Dittenhoefer, Abram Jesse

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DITTENHOEFER, ABRAM JESSE

DITTENHOEFER, ABRAM JESSE (1836–1919), U.S. lawyer. Dittenhoefer, born in Charleston, South Carolina, son of German immigrants, was raised in New York City where he practiced law. A recognized authority on theatrical and copyright law, Dittenhoefer served as counsel to leading corporations and to the New York City Board of Aldermen. He was a judge of the City Court (1862–64). A lifelong Republican, Dittenhoefer cast an electoral vote in 1864 for Abraham Lincoln, was a delegate to Republican party national conventions, and served as chairman of the central committee of German Republicans for many years. He wrote How We Elected Lincoln: Personal Recollections of Lincoln and Men of his Time (1916).

bibliography:

National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 36 (1950), 147–8; New York Times (Feb. 24, 1919), 13 (obituary).

[Morton Rosenstock]