Trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1854: Frederick S.
Winston, President; R.H. McCurdy; Joseph B. Collins; W. Smith Brown;
J.P. Yelverton; Hamlin Blake; John H. Swift; J. Wadsworth; Samuel M.
Cornell; G.M. Wilkins; John V.L. Pruyn; George R. Clark; Ezra Wheeler;
J.P. Treadwell; Abraham Bininger; M.H. Grinnell; Alfred Edwards;
William Betts; Joseph Blunt; Isaac G. Pearson; Samuel D. Babcock; William
Moore; John Miller; William H. Popham; C.H. Norton; John M. Stuart;
William J. Bunker; Nathaniel Hayden; L. Edgerton; Eugene Dutilh; R.G.
Moulton; Samuel E. Sproull; Charles J. Stedman; Richard Patrick; Lucius
Robinson; Lewis Battelle. Secretary: Isaac Abbatt; Actuary: Charles
Gill. (Insurance. New York Times, Feb. 17, 1854.)
Trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1858: Frederick S.
Winston, President; Millard Fillmore; David Hoadley; William V. Brady;
Henry A. Smythe; Robert H. McCurdy; John V.L. Pruyn; William Betts;
Isaac Green Pearson; William Moore; John H. Swift; W.E. Dodge; Richard
Patrick; Joseph Blunt; Nathaniel Hayden; Jonathan Miller; Abraham
Bininger; John P. Yelverton; John Wadsworth; William J. Bunker; Samuel
M. Cornell; Samuel E. Sproulls; John M. Stuart; Hamlin Blake; Alfred
Edwards; Lucius Robinson; Samuel D. Babcock; George S. Coe; Charles J.
Stedman; Cephas H. Norton; William K. Strong; Ezra Wheeler; William H.
Popham; Lycurgus Edgerton; W. Smith Brown; George R. Clark. Secretary:
Isaac Abbatt; Actuary, Sheppard Homans; Medical Examiner, Minturn Post,
M.D.; General Agent, Henry H. Hyde. (Financial. New York Times, Mayn
17, 1858.) In 1859, Miller left and Alex W. Bradford became a trustee.
(Insurance. New York Times, May 26, 1859.)
General Agent Henry H. Hyde was the father of Henry Baldwin Hyde
(1834-1899), who founded the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1859,
after seven years as a clerk at the Mutual. (Death of Henry B. Hyde.
New York Times, May 3, 1899.)
Trustees of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1866: Frederick S.
Winston, President; John V.L. Pruyn; William Moore; Robert H. McCurdy;
Isaac G. Pearson; Martin Bates; William Betts; John P. Yelverton; John
Wadsworth; Alfred Edwards; John M. Stuart; Oliver H. Palmer; Samuel E.
Sproulls; Samuel M. Cornell; Lucius Robinson; W. Smith Brown; Richard
Patrick; William H. Popham; William A. Haines; Ezra Wheeler; Seymour L.
Husted; Samuel D. Babcock; Alex. W. Bradford; David Hoadley; Henry A.
Smythe; William V. Brady; W.E. Dodge; George S. Coe; William K. Strong;
William M. Vermilye; John E. Develin; Wellington Clapp; Alonzo Child;
Henry E. Davies; Richard A. McCurdy, Vice President; Francis Skiddy.
Secretaries: Isaac Abbatt, Theodore W. Morris; Acuary, Sheppard Homans;
Medical Examiners, Minturn Post, M.D., Isaac L. Kip, M.D. Betts,
Robinson, and Bradford were Counsel. (Financial. New York Times, Mar.
6, 1866.)
Tighe was a native of New York, who moved to St. Paul, Minnesota in
1886 and specialized in municipal and real estate law. He was admitted
to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 1892 by motion of
William H. Taft, S&B 1878, who was then the U.S. Solicitor General.
He was attorney for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York since
1890, the Eastman Kodak Company since 1900, for Fairbanks, Morse &
Co. since 1926, and for a number of Minnesota counties and
municipalities, including St. Paul 1920-28. He organized the St. Paul
& Suburban Railway Co.; purchased the Duluth, Red Wing &
Southern Railroad and became its president; organized and became vice
president of Luger Lumber Co. in 1904, and served as counsel until
1918. He was vice president of C. Gotzian & Co., shoe
manufacturers, 1906-1909, and married Harriet Gotzian, the daughter of
Conrad Gotzian. They were the parents of Laurence Gotzian Tighe,
S&B 1916, and Richard Lodge Tighe, S&B 1923. (Bulletin of Yale
University, Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University 1928-1929,
pp. 78-79.) Laurence G. Tighe, S&B 1916, was a partner of Brown
Brothers and of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. (Brown Brothers and
Harriman in Merger. Bankers Magazine 1931 Jan;122(1):124.) He was an
assistant treasurer of Yale University from 1938 to 1953, and was
succeeded by Charles Stafford Gage, S&B 1925. (Tighe to Join Yale
Staff. New York Times, Feb. 23, 1938; Gage Named Treasurer of Yale U.
New York Times, May 7, 1954.)
"In the Mutual Life Building are quartered the United States Mortgage and Trust Company, the Guaranty Trust Company, the Morton Trust Company, and the National Safe Deposit Company, in all of which the Mutual itself as well as various of its officers and Trustees have been interested, and in addition to this certain of the Trustees who have been members of the 'inner circle' have occupied offices in the building for their private purposes." (Says Mutual Officers Cared Only For Power. New York Times, Apr. 1, 1906 p. 3.)
In 1891, the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company was reorganized under the auspices of the Mutual Life Insurance Company. (The New Trust Company. New York Times, Oct. 21, 1891, p. 10.) Its name was later changed to the Guaranty Trust Company of New York.
The Mutual Life Insurance Company was the principal sponsor of the National Union Bank, which not only made it "a depository for its own assets, but has ordered the agencies in other cities to select a local bank, which employs the National Union, as a New York correspondent. This plan, it is expected, will bring at once about $6,000,000 into the hands of the new concern. John D. Crimmins, with the traction syndicate back of him; Oliver H. Payne, with the Standard Oil Company; Frederick P. Olcott, with the Central [Trust] Company; H. McK. Twombly, with some of the Vanderbilt business; S.L. [sic] D. Babcock, Luther Kounze and William C. Whitney, each representing millions, are in the directory." Its president, J.C. Hendrix "twenty years ago, was the Brooklyn reporter for a New York morning paper." (How It is Arranged. Atlanta Constitution, Apr. 12, 1893.)
In 1902, sixteen of the thirty-five trustees of the Mutual Insurance Company of New York were also directors of the Guaranty Trust or Central Trust (Babcock, McCurdy, Baker, Cromwell, Henderson, Rogers, Juilliard, Gillette, Haven, Bowdoin, Iselin, WC Whitney (former), Jarvie, Speyer, Lanier, and Twombly). Frederick P. Olcott's brother, Dudley, was also a trustee, as was Samuel D. Babcock's son-in-law, William P. Dixon, and another relative, William Babcock; and Richard A. McCurdy was President of the Mutual. (Display Ad 3. New York Times, Jan. 1, 1902 p. 4.) In 1905, Babcock and Whitney were gone, and Robert H. McCurdy and ex-Secretary of War Elihu Root had been elected in their places. (Display Ad 6, Mutual Life Insurance Co. New York Times Feb. 4, 1905 p. 7 [a special ad with dates of election].)
Richard A. McCurdy and his friends in the Guaranty Trust set up McCurdy (who had planned to retire that year anyhow) to be the scapegoat of the investigation. H.H. Rogers was Chairman of the Agency Committee, which by-laws gave the general supervision of all agency matters; while George F. Baker was Chairman of the Finance Committee, and was for many years Chairman of the subcommittee on Salaries, "which fixed, or allowed President McCurdy to fix, the compensation," which formed the basis of the board's action against him and the Raymond firm. But, when it was proposed to punish the delinquencies of this inner circle, it was blocked. Board members Stuyvesant Fish and Effingham B. Morris of the Girard Trust Company of Philadelphia resigned. (Fish Likely to Serve On Lawson Committee. New York Times, Feb. 25, 1906.) Other members of Mutual's Finance Committee were Charles R. Henderson, George G. Haven, Augustus D. Juilliard, Adrian Iselein Jr., James N. Jarvie and Emory McClintock, Vice President and Actuary. They were all relected after McCurdy resigned and fled to "exile" in France, except that Henderson was transferred to the new Real Estate Committee, and Frederic Cromwell was substituted for George G. Haven. "On reliable authority it is ascertained that as matters stand now George F. Baker, retaining his old place as ranking member of the Finance Committee, is ruling the Mutual's affairs. Indeed, Wall Street men declared yesterday that Mr. Baker had recently expressed the opinion that the reorganization of the Mutual Life on the terms which he had mapped out would be carried out regardless of the opposition that might be encountered from Policy Holders' Campaign Committees, and regardless of public criticism generally. Mr. Baker, it is understood, has been in constant communication with President Peabody about the naming of the committees, a condition that was predicted last Fall when Mr. Peabody, whose law firm was counsel for the First National Bank, was elected upon the insistence of Mr. Baker and Henry H. Rogers of the Standard Oil Company." (Mutual Stands Pat; George F. Baker Rules. New York Times, Jun. 1, 1906.) The investigation subsequently revealed that Vice President McClintock had personally directed the company's lobbying efforts in Boston. (M'Clintock's Orders to Lobbyist Out Now. New York Times, Aug. 17, 1906.)
They allowed McCurdy to put numerous relatives on the payroll and draw lavish salaries. These included his son, Robert H. McCurdy; son-in-law, Louis A. Thebaud; his brother-in-law, and Dr. Elias J. Marsh, as Medical Director; and Thebaud's cousin, Peter Stuyvesant Pillott, as Inspector of Risks. Dr. Walter R. Gillette, First Vice President, was a brother of a partner in Chamberlain & Gillette, General Agents for the company in Texas. Vice President Robert A. Graniss's cousin, Howard Lewis, was General Agent for the Mutual in northern New York. General Agent Raymond was a brother of Charles H. Raymond. McCurdy and his family reaped $4,643,926 in salary and commissions between 1885 and 1905. (McCurdy Family's Millions From Mutual Life. New York Times, Oct. 7, 1905 p. 4.) The Mutual brought suit against McCurdy et al. to recover $3,371,341, and then settled for $815,000. (Mutual Gets $815,000 Ends M'Curdy Suits. New York Times, Mar. 5, 1909.) By 1910, McCurdy was being lauded as "one of the three great figures in life insurance."
George G. Haven was punished for squealing on the gang: "To this influence of Mr. Baker is attributed in large degree the retirement of George G. Haven from the Finance Committee and the implied retirement of Mr. Haven from a place of prominence in Mutual Life affairs. Mr. Haven was formerly one of the innermost members of the 'inner circle,' and even a member pro tem., according to his testimony, of the sub-committee of the Finance Committee, which voted President McCurdy an additional $50,000 a year in 1901 in lieu of pension, which Mr. McCurdy was prohibited from receiving under the by-laws of the company. The other two members of this committee were George F. Baker and Augustus D. Juillliard, both of whom testified before the Armstrong Committee before Mr. Haven was called to the stand. Mr. [Charles Evans] Hughes did not elicit much information from either of them about the increase in salary and how it was voted, but when Mr. Haven was called he told about the work of the sub-committee, explaining that he personally had served on it only two or three times when he was called in through the absence of one of the members. It was soon after this that the Lawyers Mortgage matter came out, and it has been an open secret in financial quarters that considerable resentment was felt toward Mr. Haven by certain of his fellow-members of the 'inner circle.' In the Lawyers Mortgage deal Messrs. Juilliard, Cromwell, Haven, Jarvie and Iselin were involved in addition to Mr. McCurdy." (Mutual Stands Pat; George Baker Rules. New York Times, Jun. 1, 1906.)
Edwin W. Coggeshall, who was President of the Lawyers' Mortgage
Insurance Company in 1901, testified that he had offered to sell a
block of 1000 shares of the increased capital stock of his company to
the Mutual. These were accepted by Richard A. McCurdy on behalf of the
Mutual, but subsequently split up between Mutual board members. All
except Adrian Iselin, Jr., were members of the Finance Committee, "and
were among the party who originally advocated the immediate election of
Charles A. Peabody to the
Presidency of the company, opposing the plan
suggested by other Trustees to postpone electing a permanent President
until the Mutual's own investigating committee had completed its work."
Coggeshall said that instructions were received to issue the 1000
shares to N.B. Putnam, Jr., who turned out to be a clerk in the
Guaranty Trust. (Mutual Trustees Divided Stock. New York Times, Dec.
23, 1905.) Dudley Olcott and James Speyer, who were elected Trustees in
1880 and 1898, respectively, resigned in March, 1906, after Charles A.
Peabody was successfully installed as President. Peabody subsequently
became a director of the Guaranty Trust.
Charles A. Peabody (1849-1931) was President of the Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1906 until retiring in 1927. He was a director of the Farmers Loan and Trust from at least 1900 to at least 1929, and a director of the Guaranty Trust Company from 1911-26. After graduating from Columbia University and Columbia Law School, he joined his father's law firm, Peabody, Baker and Peabody. Partner Fisher Ames Baker was counsel to the First National Bank and the uncle of its President, George Fisher Baker. "It was said at the time Mr. Peabody left law for insurance, that the change was, at least in part, due to the influence of the elder Baker in the councils of the Mutual." Peabody was trustee of the estate of the first John Jacob Astor since 1893, and was associated with William Waldorf Astor and represented him in this country. At his death, he was on the boards of directors of City Bank Farmers Trust Company, Mutual Life Insurance Company, Oregon Short Line Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway, Illinois Central Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad, and was a trustee of the Church Pension Fund and member of the board of managers of Delaware & Hudson Company. (C.A. Peabody Dies; Insurance Figure. New York Times, Apr. 27, 1931.) His granddaughter, Anita Peabody Hadden, married Arthur W. Page Jr, whose brother Walter H. Page became chairman of the Morgan Guaranty Trust.
Frank L. Polk, partner of the law firm of Davis, Polk, Lansing, Wardwell & Reed, was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company from 1930 to 1943.
S. Sloan Colt, vice
president of the Bankers Trust Company, Charles Proctor Cooper,
vice president of A.T.&T.,
and John King Ottley, President of the First National Bank of Atlanta,
were elected trustees.
(Mutual Life Elects 3 Trustees. New York Times, Jun. 6, 1931.)
W. Randolph Burgess,
Vice Chairman of the National City Bank, was elected a trustee of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company. (Elected By Mutual Life. New York Times,
Nov. 28, 1940.)
Lewis W. Douglas was president of the Mutual. Trustees nominated to
serve for three years were Charles E. Adams, Chairman, Air Reduction
Company Inc.; Lewis H. Brown, President of the Johns-Manville
Corporation; W. Gibson Carey Jr., President of the Yale & Towne
Manufacturing Co.; F. Trubee Davison, in military service; Charles E.
Dunlap, President of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., and a
director of the Guaranty Trust; Leon Fraser,
President of the First National Bank of the City of New York; William
D. Mitchell, Counsellor at Law; New York; Alexander E. Patterson,
Executive Vice President of the Mutual; John Sloane, Chairman of
W.& J. Sloane; Robert C. Stanley, Chairman and President of the
International Nickel Company of Canada Ltd.; Robert T. Stevens, fomer
president of J.P. Stevens & Co., in military service; and John C.
Traphagen, President of the Bank of New York. (Display Ad. New York
Times, Nov. 18, 1942 p. 20.)
Lewis W. Douglas, president. Trustees nominated to
serve for three years were Charles E. Adams, Chairman, Air Reduction
Company Inc.; Lewis H. Brown, President of the Johns-Manville
Corporation; W. Gibson Carey Jr., President of the Yale & Towne
Manufacturing Co.; F. Trubee Davison; Charles E.
Dunlap, President of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; E. Roland
Harrison [sic], partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman; William
D. Mitchell, Counsellor at Law; New York; Alexander E. Patterson,
Executive Vice President of the Mutual; John Sloane, Chairman of
W.& J. Sloane; Robert C. Stanley, Chairman and President of the
International Nickel Company of Canada Ltd.; Robert T. Stevens,
Chairman of J.P. Stevens & Co.; and John C.
Traphagen, President of the Bank of New York. (Display Ad. Chicago
Daily Tribune, Nov. 9, 1945 p. 21.)
Lewis Douglas was president of "an insurance company" [which was the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York] from 1940-47. He had been a
US Representative (D-AZ) from
1927-33, and a director of General Motors from 1944-65; and was
appointed to the US Advisory Committee on Information (USIA) in 1959.
(Douglas, Lewis Williams, 1894-1974. Congressional Bio.) He was the
Chairman of Memorial Hospital. (Sloan,
Kettering to Combat Cancer. New York Times, Aug.
8, 1945.) He was the grandson of James Douglas, the President of the
Phelps-Dodge Company, who had been the major benefactor of James Ewing of the American Society
for the Control of Cancer.
Trustees nominated to
serve for three years were Charles E. Adams, Chairman, Air Reduction
Company Inc.; F. Trubee Davison; Louis W. Dawson, New York; Charles E.
Dunlap, President of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; John W. Hanes,
Vice President and Director, Olin Industries Inc.; E. Roland Harriman,
partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman; William
D. Mitchell, Partner, law firm of Mitchell, Capron, Marsh, Angulo &
Cooney, New York; John Sloane, Chairman of
W.& J. Sloane; Robert T. Stevens, Chairman of J.P. Stevens &
Co.; and Thomas J. Watson Jr., Executive Vice President of
International Business Machines Corp. (Display Ad. New York Times, Nov.
7, 1951 p. 32.)
Artemus L. Gates, S&B 1918, was elected a trustee of Mutual Life Insurance (Former High Navy Aide Made Insurance Trustee. New York Times, Apr. 1, 1952.)
Trustees nominated to serve for three years were Charles E. Adams, Director, Air Reduction Company Inc.; F. Trubee Davison; Louis W. Dawson, President of the Mutual; Charles E. Dunlap, President of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; John W. Hanes, Chairman of Finance Committee and Director, Olin Industries Inc.; E. Roland Harriman, partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman; Robert P. Koenig, President, Cerro de Pasco Corporation; William D. Mitchell, Partner, law firm of Mitchell, Capron, Marsh, Angulo & Cooney, New York; John Sloane, Chairman of W.& J. Sloane; and Thomas J. Watson Jr., President of International Business Machines Corp. (Display Ad. New York Times, Oct. 28, 1954 p. 42.)
Trustees nominated to serve for three years were S. Sloan Colt, director, Bankers Trust Company.; F. Trubee Davison; Louis W. Dawson, President of the Mutual; Charles E. Dunlap, President of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; John W. Hanes, Director and Consultant, Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation; E. Roland Harriman, partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman; Oveta Culp Hobby, President, Editor and Director, The Houston Post; Robert P. Koenig, President, Cerro de Pasco Corporation; John Sloane, Retired; and Thomas J. Watson Jr., President of International Business Machines Corp. (Display Ad. Cicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 7, 1957 p. N10.)
Trustees nominated to
serve for three years were S. Sloan Colt, Director and member of
Executive and Trust Committees, Bankers Trust
Company.; F. Trubee Davison; Louis W. Dawson, Chairman of the
Mutual; Charles E.
Dunlap, Chairman of the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.; John W. Hanes,
Director of the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation; E.
Roland Harriman,
partner of Brown Brothers, Harriman; Oveta Culp Hobby, President,
Editor and Director, The Houston Post; Robert P. Koenig, President,
Cerro
de Pasco Corporation; Frank Pace Jr., Chairman of General Dynamics
Corp.; and Thomas R. Wilcox,
Executive Vice President of The First
National Bank of New York. (Display Ad. New York Times, Nov. 4, 1960 p.
56.)
"CHARLES J. BUESlNG, C.L.U.* Lincroft, N. J.; Delegate-Director
(1963-). Field Underwriter, Mutual Of New York. ACS New Jersey
Division: Member, Board of Trustees and Executive Committee (1945- );
Past President, Past Crusade Chairman. Recipient, ACS Natl.-Div. Award;
Member: Board, Life Underwriters' Association of New York; Life
Managers' Assn. of N. Y. (Past Pres.); American Society of Chartered
Life Underwriters." (1966 House of Delegates and Board of Directors.
American Cancer Society Inc.)
H.I. Romnes, the Chairman of
A.T.&T. and a director of the American Cancer Society, became
a trustee in 1967. (Mutual
Life Appoints Romnes to Its Board. New York Times, Oct. 3, 1967.)
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