Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Dorsheimer, William

DORSHEIMER, William, journalist, h. in Lyons, N. Y., 5 Feb., 1832; d. in Savannah, Ga., 26 March, 1888. His father was Philip Dorsheimer, a wealthy citizen of Buffalo, one of the founders of the republican party. William entered Harvard in 1849, but at the end of two years impaired health forced him to leave his studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1854. In politics he began as a Democrat, joined the Republican party in 1856, and in 1860 again supported the Republican ticket. In 1859 Harvard gave him the degree of M. A. At the beginning of the civil war he was appointed major on Gen. Frémont's staff, and at the close of the Missouri hundred-days' campaign Maj. Dorsheimer returned to civil life, and published a series of articles in the “Atlantic Monthly,” entitled “Frémont's Hundred Days in Missouri.” In 1867 he was appointed by President Johnson U. S. district attorney for the northern district of New York. His term expired in 1871. In the Democratic state convention of 1874 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor, with Samuel J. Tilden as candidate for governor, and both were elected, Mr. Dorsheimer having a majority of 51,488 over his opponent. In the prosecution of the measures against the Canal ring, Mr. Dorsheimer was an efficient worker. He was re-elected lieutenant-governor, serving from 1 Jan., 1875, till 1 Jan., 1880. In 1875 he was appointed a commissioner of the state survey, and in 1883 one of the commissioners of the state reservation at Niagara, being elected chairman of the latter commission. In 1882 he was elected to congress from the 7th district of New York, and became a member of the judiciary committee, and was also chairman on the part of the house of the joint committee having in charge the proceedings of congress on the completion of the Washington monument. He was a member of the Liberal Republican national convention held in Cincinnati in May, 1872, and also of the Democratic convention held in St. Louis in 1876, a member of the committee on resolutions in the latter body, and reported the platform. He contributed to periodical literature, delivered occasional addresses, and took part as a public speaker in various political canvasses. In 1884 he published a biography of Grover Cleveland, the Democratic candidate for the presidency, and in July, 1885, was appointed U. S. attorney for the southern district of New York, which office he resigned in March, 1886. In September, 1885, he purchased the New York “Star,” and began its publication as a daily paper on 15 Sept. of that year. Mr. Dorsheimer was one of the founders and original officers of the Buffalo fine arts academy and the Buffalo historical society.