Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Mott, Richard

MOTT, Richard, congressman, b. in Mamaroneck, Westchester co., N. Y., 21 July, 1804; d. in Toledo, Ohio, 22 Jan., 1888. His parents were Quakers. Richard attended a Friends' boarding-school, went to New York city with his family in 1815, in 1818 became clerk in a store, and in 1824 entered a bank. In 1836 became a merchant in Toledo, Ohio, which was thenceforward his home. He assisted in building the first railroad west of Utica, from Toledo to Adrian, and was mayor of his adopted city in 1845-'6. He was a Democrat in politics till 1848, when he entered actively into the antislavery movement, and in 1855-'9 was a member of congress, being chosen as an anti-Nebraska candidate. Mr. Mott was also an advocate of woman suffrage. Mrs. Lucretia Mott was the wife of his elder brother, James.