(From: New York Bank History. By Bob Kerstein, President of Scripophily.com)
1873 Established Central Trust Company of New YorkNew York Bank History C / Scripophily.com
05/01/1901 Acquire By Merger Continental National Bank of New York
05/01/1912 Acquire By Merger Gallatin National Bank of the City of New York
03/01/1918 Acquire By Merger Union Trust Company of New York
03/01/1918 Name Change To Central Union Trust Company of New York
04/01/1927 Acquire By Merger Greenwich National Bank of City of New York
05/01/1929 Acquire By Merger Hanover Bank of the City of New York
05/01/1929 Name Change To Central Hanover Bank and Trust Co.
06/01/1951 Name Change To Hanover Bank
09/08/1961 Merge To State Manufacturers Trust Company
09/08/1961 Name Change To Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company
06/19/1992 Merge To State Chemical Bank
07/14/1996 Name Change To Chase Manhattan Bank, The
The Central Trust Company of New-York, No. 14 Nassau-st., corner of Pine-st.: Henry F. Spaulding, President; Benjamin B. Sherman and Frederick H. Cossitt, Vice Presidents; C.H.P. Babcock, Secretary. Board of Trustees: Samuel D. Babcock, Jonathan Thorne, Isaac N. Phelps, Josiah M. Fiske, Charles G. Landon, Edmund W. Corlies, Frederick H. Cossitt, William H. Appleton, Gustav Schwab, David Dows, Martin Bates, William Allen Butler, James P. Wallace, Benjamin B. Sherman, George W. Lane, Jacob D. Vermilye, George Macculloch Miller, Roswell Skeel, A.A. Low, Amos R. Eno, Charles G. Francklyn, William H. Webb, J. Pierpont Morgan, Percy R. Pyne, Charles Abernethy, Henry F. Spaulding, and David Wolfe Bishop. (Classified Ad 12. Oct. 9, 1877 p.6.) Charles Abernethy left in 1878. (Classified Ad 5, Apr. 19, 1878 p. 6.) Cornelius N. Bliss became a trustee in 1879. (Classified Ad 4. New York Times, Jul. 9, 1879 p.6.)
Spaulding was a partner of Spaulding, Vail, Fuller & Co. He was
a director of the Great Western (Marine) Insurance Company, along with
NYGIC directors Samuel D. Babcock, J. Boorman Johnston, and Richard
Lathers, its president (Financial. New York Times, Jan. 20, 1859 p. 7.)
Spaulding was a director of the Queen Insurance Company of Liverpool
& London, along with NYGIC directors Samuel D. Babcock, Martin
Bates, Josiah M. Fiske, and J. Boorman Johnston. (Classified Ad 3. New
York Times, Jan. 22, 1880 p. 6.) He was a director of the Mechanics'
National Bank, along with Benjamin B. Sherman, Alexander E. Orr, David
L. Wallace, and Anson Phelps Stokes. (Classified Ad 8. New York Times,
Jan. 11, 1883 p. 9.)
Benjamin Borden Sherman (1810-1885), of Eatontown, N.J., came to New York in 1830. He became a partner in the wholesale grocery firm of McCoon & Sherman, which went out of existence in 1863 when Sherman became associated with Peter Moller in the sugar refining business. He became a vice president of the Merchants' National Bank, which he resigned in 1872 to become President of the Mechanics' National Bank. He resigned in 1882 after suffering a stroke, although continuing as a director in both the Mechanics' and Merchants' Banks. He was also a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Royal Insurance Company, and the Bleecker-Street Savings Bank. (Obituary. New York Times, May 3, 1885.) He was a leading lay member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, whose absence was noted by Assistant Bishop Potter. (In Centennial Cenvention. New York Times, Oct. 2, 1885.)
Frederick H. Cossitt (1811-1887) was born in Granby, Conn., where his French ancestors settled as early as 1720. In 1827, he joined a relative's dry goods business in Memphis, Tenn. [Cossitt, Hill & Co.]. In 1850, he came to New York and invested in real estate. He was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and a director in the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and the Greenwich Savings Bank, as well as Vice-President of the Central Trust. (Obituary 1. New York Times, Sep. 24, 1887 p.2.) He was also a trustee of the Home Life Insurance in various years (1858, 1863, 1871). His daughter, Helen, was married to Augustus D. Juilliard of the Guaranty Trust. (Mrs. A.D. Juilliard, Long Ill, Is Dead. New York Times, Apr. 3, 1916.) Another daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Col. Thomas Stokes, of the Phelps-Stokes family, and a third daughter, May, was married to George Egleston Dodge, the son of William E. Dodge (George E. Dodge's Funderal. New York Times, Apr. 30, 1904.) Cossitt left public bequests to Presbyterian Hospital, National Temperance Society and Publication House, and the American Bible Society (Mr. Cossitt's Bequests. New York Times, Oct. 28, 1887.) Henry Talmadge of the Central Trust was his brother-in-law.
Isaac Newton Phelps (1804-1888), partner of Phelps, Stokes & Company, Bankers. Travelers' credits, circular notes, and commercial credits throughout the world; London correspondents: The Union Bank of London and J. Hambro & Sons. Phelps, Stokes & Co. was formed when the metal importing firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., broke up. (Phelps, Dodge & Co. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1878.) In the New York Times, Jan. 8, 1880, p. 7, Phelps, Stokes & Co. stated that "Mr. F.P. Olcott has an interest in our business." On Apr. 20, 1880, p. 6, Olcott was listed as a partner of I.N. Phelps, James Stokes, and Anson Phelps Stokes.
Isaac N. Phelps left the hardware trade in 1853 and joined his cousin, John J. Phelps (the father of William Walter Phelps, Skull & Bones 1860, New Jersey Congressman and minister to Germany in 1889-93, who married the daughter of the founder of Yale's Sheffield Scientific School and fathered Sheffield Phelps, S&B 1886), in real estate speculation in the business section of New York City. He was the founder of the Mercantile Bank, one of the founders of the Second National Bank, the principal stockholder and Managing Director of the United States Trust Company, a director and one-time vice president of the Greenwich Bank, a stockholder in the Metropolitan Trust Company, the Mercantile Fire Insurance Company, the United States Life Insurance Company, the Central Trust Company, the Fifth-Avenue Safe Deposit Company, and the Hamilton Bank, and a large holder of gas stocks; and, in the distant past, a director of the Erie Railroad. (Obituary. Isaac Newton Phelps. New York Times, Aug. 2, 1888.) In 1878-80, he formed a partnership with his son-in-law, James Stokes (who died in 1881) and Anson Phelps Stokes (1838-1913), the forebear of two successive Bonesmen of that name (S&B 1896 and 1927). Isaac N. Phelps was related to Amos R. Eno, and was involved with him in the Second National Bank.
The Three Anson Phelps Stokes / ChickenBonesIn his will, Phelps left $5,000 to the American Bible Society, $10,000 to the American Home Missionary Society, $5,000 to the American Tract Society, $10,000 to the American Board of Foreign Missions; and lesser amounts to non-religious charities. John A. Stewart, Anson Phelps Stokes, John H. Rhoades, and Fredric P. Olcott were the executors and trustees, who were to receive $20,000 each for their services. (Isaac N. Phelps's Will. New York Times, Aug. 14, 1888.) John Harsen Rhoades (~1838-1906) was the President of the Greenwich Savings Bank, and the father of John Harsen Rhoades Jr. (~1870-1943), who founded Rhoades & Co. which merged with Carl M. Loeb & Co. John A. Stewart was President of the United States Trust Company of New York. He and John Harsen Rhoades, Anson Phelps Stokes, and John J. Phelps were trustees, along with William Rockefeller and James Stillman. (Display Ad 18. New York Times, Apr. 22, 1901, p. WF8.)
Harold F. Linder, the banking partner of A.A.A.S. Treasurer William T. Golden, was admitted as a general partner of Carl M. Loeb & Co. in 1933.
Fred. P. Olcott and J. Harsen Rhoades were directors of the Home Insurance Company of New York in 1887. (New York Times, July 13, 1887, p.8.) George W. Parsons, who was William Allen Butler's partner in Barney, Butler & Parsons, had been a director in 1871.
Sarah Phelps Stokes, daughter of Anson Phelps Stokes and Isaac's granddaughter, married Baron Hugh Colin Gustave George Halkett of Hanover, a partner of the Rothschilds in London, whose name is in Burke although his title is a foreign one. Graham Lusk was an usher. The 300 guests included members of the Vanderbilt, Dodge, Astor, Stokes, Belmont, Ives, Pagot, Parsons, Seward, Roosevelt, James, Sloane, Stevens, Lanier, and Serymser families, and Mr. and Mrs. Grover Cleveland. (Wedded To A Nobleman. New York Times, Feb. 12, 1890.)
Edmund William Corlies (1832-1890): "His business career began with a clerkship in the office of Bucklin & Crane, and a few years later he launched out for himself. In 1858 he formed a partnership with John Caswell under the firm name of John Caswell & Co., and for many years the firm successfully carried on an extensive business with China and Japan. Since the dissolution of the firm, which was caused by Mr. Caswell's death, Mr. Corlies has continued the business on his own account. In January, 1875, Mr. Corlies became a director in the Bank of America, and in October, 1882, he was elected Vice President of the same institution, and in 1888 he was promoted to the Presidency." He was a director in the Central Trust Company, the Continental, German-American, and Atlantic Mutual Fire Insurance Companies of New York, the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company of England, the Brooklyn Savings Bank, and was also a vice-president of the Brooklyn Trust Company. (Obituary. New York Times, Feb. 7, 1890.) He and William Allen Butler were directors of the Security Fire Insurance Company in 1856. (Insurance. New York Times, Jun. 18, 1856 p. 7.) His old business partner, John Caswell, was a director of the New York Guaranty & Indemnity Company.
William H. Appleton (1814-1899) was a son of the founder of the publisher D. Appleton & Co. On one of his visits to Europe, he "struck up a friendship with a Boston merchant of large business experience," and took his advice not to buy anything, which saved the firm from the crash of 1837. (Death of W.H. Appleton. New York Times, Oct. 20, 1899.) He was a trustee of the New York Life Insurance Company, along with David Dows of the NYGIC (Financial. New York Times, Feb. 13, 1857; Display Ad 11. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1892 p. 8.) "One of the pet creations of President William H. Beers of the New-York Life Insurance Company is the Manhattan Safe Deposit and Storage Company in the basement of the New-York Life Building at 346 and 348 Broadway. But for the important fact that the stock of this truly remarkable safe deposit company figures for a very large sum among the sworn assets of the New-York Life no space would be devoted to it." The New York Life held about 99% of its stock, having bought out the worthless stock held by its trustees, who included NY Life trustees Appleton and Dows, plus Central Trust trustee Cornelius N. Bliss, who became Treasurer of the Republican National Committee in 1892. (A Very Poor Investment. New York Times, Nov. 27, 1891.) He was a manager of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, along with Percy R. Pyne of the Central Trust and George F. Baker of the Guaranty Trust. (Lackawanna Elections. New York Times, Feb. 22, 1893.)
William Allen Butler and the Butler law firm founded the Central
Trust. Founder Benjamin F. Butler dated back to the Albany Regency; his
brother, Charles, was a founder of the Union Theological Seminary, and
brother-in-law William B. Ogden was a railroad magnate, mayor of
Chicago, and a founding trustee of the University of Chicago. Partner
Thomas H. Hubbard founded the Interntional Banking Corporation, which
was sold to Frank Vanderlip and became the foundation of Citibank's
international banking network. Butler was the referee for the
Continental Life Insurance Company in 1877.
George William Lane (1818-1883) was the head of George W. Lane & Co., tea traders since 1856. He was a former City Chamberlain, and the longtime President of the New York Chamber of Commerce. His first wife was Anna A. Bulkley, who died in 1860. His second wife was Harriet Lothrop Gilman, a sister of Johns Hopkins University President Daniel Coit Gilman, S&B 1852. She died in 1881, and he married their sister Louisa in 1883. At his death, he was President of the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian Hospital, and a director of the Society for the Promotion of the Gospel Among Seamen. (Obituary. George William Lane. New York Times, Dec. 31, 1883.) William E. Dodge was one of the pallbearers at his funeral, which was attended by numerous wealthy and powerful businessmen (Events in the Metropolis, Funeral of George W. Lane. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1884.) He was a director of the Continental Insurance Company in 1861, along with NYGIC directors Samuel D. Babcock, A.A. Low, and John Caswell; also Hiram Barney of the Butler law firm, and Robert H. McCurdy, the father of Richard A. McCurdy of the Guaranty Trust. (Ad 7. The Independent, Jan. 31, 1861;130(635):7.) Lane was a trustee of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company from at least 1876 to 1883. (Display Ads, New York Times, Jan. 27, 1876; Mar. 7, 1883.) He was a close friend of Daniel Gilman's brother William, who got five years in Sing Sing for funding his philanthropy via forgery of Atlantic Mutual scrip.
Jacob D. Vermilye (~1817-1892) was Cashier of the Merchants' National Bank from 1858-68, a member of its board since 1865, and its President from 1869 until his death. (Died. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1892 p. 5.) He was a brother of Col. Washington R. Vermilye and William M. Vermilye, who founded Vermilye & Co. (The Will of Col. W.R. Vermilye. New York Times, Jan. 8, 1877; William Montgomery Vermilye. New York Times, Jun. 19, 1878.)
George Macculloch Miller (1832-1917) was a law partner of Miller,
Peckham & Dixon, with Wheeler H. Peckham and William P. Dixon, who
was Samuel D. Babcock's son-in-law. He was a director of the New-York,
Providence and Boston Railroad, along with Samuel
D. Babcock and his
half-uncle, David S.
Babcock, and J. Boorman
Johnston of the NYGIC.
(General Railway Notes. New York Times, Dec. 9, 1880.) He founded the
forerunner of the United Hospital Fund, the Hospital Saturday and
Sunday Association of New York, and was its president from 1880 to
1910. "In addition to being the original trustee of the Cathedral of
St. John the Divine, Mr. Miller had been Secretary of the corporation
since 1873, and had been President of St. Luke's Hospital since 1890."
(George M. Miller Dead At 85 Years. New York Times, Nov. 15, 1917.)
Hyman Blum, a partner of the dry goods firm of Leon & H. Blum of
Galveston, Texas, was Vice President of the S&S Association in
1883, and Charles Lanier of the Central Trust was Treasurer. Its Board
of Directors included George Jones, owner of the New York Times. George
W. Lane, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and Morris K. Jesup were
on its Distributing Committee. (The Hospital Collections. New York
Times, Jan. 16, 1883; Fund for the Hospitals. New York Times, Jan. 22,
1889; The Hospital Association. New York Times, Jan. 17, 1893.) The
platform gathering for St. Luke's cornerstone-laying ceremony included
Miller, Percy R. Pyne, Samuel D. Babcock, and Gustav H. Schwab.
(Cornerstone of St. Luke's. New York Times, May 7, 1893.) Miller and J.
Pierpont Morgan were directors of the New-York, New-Haven and Hartford
Railroad (New-Haven and Hartford. New York Times, Oct. 20, 1892; Oct.
19, 1893.) In 1893, a committee was appointed "to take steps to have
Hospital Saturday and Sunday observed throughout the United States."
Members of the committee included Miller, Lanier, Jesup, Samuel D.
Babcock, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jesse Seligman, Jacob H. Schiff, and
Charles Stewart Smith. (Hospital Saturday and Sunday. New York Times,
Nov. 21, 1893.) He was one of the Trustees of the Cathedral of St. John
the Divine, who included Bishop Potter, Chairman; J. Pierpont Morgan,
Treasurer; Samuel D. Babcock and J. Roosevelt Roosevelt, who were named
to the Building Committee; and Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Trustees of the
Cathedral. New York Times, Jan. 25, 1893; Cathedral Trustees Meet. New
York Times, Apr. 27, 1898.) Miller and his son, Hoffman Miller, were
members of the board of managers of St. Luke's Hospital, along with
Percy R. Pyne and his son, J.P. Morgan Jr., Samuel D. Babcock, and
Gustav H. Schwab. (St. Luke's Hospital Managers. New York Times, Oct.
20, 1894.) Miller and J. Pierpont Morgan were pallbearers at Cornelius
Vanderbilt's funeral. (Mr. Vanderbilt's Funeral. New York Times, Sep.
14, 1899.) Miller, Robert Olyphant, James Speyer, Henry R. Kunhardt, Albert H.
Wiggin, Andrew C. Zabriskie, and Frank
L. Polk were on the execuitve
committee of the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association in 1910
(Hospital Association Grows. New York Times, Feb. 16,
1910; New York's Own Needs. New York Times, Nov. 11, 1914.)
One of Miller's daughters married William Bard McVickar, son of William A. McVickar, "a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who for many years had charge of the Episcopal Church at Nice, France," and grandson of Rev. John McVickar, a professor at Columbia College in the early 19th century. McVickar was associated with John E. Parsons for several years, and was a member of the Society of New York Hospital. (Death List of A Day. New York Times, Mar. 31, 1901 p. 7.) Miller's grandson, G. Macculloch Miller, married Cornelius Vanderbilt's granddaughter, Flora Payne Whitney, the daughter of Harry Payne Whitney, S&B 1894. (Mrs. Tower to Wed in Cairo Today. New York Times, Feb. 24, 1927.)
George Macculloch Miller's brother was Commodore Jacob William Miller (1847-1918), who after retiring from the U.S. Navy became General Manager of the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company, of which his brother, Samuel D. Babcock, and G.G. Haven were directors. He re-entered the Navy during the Spanish-American War. (Providence and Stonington Elections. New York Times, Sep. 19, 1895; Com. J.W. Miller Dies of Pneumonia. New York Times, Mar. 9, 1918.) Their father was Jacob Welsh Miller (1800-1862), U.S. Senator, Whig-NJ 1840-53. His mother, Mary Louisa Macculloch, was the daughter of George Perrott Macculloch (1775-1858), who "was born in Bombay, his father being a Scotch officer in the East India service. He was employed during the first Consulate of Napoleon, in various financial negotiations for the East India Company, and came to New-York in 1806." He settled in Morristown, N.J., and was the promoter of the Morris Canal. (Obituary. New York Times, Jun. 7, 1858 p. 5; Obituary 2. New York Times, Jun. 16, 1888 p. 5.) George Macculloch Miller was the active executor of the will of Louise H. Le Clere, "the daughter of Louis Le Clere, one of the younger guards of Napoleon." She left about $240,000 to the French Evangelical Church of New York, and the "Societe Protestante pour l'encouragement de l'instruction primaire en France." (Mlle. Le Clere's Will Is Admitted At Last. New York Times, Aug. 10, 1912.)
George Macculloch Miller / Gencircles.comThe Skeel family had been wealthy since the early 1800s, when
Skeel's father, Theron Skeel, ran packet sloops on the Hudson River out
of the village of Coxsackie. Roswell Skeel was a director of the Bank
of the Commonwealth (Bank Notices. New York Times, May 13, 1853 p. 7;
Died. Oct. 21, 1895 p.5) His brothers, Almet and Rufus Skeel, were
involved in various developments in the West. Their sister, Margaret
Skeel, married Howard Van Wyck of Kenosha, Wis.
Mrs. Skeel, who was Anna Augusta Reed, was on the Executive Committee of the Westchester Temporary Home for Indigent Children, along with Mrs. Richard M. Hoe, who was David Dows's daughter Susan. An inmate who escaped from this home complained of being beaten. "District Attorney Platt says he has heard stories of Superintendant Pierce's fierceness with the cat-o-nine-tails, and that he sometimes uses it too severely." (She Ran Away From the Home. New York Times, Feb. 4, 1894.) The main building subsequently burned to the ground. "[T]he venerable Charles Butler, President of the Union Theological Seminary," was also President of the home, and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid was on the Board of Managers. (Worthy Westchester Charity. New York Times, Mar. 17, 1895.) Mrs. Skeel left $10,000 to the Home, $10,000 to the American Unitarian Association of Boston, and $5,000 to the Church of the Messiah (Unitarian) in New York. (Died. New York Times, Jan. 2, 1900; Bequests of Mrs. Skeel. New York Times, Jan. 20, 1900.)
Amos R. Eno was a founder of the Second National Bank in 1863. His relative, Isaac N. Phelps, was a director. Butler, Stillman and Hubbard were the bank's attorneys. In 1884, his son, John Chester Eno, Skull & Bones 1869, defalcted the bank and fled to Canada. (Commentary. Webmouse Publications.) Ex-mayor Abram S. Hewitt, D.O. Mills, John A. Stewart and John E. Parsons, the president of Memorial Hospital, were pallbearers at his funeral. (Funeral of Amos R. Eno. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1898.) Gifford Pinchot, Skull & Bones 1889, was Amos R. Eno's grandson; William Phelps Eno was a member of Skull & Bones, 1860; and Amos Richards Eno Pinchot was a member of Skull & Bones, 1897.
Commentary / Webmouse PublicationsCharles Gilbert Francklyn (~1845-1929) was born near Newcastle, England; his mother was a daughter of Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Steamship Lines, and his father was Col. Gilbert Francklyn. He was an agent of the Cunard Lines in New York until the agency was incorporated and taken over by Vernon H. Brown & Co. In 1878, he organized and became the first president of the Municipal Gas Light Company; a trustee of the post-merger Consolidated Gas Company; and President of the Central Union Gas Company. In 1881, President Garfield died at Francklyn's house in Elberon, N.J. (C.G. Francklyn Dies; Built Gas Industry. New York Times, Jan. 12, 1929.) He was a trustee of the Central Trust from 1877-81.
William H. Webb (1816-1899) established his shipyard in 1840, on the East River between sixth and seventh streets in New York City. He retired around 1869, and established the Webb Academy and Home for Shipbuilders 1890. He was a director of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. (Good Use For His Waelth. New York Times, Jul. 17, 1890; William H. Webb Dead. New York Times, Oct. 31, 1899.) He was president of the North American Steamship Co. (Classified Ad 4. New York Times, Feb. 16, 1867 p. 7.)
After graduating from the University of Gottingen, Morgan worked in
the New York banking house of Duncan, Sherman & Co. from 1857-60,
when he became the agent and attorney in New York for George Peabody
& Co., 1860-64. J. Pierpont Morgan, W. Butler Duncan of Duncan,
Sherman & Co.; Samuel D.
Babcock, and J. Boorman
Johnston of J.
Boorman, Johnston & Co. were on the Advisory Committee of Robinson
& Cox, attorneys for United States Lloyds; losses payable in London
at the firm of J.S. Morgan & Co. (which had been formed in 1864
from Morgan, Peabody & Co.), of which J.P. Morgan later became head
(Financial. New York Times, Dec. 24, 1866 p. 6.), while Duncan, Babcock
and Johnston formed the New York Guaranty & Indemnity Company. From
1864-71 he was a partner of Dabney, Morgan & Co. with Charles
Dabney, formerly of Duncan, Sherman. In 1871, he formed Drexel, Morgan
& Co. with Anthony J. Drexel of Philadelphia. Morgan became the
senior partner when Drexel died in 1893, and it became J.P. Morgan
& Co. in 1895. (J.P. Morgan. Wikipedia.) In the 1870s, Morgan
financed Thomas Edison's Edison Electric Company, which he merged with
Thomson-Houston Electric to form General Electric. (John Pierpont
Morgan, 1837-1913. Obits.com) His grandfather, Rev. John Pierpont, Yale
1804, was a temperence advocate in the 1850s. His great-granddaughter
married Walter H. Page, who
became the
chairman of the Morgan Guaranty Trust.
J.P. Morgan was a director of the Great Western (Marine) Insurance
Company during 1859-64, along with Samuel D. Babcock, W. Butler Duncan,
J.B. Johnston, Richard Lathers,
and Henry F. Spaulding, who later
formed the NYGIC and the Central Trust. James M. Brown of Brown
Brothers & Co. and Brown, Shipley & Co.; and William M. Evarts
were also directors of the Great Western. (Classified Ad 11. Financial.
New York Times, Jan. 22, 1859 p. 7; Financial. New York Times, Jun. 7,
1864 p. 6.) The Great Western in its early days had an interlocking
directorate with the Bank of the Republic, which has been accused of
engaging in the slave trade, of which Lathers was president.
In 1894, his daughter, Juliet Morgan, married William Pierson
Hamilton (1869-1950), Yale 1891, a descendant of the first president of
Yale. Hamilton was a cashier and later treasurer and a director of the
Manhattan Trust Company until 1897, when he joined J.P. Morgan &
Co., and was a partner of Morgan and its affiliates from 1900 until his
death. (Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of
the Undergraduate Schools Deceased during the Year 1949-1950, p. 135.)
Percy Rivington Pyne (1820-1895) was born in England and came to the U.S. in 1835. He joined Moses Taylor & Co. as a clerk, and became a partner from 1842 until 1887. He married Moses Taylor's oldest daughter, Albertina, in 1855, and succeeded Taylor as President of the National City Bank [1882-1891]. He was Vice President of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and a director of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company, the National City Bank, the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and other companies. He was Vice President of St. Luke's Hospital, and a trustee of the Bellevue Medical School. (The Obituary Record. New York Times, Feb. 16, 1895.) He was on the board of managers of St. Luke's Hospital. Fellow managers included his son, Moses Taylor Pyne; Samuel D. Babcock, George M. Miller and his son, Hoffman Miller; J. Pierpont Morgan Jr.; and Gustav H. Schwab; also Chauncey M. Depew and Cornelius Vanderbilt. (St. Luke's Hospital Managers. New York Times, Oct. 20, 1894.) He was a trustee of the Central Trust from 1877 until his death.
Charles Abernethy (~1807-1878) of Woodbury, Conn. was the brother of Dr. John Jay Abernethy, (1805-1879), Yale 1825, a surgeon and longtime Medical Director in the US Navy. (Died. New York Times, Mar. 30, 1878 p. 5; Obituary. New York Times, Oct. 28, 1879; Bulletin of Yale University. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College Deceased during the Academical Year ending in June 1880, page 6.) Charles Abernethy's widow was a member of the Board of Lady Supervisors of the Woman's Hospital, along with Mrs. Samuel Thorne (The Woman's Hospital. New York Times, Nov. 18, 1881), and a Vice President of the Ladies' Association of the Homeopathic College and Free Hospital, along with Mrs. David Dows, Mrs. Roswell P. Flower, Mrs. William Rockefeller, and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller. (For the Homeopathic Hospital. New York Times, Feb. 19, 1888.) She left a $3 million estate, including 30 shares of the Central Trust, to her nephew, George P. McLean, the former Governor of Connecticut and later US Senator 1911-29. ($3,000,000 to Relatives. New York Times, Jan. 12, 1906 p. 1.) McLean bequeathed the McLean Fund, which operates Hartford Hospital, Midstate Medical Center, and other healthcare institutions.
Yale Obituary Record 1878-79 / Yale University Library (pdf, 39 pp)David Wolfe Bishop's widow, the former Florence V.C. Field, married John E. Parsons, the president of the New York Cancer Hospital (now the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute) in 1901. "Mrs. Parsons is the daughter of the late Benjamin Field. She is a cousin of the Princess Brancaccio, the late Osgood Field, and Miss Mary Field. The Field family owns large tracts of property on the upper west side. However, Mrs. Bishop's fortune comes chiefly from her husband, the late David Wolfe Bishop, who was a favorite nephew of the late Miss Catharine Wolfe. This fortune comes, a great part of it, originally from the older Lorillards. Mr. Bishop was the principal heir of Miss Wolfe." (John E. Parsons and Mrs. Bishop Marry. New York Times, Mar. 13, 1901; Miss Wolfe's Heirs. New York Times, Apr. 12, 1887.) Bishop's two sons were David Wolfe Bishop (~1874-1911), who moved to France after his father's death; and Cortlandt Field Bishop, who lived in Boston. (D.D. Bishop Dies in Paris. New York Times, Dec. 2, 1911.) Parsons had been the law partner of Albon P. Man from 1857 to 1884. Man was the attorney for Peter Lorillard and nearly all of the Lorillard family; the attorney and counselor for Catherine Wolfe and her father, John David Wolfe; and for Lorillard Spencer, the Cammann and Conkling families, and other notable persons. (For Sixty Years A Lawyer. New York Times, Apr. 1, 1891.)
John David Wolfe was "the son of an officer of the Revolution in the Paymaster's Department," whose name was not given in the adoring but uninformative special obituary. (Obituary. John David Wolfe. New York Times, May 20, 1872.) He may have been a brother or cousin of Joel Wolfe of the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company, whose father was likewise an officer in the Revolutionary Army. One of the pallbearers at his funeral was George Jones, affiliation not given. (Funeral of the Late John David Wolfe. New York Times, May 22, 1872.) Another pallbearer was John Q. Jones, a descendant of a founder of the Chemical Bank. The other bank founders in 1844 included John David Wolfe himself; John Mason, the first president; Isaac Jones, the second president; Robert McCloskrey, Robert Lenox, Peter and Robert Goelet, and Cornelius V.S. Roosevelt. (The Chemical Bank's President. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1878; Death of President of Chemical Bank. New York Times, May 8, 1903) The old chemical factory from which the bank originated was bought by the Hudson River Railroad Company, whose directors included John David Wolfe, James Boorman, James Boorman Johnston, Edward Jones, Japhet Bishop, Erastus Corning, and Moses H. Grinnell. (New York City. New York Times, Jun. 15, 1852 p.1.) Peter Lorillard was a director when Samuel Sloan was unanimously re-elected president. (Commercial Affairs. New York Times, Jun. 15, 1858.) Wolfe's deceased wife was Dorothea Ann Lorillard, daughter of Pierre Lorillard. (Died. New York Times, Aug. 21, 1866 p. 5.)
"Cornelius Newton Bliss, though one of the big merchants of New York, was best known to the public as Treasurer of the Republican National Committee, an office he held for many years, during which he raised several large campaign funds, chiefly from the protected interests. He was President of the American Protective Tariff League, which he was instrumental in founding." He became Treasurer of the RNC in 1892. In 1906, in support of President Roosevelt, he raised the $260,000 Harriman fund, whose contributors included H. McK. Twombly, Chauncey M. Depew, James Hazen Hyde, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, George W. Perkins, H.H. Rogers, John D. Archbold, William Rockefeller, James Speyer, and himself. He was Secretary of the Interior in the McKinley administration. He was born at Fall River, Mass. in 1833. (Cornelius N. Bliss, Merchant, Is Dead. New York Times, Oct. 10, 1911.) His partner in the wholesale dry goods firm of Bliss, Fabyan & Co., George F. Fabyan, endowed the Fabyan professorship in the Harvard Medical School. (Death List of a Day. New York Times, Jan. 19, 1907) - which was occupied by former Council for Tobacco Research Scientific Advisory Board member Peter M. Howley. Bliss's son, Cornelius N. Bliss Jr. replaced him as a trustee of the Central Trust and as chairman of Bliss, Fabyan & Co.
Cornelius Newton Bliss / Bliss Family History Society, US GennetFabyan's son, Col. George Fabyan (1867-1936) founded Riverbank
Laboratories in Geneva, Illinois, a "direct lineal predecessor of the
National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency" in its
pioneering work in cryptology. This work was originally begun to
analyze the works of Shakespeare for coded messages to prove that they
were actually written by Sir Francis Bacon. The laboratory also
attempted to develop an antigravity device described by Bacon, who was
a member of the secret society of Rosicrucians. (George Fabyan
celebrated for developing first think tank. By F.N. D'Alessio,
Associated Press. June 13, 2001; Riverbank Laboratories. City of
Geneva, IL; Riverbank Laboratories Tour. Audio Engineering Society,
Oct. 30, 2001.) Col. Fabyan was said to be "an uncle" of Morton Salt heiress Helen Morton.
The Central Trust Company of New-York, No. 15 Nassau-st., corner of Pine-st.: Henry F. Spaulding, President; Benjamin B. Sherman and Frederick H. Cossitt, Vice-Presidents; C.H.P. Babcock, Secretary. Board of Trustees: Samuel D. Babcock, Jonathan Thorne, Isaac N. Phelps, Josiah M. Fiske, Charles G. Landon, Edmund W. Corlies, Frederick H. Cossitt, William H. Appleton, Gustav Schwab, David Dows, Martin Bates, William Allen Butler, James P. Wallace, Benjamin B. Sherman, George W. Lane, Jacob D. Vermilye, G.O. McCulloch Miller, Roswell Skeel, A.A. Low, Amos R. Eno, Charles G. Francklyn, William H. Webb, J. Pierpont Morgan, Percy R. Pyne, Henry F. Spaulding, David Wolfe Bishop, Cornelius N. Bliss. (New York Times, Oct. 22, 1880 p.9.)
The lineup was the same in early 1881. (Classified Ad 8. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1881 p.7.) In late 1881, Francklyn and Bishop left, and were replaced by Charles Lanier and George I. Seney; and M.F. Reading replaced Cossitt as a Vice-President. (Classified Ad 12. New York Times, Dec. 21, 1881 p.7; Classifed Ad 11. Jan. 4, 1882 p.7.) In 1883, Frederick P. Olcott replaced Reading as Vice-President, and the trustees were divided into three classes. (Classified Ad 6. Jan. 11, 1883 p.9.) In 1884, Sherman left the Vice-Presidency. (Classified Ad 9. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1884 p.7.)
Charles Lanier (~1836-1926) was the senior member of Winslow, Lanier
& Co., bankers, for 63 years. "A great friend of the late Pierpont
Morgan, Mr. Lanier was a member of the little group, informally called
the Corsair Club, which made its headquarters on Mr. Morgan's yacht...
Among those who assembled on these occasions were David Egleston, Frank
and Endicott Peabody of Boston, Joseph Peabody of Paris, James Lawrence
of Boston, Rollins Morse of Boston and Frank Sturgis of New York." His
wife was Sarah E. Egleston, daughter of Thomas Egleston. Charles
Lanier's father, James F.D. Lanier, established the firm in New York
with Richard H. Winslow in 1849. Mrs. William Averell Harriman
was his
granddaughter. (Charles Lanier, Banker, Dies At 89. New York Times,
Mar. 8, 1926; Death List of A Day. New York Times, Apr. 19, 1898.)
During the 1880s, Lanier was Treasurer of the forerunner of the United
Hospital Fund, the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association, of which
George Macculloch Miller of the Central Trust was president. Lanier
claimed to be descended from Thomas Lanier, a Huguenot refugee who
accompanied George Washington's great-grandfather to Virginia in 1655
and married his daughter, which is disputed. (Baron George Washington
Fighting for Austria. By A Veteran Diplomat. New York Times, Sep. 3,
1916.) "Mr. Lanier's securities included $1,400,000 in Standard Oil
stocks, the largest items being 3,000 shares Standard of Indiana,
$191,625; 7,200 shares Standard of New Jersey, $314,200, and 4,125
shares Standard in New York, $135,609. Other large stockholdings were
1,440 shares All-American Cables, $192,960; 700 Jersey Central,
$189,000; 828 Central Union Trust Company, $728,640; 100 First National
Bank, $273,750; and 940 New York Trust Company, $526,400." He left
$5,000 each to the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in
New York and Trinity Church in Lenox, Mass.; the New York City Mission
and Tract Society and the Lanier Memorial Museum in Madison, Indiana.
Mrs. W.A. Harriman received the income from $1,058,334. (Lanier Left
Estate of $9,677,364 Net. New York Times, Nov. 22, 1927.) He was a
trustee of the Central Trust and Central Union Trust from 1881 until
his death. His son, James F.D. Lanier, married Heber R. Bishop's
daughter, Harriet. (Lanier-Bishop. New York Times, Nov. 25,
1885.) Bishop was the vice president of Presbyterian Hospital in
1893.
John Stewart Kennedy (1830-1909) was born in Scotland. From 1850 to 1857, he was employed by William Bird & Co., a firm engaged in the iron trade, in the US and Canada. In 1857, he moved to New York City and entered into business with Morris K. Jesup. They founded Jesup, Kennedy & Co. of Chicago in 1861. In 1868, he formed J.S. Kennedy & Co., which he left to his nephew, J. Kennedy Tod, when he retired in 1888. "Mr. Kennedy was closely associated with James J. Hill in the Northwestern railroad development of three decades and more ago. He was interested in the construction of what is now the Great Northern Railway, and was a member of the syndicate that contracted with the Canadian Government to build a Canadian Pacific Railway. He was also one of the incorporators of the Union Pacific Railway." In 1889, he was president of the board of managers of Presbyterian Hospital. In 1893, he was a director of the National Bank of Commerce, and was President of Presbyterian Hospital, President of the Board of Trustees of the American Bible House at Constantinople, and a trustee of the Central Trust until his death. (Generous and Modest. New York Times, Dec. 27, 1889; Mr. John S. Kennedy. From the Scottish-American. New York Times, Feb. 20, 1893; J.S. Kennedy Dead Of Whooping Cough. New York Times, Nov. 1, 1909.) One of the events which occurred in Turkey during his tenure was the Armenian genocide. Kennedy left $2,250,000 to the Presbyterian Hospital, which he had given $1,000,000 the year before; $2,250,000 to the Presbyterian Church; and $2,250,000 to Columbia University, as well as smaller bequests to members of the family of its president, Nicholas Murray Butler. (How They'll Spend Kennedy Millions. New York Times, Nov. 7, 1909.)
Kennedy was a Commissioner of the Union Pacific Railroad, along with Thomas W. Olcott of New York [the father of F.P. Olcott], Noah L. Wilson of Ohio, William B. Ogden of Illinois, and C.P. Huntington and D.O. Mills of California, when it got its big subsidy from the US Congress (Public Notices. New York Times, July 14, 1862.)
Kennedy was a member of the Advisory Board of the Scottish American Investment Company, Ltd., founded by Scottish investor William John Menzies. NYGIC director W. Butler Duncan, who left when his firm failed in 1873; and John A. Stewart, president of the United States Trust Company, were also original members. Kennedy's partners, Henry M. Baker, John S. Barnes, and J. Kennedy Tod, served as secretaries of the board. James Alfred Roosevelt of Roosevelt & Son, and Robert Lenox Kennedy [not a relative], president of the National Bank of Commerce, were also members. J. Kennedy Tod & Co. was Scottish American's representative from 1883 to 1902. (The Man Who Found the Money. By Saul Engelberg and Leonard Bushkoff. Michigan State University Press, 1996.)
The Man Who Found the Money / CTRL Mail ArchiveHe was also a trustee of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company,
along with Guaranty Trust directors Alexander E. Orr, Augustus D.
Juilliard, Charles R. Henderson, and Charles A. Peabody. (Display Ad
11. New York Times, Jan. 14, 1901 p. 9.); and a director of the Bank of
the Manhattan Co. (Display Ad 10. New York Times, Jan. 27, 1902 p. 9),
which his nephew, William S. Tod, joined in 1903 (Display Ad 19. New
York Times, Jan. 5, 1903 p. 11). Kennedy and Orr were trustees of the
United States Trust Company of New York (Display Ad 15. New York Times,
Jan. 21, 1901 p. WF8.) Kennedy and Orr were on the Finance Committee of
the New York Life Insurance Company when it drew a check to J.P. Morgan
& Co., of which New York Life Vice President George W. Perkins was
a partner, to reimburse him for a campaign gift of $48,702.50 to the
Republican National Committee, of which fellow trustee Cornelius N.
Bliss was Chairman. (Perkins Is Arrested and Denies Wrongdoing. New
York Times, Mar. 29, 1906.) Kennedy's old business partner, Morris K.
Jesup, was a major benefactor of the Memorial Hospital.
His nephew, J. Kennedy Tod, was married to Maria Howard Potter, the niece of Rev. Dr. Henry C. Potter, Rector of Grace Church, who succeeded his uncle, the Right Reverend Horatio Potter, as Bishop of New York. Rev. Potter's nephew, Edward Clarkson Potter, married Emily Havemeyer, daughter of Theodore Havemeyer of the Sugar Trust. (Events in the Metropolis; Three Weddings. New York Times, Nov. 16, 1882; Bishop Potter to Wed. New York Times, Jul. 13, 1902; J. Kennedy Tod Dies At 72 Years. New York Times, Jun. 3, 1925.) Tod left $100,000 to the Presbyterian Hospital. ($3,925,268 Estate Left By John K. Tod. New York Times, Jun. 17, 1926.) The Bishop's son, William Bleecker Potter, was "one of the best-known mining engineers and metallurgists in the United States." (William B. Potter Dead. New York Times, Jul. 15, 1914.) He lived in St. Louis, home city of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company, which funded the Mexican revolution, along with other powerful financial institutions, in conjunction with Guggenheim mining interests, which were represented by William C. Potter of the Guaranty Trust. The Bishop's brother, Howard Potter, married Mary Louisa Brown, a daughter of James Brown, the founder of Brown Brothers & Co. in New York, and was a partner of Brown, Shipley & Co. in London. (Howard Potter Dead. New York Times, Mar. 25, 1897; Death List Of A Day. New York Times, Apr. 19, 1898; The Will of James Brown. New York Times, Nov. 9, 1877.) Bishop Potter's nephew, James Brown Potter, was President of the Tlauhualalo Agricultural Company in Mexico during the uprising. (Report of Diaz Rising. New York Times, Mar. 25, 1897.) James Brown Potter was a partner of Brown Brothers & Co. His daughter, Anne Urquhart Potter, married James Alexander Stillman. (James B. Potter Dies In Virginia. New York Times, Feb. 23, 1922.)
Frederick P. Olcott (1841-1909) was the eleventh and last child of
Thomas Worth Olcott, President of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and
the Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank of Albany, New York. His
brother, Dudley, succeeded their father
in 1880. The Olcotts were
descended from Thomas Olcott, one of the first settlers of Hartford,
Connecticut, in 1630. (Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs:
Olcott. Schenectady Digital Archive; and: Obituary of Dudley Olcott.
(Dudley Olcott obituary. Encyclopedia of Biography of New York, by
Charles Elliott Fisk.) Olcott was the financial backer of Anthony
Brady, the largest stockholder in the American Tobacco Company.
Central Trust trustees Samuel Thorne, Augustus D. Juilliard [Jr.], Frederick P. Olcott, and James N. Jarvie, and George G. Haven of the Guaranty Trust, were directors of the State Bank of America. (Annual Bank Elections. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1904.)
George Ingraham Seney (1826-1893) was born in Astoria, New York, but "On both sides he is a Marylander by descent." His grandfather was a member of the first Federal Congress and his father was the noted Methodist minister, Rev. Robert Seney. His maternal great-grandfather was James Nicholson, the first Commodore in the United States Navy. He attended Wesleyan University and graduated from New York University in 1847, and immediately began work as paying teller at the Metropolitan National Bank. He was its president from 1877 to 1884, when the bank failed due to his stock speculations. "At the time of his retirement from the bank it was supposed that Mr. Seney had lost the greater part of his fortune, but a large block of the securities of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, which were then considered as practically worthless, he was later enabled to sell out advantageously." He gave $550,000 to Wesleyan University; $225,000 to "literary institutions in Georgia" (Emory College, at Oxford, and Wesleyan Female College, at Macon), and $500,000 to the Seney Hospital in Brooklyn. (Honoring Mr. Seney. New York Times, May 21, 1882; George I. Seney Is Dead. New York Times, Apr. 8, 1893; Emory University. New Georgia Encyclopedia.)
Emory University / The New Georgia Encyclopedia.)A.A. Housman & Co. attached the trustees of the will of John E. Liggett for $277,200 in commissions on the sale of 550½ shares of stock of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, amounting to $5,505,500, to George P. Butler. Claude Kilpatrick, John Fowler, and Mitchell Scott were the trustees. "The Sheriff served the attachment upon the Central Trust Company." (The Liggitt [sic] and Myers Sale. New York Times, Apr.22, 1899.)
"At the annual meeting of the Central Trust Company, F.P. Olcott, President; George Sherman, Vice President; George Bertine, Secretary, and the Board of Trustees were re-elected. James N. Wallace and Henry Evans were elected Trustees in place of William Allen Butler and Samuel D. Babcock. W.E. Read was elected a member of the Executive Committee." (Central Trust Election. New York Times, Jan. 23, 1903, p.12.) In 1904, the Central Trust Company's office was at 54 Wall Street, in between the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company at 50-52 Wall Street, and property owned by George Peabody Wetmore, Skull & Bones 1867, with the 26-story Sixty Wall Street Company building, owned by the International Banking Corporation, on the other side of it. (Neglected Blocks on Pine and Cedar Streets. New York Times, Oct. 23, 1904.)
Henry Evans (1860-1924) was born in Houston, Texas, where "His mother's father was perhaps the leading citizen of Houston and a man of large means for the time." They were impoversihed by the Civil War, and the family moved North around 1865. Henry Evans attended the Columbia College School of Mines, and went to work for the Continental Insurance Company in 1878. He rose in the ranks and was sent to California. Returning to New York, he became Secretary of the Agency Department in 1888, Second Vice President in 1889, Vice President in 1892, and President in 1903. "It took him less than twenty-five years to advance from office boy to head of the company," and he proceeded to consolidate the American Eagle, Continental, Fidelity, Phenix, and Farmers' Insurance Company of Cedar Rapids, Iowa into a powerful group of fire insurance companies. (Henry Evans Dies, Insurance Leader. New York Times, Aug. 30, 1924.) There were numerous directors of the Guaranty and the Central Trust on the Continental's board of directors, including George F. Baker, Richard A. McCurdy, Alexander E. Orr, and Daniel G. Reid of the GT, and Frederick P. Olcott and William A. Read of the CT; plus William Gilman Low, a stepson of A.A. Low of the NYGIC, who prided himself on being the oldest depositor in the Guaranty Trust Company, as well as on never smoking, drinking, or driving a car; and former Lazard Freres partner George Blumenthal. (Display Ad 7. New York Times, Feb. 9, 1904 p. 7; Display Ad 7. New York Times, Jul. 13, 1906 p. 6; Display Ad 9. New York Times, Jan. 18, 1907 p. 8; Display Ad 10. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1909 p.6; Display Ad 28. New York Times, Jan. 21, 1916 p. 20; Display Ad 81. New York Times, Jan. 18, 1917.) He was a trustee of the Central Trust from 1903 until his death in 1924.
In 1909, Evans was president of the Fidelity Fire Insurance Company, which merged with the Phenix, and in 1916, he was president and a director of the Fidelity-Phenix, along with Dudley Olcott 2d, and Eugene Meyer Jr. and Charles Altschul of Lazard Freres. (Phenix In Merger With the Fidelity. New York Times, Dec. 23, 1909; Display Ad 9. New York Times, Jan. 24, 1916 p. 6.) In 1910, he was an incorporator of the Fire Companies Building Corporation, along with Altschul and James N. Wallace of the Central Trust. (In the Real Estate Field. New York Times, May 13, 1910.) Charles Altschul's son, Frank Altschul of Lazard Freres, was a longtime friend of Mary Woodard Lasker, and James S. Adams of the American Cancer Society became a partner of Lazard.
Dudley Olcott (1838-1919), was Frederick P. Olcott's brother. He was President of the Merchants and Farmers' Bank of Albany, and a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York from 1880 to 1906. (Display Ad 6. New York Times, Feb. 4, 1905 p. 7. Has dates of election; Dudley Olcott, Albany Banker. New York Times, Dec. 29, 1919.) He was a trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company, along with Collis P. Huntington, Heber R. Bishop, and Morris K. Jesup (Classified Ad 11. New York Times, Dec. 18, 1883 p. 7), and Jesup, D.O. Mills, John E. Parsons, and Norman B. Ream. (Display Ad 19. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1903 p. 11.)
Dudley Olcott Obituary / Darci's Place"The latter is one of the best-known men in Wall Street. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad, a Trustee of the Alliance Assurance Company of London, and of the Imperial Insurance Company, and Director of the Allis-Chalmers Company, the Bank of New York, the Safety Car Heating and Lighting Company, the Subway Realty Company, the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, the Victor Chemical Works, the Continental Insurance Company, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, the International Banking Corporation, and the Pope Manufacturing Company." (Bankrupt Coal Co. Sued For $1,800,000. New York Times, Mar. 3, 1908 p. 4.)
Henry Talmadge (~1825-1907) was founder of the banking firm of Henry Talmadge & Co., 50 Pine Street. "Mr. Talmadge was 82 years old and retired from active participation in the business several years ago, but was a daily visitor at the office. He was active as a Trustee of the Central Trust Company, Vice President and a Director of the Cossitt Land Company and a Director of the Mechanics' National Bank." He was also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. (Death List of a Day. New York Times, Mar. 20, 1907.) His late wife was Frances A. Cossitt, sister of Frederick H. Cossitt. (Died. Dec. 1, 1893 p.5.) He was one of the associates of the Gilman family.
"Mr. Wallace was a protege of the late Anthony F. [sic] Brady. He first met Mr. Olcott when the latter was a member of a banking firm in the financial district and when Mr. Olcott became a Vice President of the old Central Trust Company on Jan. 1, 1882, Mr. Wallace went with him as clerk. In 1901 Mr. Wallace was made an Assistant Secretary, and the following year Fourth Vice President. In 1905, when Mr. Olcott retired, Mr. Wallace was elected President and on June 18 of last year, when the Central Trust Company merged with the Union Trust Company, he was elected President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the consolidated company.... At the time of his death Mr. Wallace was director in many companies, including the Bank of America, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and several of its subsidiaries, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Brooklyn, the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, the Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Albany, the Morristown Trust Company, the New York Dock Company, New York Municipal Railway Corporation, Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Co., and the Union Carbide Company." His personal fortune was estimated at $5 million, and his Central Trust Christmas bonus was $50,000, which he distributed to charity. (James N. Wallace, Banker, Dies At 55. New York Times, Oct. 12, 1919.)
"The Argus Company was reorganized to-day upon the retirement of William McMurtrie Speer and the transfer of the holdings of stock to the Argus Company. It is understood that Mr. Speer received a bonus of $6,000 for the surrender of his stock and retirement from the company. The new officers elected are: Directors - William H. Johnson, President; Edward Murphy, second, Vice President; Amasa J. Parker, Jr., Secretary; James N. Wallace, and Timothy S. Williams. It is understood that Edward Murphy, second, represents the interests of Edward Murphy, Jr.; Mr. Wallace that of Anthony N. Brady, and Mr. Williams that of Roswell P. Flower." (Albany Argus Reorganization. New York Times, May 3, 1896, p.5.)
Wallace was chairman of the Union Pacific stockholders' protective committee after dissolution of the Union Pacific - Southern Pacific merger was ordered by the Supreme Court. Henry Evans, J. Horace Harding of C.D. Barney & Co., Frederick Strauss of J&W Seligman & Co.; and Albert H. Wiggin, President of the Chase Manhattan Bank, were also members. (Harriman Directors Discuss Dissolution. New York Times, Dec. 4, 1912.)
The Butler law firm's spinoff firm of Joline, Rathbone, and Larkin
was counsel for Central Trust Company, and J.N. Wallace was its
president. The Board of Trustees included Cornelius N. Bliss, Adrian
Iselin Jr., A.D. Juilliard, John S. Kennedy, James Speyer, and William
A. Read. (Bankrupt Coal Co. Sued For $1,800,000. New York Times, Mar.
3, 1908 p. 4.)
Adrian Iselin Jr. was a director of the Guaranty Trust from 1892 to
1906, then a trustee of the Central Trust from at least 1908 to 1929,
when he was replaced by Ernest Iselin.
His father, Adrian Iselin,
was the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company director.
James Speyer had been Collis P. Huntington's banker for 30 years. He was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1898 to 1906; a director of the Guaranty Trust 1905-1907, and a trustee of the Central Trust from 1908 to at least 1910. He was on the execuitve committee of the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association, which was founded by fellow trustee George Macculloch Miller, in 1910 and 1914 (Hospital Association Grows. New York Times, Feb. 16, 1910; New York's Own Needs. New York Times, Nov. 11, 1914). He was one of the organizers of the American Society for the Control of Cancer in 1913, and was a member of its General Committee in 1926. He was a member of the campaign committee of the United Hospital Fund in 1919, along with George Blumenthal, J.P. Morgan, G.E. Roosevelt, and Allen Wardwell. (Prepare Hospital Drive. New York Times, Jul. 18, 1919.) Speyer was a trustee of Mount Sinai Hospital, to which he donated $150,000 in 1929. Jules S. Bache, and Frank Altschul of Lazard Freres were also contributors. (Speyer Gives $150,000. New York Times, Jan. 10, 1929.)
"At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Central Trust Company of New York, held yesterday, these officers were elected: James N. Wallace, President; E. Francis Hyde, Benjamin G. Mitchell, Dudley Olcott, and Edwin G. Merrill of Bangor, Me., Vice Presidents. Milton Ferguson was elected Secretary in the place of George Bertine, resigned." (New York Times, Jan. 22, 1909, p. 11.) "The directorate includes, besides Messrs. Wallace, Hyde, and Olcott, such names as John S. Kennedy, A.D. Juilliard, James Speyer, Henry Evans, Adrian Iselin, Jr., and James N. Jarvie." (200% Dividend By Central Trust Co. New York Times, May 19, 1909.)
Dudley Olcott 2d was the son of Anthony Brady's first financial backer, Frederic P. Olcott, and Dudley Olcott's nephew. When his father became chairman of the board of Central Trust in 1905, his son was named his assistant. He was elected a vice president in 1907, until resigning in 1920. In that year he joined the banking firm of Billings, Olcott & Co., from which he retired in 1937. (Dudley Olcott 2d, Long A Banker, 72. New York Times, June 28, 1946.) The latter firm was formed with Oliver C. Billings and Robert S. Winsmore, after the firm of John H. Davis & Co. dissolved upon its senior partner's retirement. (Brokerage Firm Dissolves. New York Times, Jan. 31, 1920.)
James N. Wallace, President; E. Francis Hyde, Benjamin G. Mitchell, Dudley Olcott, and Edwin G. Merrill, Vice Presidents; Milton Ferguson, Secretary; Frank B. Smidt, Assistant Secretary. Trustees: Samuel Thorne, Adrian Iselin Jr., E.F. Hyde, Henry Evans, Henry D. Babcock, Dudley Olcott 2d, Chas. Lanier, A.D. Juilliard, James Speyer, James N. Wallace, Geo. Macculloch Miller, Cornelius N. Bliss, James N. Jarvie, William A. Read. (Display Ad 60. New York Times, Jan. 9, 1910 p. AFR22.)
Henry Denison Babcock (~1847-1918) was a son of Samuel D. Babcock,
the first president of the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company in
1864, and a founder of the Central Trust in 1873. He was a first cousin
of Franklin L. Babcock,
the president of
the Central Farmers' Trust Company. Henry D. Babcock
graduated from Columbia University in 1868. He was a partner of the
Stock Exchange firm of Hollister & Babcock, the Treasurer of St.
Luke's Hospital, and a member of the Board of Managers of the Society
of the Sons of the American Revolution. (Henry D. Babcock Dead. New
York Times, Jun. 2, 1918; H.D. Babcock Left $1,000,000. New York Times,
Jun. 12, 1918.) His partner, Henry Hutchinson Hollister, Yale 1899, was
the brother of Buell Hollister, S&B 1905. (Henry H. Hollister Dead.
New York Times, Jan. 30, 1927.) His son, Henry D. Babcock Jr., was
killed in a polo accident as a freshman at Yale. (Princeton Man's Blow
Kills Yale Polo Player. New York Times, May 23, 1904.) Another son,
Samuel D. Babcock, who was in Scroll & Keys, died of "heart disease
following pneumonia" in a Paris hotel, where he had been serving with
the American Red Cross as a representative
to the American
Expeditionary Force since September 1917. (The Yale Senior Societies.
New York Times, May 22, 1896; Samuel D. Babcock Dies In Paris. New York
Times, Apr. 17, 1918.) Mrs. Henry D. Babcock was Anna M. Woodward.
Their only
daughter, Anna Woodward Babcock, married Henry Rogers Winthrop, a Yale
gradudate who was the Financial Secretary and a director of the
Equitable Life Assurance Society. (Henry R. Winthrop To Wed. New York
Times, Aug. 8, 1905.) Ashbel H. Barney was an usher at their wedding.
"James Hazen Hyde was to have been an usher, but at a late hour his
regrets were received." (Miss Babcock Wed To Henry R. Winthrop. New
York Times, Oct. 4, 1905.) Two other sons, Woodward Babcock and Richard
Franklin Babcock, survived him. (Samuel Denison Babcock, Bulletin of
Yale
University. Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1917-1918, pages
152-153.)
Woodward Babcock (1876-1938): "After
being graduated from Columbia
University he entered the employ of the Guaranty Trust Company and
later his father's brokerage firm of Hollister & Babcock. In 1907
he became associated with Harris, Winthrop & Co., one of the oldest
New York brokerage houses, which was dissolved in 1929. In that year he
became a partner of the new firm of Winthrop, Mitchell & Co." He
had a son, Henry D. Babcock, and a daughter, Barbara. (Woodward
Babcock, Broker Here, Was 61. New York Times, Mar. 22, 1938.) His wife
was Grace Chauncey , whose younger brother married Abiel Abbott Low's granddaughter.
(Married. New York Times, Apr. 22, 1903). He was also an
Assistant
Secretary of the Trust Company of the Republic. (Display Ad 25. New
York Times, Jan. 11, 1903 p. WF8.)
Richard F. Babcock and Henry Rogers Winthrop were general partners
of Winthrop, Miller & Co. Woodward's son, Henry D. Babcock
(~1907-1980), joined
as a special partner with his father's estate money. (Legal Notice.
Wahington Post, Jun. 18, 1938.) Henry D. Babcock's daughter Joan
married James Cox Brady, Scroll & Keys 1957 and a descendant of Anthony N. Brady. "Miss Katherine
R. Babcock was maid of honor for her sister. The other attendants were
Miss Elliot Brady and Mrs. Reuben F. Richards [daughter-in-law of
Tobacco and Allied Stocks director Junius A. Richards], sisters
of the
bridegroom; Mrs. Nicholas F. Brady, sister-in-law of the bridegroom;
the Misses Donna Webster, Wistie Windsor, Nancy Doyle and Lillian
Bostwick, Mrs. Bayard Swope and Mrs. Carl W. Timpson Jr. Susan
Babcock, another sister of the bride, was flower girl. Nicholas F.
Brady was best man for his brother. The ushers were Henry D. Babcock
Jr., brother of the bride; Mr. Richards, George H. Bostwick Jr., J.
Gordon Douglas Jr., David R. Wilmerding Jr., James L. Van Allen 2d,
Robert S. Walker, Morris Brooke, Andrew W. Burden, Reeve Schley 3d,
Julien Kahle and Allen Wardwell
2d." (Wedding June 27 For Joan Babcock.
New York Times, Jun. 2, 1957; L.I. Nuptials Held for Joan Babcock. New
York Times, Jun. 28, 1957.) Joan Babcock, Mrs. Robert A.G. Monks, and Kate P. Todd,
the sister of anti-smoker New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman,
were attendants at the wedding of Patricia White to Carl W. Timpson Jr.
(Patricia White Is Wed in Peapack. New York Times, Dec. 4, 1955.)
Cornelius N. Bliss (1874-1949) was the son of trustee Cornelius Newton Bliss. He graduated from Harvard in 1897 and joined his father's firm, Bliss Fabyan & Co., where he was chairman until 1932. He also succeeded him as chairman of the Republican National Committee, during the ill-fated candidacy of Charles Evan Hughes. In World War I he was a member of President Wilson's War Council, and in World War II, was chairman of the Red Cross advisory council on war activities. He was a director of the Bankers Trust Company and of the New York Life Insurance Company, and an honorary Governor of New York Hospital. (Cornelius Bliss, 74, Financier, Is Dead. New York Times, Apr. 6, 1949.) He was a director of the Bankers Trust since at least 1917. He was a $1000 donor to the American Society for the Control of Cancer in 1927. ($50,000 to Cancer Society. New York Times, Feb. 20, 1927.) He was a trustee of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1937.
Samuel Thorne (~1835-1915) was a son of NYGIC director and Central Trust trustee Jonathan Thorne. He retired from his father's leather business in 1872, became interested in the Pennsylvania coal fields, and was President of the Pennsylvania Coal Company at one time. Besides the Central Trust, he was a trustee of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, and a director of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad Company, the Colorado and Southern Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Sixth Avenue Railroad Company, the Northern Securities Company, the New York Dock Company, and the Bank of America. (Samuel Thorne Dies On J.J. Hill's Yacht. New York Times, Jul. 6, 1915.) His wife, Phoebe Brinckerhoff Thorne, was a manager of the Women's Hospital. (Mrs. Phoebe B. Thorne. New York Times, Oct. 10, 1923.) His son, Edwin Thorne, succeeded him as a trustee of the Central Trust. He was a great-great-grandfather of John F. Kerry's ex-wife, Julia Stimson Thorne, and her twin brother and Kerry's campaign advisor, David Hoadley Thorne.
The Ancestors of Julia Stimson Thorne / William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical ServicesCentral Trust trustees Samuel Thorne, Augustus D. Juilliard, Frederick P. Olcott, and James N. Jarvie, and George G. Haven of the Guaranty Trust, were directors of the State Bank of America. (Annual Bank Elections. New York Times, Jan. 13, 1904.)
After the breakup of the American Tobacco Company, its Preferred Stock was deposited at the Central Trust. The Committee was J.N. Wallace, Chairman; Frederick Strauss, Charles D. Norton, Harry Bronner, and Ernest Iselin; F.L. Babcock, Secretary, and Adrian H. Larkin, Counsel. American Tobacco Company Bonds were deposited at the Guaranty Trust. (Display Ad 17. New York Times, Aug. 2, 1911 p. 11.) Charles D. Norton was a Vice President of the First National Bank. As of Dec. 31, 1911, the American Tobacco Company had $26,750,742.63 in cash accounts, including $6,737,506.69 at the Guaranty Trust Co., $4,349,521.51 at the Farmers Loan & Trust Co., $3,326,049.64 at the Central Trust Co., $2,500,000.00 at J.P. Morgan & Co., and $2,303,628.00 at the National City Bank, and amounts between one and two million dollars at the Chase National Bank, the National Shawmut Bank, the National Bank of Commerce, and the Fourth Street National Bank; and lesser amounts at other banks. (Fiscal Statements, The American Tobacco Co., Dec. 31, 1911.)
ATC Fiscal Statements, Dec. 31, 1911 / tobacco documentJames N. Wallace, Dudley Olcott, E.H. Gary, chairman of United States Steel, and Col. Robert M. Thompson raised and equipped their own First Armored Motor Battery, a fleet of several armored vehicles, 70 motorcycles, four officers, including Olcott, and 156 college men. The US Army refused to enroll them as a unit or allow them to control their own equipment, and the enlistees refused to dig trenches or go on long marches. (Motor Battery In Camp. New York Times, June 30, 1916; U.S. Won't Recognize Motor Battery. New York Times, July 16, 1916.)
Trustees of the Central Trust: Adrian Iselin, Jr., E. Francis Hyde, Henry Evans, Dudley Olcott 2d, Edwin Thorne, Clarence Dillon, Charles Lanier, Augustus D. Juilliard, Henry D. Babcock, Dudley Olcott, Jacob H. Schiff, George W. Davison, James N. Jarvie, James N. Wallace, James C. Brady, Cornelius N. Bliss, Jr., and Fredrick Strauss. Trustees of the Union Trust: W. Emlen Roosevelt, Augustus W. Kelley, William Woodward, John V.B. Thayer, Walter P. Bliss, Frederick deP. Foster, James Gore King, Edwin G. Merrill, M. Orme Wilson, V. Everit Macy, William H. Nichols Jr., Ernest Iselin, Richard Delafield, Francis M. Weld, J.Y.G. Walker, James Brown, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Johnston de Forest. (Expect New Mergers of Trust Companies. New York Times, Mar. 3, 1918.)
The entire personnel of both companies was retained after the
merger. It became the third largest trust company in the U.S. (Merger
of Trust Cos. Goes Into Effect Here. New York Times, Jun. 19, 1918.)
James N. Wallace, President and Chairman of the Board; Edwin G.
Merrill, Vice President and Vice Chairman; Vice Presidents: G.W.
Davison, J.Y.G. Walker, E.F. Hyde, J.V.B. Thayer, H.M. Popham, D.
Olcott 2d;, F.J. Fuller, B.A. Morton, F.B. Smidt, F.J. Leary; M.
Ferguson, Vice President & Secretary; H.M. Myrick, Treasurer.
Trustees: Walter P. Bliss, James C. Brady, James Brown, George W.
Davison, Johnston De Forest, Richard Delafield, Clarence Dillon, Henry
Evans, Frederic de P. Foster, Adrian Iselin, James N. Jarvie, Augustus
D. Juilliard, Augustus W. Kelley, Charles Lanier, V. Everit Macy, Edwin
G. Merrill, William H. Nichols Jr., Dudley Olcott, Dudley Olcott 2d, W.
Emlen Roosevelt, Jacob H. Schiff, Frederick Strauss, Edwin Thorne,
Cornelius Vanderbilt, J.Y.G. Walker, James N. Wallace, Francis M. Weld,
M. Orme Wilson, William Woodward. (Display Ad 126. New York Times, Jun.
20, 1918 p. 17.)
James Cox Brady was the son of
Anthony N. Brady of the American Tobacco Company. He was a director of
the Central Union Trust between ca. 1918 until his death in 1927.
He was a member of Scroll & Keys, and a Yale classmate of Lansing P. Reed, S&B 1904,
of the
Guaranty Trust.
James Brown (1863-1935) was a son of George Hunter Brown, a partner of Brown Brothers & Co.; a grandson of James Brown, who founded Brown Brothers in New York in 1825; and a great-grandson of Alexander Brown. Brown Brothers merged with W.A. Harriman & Co. in 1931. "Mr. Brown was active in the creation of the Port of New York Authority, especially in determining the method of financing its operations." He was the first American president of the British Empire Chamber of Commerce. (James Brown Dies; A Banker 50 Years. New York Times, Jun. 10, 1935.) He was a trustee of the Union Trust when it merged with the Central Trust in 1918, and remained on the board of the Central Union Trust until his death. His daughter, Adele Quartley Brown, married Robert Abercrombie Lovett, Skull & Bones 1918, and a general partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman & Co. (Old Wall St. Firm Flies A New Flag. New York Times, May 11, 1958 - list of partners.) His daughter Evelyn married fellow trustee Edwin Thorn.
James Brown (1863-1935) - William Brown Descendants and Spouses / Stovy BrownJames Brown's grandfather, James Brown, gave $200,000 to the Union Theological Seminary, and was the oldest Elder in the Presbyterian Church (Obituary. James Brown, of Brown Brothers, Bankers. New York Times, Nov. 2, 1877), and left bequests to the Presbyterian Church, Princeton Theological Seminary, Presbyterian Board for Home Missions, Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, and the American Bible Society. (The Will of James Brown. New York Times, Nov. 9, 1877.)
His uncle was John Crosby Brown (1838-1909), senior partner of Brown
Brothers & Co. "Union Theological Seminary's share in Mr. Brown's
life was unique, and of late almost absorbing. His father had been a
large benefactor of the seminary, and Dr. William Adams, his
father-in-law, was for seven years the President of its faculty. John
Crosby Brown became a Director of it in 1868, before he was thirty,
succeeding the late William E. Dodge, Sr., as Vice President of its
Board of Directors in 1883." The Rev. Professor William Adams Brown,
D.D., Scroll & Key 1886, of Union Seminary was James Brown's
cousin. (John Crosby Brown
Dead. New York Times, Jun. 26, 1909; Bulletin of Yale University,
Obituary Record of
Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year
1943-1944, pp 31- 33; William Adams Brown Papers, Columbia University.)
Another daughter of Rev. Adams
married Brown Brothers partner Eugene Delano of Philadelphia. (The Rev.
Dr. Adams Dead. New York Times, Sep. 1, 1880.) John Crosby Brown
(~1893-1950), Scroll & Key 1915, a son of Rev. William Adams
Brown, was the president of Tamblyn & Brown, Inc., a public
relations counsel and fund-raising firm. It raised over $150 million
between 1920 and 1933, including $4,500,000 for the Presbyterian
Hospital of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, and for the Yale
University Fund. (John C. Brown, 57, Publicist, Is Dead. New York
Times, Jul. 27, 1950; Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of
Graduates of the Undergraduate Schools Deceased During the Year
1950-1951, pp 79-80.)
Johnston de Forest was the son of Robert W. de Forest, who was a director of the Guaranty Trust-founded Life Extension Institute and a member of the advisory committee of the Institute of Human Relations; and the son-in-law of David B. Ogden of Parsons, Shepard & Ogden, whose partner, John E. Parsons, was the head of Memorial Hospital. (Ogden - de Forest. New York Times, Jul. 14, 1911; Married. New York Times, Sep. 11, 1911.) His grandfather, John Taylor Johnston, was the founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Johnston de Forest was counsel to the law firm of de Forest, Elder & Mulreany. He was a member of the board of the Russell Sage Foundation and the Presbyterian Hospital, a trustee of the Central Hanover from 1918 to 1951, and was also on the boards of the Hudson Trust Company, the Niagara Fire Insurance Company, the Dolphin Jute Mills and the Tide Water Associated Oil Company. (J. de Forest, Figure in Law, Charities. New York Times, Nov. 26, 1952.)
William Emlen Roosevelt (1857-1930) was a trustee of the Central Union Trust from the 1918 merger until his death. His father was James Alfred Roosevelt, the head of Roosevelt & Sons, which W. Emlen Roosevelt joined in 1878. He was a cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt, and later his financial advisor and the executor of his estate. The Roosevelt family was among the founders of the Chemical National Bank, of which W. Emlen Roosevelt was senior director at the time of his death. "He was active a generation ago in building up the Mexican Telegraph Company and the Central and South American Telegraph Company, which later were merged into the All America Cables, Inc., of whose board Mr. Roosevelt was chairman. In 1927 he participated in the merging of All America Cables with the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation. He remained identified with the cables as a director of the International." He was a trustee, secretary and later president of the Roosevelt Hospital, which was founded by his uncle, James Henry Roosevelt. His sons were George Emlen Roosevelt and Philip Roosevelt, both members of Roosevelt & Sons; and John Kean Roosevelt, vice president of All-American Cables. (W.E. Roosevelt Dies. May 16, 1930.) George Emlen Roosevelt was also a director of the Guaranty Trust, which funded the Nazis during the late 1930s and during World War II through I.T.&T.
Edwin Thorne (1861-1935) went to Sheffield Scientific School at Yale
University, and graudated in 1882. He was a member of the Berzelius
Society. He was or had been a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance
Company and the Bank of America, and a trustee of the Granby
Consolidated Copper Company, the Federal Terra Cotta Company, and the
New York Dock Company. He had offices at 120 Broadway. (Edwin Thorne,
74, Capitalist, Dead. New York Times, Sep. 30, 1935). He was a trustee
of the Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company since 1915, and the
Mutual Life Insurance Company 1915-33; also a director of the Northern
Securities Company. He was a member of Berzelius. Samuel Brinckerhoff
Thorne, Skull & Bones 1896, was a cousin. (Edwin Thorne, Ph.B.
1882. Bulletin of Yale University, Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale
University Deceased During the Year 1935-1936, pp 138-139.) His offices
were at 120 Broadway. (Edwin Thorne, 74, Capitalist, Dead. New York
Times, Sep. 30, 1935.) Edwin
Thorne was
a grandson of NYGIC director and Central Trust trustee Jonathan Thorne,
a son of Central Trust trustee Samuel Thorne,
and a great grandfather
of David Hoadley Thorne,
S&B 1966, who was the campaign advisor of
John Forbes Kerry, S&B 1966, and his twin sister, Julia Stimson
Thorne, who is Kerry's ex-wife. His brother, William V.S.
Thorne, was a manager and treasurer of the Presbyterian Hospital
from 1899 to 1920.
Edwin Thorne's son, Landon
K.
Thorne (1888-1964), was the grandfather of
David and Julia Thorne. He was a director of the Bankers Trust Company
and the president of Bonbright & Co. Landon K. Thorne, Jr.
(~1913-1980)
was associated with the Bankers Trust
Company from 1936 until his retirement in 1965. Edwin Thorne's son,
Francis Burritt Thorne (1892-1950), Yale 1914,
was with the Central Trust from 1915 to 1918. He was with several
brokerage firms before founding F.B. Thorne & Co. in 1933. He was a
vice-president of the privately-held North Central Texas Oil Company
1940-43,
and chairman of the board 1943-1950. His first wife, Evelyn, was the
daughter of fellow trustee James Brown.
(Obituary Record of Graduates of
the
Undergraduate Schools Deceased
During the Year 1950-1951, page 134.)
Edwin Thorne's nephew, Yale psychiatrist Lewis Thorne, was shot to death in 1950 by a cigarette-smoke hating former patient of the Institute of Human Relations.
John Yates Gholson Walker (~1872-1940), was born in Liverpool, England. He was the son of Maj. Norman Stewart Walker of Richmond, Va., the purchasing agent for the Confederate Army in Bermuda, who engaged in business in England after the Civil War. He began his career with Laidlaw & Co. in New York; then he became an official of the First National Bank of Walla Walla, Wash., "where he served as an officer in the body of troops used to suppress an uprising of the Nez Perce Indians." In 1895, he and his brother, Norman Stewart Walker Jr., organized Walker Brothers in New York. He retired in 1914 to become a vice president of the Central Trust. His brother attended the University of Heidelberg before beginning his business career in New York. (J.Y.G. Walker Dies; Wall Street Broker. New York Times, Feb. 18, 1940; N.S. Walker Dies At Johns Hopkins. New York Times, Jan. 27, 1931.)
Guaranty Trust / Central Trust directors/trustees Cornelius N. Bliss, Adrian Iselin Jr., J.P. Morgan, Percy R. Pyne [Jr.], George Emlen Roosevelt, James Speyer, and Albert H. Wiggin, and the wives of Speyer and Oliver Harriman, were members of the campaign committee to raise money for the United Hospital Fund in 1919. Other fund raisers included Mrs. C.B. Alexander; M.N. Buckner (S&B 1895); Mrs. Benjamin Brewster (S&B 1882); W.V. Griffin; Mr. & Mrs. Oliver G. Jennings (S&B 1887); Ivy L. Lee; Ogden L. Mills; William Fellowes Morgan; Mrs. Henry L. Stimson (S&B 1888); Carll Tucker; Allen Wardwell, (Yale 1895); Frank S. Witherbee (S&B 1874); and A. Zinsser. The distribution committee included Otto T. Bannard (S&B 1876), Cornelius N. Bliss, and James Speyer. (Hospitals Seek $1,000,000. New York Times, Oct. 25, 1919.)
President: George W. Davison. Trustees: James C. Brady, James Brown, George W. Davison, Johnston de Forest, Richard Delafield, Clarence Dillon, Henry Evans, Frederic de P. Foster, Adrian Iselin, James N. Jarvie, Charles Lanier, William H. Nichols Jr., Dudley Olcott, W. Emlen Roosevelt, Frederick Strauss, Edwin Thorne, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Y.G. Walker, Francis M. Weld, and William Woodward. (Display Ad 31. New York Times, May 19, 1924 p. 28.) Evans left in 1925, Lanier left in 1927, and Brady left in 1928.(Display Ad 40. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1925 p. 38; Display Ad 29, Jan. 1, 1926 p. 32; Display Ad 23, Jan. 1, 1927 p. 28; Display Ad 63, Jan. 1, 1928 p. N13.)
The Central Union Trust Company was the depository of the preferred stock of the American Sumatra Tobacco Company. Joseph F. Cullman, Jr., of Cullman Brothers was chairman of the Committee, which consisted of Theodore G. Smith, First Vice President of the Central Union Trust; Henry M. Sperry, Vice President of the First National Bank of Hartford; Maurice Wertheim of Hallgarten & Co.; F. Wolfe, Secretary; and Cohen, Coie & Weiss, Counsel. (Display Ad 39. New York Times, May 8, 1925 p. 33.)
Trustees of the Central Union: James Brown, Johnston De Forest,
Ernest Iselin [replacing Adrian Iselin], W. Emlen Roosevelt, Edwin
Thorne, Francis M. Weld, Colby
M. Chester Jr., Clarence Dillon, James N. Jarvie, Frederick Strauss,
Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Woodward, George W. Davison, Frederic de
P. Foster, Dudley Olcott, Ernest Sturm, and John Y.G. Walker. Hanover
directors: William Woodward, John B. Clark, E. Hayward Ferry, Ernest
Iselin, Edgar Palmer, John J. Riker, William Warren Barbour, William
Crawford, William Halls Jr., Edwin G. Merrill, John S. Phipps, Henry P.
Turnbull, Henry R. Carse, Thomas Dickson, Henry W. Howe, Eustis Paine,
Auguste G. Pratt, Francis T. Maxwell, and John P. Stevens.
($722,000,000 Banks Agree On Merger. New York Times, Mar. 20, 1929.)
Halls, Merrill and Turnbull of the Hanover weren't on the new board of
trustees. (Display Ad 150. New York Times, May 13, 1929 p. 40.)
Ernest Iselin was a member of the Committee of the Preferred
stockholders of the American Tobacco Company in 1911. He was a trustee
of the Union Trust in 1918. He was a trustee of the Hanover National
Bank when it merged with the Central Union Trust in 1929, and continued
as a trustee of the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company until 1934.
Jarvis Cromwell, the Chairman of William Iselin & Co., became a
trustee in 1937.
Pratt was a director of the Fidelity-Phenix Fire Insurance Company of the America Fore Group in 1958, along with Arthur K. Watson, president of IBM World Trade Corporation. (Display Ad 31. New York Times, Jan. 20, 1958 p. 35.) Fellow Hanover director Louis S. Cates was also a director of America Fore companies, Bernard M. Culver was chairman of the board, and Frank Christensen was President.
Trustees: William Warren Barbour, James Brown, Henry R. Carse,
Hendon Chubb, John B. Clark, William Crawford, George W. Davison,
Johnston De Forest, Thomas Dickson, Clarence Dillon, Thomas Ewing Jr.,
E. Hayward Ferry, Robert L. Gerry, Henry W. Howe, Ernest Iselin, Alfred
L. Loomis, Francis T. Maxwell, Dudley Olcott, Eustis Paine, Edgar
Palmer, John S. Phipps, Auguste C. Pratt, Jesse J. Ricks, John J.
Riker, Philip J. Roosevelt, Frederick Strauss, Ernest Sturm, Edwin
Thorne, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Y.G. Walker, Francis M. Weld,
William Woodward. (Display Ad 130. Jan. 1, 1931 p. 43.)
The Central Union Trust Company and attorney Everett James Esselstyn
were counsel for the executors and executors of the will of George A.
Helme, former president of the George W. Helme Tobacco Company, along
with his widow and son, James B. Helme. (Helme Will Aids Midtown
Hospital. New York Times, May 6, 1931; G.A.
Helme's Estate is Put at $4,652,401. New York Times, Aug. 8, 1935.)
Esselstyn was the grandfather of Caldwell B.
Esselstyn Jr., Skull & Bones 1956.
Howe and Maxwell left the board, and Robert L. Gerry joined the
board. Trustees: William Warren Barbour, President, Linen Thread Co.;
James Brown, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.; Henry R. Carse,
President, Electric Boat Co.; Colby M. Chester, Jr., President, General
Foods Corp.; Hendon Chubb, Chubb & Son; John B. Clark, President,
Clark Thread Co.; William Crawford, Builder, New York City; George W.
Davison, President; Johnston De Forest, De Forest Brothers; Thomas
Dickson, Dickson & Eddy; Clarence Dillon, Dillon, Read & Co.;
Thomas Ewing Jr., President, Alexander Smith & Son's Carpet Co.; E.
Hayward Ferry, Director, Phelps Dodge Corp.; Robert L. Gerry,
President, The Gerry Estates, Inc.; William S. Gray Jr., Vice
President; Ernest Iselin, A. Iselin & Co.; Alfred L. Loomis, Vice
President, Bonbright & Co.; Dudley Olcott, Billings, Olcott &
Co.; Eustis Paine, Vice President, New York & Pennsylvania Co.;
Edgar Palmer, Chairman, New Jersey Zinc Co.; John S. Phipps, Banker;
Auguste G. Pratt, President, Babcock & Wilcox Co.; Jesse J. Ricks,
President, Union Carbide and Carbon Corp.; John J. Riker, Trustee,
Atlantic Mutual Insurance Co.; Philip J. Roosevelt, Roosevelt &
Son; Frederick Strauss, J. & W. Seligman & Co.; Ernest Sturm,
Chairman, Continental Insurance Co.; Edwin Thorne, Trustee, Mutual Life
Insurance Co. of New York; Cornelius Vanderbilt, Director, Illinois
Central R.R. Co.; John Y. G. Walker, Walker Brothers; Francis M. Weld,
White, Weld & Co.; William Woodward, Chairman of the Board.
(Display Ad 69. New York Times, Mar. 27, 1932 p. SM15.) Riker left the
board in 1933. (Display Ad 18. New York Times, Jan. 1, 1933 p. N9.)
Dillon, Ewing, Iselin, Loomis, Strauss, Walker, and Weld left in 1934.
(Display Ad 32. New York Times, Jun. 1, 1934 p. N9.) Phipps left the
board, J.Y.G. Walker returned, and Walter G. Dunnington joined the
board in 1935. (Display Ad 36. New York Times, Jan. 2, 1935 p. 37.) In
1936, Brown, Olcott and Thorne left. (Display Ad 40. New York Times,
Jul. 11, 1936 p. 41.) In 1937, Crawford and Sturm left, and Jarvis
Cromwell and Milton Ferguson joined. (Display Ad 69. New York Times,
Jan. 4, 1937 p. 44.) In 1938, Ferry left, and Charles G. Edwards
joined. (Display Ad 64. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1938 p. 38.)
Deutschen Babcock-Wilcox was linked to German General Electric
through a common electric director named Landau. Its role in financing
the Nazis is not known. (Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and the Rise of
Hitler, Ch. 3.)
In early 1940, so many changes took place in the directorates of banks across the country that it took The New York Times two pages to list them all. (Many Changes Made at Annual Meetings of Banks Here and in Other Cities. New York Times, Jan. 10, 1940.)
Cates was elected to the board of the Central Hanover Bank and Trust in 1940, and was still on the board of the Hanover Bank as of 1957. He was born in Boston and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1902, and became a timekeeper for the Boston Consolidated Mining Company at Bingham, Utah, which was absorbed by Utah Copper. He was president and a director of the Phelps Dodge Corporation from 1930 to 1947, as well as president and a director of a long list of other mining companies, and a director of the First Security Trust Co. of Salt Lake City. (On Bank's Board. New York Times, Mar. 6, 1940; Louis Cates Dies; Led Phelps Dodge. New York Times, Oct. 30, 1959.) Cates was a member of the M.I.T. Corporation from 1933-38, and was elected a Life Member in 1943. (Elected as Life Member of M.I.T. Corporation. New York Times, Oct. 16, 1943.) He was on the board of the Niagara Fire Insurance Company and Continental Insurance of the America Fore Group, along with James Cabell Bruce of General American Investors (Display Ad 31. New York Times, Jan. 20, 1958 p. 35.) and Dale E. Sharp, president of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. (America Fore Adds 2 to Board. New York Times, Jul. 20, 1959.) Fellow Hanover director Auguste G. Pratt was also a director of an America Fore company.
Mrs. Louis S. Cates (Ethyl Lewis) was a patroness of the Flower Homeopathic Hospital, along with Mrs. Webster B. Todd, the mother of anti-smoker New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and Mrs. Royal S. Copeland, wife of the U.S. Senator who introduced the legislation establishing the National Cancer Institute. (Patronesses Are Listed. New York Times, Mar. 21, 1937; Senate Votes For $1,450,000 Cancer Center. Washington Post, Jul. 23, 1937.). She was a member of the board of the New York Heart Association, whose chairman was Carl Whitmore, former president of the New York Telephone Company. (Officers Chosen by Heart Association. New York Times, Oct. 30, 1953.) Mr. and Mrs. Louis S. Cates were among the patrons and patronesess of a benefit for the New York City Cancer Committee of the American Cancer Society, who included James S. Adams, Elmer H. Bobst, Charles Dewey Hilles Jr., and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker. (Cancer Society Will Be Assisted At Fete Dec. 12. New York Times, Nov. 9, 1958.)
Culver was chairman of the board of the Continental Insurance Company and the America Fore Insurance Group.
Trustees: William Warren Barbour, William A.M. Burden, Louis S. Cates, Colby M. Chester, John B. Clark, Jarvis Cromwell, Bernard M. Culver, George W. Davison, Johnston de Forest, Thomas Dickson, Walter G. Dunnington, William A. Eldridge, Robert L. Gerry, William S. Gray Jr., George M. Moffett, John K. Olyphant Jr., Benjamin O'Shea, Eustis Paine, Auguste G. Pratt, Henry P. Turnbull, William Woodward. (Display Ad 28. New York Times, Jul. 2, 1943 p. 29.) Barbour left in 1944. (Display Ad 31. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1944 p. 28.) Burden left in 1945, and William F.C. Ewing, Lucius F. Robinson Jr., and John P. Stevens Jr. joined. (Display Ad 122. New York Times, Jan. 2, 1945 p. 26.) In 1946, C. Jared Ingersoll; K.T. Keller, president of the Chrysler Corporation; and Gwilym A. Price, president of Westinghouse Electric, joined the board, and George W. Davison became Honorary Chairman. (Display Ad 153. New York Times, Jul. 2, 1946 p. 44.) The lineup stayed the same in 1947-48. (Display Ad 32. New York Times, Jan. 2, 1947 p. 32; Display Ad 28. Jan. 2, 1948 p. 32.) In 1949, Gerry and O'Shea left, and Fred Haggerson, president of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, joined. (Display Ad 35. New York Times, Jul. 5, 1949 p. 35.) In 1950, William A.M. Burden rejoined the board. (Display Ad 204. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1950 p. 42.) In 1951, de Forest left, Culver was replaced by Frank A. Christensen, President of America Fore Insurance Group, and Central Hanover president R.E. McNeill Jr. took a seat. (Display Ad 261. New York Times, Jan. 2, 1951 p. 88.)
George M. Moffett left the board. Trustees: William A.M. Burden, W.A.M. Burden & Co.; Louis S. Cates, chairman, Phelps Dodge Corporation; Colby M. Chester, Hon. Chairman, General Foods Corporation; Frank A. Christenson, President, America Fore Insurance Group; John B. Clark, Predient, The Clark Thread Co., Inc.; Jarvis Cromwell, Chairman, William Iselin & Co., Inc.; George W. Davison, Honorary Chairman; Thomas Dickson, President, Berlin and Jones Co., Inc.; Walter G. Dunnington, Attorney, Dunnington, Bartholomew and Miller; William A. Eldridge, Vice Chairman; William F.C. Ewing, President, Alexander Smith, Inc.; William S. Gray, Chairman of the Board; Fred H. Haggerson, President, Union Carbide and Carbon Corp.; C. Jared Ingersoll, Chairman, Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway Co.; K.T. Keller, Chairman, Chrysler Corp.; R.E. McNeill Jr., President; J.K. Olyphant Jr., Vice Chairman; Eustis Paine, Chairman, New York and Pennsylvania Co., Inc.; Auguste G. Pratt, Chairman, The Babcock & Wilcox Company; Gwilym A. Price, President, Westinghouse Electric Corp.; Lucius F. Robinson Jr., Attorney, Robinson, Robinson and Cole; John P. Stevens Jr., President, J.P. Stevens & Co., Inc.; Henry F. Turnbull, Montclair, N.J.; William Woodward Jr., President, Turner Halsey Co. (Display Ad 43. New York Times, Jan. 3, 1952 p. 39.)
In 1953, Davison, Haggerson, Paine, and Turnbull left, and were replaced by Morse G. Dial, President, Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., and Joseph H. McConnell, President, Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co. (Display Ad 43. New York Times, Jul. 2, 1953 p. 39.) In 1954, Eldridge left. (Display Ad 43. New York Times, Jan. 5, 1954 p. 39.) In 1955, the lineup stayed the same. (Display Ad 37. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1955 p. 34.) In 1956, Woodward left the board, while Thomas M. Bancroft, President, Mount Vernon-Woodbury Mills, Inc.; Lester L. Colbert, President, Chrysler Corp.; and Robert G. Page, President, Phelps Dodge Corp., joined. (Display Ad 141. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1956 p. 35.) In 1957, Dickson and Keller left, and were replaced by Robert B. Anderson, President, Ventures Limited; and Richard G. Croft, J.H. Whitney & Co. (Display Ad 126. New York Times, Jan. 4, 1957 p. 31.)
Robert Guthrie Page, whose hometown was given as Madison, Wis., was slapped for Skull & Bones by Frederick McGeorge Bundy. Other members of Bones that year included Frederick W. Hilles, whose brother, Charles D. Hilles Jr., became a longtime director of the ASCC and its successor, the American Cancer Society. (Tap Day Exercises Are Held At Yale. New York Times, May 20, 1921.) He was the son of University of Wisconsin Law Professor William Herbert Page. He married Mrs. Jerry Townsend Walling in Santiago, Chile, while on professional business with the law firm Root & Clark. (Walling-Page Wedding Is Announced Here. Wisconsin State Journal, Jun. 14, 1931.) Page joined the board of the Hanover Bank in 1956. He had been the first commissioner for the southern district of New York of the Securities and Exchange Commission, until resigning to become president of the Phelps Dodge Corporation.
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