USA > New York > Portrait gallery of the Chamber of Commerce of the state of New-York : catalogue and biographical sketches > Part 11
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GEORGE W. BLUNT was selected in 1845 as one of a commission to organize the present system of pilotage for the Port of New-York. The Chamber of Commerce also elected him a Pilot Commissioner, which office he held at the time of his death. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Commerce April 5, 1842, and was highly es- teemed by his associates. He was for five years a trustee of the Seamen's Retreat, two years a Commissioner of Emi- gration, President of the Commission for Licensing Sailors' Boarding Houses, a member of the Marine Society, one of the first members of the Union League Club, and the oldest director in the Manhattan Company. The greatest service Mr. BLUNT rendered this community was his untiring vigi- lance in preventing encroachments on New-York harbor, and urging measures for its protection and improvement ; to these subjects he devoted much of his time. During the war he was one of a Committee appointed to examine ap- plicants for the volunteer Navy, and at that time furnished the Government with able and competent officers. In other respects he was an active and earnest worker, and never grudged the service it was in his power to render in the interests of the public generally. Mr. BLUNT had two children, daughters, both of whom survived him.
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JONATHAN GOODHUE.
THIS eminent merchant was born in Salem, Massachu- setts, June 21st, 1783. He was the son of the Hon. BENJAMIN GOODHUE, United States Senator from that State for two successive terms. He was educated in the best schools of Salem, which was then an important and wealthy seaport.
In the year 1798, at the age of fifteen, he entered the counting house of the Hon. JOHN NORRIS, of Salem, one of the most wealthy and enterprising merchants of that city, who was extensively engaged in trade with Europe and the East Indies. Mr. NORRIS was held in high regard for his great moral worth, his piety, benevolence and truth- fulness. After five years of training in commercial pur- suits, young GOODIIUE was sent, by Mr. NORRIS, as supercargo of one of his ships, to Aden, on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. There was no Suez Canal in those days, and the voyage was made by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Isle of France, and thence up the Red Sea. Including about six months spent at Aden, the voyage occupied nineteen months. He reached Salem in July, 1805, and in the following October made a second voyage, to Calcutta, which terminated in October, 1806. His intelligent observation and study enabled him to profit greatly by these voyages, and to understand what cargoes were best fitted to supply the needs of the peoples whom he visited.
A year later, (November, 1807,) he removed to New- York, to start in business for himself ; having the friend- ship, confidence and patronage of his late employer, Mr. NORRIS, of the Hon. WILLIAM GRAY of Boston, and JOSEPHI PEABODY, one of the most eminent merchants of Salem. He bore, also, strong letters of commendation to the Hon. OLIVER WOLCOTT, who was then engaged in commercial pursuits, to ARCHIBALD GRACIE, and to General MATTHEW CLARKSON, whose daughter he subsequently married.
His early career was marked by moderate success, which
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would have been much greater, but for the long embargo and the subsequent war with Great Britain. When peace was declared in 1814, he despatched an express messenger to Boston, with instructions to proclaim aloud the good news at every town on the route. The messenger was re- ceived with great joy at Boston and elsewhere, and Mr. GOODHUE's conduct in making this intelligence a public blessing, instead of using it for private and speculative purposes, won him the regard of all business men who knew him.
After the war, his commercial transactions were extended through all the ports of Europe, the East Indies, Mexico and South America, and his correspondents, who visited New- York and enjoyed his open-handed hospitality, became warmly attached to him. Amid all the vicissitudes of com- merce and trade which affected the business of the great ship- ping houses of America, between 1807 and 1848, the embargo, the war with Great Britain, the fluctuations of the currency, the great financial panics of 1827 and 1837, and the Mexican war, the firm, of which Mr. GOODIIUE was the head, main- tained the highest credit and the most spotless reputation. Wealth rolled in upon them, and it was used wisely and un- grudgingly, though always quietly, in aiding the unfortu- nate and the younger and weaker firms, and in the promotion of learning, science and religion. His kindness of heart was manifest in all his daily life. His domestic servants and his employees were strongly bound to him, and almost invaria- bly remained in his employ, till they were obliged to retire from active life.
In politics, Mr. GOODHUE was a Federalist of the old school, and from its principles he never swerved or departed in the slightest degree. As an importer, in the condition of our country at that time, he was, very naturally, a strong advocate of free trade. He was most thoroughly patriotic, and in all his commercial operations he was zealous for the honor of the nation's flag.
He became a member of the Chamber of Commerce April 15, 1817, and was active, though never obtrusive, in its deliberations. He retained his membership till his
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death. He was elected its President May 2, 1843, but de- clined the honor. At a special meeting of the Chamber, convened November 25th, 1848, on the occasion of his death, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce, and mer- chants of New-York, representing the unanimous sense of their body, record the death of JONATHAN GOODIIUE, now no more of earth, with the sincerest grief, and with the highest respect for his virtues.
Resolved, That as a merchant his enterprise, his sys- tematic attention to business, his unvarying good faith and fidelity, his unspotted honor and unstained integrity, entitle him to a lasting good name in the commercial annals of our country.
Resolved, That we equally declare our high esteem for his virtues as a man, for his kindness of heart, his liberality in useful public enterprises and his activity in works of charity, for his modesty, and also for his elevated Christian spirit, and for the unostentatious simplicity and blameless purity of his private life.
Resolved, That in common with the whole commercial community of this country, by whom he has been so long known and esteemed, we respectfully tender our sympathy to his mourning relatives and friends-and that these resolutions be communicated to them as a last mark of our respect.
At this meeting a Committee was appointed to procure a bust of Mr. GOODHUE, which was afterwards executed by the late HENRY K. BROWN, and is now in the Rooms of the Chamber.
Mr. GOODHUE had been from his early youth a member of the Congregational (Unitarian) Church in Salem, and had transferred his membership to the church of that de- nomination on its organization in New-York. His pastor,
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Rev. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) H. W. BELLOWS, at his funeral, pronounced an eloquent eulogy on him, in which he did justice to his exalted Christian character. But, though faithful to his own church, his hand and heart were open to every effort to make men better, holier and wiser.
As a husband and father, no man could have been more devoted, loving and tender than Mr. GOODIIUE. In a paper. written only a few months before his death, he gave wise and tender counsels and suggestions to those dear to him, and after avowing his readiness to depart, when it should please the LORD to call him, he subjoined this postscript : "I add, as a most happy reflection, that I am not conscious that I have ever brought evil on a single human being."
Mr. GOODHUE had suffered for nearly two years from symptoms of heart disease, and on November 24th, 1848, he passed away, suddenly, from that cause, not long after he had completed his sixty-fifth year, beloved and lamented by all who knew him.
GEORGE GRISWOLD.
GEORGE GRISWOLD, son of GEORGE GRISWOLD, and third of the name, was born at Giant's Neck, Lyme, New-London County, Connecticut, in the year 1777.
The ancestor of the family, MATTHEW GRISWOLD, emigrated from Lyme, England, in 1635, to Windsor, Conn.
GEORGE GRISWOLD, the subject of this sketch, removed to New-York City in 1796, having been previously a clerk in a store in Hartford. His elder brother, NATHANIEL LYNDE GRISWOLD, had preceded him in 1795, and con- ducted business under the firm of HAYDEN & GRISWOLD, which was dissolved in February, 1796.
The two brothers formed a copartnership in the beginning of 1798, the firm name being NATHANIEL L. & GEORGE GRISWOLD, which continued until the death of NATHANIEL in 1846. The business was carried on under the same name by GEORGE and his descendants until dissolved, January 1st, 1876.
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The house soon acquired credit, and by industry and skillful management steadily advanced in wealth and influence. To NATHANIEL was assigned mainly that portion of the business that related directly to the care and management of their numerous vessels when in port, whilst GEORGE assumed the financial control and guidance of their general affairs. During the first five years their operations were on a very small scale, and consisted of commissions and speculations at home, and adventures to the West Indies. Afterwards they boldly embarked, at successive periods, in enterprises to every quarter of the world open to the commerce of the United States which appeared to offer a promise of success.
GEORGE GRISWOLD early rose to the very front rank of merchants for intelligence, comprehensiveness of view and signal ability. He maintained this position during the whole of his life.
Possessed of a vigorous intellect and strong memory, he was capable of severe and long-continued mental labor. His perception was clear and ready, his decision prompt, his action full of energy. His high integrity and sound judgment commanded public confidence, and led to his frequent selection for the office of arbitrator or umpire in the settlement of commercial disputes. He served as director in various corporations, insurance companies, banks and other associations connected with commerce, and in railroad companies when this branch of internal commerce began to assume importance, and ever discharged his duties with diligence and ability. He made the law of marine insurance a subject of special study, and his opinion on difficult cases is believed to have possessed for many years a weight not surpassed by any contemporary, lay or professional.
Whilst he was always largely and actively engaged in commercial enterprises, he was ever foremost in every benevolent and public-spirited undertaking. During the prevalence of yellow fever and the cholera he remained in the City and administered of his substance to the suffering. He was amongst the first to relieve those
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suffering from fire or other calamities, in other cities as well as his own.
Mr. GRISWOLD had a very extensive acquaintance with the leading men of all professions, and was on terms of intimacy with WEBSTER and his contemporaries.
His politics were ever conservative. Early in life he was a Federalist. He joined the Whig party at its formation, and followed its fortunes to the end. Although a zealous and efficient laborer in the political field, he never held a political or civil office other than that of Elector for the State of New-York, when General TAYLOR was chosen President of the United States.
Mr. GRISWOLD was elected a member of the Chamber of Commerce April 15th, 1817, and always took an active part in its affairs.
In person, Mr. GRISWOLD presented a fine specimen of the vigorous race to which he belonged. Nearly six feet in height, with broad shoulders and chest, erect, muscular and well balanced, his carriage was graceful, and his activity and strength seldom surpassed.
He died, after a short illness, at New-Brighton, Staten Island, on September 5th, 1859, in the 83d year of his age, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
WALTER R. JONES.
WALTER R. JONES was the leading Marine Underwriter of his day, and contributed largely to the development of that department of commerce in the United States, particu- larly at the Port of New-York. He was the son of JOHN JONES, and was born at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, April 15th, 1793. The Cold Spring branch of the JONES family of Queens County, whose original seat was on the south side of the Island, whence all the sons of WILLIAM JONES emigrated, excepting the father of Chief Justice SAMUEL JONES, were originally gentlemen farmers and manufacturers. Their descendants, however, were natu-
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rally attracted to this City, in the building up of whose business and prosperity some of them took no insignificant part.
At the age of eleven, the subject of this sketch entered the store of his eldest brother, WILLIAM H. JONES, then in the flour trade. A few years later, through the instrumen- tality of his cousin, J. JACKSON JONES, he became a clerk in the office of the United Insurance Company, which was among the earliest of our City organizations to undertake marine risks, and where he served his first apprenticeship to the calling that engrossed all the subsequent years of his life. In 1824 he became an assistant to ARCHIBALD GRACIE, President of the first Atlantic Insurance Com- pany. In 1829, after the discontinuance of this Company, and in conjunction with JOSIAH L. HALE, he organized the second Atlantic Insurance Company, with a capital of $350,000. Mr. HALE was President and Mr. JONES Vice- President, and the Company had a prosperous career until, in turn, it gave place to a third successor, bearing the name " Atlantic."
In the year 1842 the mutual system of insurance had come into favor. The substitution of the assured, for stockholders, as recipients of such dividends as might be realized from the business of underwriting, appealed to the interest of the merchants. Various difficulties and hazards were necessarily incident to the inauguration and conduct of such a system. But the experiment was in process of being tried, and Mr. JONES and his associates had faith in their ability to adopt it and carry it successfully forward. Accordingly, the present Atlantic Mutual Insurance Com- pany was chartered and commenced business July 1st, 1842, with Mr. JONES as President and Mr. HALE as Vice- President. Not long afterward the office of Secretary was filled by JOHN D. JONES, who succeeded his uncle in 1855, and has ever since been the President.
The characteristics of WALTER R. JONES were untiring energy and industry, fidelity to duty, probity, accuracy and prudence. These qualities, together with the skill and experience gained in his previous training, were devoted
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to the establishment and management of the new enter- prise. Of the Company's standing little need be said here. Its unquestioned credit and honorable repute have long been recognized throughout the commercial world. During the ten years, dating from January, 1844, the average of annual dividend realized by its assured exceeded thirty- three per cent., and at the time of Mr. JONES' decease, in 1855, the aggregate of these dividends, made in scrip to the assured, had exceeded six millions of dollars. The firm foundations on which the Company was thus established remain unshaken, and its prosperity and usefulness in the service of commerce have been uninterrupted.
While official duties claimed the time and attention of Mr. JONES, they did not wholly debar him from other in- terests, which did not require his immediate personal care. Among these interests, centred at Cold Spring Harbor, were manufacturing industries and whaling ventures, under the management of his brother, JOHN H. JONES. It may be mentioned, as matter of local history, that in 1848 the whaling fleet fitted out at Cold Spring numbered eight vessels, having an aggregate tonnage exceeding three thou- sand tons, carrying about two hundred and fifty men, and costing about a quarter of a million dollars.
The ready sympathy of Mr. JONES was also enlisted for humane enterprises, when wisely planned, and especially when associated with the sea. It was largely due to his persistent effort that the Life Saving Benevolent Associa- tion was chartered in March, 1849, and was enabled to initiate the improved system of Life Saving Stations on the Atlantic coast. In short, he was never content to be idle or to waste a moment possible to be employed upon some useful task. At the same time his frank sincerity and un- failing courtesy won for him a kindly place in the recollec- tions of his associates and cotemporaries.
Mr. JONES was elected a member of the Chamber of Commerce, November 4th, 1834, and retained his member- ship until his death, which occurred in this City, April 7th, 1855, in the sixty-second year of his age.
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LORING ANDREWS.
LORING ANDREWS was born on January 31st, 1799, at Windham, in White (now called Greene) County, in the State of New-York. His first American ancestor, WILLIAM ANDREWS, had been one of the companions of JOHN DAV- ENPORT in the settlement of the colony of New-Haven, in 1639, and his name appears on the records as one of the twelve men chosen to select from their own number the seven Burgesses to whom was to be entrusted the govern- ment of the infant settlement. WILLIAM'S son, SAMUEL, who accompanied his father from England, removed with his own family, in 1672, to Wallingford, the first offshoot of the parent colony, and but a few miles removed from it. The founder of the American family built the first church in New-Haven, and after the migration to Wallingford, the name appears in many of the documents relating to the history of that community. The removal to Windham was made about the middle of the last century by LABAN ANDREWS, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and it was in Windham that LORING ANDREWS received his education, and underwent the early experience that was the foundation of his subsequent success in a larger sphere of action than the little country village afforded.
CONSTANT ANDREWS, LORING'S father, was well remem- bered in Windham a few years ago, as having been a Justice of the Peace, a prominent Free Mason, a man of commanding presence, and of an ardent and enterpris- ing temper. The family consisted of two sons and two daughters, the subject of this sketch being the second son.
Almost with the beginning of the century, began that movement to the then unknown "Great West," which drew with it the more adventurous spirits of the seaboard States. CONSTANT ANDREWS was one of these, and as he was a land surveyor by profession, the opportunities of a new country appealed to him with especial force. In 1817 he joined the westward march of the pioneers, leaving his family behind. LORING had already, in 1813, at the age
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of fourteen, apprenticed himself to FOSTER MORSE-one of the earliest of the tanners who had been attracted by the virgin hemlock forests of the Catskill Mountains-serving out the apprenticeship, which was completed in 1820. In the meantime, his mother had died in New-York City, and his elder brother had followed his father to the West. When he found himself of age and a free man, young LORING at once took his way westward in search of the father and brother of whom for some years he had heard no direct tidings. The journey was then a great under- taking for a youth of slender means, but he persevered until he discovered that both his father and his brother had died and been buried at Prairie-du-Chien.
The quest had occupied two years, and when the melan- choly end of it had been attained, young ANDREWS re- turned to New-York by the way of New-Orleans, and arrived at Hudson, (where one of his aunts was living,) worn out and dispirited. His good aunt refused to let him leave her until he was restored to health and strength, but when he was fully recovered, he determined again to seek his fortune in the West. From this purpose he was di- verted by what he meant to be a passing visit to his old home at Windham. There he was warmly greeted, and his old employer, FOSTER MORSE, offered him the management of one of his tanneries, upon terms so favorable as to induce him to settle again in his birthplace. Until 1818, the busi- ness of tanning had been prosecuted on a small scale only, but in that year Colonel EDWARDS, of Northampton, Mass., established in Greene County the first of the great tan- neries, which for nearly half a century, and until the mountains had been stripped of their hemlock forests, constituted the leading industry of the Catskill region. The leather was carted over the mountain roads to the town of Kingston, on the Hudson River, a long and wearisome journey, and thence transported by boat to the City of New-York, at that time, and for many years afterward, the sole market for the product. It was in 1822 that LORING ANDREWS returned to Greene County, and seven years later he came to this City, which was to be his home
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for the remainder of his life, to establish himself as a leather merchant, with a capital as yet small in money, but with a reputation for integrity and industry that secured him the confidence of the tanners of Greene County. It was not long before he took a prominent place among that body of solid and honorable men of the "Swamp," who were not less distinguished for their commercial honor than for their business sagacity.
LORING ANDREWS was to pass through one more trial on his way to prosperity .. In 1832 he had formed a partner- ship with WILLIAM WILSON, in which GIDEON LEE and SHEPHERD KNAPP were special partners. The profits of the firm were large for several years, but the panic of 1837 came, and at the age of thirty-eight Mr. ANDREWS found himself once more penniless. But here there came to him a mark of confidence that not only reflected honor upon his special partners, but also emphasized the character for probity which he himself had earned. These gentlemen invited him to a conference, in the course of which they offered to let their money remain in his keeping, to be repaid, practically, at his own convenience, and with no other security than his word. The money was repaid in due time, and the success of LORING ANDREWS thenceforth was scarcely broken. For a great portion of the remainder of his business career he was alone, except when, during 1840, ABIEL Low, of Boston, was his partner. In 1851 he admitted into partnership CHARLES GIBBONS, a young man who had risen from the ranks, and by his industry, perseverance and honesty had won the confidence of Mr. ANDREWS. In the latter years of his life Mr. ANDREWS was assisted in the management of his business by his two sons, WILLIAM L. and CONSTANT A., the firm name being LORING ANDREWS & SONS.
Mr. ANDREWS was described by his business associates as the soul of honor in all his transactions, and possessed in a remarkable degree foresight and independent judg- ment. He attested his great faith in the value of Swamp property by investing largely in it. He was one of the early directors of the Mechanics' Bank, one of the founders
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of the Shoe and Leather Bank, and its first President. He subscribed largely to the stock of the Atlantic Cable Company, at a time when that enterprise seemed hazardous to a degree which in these days it is difficult to understand, or even to recall.
Mr. ANDREWS was elected a member of the Chamber of Commerce July 6, 1865, and continued his connection with the association to the close of his life.
In his social and more private relations, LORING AN- DREWS was self-contained and somewhat reticent, but kindly ; his benefactions were alike liberal and unosten- tatious. He died in this City, January 22d, 1875, in the 76th year of his age.
JOSHUA BATES.
Tms eminent banker and financier, to whose kindly and generous offices America owes so much, was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, October 10th, 1788. His father, Col. JOSHUA BATES, was one of the most estimable citizens of Weymouth, but was not in prosperous circumstances. He gave his children the best educational advantages, both public and private, which Weymouth afforded ; and when, at the age of fifteen, young BATES was placed in the counting-house of WILLIAM R. GRAY, then one of the merchant princes of Boston, Mr. GRAY says that his father, in taking leave of him, gave him twenty-five dollars, which was his whole patrimony. The boy was faithful, intelligent, diligent, and strictly upright in all business matters, and soon won the confidence of his employer. Mr. GRAY had two business houses, one in Charlestown, the other in Boston. When young BATES was eighteen years of age he was put in charge of the Charlestown house, and remained there three years, when he returned to Boston, and for three years more was in confidential relations with Mr. GRAY. In 1813 he formed a partnership, under Mr. GRAY's patronage, with Capt.
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