Alfred Pelig Edgerton

Life Summary

	1813 — Born in Plattsburg, NY. Later educated in Plattsburg and Albany.
	1833 — Newspaper editor in Plattsburg.
	1833 — Moved to NYC for mercantile trade. Bookkeeper in counting house of Hicks and Company, a shipping firm.
	1837 — Sent to Ohio as a land agent for Hicks and American Land Companies who owned 18,000 of 20,040 acres in Hicksville Twp. and well over 100,000 acres in adjacent areas.
	1838 — Postmaster, having brought the first post office off the main line into Hicksville.
	1838–1839 — Built mills used to process timber from area forests. Rebuilt them in 1840 and 1841 following fires. Timber trade more profitable than land sales at this point.
	1840 — Built the Land Office, from which more than 140,000 acres sold to settlers, an amount surpassed in northwest Ohio only by the government. Generous and wise credit extensions as needed.
	1841 — Vacated most lots and reconfigured Hicksville streets and lots.
	1845 — Established the first toll road in the Maumee Basin, the Antwerp Pike, originally a corduroy road, now Ohio Route 49 South.
	1845 — Elected to Ohio State Senate. Led opposition to Whig Party.
	1848–1864 — Delegate to four Democratic National Conventions. Presiding chairman in 1856; organizing chairman in 1864.

	1850–1853 — Served in the U. S. House of Representatives. Chaired committee investigating claims against the U. S. Treasury. No findings were ever overturned.
	1850–1880 — Donated land and/or money for establishment of Hicksville churches.
	1853–1856 — Ohio Board of Fund Commissioners elect Edgerton as its first Independent Financial Agent for the State of Ohio in NYC.
	1854 — Edgerton, Ohio named for A. P. Edgerton in honor of his good works.
	1857 — Moved to Fort Wayne but retained Ohio citizenship until 1862.
	1858 — Investigated fraud in the Ohio State Treasury.
	1859–1868 — Lessee of Wabash and Erie Canal from State Line to Terra Haute. President and General Manager in 1866.
	1864 — Donated Antwerp Pike to County Commissioners.
	1868 — Narrowly defeated for Indiana Lieutenant Governor.
	1872 — Declined nomination for Indiana Governor.
	1872 — President of newly formed Fort Wayne Board of Trade.
	1873 — Began negotiations with B & O Railroad to divert its line from Newville to Hicksville. Donated land for right-of-way through Defiance County.
	1873 — Used personal fortune to cover business debts of brother on strength of verbal agreement.
	1878 — Edgerton and family donate Hicksville land for Defiance County Fairgrounds.
	1885–1889 — Appointed by President Grover Cleveland as first president of the U. S. Civil Service Commission. His successor was Theodore Roosevelt.
	Unknown — Headed School Board of Fort Wayne. Trustee of Purdue University and the Agricultural, Mechanical College of Indiana.
	1897 — Died in Hicksville, Ohio, where he had maintained a summer home.