Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Schoonmaker, Augustus

SCHOONMAKER, Augustus, lawyer, b. in Rochester, Ulster co., N. Y., 2 March, 1828; d. in Kingston, 10 April, 1894. He was educated in common schools and by private study, worked on his father's farm, taught for several years, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and practised in Kingston, N. Y. He was town superintendent of common schools for several years, and county judge of Ulster county from 1864 till 1872. In 1876-'7 he was a member of the state senate, and in 1878-'9 he was attorney-general of New York. From 1883 till 1887 he served as a civil service commissioner of the state, and on the constitution of the inter-state commerce commission in 1887 he was appointed one of its members.