law with his nephew, H. G. Foote in the firm of H. G. Foote and S. Foote, attorneys, solicitors, and counsellors. Their office was at Ford and Water Streets "opposite the bridge." About 1861, he formed a partnership with Col. Edward C. James which continued to 1874. He was also a Professor of Law at St. Lawrence University.

From November 1847 until October 1858, Foote was editor and publisher of the Ogdensburg Sentinel, a weekly newspaper, begun in 1844 by Henry G. Foote and Stephen B. Seeley. On April 19, 1848, he published the first daily newspaper in Ogdensburg, the Daily Sentinel. The daily paper lasted only until September 14, 1848. From 1857 to 1863, he was superintendent of the Ogdensburg schools and later was President of the Village Board of Education. In 1861, he became Clerk of the St. Lawrence County Board of Supervisors, serving until 1883. In 1864 he was named Surrogate of St. Lawrence County, serving until 1877.

Foote was a "Free-Soil" Whig, and supported Whig leaders including Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore in the national elections. Perhaps the fact that Fillmore was his second cousin influenced that direction. He was a delegate to the last New York State Whig convention in 1855 and lead the local "Free-Soil" wing of the Whig party into the new Republican Party upon its formation.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Foote, Abram William. Foote Family: Comprising the Genealogy and History of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his Descendants; Also a Partial Record of Descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City. (Rutland, Vermont: Marble City Press, 1907-1932)
   p. 246-247, 1907.

   He graduated at Middlebury College in 1838 and was a lawyer in Waddington and Ogdensburg, New York. In 1847 he became editor of the Ogdensburgh Sentinel and was Surrogate of St. Lawrence County, New York.

2. ↑ Foote plot monument visited 1996.