Hugh Maxwell

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American politician

title: "Hugh Maxwell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1787-births", "1873-deaths", "politicians-from-paisley,-renfrewshire", "scottish-emigrants-to-the-united-states", "new-york-county-district-attorneys", "collectors-of-the-port-of-new-york", "columbia-college,-columbia-university-alumni", "19th-century-new-york-(state)-politicians", "presidents-of-the-saint-andrew's-society-of-the-state-of-new-york"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "people/1780s" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Maxwell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image	Hugh Maxwell (1787-1873) 1964 35.jpeg
office	Collector of the Port of New York
president	Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
term_start	1849
term_end	1853
predecessor	Cornelius W. Lawrence
successor	Greene C. Bronson
office1	New York County District Attorney
term_start1	1821
term_end1	1829
predecessor1	Pierre C. Van Wyck
successor1	Ogden Hoffman
term_start2	1817
term_end2	1818
predecessor2	John Rodman
successor2	Pierre C. Van Wyck
birth_date	1787
birth_place	Paisley, Scotland
death_date
death_place	New York City, U.S.
alma_mater	Columbia College
party	Whig
parents	William Maxwell
spouse	Agnes Stevenson
children	4
::

Early life

Maxwell was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1787. He was the son of William Maxwell.

After immigrating to the United States in 1790 around the age of three, he graduated from Columbia College in 1808 where he was classmates and close friends with Gulian C. Verplanck, later a New York State Senator and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

After graduating from Columbia, he studied law and was admitted to the bar and built up a lucrative practice. In 1814, during the War of 1812, he was appointed Assistant Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army.

New York County District Attorney

From 1817 to 1818 and again from 1821 to 1829, he was New York County District Attorney. On September 15, 1826, Jacob Barker, Henry Eckford, and other leaders of Tammany Hall were indicted for allegedly committing millions of dollars in acts of fraud against banks, insurance companies, and private citizens, and Maxwell subsequently prosecuted them for "conspiracy to defraud." The first trial ended in a hung jury in October 1826, although some defendants were convicted in a second trial. Eckford, a famous shipbuilder and entrepreneur of the time, was not prosecuted again after the first trial and sought an apology and public statement of his innocence from Maxwell, but succeeded only in getting Maxwell to make a statement that Eckford had been duped by others into illegal acts. Eckford challenged Maxwell to a duel in December 1827, but Maxwell ignored him.

Collector of the Port of New York

After his term as New York County District Attorney ended in 1829, he resumed his law practice for the next twenty years, occupying a prominent position in the New York bar, along with his law partner, Ogden Hoffman.

An ardent Whig, in 1849, Maxwell was appointed by President Zachary Taylor as Collector of the Port of New York and remained in office through the Fillmore Administration until 1853, when his term expired. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law, but retired after a few years.

Personal life

Maxwell was married to Agnes Stevenson (1796–1866), with whom he had four children: Hugh Maxwell, John Stevenson Maxwell (1847–1918), Ann Eliza Maxwell, and Agnes Maxwell.

He was a member of the New-York Historical Society and was elected a member of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York in 1811, serving as manager from 1826 to 1828, second vice-president from 1828 to 1832, first vice-president from 1832 to 1835, and as President from 1835 to 1837. He was known for his love of classic literature and he entertained friends, including Thurlow Weed, William C. Rhinelander (grandfather of T.J. Oakley Rhinelander) and James Lenox, at his library, considered one of the best private collections in New York.

Maxwell died on March 31, 1873, at his residence, 14 St. Marks Place in New York City. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack, New York.

References

"Hugh Maxwell (1787-1873)". [[New-York Historical Society]].
Jampoler, Andrew C. A. "Who Was Henry Eckford?" ''Naval History'', December 2007, Pages 38–45.
"History of the Office". [[New York County District Attorney.
(1914). "American State Trials: A Collection of the Important and Interesting Criminal Trials which Have Taken Place in the United States from the Beginning of Our Government to the Present Day". Thomas Law Books.
(1827). "Trial of Jacob Barker, Thomas Vermilya, and Matthew L. Davis, for Alleged Conspiracy: Testimony as Reported by Hugh Maxwell, Esq., District Attorney, and Certified for the Use of the Supreme Court, by Ogden Edwards, Esq., the Judge Before Whom the Cause was Tried at the Circuit, in August, 1827". Coke Law-Press.
(1996). "Tocqueville in America". [[JHU Press]].
(1858). "The New York Civil List: Containing the names and origin of the civil divisions, and the names and dates of election or appointment of the principal state and county officers from the Revolution to the present time". Weed, Parsons and Co..
(1906). "History of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York, 1756-1906". [[Saint Andrew's Society of the State of NY]].
(15 July 1873). "The Law Institute.; Presentation of Bequests from the Late Hugh Maxwell.". [[The New York Times]].

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