Timothy Childs

Biography

Timothy Childs, Jr. was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on January 1, 1790. He graduated from Williams College in 1811 and Litchfield Law School in 1814. He completed his studies at the Albany firm of Harmanus Bleecker, afterwards practicing law in New York, first in Canandaigua, and then in Rochester.

Originally a Federalist, while residing in Canandaigua, Childs served in offices including Ontario County Commissioner and the judicial position of Master in Chancery.

In 1817 he married Catherine Adams.

He served as Monroe County, New York District Attorney from 1821 to 1831, the first to hold this position. He served as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1828, and in the late 1820s he also served as Monroe County Judge.

Childs was elected as an Anti-Mason to the Twenty-first Congress (March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1831). After his term expired he returned to practicing law in Rochester.

In December, 1830 he married Louisa S. Dickinson of North Carolina in a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia. Louisa Stewart Shepherd was the widow of Joel Dickinson.

In 1833 he was elected again to the New York State Assembly.

In 1834 he was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress. He was reelected as a Whig in 1836, and served from March 4, 1835 to March 3, 1839. During his 1837 to 1839 term Childs was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office Department.

Childs was elected to Congress again as a Whig in 1840 and served one term, March 4, 1841 to March 3, 1843.

He resumed practicing law following the completion of his final term in Congress. In the late 1840s Childs traveled to Saint Croix, where he went in an effort to improve his health. He died aboard the ship Emily on November 25, 1847 while en route from Saint Croix to the United States. Childs was buried in Pittsfield Cemetery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.