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De Witt C. Flanagan

American politician (1870-1946)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ1180513 ↗
Source-derived summary

De Witt Clinton Flanagan (December 28, 1870 – January 15, 1946) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who briefly represented the 4th congressional district from 1902 to 1903.

Early life and career

Flanagan was born in New York City on December 28, 1870. He attended the Callison and Woodbridge private schools and Columbia College.

He pursued a commercial career, with interests in a number of industrial enterprises.

Congress

He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joshua S. Salmon, and served in office from June 18, 1902, to March 3, 1903.

Later career and death

After leaving Congress, he was a delegate to the 1904 Democratic National Convention.

Together with August Belmont, he was one of the organizers of the Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Co., which built and operated the Cape Cod Canal. He engaged in the agricultural and civic development of Baldwin County, Alabama.

He died in Utica, New York on January 15, 1946, and was interred in the family mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

References

Notes

This article incorporates public domain material from Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “De Witt C. Flanagan” as american politician (1870-1946). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Witt, Flanagan and American.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1870, 1946, 1902, 1903—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1870-12-28. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Witt, Flanagan and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “De Witt C. Flanagan”, the useful work is to connect “american politician (1870-1946)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1180513. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1870, 1946, 1902 and 1903.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “De Witt C. Flanagan”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow De Witt C. Flanagan primary sources, De Witt C. Flanagan archive and Witt research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “De Witt C. Flanagan” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.