James O. Putnam

James Osborne Putnam (July 4, 1818 – April 24, 1903) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

Life
Putnam was born July 4, 1818, in Attica, New York. He was the son of Congressman Harvey Putnam (1793–1855) and Myra Osborne (1795–1863). He was the great-grandson of Col. Benjamin Simonds on his maternal side. He was educated at Middlebury Academy in Wyoming, New York, and attended Hamilton College through his Sophomore year. In 1837 entered the Junior class at Yale College where he graduated in 1839. Putnam then studied law under the direction of his father, and was admitted to the Bar in 1841. He commenced practice in Buffalo, New York. Putnam was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the Attica & Buffalo Railroad Company in 1844 and of the Buffalo & Rochester Railroad Company in 1846. He also served as their attorney until they merged into the New York Central Railroad in 1853. President Millard Fillmore appointed Putnam as Postmaster of Buffalo.

In 1854–1855, Putnam was elected member of the 77th and 78th New York State Senate to represent the 31st District. He was a Conservative Whig, but opposed slavery in the United States territories and was the author of the Church Property Bill of 1855.

At the 1857 New York state election, he ran on the American party ticket for Secretary of State of New York, but was defeated by Democrat Gideon J. Tucker.

He was a presidential elector in 1860, voting for Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin.

In 1861, Putnam was appointed United States Consul at Havre, France by President Abraham Lincoln and held the position for the duration of the Civil War.

In 1865, Yale University gave Putnam a Master of Arts degree.

In 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Putnam as U.S. Minister to Belgium and held this position until 1882.

He was Chancellor of the University of Buffalo from 1895 to 1902.

Putnam was a member of the Buffalo Historical Society, University Club, and Saturn Club of Buffalo.

On January 5, 1842, he married Harriet Foster Palmer (died 1853), and they had four children. On March 15, 1855, he married Kate Frances Wright (1835–1895), and they had three sons.

He died April 24, 1903, in Buffalo, New York, and was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery.