Biography

US Congressman. Elected to represent New York's 28th District in the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1849 to 1853. He also served as the 3rd Mayor of Rochester, New York, from 1836 to 1837. 

Abraham Maus Schermerhorn was born on December 11, 1791 in Schenectady. He completed preparatory studies and graduated from Union College in 1810. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1812, and in 1813 moved to Rochester.

He became the "money king" of the Genesee region as the secretary of Rochester's first bank, before becoming a supervisor of the city in 1834. In 1837, he became the third mayor of Rochester but resigned after two months to become secretary to the New York State Senate. He became a member of the New York State Assembly (Monroe Co., 2nd D.) in 1848, and was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, representing New York's 28th congressional district holding office from March 4, 1849 to March 3, 1853.

He married Helen White. Their daughter, Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor (1830-1908), married William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892), the son of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. (1792–1875) and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong (1800–1872).

In 1855, he died in Savin Rock, near West Haven, Connecticut. He was interred in Mount Hope Cemetery, Rochester.