USA > New York > Portrait gallery of the Chamber of Commerce of the state of New-York : catalogue and biographical sketches > Part 18
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The preceding is but a sketch in outline of Mr. CHIIT- TENDEN's career, in which it has seemed best to give as much prominence as possible to his service in promoting those sound and honorable principles of financial policy to which the Chamber of Commerce has given its unwavering support. On the 14th of April, 1889, having just past his 75th birthday, Mr. CHITTENDEN died at his home in Brook- lyn. With those whose privilege it was to know him inti- mately, he leaves, besides the memory of his unusual gifts and his valued service to his country and to the community in which he passed his life, the still more precious memory of a nature pure, simple, just and loving .- EDWARD CARY.
HORACE B. CLAFLIN.
HORACE B. CLAFLIN was born in Milford, Massachusetts, on the 18th of December, 1811. His father, JOHN CLAFLIN, was a farmer and owner of a general store ; a man greatly respected by his neighbors, well known throughout the neighboring country as Justice of the Peace and Member of the State Legislature, and reputed rich, in days when a large farm and a little ready money betokened affluence in a New-England village. His mother was an amiable and excellent woman, and taught her children many lessons of piety and of goodness. In boyhood HORACE exhibited much of the gayety and energy which distinguished him through-
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out life. His early comrades admired and loved him, and his schoolmaster became so deeply attached to him that he afterward followed with affectionate interest the progress of all his mercantile enterprises. When HORACE was well advanced in his studies, his father proposed to send him to College, but he preferred not to go. He felt confident, even then, that he should do something important in the business world, and he wished to enter it as early as possi- ble. Accordingly, after graduating at the Milford Academy, he went into the paternal store, and worked diligently there in preparation for a broader field. When he was twenty years old his father gave him a thousand dollars, and he, in company with his elder brother, AARON, and his brother-in-law, SAMUEL DANIELS, (each recipient of a like gift,) bought his father out, and assumed the respon- sibility of the business. His first act, as manager of the store, was to pour on to the ground the stock of strong liquor, which, at that time, was generally considered a staple article of merchandise in a good country store. HORACE did not believe in selling intoxicating liquors, even for supposed family use, and he never was deterred by pecuniary considerations from acting up to his convic- tions. The following year, 1832, the young men opened another store at Worcester, Mass. ; that town was better suited to HORACE's plans, and in 1833 AARON took sole possession of the Milford stock, and HORACE was master at Worcester. His mode of doing business there astonished the neighborhood. His energy seemed untiring, and his enterprise and good humor became proverbial.
His old school teacher, who had also removed to Wor- cester, writes :
"At the time he left Worcester I think all kinds of business in that place had become impregnated with the spirit of his business system. I do not think, with all the collisions which took place, he ever made an enemy who remained so twenty-four hours. Worcester was too small to carry out his plans. New-York had superior attractions and drew him away."
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In 1837 he married AGNES, daughter of Colonel CALVIN SANGER, of Sherbourne, Mass., and thenceforward every hour that could be spared from his business was devoted to his home. He was happy in all relations, but in his married life pre-eminently. In 1843 he sold out his Wor- cester business, moved to this City, and, with WILLIAM F. BULKLEY, formed the firm of BULKLEY & CLAFLIN, and began business at No. 46 Cedar Street. Soon the energy of the younger member of the house surprised the whole- sale merchants of the metropolis, as it had startled the retail dealers of Worcester. By 1846 the sales of BULKLEY & CLAFLIN had risen to a million dollars per annum ; and in 1851, notwithstanding Mr. CLAFLIN's strong anti-slavery opinions, which drove away some Southern trade, the sales amounted to nearly five millions. In January of that year the firm moved to No. 57 Broadway, and in July Mr. BULKLEY retired from mercantile life. Mr. CLAFLIN then entered into a copartnership with WILLIAM H. MELLEN and several juniors, under the style of CLAFLIN, MELLEN & Co., and the rapid progress of the business continued. Small profits, a low per centage of expense, hard work, and the utmost liberality in credits, were Mr. CLAFLIN'S rules, and the volume of trade increased so rapidly, that, in 1853, it was necessary to seek more spacious quarters, at No. 111 Broadway. There the firm found accommoda- tions which sufficed for some years ; but in 1859 the sales had nearly reached ten millions, and another move had to be considered. Then the great warehouse on Church and Worth Streets and West Broadway was built, and in January, 1861, the firm moved into it. The change was unfortunately timed. In April the war broke out ; a con- siderable portion of the assets of CLAFLIN, MELLEN & Co. was cut off, or locked up in Southern accounts, and their recently increased liabilities could not be met at maturity. This was an almost crushing disappointment to Mr. CLAFLIN ; but when the creditors determined that his firm could pay no more than seventy cents on the dollar, and that per centage on long time, he made the best of the situation, gave compromise notes to all who would accept
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them, bought up outstanding claims for cash through the help of friends, and soon was vigorously at work again, determined eventually to pay his debts in full. Once more he prospered. The extension notes were speedily paid, and, before it seemed possible that it could be accom- plished, he had accumulated a sufficient surplus to send a check for the thirty per cent. which had been deducted in settlement, with full interest on every dollar deferred. Then he sought out all who had refused to accept compro- mise notes, but had sold their claims for cash, and to each of them he made good all their loss, both of principal and interest ; so that no creditor of CLAFLIN, MELLEN & Co. finally received less than dollar for dollar, with full interest to the last cent. The business now increased more rapidly than ever before. It was a time of excitement and of en- terprise, and no undertaking was too great for Mr. CLAFLIN. Sellers of merchandise knew that no lot could be too large for him to buy, and they found out, also, that whatever he bought was sure to be sold quickly and completely. His ability to dispose successfully of the greatest accumu- lations of goods without demoralizing the market, and his personal popularity, gave his firm advantages which made it easily outstrip all competitors in volume of trade. Mr. MELLEN retired on the 1st of January, 1864, and at that time the sales were nearly fifty millions of dollars per annum. The style of the firm was then changed to H. B. CLAFLIN & Co., and the business still increased.
Subsequently, in one year the sales of the CLAFLIN house reached the enormous total of seventy-two millions of dollars, and it is said that its sales for a single day amounted to a million and a half of dollars.
His generosity to his associates, most of whom had re- tired with large fortunes, and his helpfulness to many young merchants throughout the country, occasioned him the distress of temporary embarrassment in the great panic of 1873. He did not get needed accommodation then in places where he thought he could rely upon liberal dis- counts, and he was compelled to ask a short indulgence on open accounts from the firm's creditors, to afford time for
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the conversion of assets into money. Finding it impossible to negotiate large amounts of the choicest of bills receivable at any rate of discount, he made sweeping reductions in the firm's stock of merchandise, and sold immense amounts for cash at a great sacrifice, until the notes given in exten- sion of open accounts were taken up long before maturity, and the credit of the house was completely restored. In this panic the direct liabilities of H. B. CLAFLIN & Co. were very great, and the contingent liabilities much greater ; but every note that bore their indorsement was paid at maturity, and only a portion of the open accounts were delayed in settlement some ninety days. The gathering together and successful consolidation of the vast business after the severe shock of 1873 was not the least of Mr. CLAFLIN's achievements. A remarkable exemplification of willingness to overlook injuries was shown at this time. While he was most depressed by the great losses he was making, the wife of a man who had outrageously imposed upon his former friendship by fraudulently converting funds intrusted to him, called upon Mr. CLAFLIN, told him that she and her family would lose their home unless she could raise several thousand dollars, and asked to loan her the amount she needed. He disliked the woman, but he pitied her, and, after some reflection, he handed her a check for the money she needed, although he knew that it would probably never be repaid, and it would benefit a man who had practically robbed him of hundreds of thousands of dollars. After 1874, Mr. CLAFLIN slightly relaxed his attention to business, and, although still a regular occu- pant of his office, he distributed some of his work among his associates.
In 1877 he went to Europe for a short pleasure trip, and on his return, as he stepped ashore, he said to one of his sons : " How glad I am to be back." "Didn't you enjoy the trip ?" "O, yes, very much," he replied ; " but I should have had twice as good a time if I had stayed at home." This was characteristic. Home was full of joy to him, and he made it glad to all his household. Few men have been so happy. His habits were of the simplest, his
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health was perfect, and he was continually doing good and spreading cheer wherever he went. There seemed no limit to his benevolence. His hand was always open, and it was a pleasure to him to give. The poor were as welcome to him as the rich, and were treated with equal consideration.
He was deeply interested in the prevention of cruelty to animals, and he gave HENRY BERGHI great encourage- ment in the early stages of his noble work, when it was meeting with little public appreciation. Indeed, he en- couraged every earnest worker in any humane cause. Al- though sparkling with humor, yet he was filled with the deepest and most helpful sympathy for all in suffering or in trouble. Those who saw him casually never failed to be impressed by his bright personality, and those who knew him intimately appreciated the depth as well as the brilliancy of his nature. The Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER, who knew the value of his friendship, testified :
" He has been to me a refuge, and more than ever he or his own knew, I have been strengthened by him in days that were weary and burdened. His face was never clouded, and never turned from me-no, not for a moment."
And in a memorial sermon the great preacher said : " His cheerfulness was unquenchable. He was like a bright fire, that sends out flame and spark and warmth, not because it is told to, but because it cannot help itself. His thoughts rushed forth in endless streams like the shining rays of a lamp. His head seemed to be a globe of lambent flame. Full of merriment, quips and jests infinite, he flung off his rattling and jocose spirits like sparks from an unquenchable brand-and this, too, without regard to wind or weather, winter or summer, prosperity or adversity. Whether in trouble of one kind or another, he flamed still about the same. Indeed, I have sometimes thought that it took the hard knocks of adversity to bring out all the fire from the flint that was in him. Yet he was not a jester ; he was not a mere sport-loving man. At hours of quiet no man surpassed him in sobriety, in thoughtfulness, in out- reaching questions with regard to destiny and life and im-
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mortality. Sobriety of judgment, serious and conscientious views of life, were fundamental with him. To the end of his days, whatever might have been the outward play and coruscation, the jest and banter, at the bottom of all was a sincere belief in truth, in honor, in purity, in loyalty. Moral quality was everything with him. To the end of his life the inner stream of religious sensi- bility widened and deepened in him. In this, as in all his large benevolence, he shrank from publicity. In his very nature he abhorred ostentation ; and to him pretence, with all falseness and hypocrisy, was an unforgivable sin. His friendships were deep. He was loyal to them with a disin- terestedness seldom seen in men, seldom even in women, who surpass men in loyalty of undying love. For those that were his friends nothing was too much. Again and again he periled everything that he owned to rescue a friend from danger. At one time-I will mention no circumstance that shall point to the event except the fact-he made himself responsible for a million dollars to save a neighbor from bankruptcy; and that at a time when his own affairs re- quired the most searching care. A quarter of a million, a half million-what were they to him ? He pledged them, he offered them, with the freedom with which one would give a cup of cold water to a child of those whom he loved ; and not to kindred alone, not to his own, but to neighbors and friends. He grew gentle and tender where men are apt to become suspicious and cynical."
It was fitting that this joyous spirit should walk through the valley of death without pain. On Thursday, the 12th of November, 1885, he suddenly became unconscious, and never spoke afterwards. On the following day he seemed to regain partial consciousness ; but a pronounced effu- sion of blood in the brain ensued, and on Saturday, the 14th of November, he peacefully breathed his last, in his city home on Brooklyn Heights. Rarely has a private citizen been mourned more widely. His name was known in nearly every city and town in the United States, and hundreds of eulogies of him appeared in the public press,
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JEREMIAH MILBANK.
JEREMIAHI MILBANK was born in this City, April 18th, 1818, was educated in its schools, and remained until his death a loyal and devoted citizen of New-York. For many years he was engaged in a large business which gave him the rewards which belong to wise forethought and diligence and good judgment. When he retired from it he still further proved his capacity in the larger enterprises which engaged his attention, and soon after became a Director in the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company, where, as one of the Executive Committee, he served with conspicuous ability in the management and development of its property. In the memorial records of that Company it is written of him : "He was always faithful, earnest and devoted in the discharge of his trust as Director, and his advice and counsel in regard to the management of the affairs of the Company were wise and prudent, and highly appreciated by his associates." Rochester University ac- knowledged his "great liberality " in contributing to its endowment ; the town in Dakota bearing his name was en- riched by a church and a Public Library, which were his own gifts ; and the Madison Avenue Baptist Church, of this City, in which he was a communicant, uttered this testimony by the lips of the Rev. Dr. CHARLES D. W. BRIDGMAN, the pastor : " A strong man has fallen who was well worthy of all the trust and honor we gave him. Wise, devout, gene- rous, how can we speak of him, how can we think of what he was to us, without a sense of the mystery of his death ?"
Mr. MILBANK had breadth of mind. He swept a broad horizon. In the settlement of his plans he arranged for contingencies which a smaller mind would never have thought of. It was this mental reach, this ability to take in the whole field of action, with all the difficulties he would have to encounter, which lay at the foundation of the fortune he so steadily and amply built up. He was broad minded and practical. In addition to this, there was a conscien-
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tiousness which gave such a strength and dignity to his daily life as attracted the confidence of his fellow-men. Trusty is the word that supremely befitted him. He never separated himself from those who confided in his wisdom and honor. He guarded their interest; and so did he maintain his integrity under all circumstances ; that it was said of him-"if he could have made a million dollars by a single act of dishonesty, he would have scorned the temptation." Such men constitute the true glory of the community and of the State, and not only because of their membership in the Chamber of Commerce, but because of their exemplary worth, their portraits are hung on the walls of the Chamber.
Mr. MILBANK died in this City, June 1st, 1884, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
JOHN BROOME.
JOHN BROOME, ninth President of the Chamber of Com- merce, merchant and statesman, was born in this country in 1738, of English parentage. His mother was of the old Huguenot family of LATOURETTE. Although he studied law with Governor LIVINGSTON of New-Jersey, in order to fit himself for the bar, he was induced by an elder brother to enter commercial life, and before the Revolution he and this brother, SAMUEL, commenced as importers of mer- chandise. Subsequently JOHN BROOME carried on business on his own account, and soon established a high reputation as a merchant, and acquired considerable wealth. Before the commencement of the war Mr. BROOME married a Miss LLOYD, of Lloyd's Neck, L. I. During the Revolution Mr. BROOME was a pronounced Whig, and stood loyally by his country through the whole of the trying scenes of that period. Like many of the Whig merchants of that day, he aban- doned his business and residence in New-York while the City remained under British occupation, and removing to Connecticut he devoted his means and energy to fitting out
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privateers for the destruction of British commerce. He returned to New-York when peace was restored, and it is recorded of him, to his great credit and good name, that he was among those citizens who, after the close of hostilities, paid in full, principal and interest, the debts he contracted in England during the war, when many regarded such debts as abrogated by that war. Mr. BROOME held several public offices, and his abilities and character seem to have been generally recognized. In 1775 he was a member of the Committee of Safety, and in 1776 he was a member of the Provincial Congress and of the Constitutional Convention of 1777.
He was elected President of the Chamber May 3d, 1785, continuing in the office until May 6th, 1794, and was one of the re-incorporators of the Chamber under the Act passed by the Legislature April 13th, 1784. He was for several years an Alderman of New-York when that office was considered one of honor and responsibility, and in 1784 was appointed City Treasurer. He was President of the New-York Insurance Company, the first institution of the kind incorporated by the State. In 1800 he was chosen a member of Assembly from this City, and, with his col- leagues, General HORATIO GATES, HENRY RUTGERS and GEORGE CLINTON, contributed to the election of THOMAS JEFFERSON to the Presidency. In 1801 he was appointed one of the Commissioners of Bankruptcy, under the Act of 1798. In 1804 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, and held that office up to the time of his death, which occurred in this City on August 8th, 1810.
JOHN BROOME was in many respects a remarkable man. He unquestionably wielded great influence in his day. Of upright character and marked ability, he possessed the confidence of his countrymen.
"Mr. BROOME's life, career and character," writes Dr. CHARLES KING, "are among those which the Chamber of Commerce may refer to with pride, as of one belonging for many years to their honored Association."
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ROBERT H. MCCURDY.
ROBERT H. MCCURDY was born at Lyme, Connecticut, April 14th, 1800. His family was one of the best known in that State, his grandfather having been a prominent merchant there long anterior to the Revolution. He was fitted to enter the Sophomore Class of Yale College, and had determined to become a lawyer, but an elder brother having elected that profession, he was induced to abandon his design.
Mr. MCCURDY arrived in New-York just before the close of the second war with England, and entered the employ of Mr. LOCKWOOD, at that time a prominent dry goods merchant, who was in business in Whitehall Street. Among his fellow clerks in Mr. LOCKWOOD's employ was the late HERMAN D. ALDRICH, with whom he formed a strong friendship, afterwards augmented by a business copartnership, which continued until the close of his life.
So highly was Mr. MCCURDY's capacity esteemed that in 1820 Mr. LOCKWOOD, finding himself overstocked at the end of the season, sent him, although still under age, with a schooner load of goods to open a store at Pe- tersburg, Virginia. The enterprise proved a success under Mr. MCCURDY's management, and he remained South for several ensuing years.
About the year 1828 he returned to this City, and, with his former fellow-clerk, Mr. ALDRICH, formed the copart- nership of MCCURDY & ALDRICH, and entered upon the importing and jobbing of dry goods in Maiden Lane. The firm soon occupied a prominent position in that trade. In 1840 the late WILLIAM SPENCER was admitted to the firm, which then became known as MCCURDY, ALDRICH & SPENCER, and soon after the house abandoned its jobbing and importing business and became exclusively wholesale, selling the products of many of the largest mills of the country, including those at Fall River, Mass.
In 1857 Mr. MCCURDY retired from business. Each of
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the partners had amassed a handsome competence, and the business of the firm was sold to Low, HARRIMAN & Co.
In 1858 Mr. MCCURDY was the Republican candidate for Member of Congress from this City, but was defeated by his opponent, JOHN COCHRANE.
Mr. MCCURDY rendered conspicuous service to the Gov- ernment during the War of the Rebellion. At the outset of the agitation which followed the election of Mr. LINCOLN he was extremely anxious to do everything possible to prevent a civil war, and was a member of the Peace Con- ference which was held in Washington to avoid, if possible, any outbreak. His knowledge of the South led him to hope but little from the results of this movement ; still he felt it his duty to try every possible means to prevent actual hostility. Upon the entire failure of this Conference he returned to this City, and when the war was opened by the firing on Fort Sumter he was among the first to see the necessity of a combination of all those in favor of the Union, regardless of past political antagonisms. He at once called a meeting of the leading citizens of New-York at his residence, No. 10 East Fourteenth Street, and there the measures were taken and the programme prepared for the great mass meeting in Union Square, which was the first manifestation of the united sentiment of the City of New- York upon the subject involved between the two sections of the country. He took an active part in the organization of the Union Defence Committee, and devoted his entire time and attention to its work. He also contributed ma- terially from his own resources in aiding the Government to suppress the rebellion.
He was appointed a member of the State Committee for the erection of a monument on the battlefield of Gettys- burg, Penn., and was very largely interested in its work.
Mr. MCCURDY died in this City on the 5th day of April, 1SS0, within a few days of entering upon his eighty-first year. His business associate, Mr. ALDRICH, survived him but a few hours. It is seldom that such coincident circum- stances occur as are presented in the lives of these two distinguished merchants. Born in adjoining States, almost
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at the same time, they commenced their life work together when boys under the same employer, became partners in business as well as intimate friends, lived side by side for many years, and finally died on the same day and of the same disease. Over their remains a dual funeral service was held, and both were simultaneously buried in adjoin- ing plots in Greenwood Cemetery. It can be truly said of them that in life they were inseparable and in death were not divided.
Mr. MCCURDY was not only an upright merchant, but he was a man of sound judgment and great business expe- rience. He was connected with the direction of many of the leading financial institutions of this City, and was one of the earliest directors of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and for many years was upon its Finance Com- mittee, but never occupied any salaried office. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce from August 1st, 1861, and in various ways rendered valuable public service in this Association.
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