Schuyler Colfax
Jul 16th 2008carverCongressional Funeral Delegation & Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885)
Colfax was born on March 23 in New York City, 5 months after his father’s passing from TB. Attending the common schools and clerking in a retail store, young Colfax was bright and intelligent. His mother remarried George Matthews who 2 years later (1836) moved the family to Indiana. At the age of 19, Colfax was hired to be the editor of the South Bend Free Press newspaper. A few years later the young editor (who was anti-slavery) would buy the paper, which became one of the more influential papers in the state during his 18 years as editor.