Suffolk County NyArchives Biographies.....Flower, Roswell P. 1835 - 1899
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Author: R. A. Oakes (1905)

    VI. HON. ROSWELL P. FLOWER, one of the most masterly of the many brilliant
statesmen who have adorned the high office of governor of the state of New York,
was native born, his birthplace being Theresa, in Jefferson county, and the date
August 8, 1835. He died at Eastport, Long Island, May 12, 1899.

    He came of an excellent ancestry from which he derived superb physical vigor
and sterling principles, and he forged his own character in that white heat of
poverty and necessity which consumes all dross and leaves a perfect metal. He
was descended from that Lamrock Flower who came from Ireland and settled in
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1685.

    Roswell Pettibone Flower, the fourth son and sixth child in the family of
Nathan M. Flower, was left fatherless at the tender age of eight years. As a lad
he worked at wool picking, in a brickyard and upon a farm. He attended school as
he could, and was diligent in his studies as he was industrious in his labors,
and graduated in the high school course when eighteen years old. He was for some
time a teacher in a district school, acquitting himself most creditably and
conquering the respect of his pupils when they were disposed to resent the
authority of so young a master. He made his home with his sister's husband,
Silas L. George, a merchant, who boarded him and paid him a monthly wage of five
dollars for his services. He was afterwards a clerk in the postoffice at
Watertown. He was closely economical and saving, and in a few years had
accumulated a little fortune of a thousand dollars. This he invested in a
jewelry and brokerage business which he successfully conducted until 1869, in
which year he removed to New York city, having been made executor of the estate
of his deceased brother-in-law, Henry Keep. In this important trust he displayed
the finest executive and financial ability, and the estate quadrupled in value
under his management. In 1871 he became a member of the banking and brokerage
firm of Benedict, Flower & Company, from which he retired in 1875 to become
senior member of the banking firm of R. P. Flower & Company. He was also
officially connected with various corporations, and was a trustee and honorary
vice president of the Colonial Trust Company, a trustee of the Metropolitan
Trust Company, and a director in the Corn Exchange Bank, the National Surety
Company, the United States Casualty Company, the People's Gas Light and Coke
Company, of gas companies in Chicago, and of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific
Railroad Company. He retained a home in his native village, with whose interests
he never ceased to be actively and usefully identified.

    Governor Flower was during all his active career one of the most potential
political figures in the state. A Democrat of the highest stamp of character and
ability, he took an earnest part in support of Seymour and Blair in the
presidential campaign of 1868. In 1876 he was foremost as organizer of the
initial movement which led to the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden for the
presidency. At the succeeding election he was elected to the forty-seventh
Congress from the eleventh New York-district, defeating William Waldorf Astor.
In 1882 he was presented as a candidate for the gubernatorial nomination, and in
convention received 183 votes as against the same number for General William H.
Slocum, and sixty-one for Grover Cleveland. At this juncture it became apparent
that political necessity demanded a candidate from outside the city of New York,
and Mr. Flower withdrew to make way for Mr. Cleveland, who was made the nominee
and thus placed upon the highway which led him to the presidency. In the same
year Mr. Flower was made chairman of the Democratic congressional committee. In
1883 he declined a renomination to Congress, and two years later declined the
nomination for the lieutenant governorship. In 1888 he was again elected to
Congress, and the same year he was a delegate-at-large in the Democratic
national convention at St. Louis which nominated Mr. Cleveland for the
presidency, and was chairman of the delegation from the state of New York. In
the same year he was strongly urged to become a candidate for the lieutenant
governorship, but declined for business reasons. In 1889 he was returned to
Congress by a majority of more than 12,000. In 1892 he was prominently mentioned
for the presidential nomination. In that year he was elected governor, receiving
a majority of nearly 50,000 over Hon. J. Sloat Fassett. This fine tribute was
due in large degree to confidence in his integrity, and his unselfish care for
public interests as shown in every instance where a trust was committed to him.
His administration was broadly practical and sagacious, and his every act was
based upon conservative views and an accurate estimate of conditions and
necessities. In Congress his conduct was marked by the same high standards.
While an ardent supporter of Democratic principles, he would subordinate no
public interest to partisan ends, and in whatever legislation he advocated or
opposed his sole object was the promotion of the welfare of the country and the
people. Once, when congratulated upon the excellence of his congressional
record, he remarked that whatever of usefulness he had accomplished was due to
his constant endeavor to learn as much as any other, and, if possible, more,
concerning whatever matter was entrusted to a committee of which he was a
member. In the fifty-first Congress he made an enviable record in championship
of a movement for the holding of the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in New York
city. He earnestly opposed the McKinley tariff bill and the "force bill," as he
did the attempt of the Farmers' Alliance to establish a system of sub-treasuries
for the loaning of public funds on field crops, domestic animals, etc. He was a
warm advocate of liberal but well guarded soldiers' pension legislation, of the
election of postmasters by the people, and of the irrigation of the arid regions
of the west.

    Governor Flower amassed a large fortune, estimated at about $25,000,000, and
in its acquisition no taint of wrong-doing, either in personal or public life,
ever attached to him. He was broadly philanthropic, and for many years set apart
one-tenth of his income for benevolences, and the sums thus distributed amounted
to more than a million dollars. He built the Flower Surgical Hospital in New
York city, and with Mrs. Flower he erected the St. Thomas Parish House in the
same city, at Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth streets and Second avenue, for work among
the poor. The inspiration for this noble benefaction is told in a memorial
tablet bearing the following inscription: "Erected to God by Roswell P. Flower
and Sarah M. Flower, in memory of their son, Henry Keep Flower." Mr. Flower also
built, as a memorial to his parents, a Presbyterian church edifice at Theresa,
New York, and he and his brother, Anson R. Flower, of New York city, erected
Trinity Protestant Episcopal church at Watertown. New York. His givings to all
manner of charitable and benevolent institutions are acounted for in previous
references in this narrative. It is to be added that, while governor of New
York, in 1893, there arose urgent necessity for the purchase.of Fire Island as a
state quarantine station. There were no available public funds, and Governor
Flower unhesitatingly advanced the amount needed, $210,000. That he was
afterward reimbursed by act of the legislature in no way detracts from the merit
of his act.

    Governor Flower was essentially a self-made man, and, in larger degree he
was self-educated. He was a man of broad knowledge, not alone in the fields of
finance and politics, but in literature and the arts. His city residence in
Fifth avenue, New York, and his summer home at Watertown were bolh eloquent in
their furnishings and contents of his refined tastes. His library was rich in
the choicest of literature, particularly of Americana, and he was the owner of a
large mass of valuable autographic relics of all the presidents of the United
States from Washington down to his own day. In recognition of his high
attainments and signally useful public services Lawrence University in 1893
conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

    Governor Flower was married, in 1859, to Miss Sarah M. Woodruff, daughter of
Norris M. Woodruff, of Watertown, New York, a lady of beautiful character, who
was her husband's active ally in all benevolent and charitable works. Three
children were born to them, of whom a son and a daughter are deceased. The
living child is Emma Gertrude, who is now the wife of J. B. Taylor, of
Watertown, New York.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

Genealogical and Family History of the County of Jefferson 
New York

Compiled Under the Supervision of The Late R. A. Oakes

Volume I

New York    Chicago
The Lewis Publishing Company
1905

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