Wilson Shannon Bissell (December 31, 1847 – October 6, 1903) was an American politician from New York and considered one of the foremost Democratic leaders of Western New York.[1]
Early life
Bissell was born on December 31, 1847, in New London, Oneida County, New York. He was the son of John Bissell (1808–1889), a prominent forwarding merchant in Buffalo,[2] and Isabella Jeanette (née Hally) Bissell (1813–1885). His older brother, Arthur D. Bissell, was the president of the New York State Bankers Association and president of the People's Bank of Buffalo.[1] He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry.[3]
Following his graduation from Yale, he began the study of law in Buffalo with Lanning, Cleveland & Folsom.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1871 and began practicing.[1]
Apgar's Corners in Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, was renamed in 1893 to the village of Bissell in an effort to sway him into ordering that a post office be created in the settlement. A small post office building (no longer in existence) was established soon thereafter.[8]
From 1902 until his death in 1903, Bissell served as the Chancellor of the University of Buffalo.[9]
Personal life
On February 6, 1890, Bissell married Louise Fowler Sturges (1866–1921) of Geneva, New York.[1] They were the parents of one child.[2]
Bissell died at age 55 on October 6, 1903, at his residence in Buffalo, New York.[10] After a funeral at Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo (where former President Cleveland was a pallbearer),[3] his body was cremated and his ashes were buried in the family lot at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo.[10]
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