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J. De Witt Warner

American politician (1851–1925)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ2161525 ↗
Source-derived summary

John DeWitt Warner (October 30, 1851 – May 27, 1925) served as a U.S. Representative for parts of Manhattan, including Midtown, Hell's Kitchen, and Chelsea, from 1891 to 1895.

Early life and education

Born on a farm near Reading, New York, Warner moved with his parents to Big Stream (later Glenora), New York, and later to Rock Stream, New York. He completed preparatory studies and attended the district schools and Starkey Seminary, Eddytown, New York. Warner graduated from Cornell University in 1872 and from Albany Law School in 1876.

Prior to attending law school, Warner taught at the Ithaca and Albany Academies for four years. Upon graduation, he began practicing law in New York City. He was elected as an Alumni Trustee of Cornell in June 1882.

Career

Warner was president of the American Free Trade League from 1905 to 1909, and served as special counsel for the dock department advising on terminal work in 1911 and 1912. He served on a commission to revise the New York banking laws in 1913.

Warner was a charter member of Cornell's chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon and a member of the Irving Literary Society.

Editorial summary

“J. De Witt Warner” enters the record as american politician (1851–1925). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Witt, Warner and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1851, 1925, 1891, 1895—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1851-10-30. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Witt, Warner and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“J. De Witt Warner” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Witt, Warner and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

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 Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2161525. VIAF identifies the subject as 19238390. The Library of Congress control number is no90002325. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1851, 1925, 1891 and 1895.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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
Verify next

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 “J. De Witt Warner”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow J. De Witt Warner primary sources, J. De Witt Warner 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

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “J. De Witt Warner”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “J. De Witt Warner” 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.