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Henry Walter DePuy
American lawyer, diplomat, and public official (1819–1876)
Henry Walter DePuy (1819 – February 2, 1876) was an American lawyer, diplomat, and public official. He served as private secretary to New York Governor Horatio Seymour, as United States Consul and Secretary of Legation in Germany, and later as Secretary of the Nebraska Territory during its transition to statehood. He also worked as an Indian agent to the Pawnees.
Biography
DePuy was born in 1819 in Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, the son of Jacob Rutsen DePuy and Polly Clement.[1]
He married Theodosia Elizabeth Thomas in 1842.[1] In the 1850 United States Census, DePuy, then age 30, was living in Wheatland Township, Will County, Illinois, with his wife and children.[2]
After the death of his first wife, DePuy married Eliza (or Elvira) M. Gilchrist in New York County on November 3, 1855.[3][4] By 1860 he was living in Fontanelle, Washington County, Nebraska Territory.[5]
According to Appletons’ Cyclopedia of American Biography (1876), DePuy practiced law and was private secretary to Governor Horatio Seymour of New York from 1853 to 1854.[6] He later served as U.S. Consul at Carlsrühe and as Secretary of Legation at Berlin from 1854 until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. He was appointed secretary of the Nebraska Territory and later acted as Indian agent to the Pawnees.[6]
DePuy was a member of the First Nebraska Territorial Legislature, which first met January 15, 1855.
From December 3, 1860, to January 11, 1861 – while residing at Fontanelle, Nebraska – DePuy was Speaker of the Nebraska Territorial House of Representatives.
DePuy died on February 2, 1876. His obituary appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on February 8, 1876.[7] His widow, Elvira, began receiving a Civil War pension in 1910.[8]
Published works
Legacy
DePuy’s career illustrates the movement of professionals into the political and diplomatic life of mid-19th-century America. His service in both New York and the Nebraska Territory, and his involvement with Native American affairs as Pawnee agent, were noted in contemporary reference works such as Appletons’ Cyclopedia of American Biography.[6]
Bibliography
Annotations
Notes
- Re-Union of the Sons and Daughters of the Old Town of Pompey; Held at Pompey Hill, June 29, 1871, Proceedings of the Meeting, Speeches, Toasts and Other Incidents of the Occasion. Also, A History of the Town, Reminiscences and Biographical Sketches of Its Early Inhabitants. “Henry Walter DePuy”. Publication Committee: William White Van Brocklin (1826–1911), LeRoy Morgan (1810–1880), Richard Field Stevens (1818–), Ebenezer Butler (1829–1894), Homer DeLois Sweet (1826–1893). Pompey: Published by Direction of the Re-Union Meeting. 1875. pp. 395–396. Retrieved September 15, 2025 – via Internet Archive (Library of Congress).
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References
Secondary
Primary
Tertiary
- ^ a b Lineage Book of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Vol. 96 (1912).
- ^ United States Census, 1850, United States census, Wheatland Township, Will County, Illinois.
- ^ [… “New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829–1938”].
- ^ [… “U.S. Newspaper Extractions from the Northeast, 1704–1930”].
- ^ United States Census, 1860, United States census, Fontanelle, Washington County, Nebraska Territory.
- ^ a b c Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 2. 1876.
- ^ “Obituary of Hon. Henry Walter DePuy”. Watertown Daily Times. February 8, 1876.
- ^ “U.S., Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861–1934”. National Archives – via Ancestry.
