Thomas J. Van Alstyne

Who was Thomas J. Van Alstyne?

Thomas Jefferson Van Alstyne was a U.S. Representative from New York.

Born in Richmondville, New York, Van Alstyne attended the common schools, Moravia Academy, and Hartwick Seminary, and graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1848. He studied law in Albany, New York. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and commenced practice in that city. He served as judge advocate with the rank of major during the Civil War. He served as judge of Albany County 1871-1882.

Van Alstyne was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1884 to the Forty-ninth Congress. He resumed the practice of law. He served as mayor of Albany, New York from 1898 to 1900. He died in Albany, New York, October 26, 1903. He was interred in the Rural Cemetery.