Richard Mott (politician)

Richard Mott (July 21, 1804 – January 22, 1888) was an American businessman and politician who served as mayor of Toledo, Ohio and as a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1855 to 1859.

Biography
Born to Quaker parents in Mamaroneck, New York, Mott attended a Quaker boarding school and seminary in Dutchess County, New York.

Business career
In 1815, he moved with his parents to New York City, in 1818 became a clerk in a store, and in 1824 engaged in banking. He moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1836 and engaged in the real estate business and other enterprises. He assisted in building the first railroad west of Utica, from Toledo to Adrian, and served as mayor of Toledo in 1845 and 1846.

Congress
Mott was a Democrat in politics until 1848, when he entered actively into the antislavery movement. He was elected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth and reelected as a Republican to the Thirty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1855 – March 3, 1859). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1858. He returned to Toledo, and engaged in banking and the real estate business. He served as chairman of the citizens' military committee during the Civil War. Mott was also an advocate of woman suffrage.

Death
He died in Toledo on January 22, 1888. He was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.

Family
He was the brother of James Mott and brother-in-law of the American female agitator, Lucretia Mott and brother-in-law to abolitionist Lindley Murray Moore.