Enos T. Throop

10th Governor, March 5, 1829 - 1832
Enos T. Throop

A farmer and lawyer from Cayuga County, Enos T. Throop (1784–1874) served as a State Circuit Court judge and as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Assuming the duties of governor following Van Buren’s resignation, Throop served out the term and was re-elected the following year. During his tenure, he championed legislation to build the state’s first insane asylum, ended imprisonment for debtors, and led New York’s response to a devastating cholera outbreak. In 1833, President Andrew Jackson appointed Throop as a naval officer for the Port of New York.
Painted portrait of Enos T. Throop.
About the Artist

 

Ezra Ames (1768–1836) settled in Albany in 1793 and became the leading portraitist in the region. Throughout his life, he completed nearly 400 portraits, many of New York State legislators.

On loan from the Albany Institute of History & Art Permanent Deposit by the City of Albany.

 

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Biography
From The Encyclopedia of New York State

Throop, Enos T(hompson) (b Johnstown [now in Fulton Co], 21 Aug 1784; d Owasco, Cayuga Co, 1 Nov 1874). Governor.

While reading law in Albany from 1798 to 1801, he became friends with future governor and president Martin Van Buren. Throop passed the bar in 1806 and began practicing law in Auburn (Cayuga Co). In 1811 he became county clerk. The following year he purchased and operated mill property along the Owasco Lake Outlet near Auburn with his sister’s husband, establishing the community of Throopsville (Cayuga Co). He was elected to Congress from New York’s 20th district in 1814 as a Republican. In 1816 Throop returned to Auburn to farm and to practice law. He served as a state circuit court judge from 1823 to 1827.

With Van Buren’s support Throop was elected lieutenant governor in 1828 as a Democrat and became acting governor in March 1829, when Gov Van Buren resigned to become Pres Andrew Jackson’s secretary of state. Throop was elected governor in his own right in 1830. In that position he initiated legislation providing asylum for the insane poor, ended imprisonment for debt, and led the state’s response to an outbreak of cholera. He did not run for reelection in 1832.

Jackson appointed Throop naval officer of the Port of New York in 1833, and from 1838 to 1842 he was chargé d’affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies [now in Italy]. Throop served in this capacity until 1842 then returned to his farm, Willowbrook, on the northeast shore of Owasco Lake. In 1847 he moved to Kalamazoo, Mich, where he speculated in real estate before retiring to Willowbrook once again in 1857.

 

Hammond, Jabez D. The History of Political Parties in the State of New-York from the Ratification of the Federal Constitution to December, 1840, 2 vols (Albany: C.Van Benthuysen, 1842)

Scott W. Anderson

 

Peter Eisenstadt, ed., The Encyclopedia of New York State
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005), [p. 1557].
© Syracuse University Press. Reproduced with permission from the publisher.