William Christian Bouck (7 January 1786-19 April 1859) was the Democratic Governor of New York from 1 January 1843 to 31 December 1844, succeeding William H. Seward and preceding Silas Wright.
Biography[]
William Christian Bouck was born in Fultonham, Schoharie County, New York in 1786, the brother of Joseph Bouck. He worked as a farmer before becoming Fulton's town clerk in 1807, serving as town supervisor from 1808 to 1809, as Sheriff of Schoharie County from 1812 to 1813, as a militia colonel, in the State Assembly from 1813 to 1816 and from 1817 to 1818, in the State Senate from 1821 to 1822, on the Erie Canal Commission from 1821 to 1840, as a leader of Martin Van Buren's "Albany Regency" faction of the Democratic Party in New York, as a member of the party's conservative "Hunker" faction, as Governor of New York from 1843 to 1844 (presiding over the state government's response to the Anti-Rent War), on the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York from 1845 to 1847, and as Assistant United States Treasurer in New York City from 1846 to 1849, and he retired to Fulton, where he died in 1859.