Jonas Platt

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American politician (1769–1834)

title: "Jonas Platt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1769-births", "1834-deaths", "members-of-the-new-york-state-assembly", "new-york-(state)-state-senators", "politicians-from-poughkeepsie,-new-york", "politicians-from-herkimer-county,-new-york", "new-york-supreme-court-justices", "livingston-family", "federalist-party-united-states-representatives-from-new-york-(state)", "19th-century-new-york-state-court-judges", "19th-century-members-of-the-new-york-state-legislature", "18th-century-united-states-representatives", "18th-century-members-of-the-new-york-state-legislature", "candidates-in-the-1810-united-states-elections"] description: "American politician (1769–1834)" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Platt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1769–1834) ::

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

Field	Value
image	Brooklyn Museum - Jonas Platt - Samuel Finley Breese Morse - overall.jpg
caption	Portrait of Platt, by Samuel F. B. Morse, 1828
office1	Member of the New York State Senate
term_start1	July 1, 1809
term_end1	June 30, 1813
state2	New York
district2	9th
term_start2	March 4, 1799
term_end2	March 3, 1801
predecessor2	John Williams
successor2	Benjamin Walker
office3	Member of the New York State Assembly
term_start3	July 1, 1795
term_end3	June 30, 1796
birth_date
birth_place	Poughkeepsie, Province of New York, British America
death_date
death_place	Peru, New York, United States
party	Federalist
parents	Zephaniah Platt
Mary Van Wyck Platt
spouse	Helena Livingston
children	8, including Zephaniah
relations	Charles Z. Platt (brother)
::

Early life

Platt was born on June 30, 1769, in Poughkeepsie, Province of New York, in what was then British America. He was the son of patriot politician and lawyer Zephaniah Platt (1735–1807), who founded Plattsburgh, New York, and his second wife, Mary Van Wyck Platt (1742–1809). Among his siblings was New York State Treasurer Charles Z. Platt.

After attending a French Academy at Montreal, Quebec, Platt studied law under Richard Varick in New York City and was admitted to the bar in 1790.

Career

He practiced law in Poughkeepsie and served as the county clerk of Herkimer County, New York, from 1791 to 1798. He was also the county clerk of Oneida County, New York, from 1798 to 1802. He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1796.

Platt was elected as a Federalist to the 6th United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1799, to March 3, 1801. He was the Chair of the United States House Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business.

Following his Congressional service, Platt resumed practicing law in New York and concurrently served as a General in the Cavalry in the New York State Militia.

Platt served as a member of the New York State Senate from 1809 to 1813. As a member of the Senate, Platt was an active promoter of the Erie Canal and worked to advance legislation to spur its construction.

In 1810, he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor, and in 1813, served as a member of the Council of Appointment.

From 1814 to 1821, Platt was an associate justice of the New York Supreme Court. He was a delegate to the New York Constitutional Convention in 1821.

Personal life

He married Helena Livingston (1767–1859), the daughter of Dr. Henry Livingston and Susannah Storm (née Conklin) Livingston, of the Livingston family. She was also the sister of Continental Congressman Gilbert Livingston, the Rev. Dr. John Henry Livingston, president of Queen's College, and author Henry Livingston Jr. (the grandfather of U.S. Senator Sidney Breese and Admiral Samuel Livingston Breese), among others. Together, Jonas and Helena were the parents of eight children, including:

Susan Jonasse Platt (1793–1843), who married Richard Ray Lansing (d. 1855).
Zephaniah Platt (1796–1871), the Michigan Attorney General.
Helen Livingston Platt (1798–1876), who married Truman Parmelee (1801–1845). After his death, she married Dr. Henry W. Bell.

Platt died on February 22, 1834, in Peru, Clinton County, New York and was buried at the Riverside Cemetery in Plattsburgh.

References

"PLATT, Jonas - Biographical Information". [[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]].
"Jonas Platt {{!}} Associate Justice of the New York Supreme Court of Judicature, 1814-1823". [[New York Court of Appeals.
"Jonas Platt".
"History of the New York State Canals".
(1910). "The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants". Knickerbocker Press.
(15 May 1893). "Col. Theodore Weld Parmele.". [[The New York Times]].
(1891). "The Platt Lineage: A Genealogical Research and Record". T. Whittaker.

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