Josiah Quincy Jr.

Josiah Quincy IV
11th Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts
In office December 11, 1845 – January 1, 1849
Preceded by	Thomas A. Davis
Succeeded by	John P. Bigelow
Personal details
Born	January 17, 1802 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	November 2, 1882(1882-11-02) (aged 80) Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Whig
Occupation	Politician
Mayor Davis died on November 22, 1845. Benson Leavitt, Chairman of the Board of Aldermen served as Acting Mayor from November 22, 1845 to December 11, 1845. After Quincy was elected Mayor on December 8, 1845 for the term beginning January 5, 1846, Quincy was appointed by the city council as acting mayor on December 11, 1845 to serve out Mayor Davis' term.

Josiah Quincy IV (/ˈkwɪnzi/; January 17, 1802 – November 2, 1882)^[1] was an American politician. He was mayor of Boston (December 11, 1845 – January 1, 1849), as was his father Josiah Quincy III (mayor in 1823–1828) and grandson Josiah Quincy VI (mayor in 1895–1899).

Career[]

He attended Philips' Academy, Andover and graduated from Harvard College in 1821.

He was elected a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1823 and became its captain in 1829 at the age of 27.

He was the author of Figures of the Past (1883).^[2]

As a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1837, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Massachusetts Board of Education. He built the Josiah Quincy Mansion in 1848.^[3]

He was elected to the Boston City Council in 1833 and served as its president from 1834 to 1857.

He served as mayor of Boston from 1845 to 1849. He served as treasurer of the Boston Athenaeum from 1837 to 1852.

Family[]

Boston Skyline Circa 1847

His brother Edmund (1808–1877) was a prominent abolitionist, and author of the biography of his father and of a romance, Wensley (1854). A sister, Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston, was a writer; and another sister, (1798–1884) was her father's secretary and the biographer of her mother.^[2]

Quincy had two sons — Josiah Phillips (1829–1910), a lawyer, who wrote, besides some verse, The Protection of Majorities (1876) and Double Taxation in Massachusetts (1889); and Samuel Miller (1833–1887), who practised law, wrote on legal subjects, served in the Union army during the Civil War, and was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers in 1865. ^[2]

A descendant of his, through her mother, was Helen Howe, novelist.

See also[]

• 63rd Massachusetts General Court (1842)
• Timeline of Boston, 1840s

Sources[]

• William Guild, Description of the Boston and Worcester and Western Railroads: In which is Noted the Towns, Villages, Station, Bridges, Viaducts, Tunnels, Cuttings, Embankments, Gradients, &c., the Scenery and Its Natural History, and Other Objects Passed by this Line of Railway. With Numerous Illustrations, Boston?: Bradbury & Guild, 1847, p. 13.

References[]

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Quincy, Josiah". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links[]

• Modern Eloquence: Vol III, After-Dinner Speeches P-Z at Project Gutenberg, contains Quincy's speech of welcome to Boston for Charles Dickens.
• Figures of the Past, by Quincy published in 1883 contains reminiscences of meeting historic figures.

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