USA > New York > Portrait gallery of the Chamber of Commerce of the state of New-York : catalogue and biographical sketches > Part 19
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JOHN CASWELL.
JOHN CASWELL was one of a large family of children of WILLIAM and MERCY BULOID CASWELL, and was born at Newport, R. I., December 6th, 1797. He came to New- York in the year 1811, being fourteen years old, and entered upon his life work as a clerk with his uncle, ROBERT BULOID, whose store was on Broadway, between Maiden Lane and Fulton Street. In 1820 the business was moved to Front Street, near Burling Slip, and was con- ducted under the firm name of BULOID & FINCH. Upon the death of Mr. FINCH, in 1822, JOHN CASWELL was taken into partnership by his uncle, and the name of the firm became BULOID & CASWELL. After the lapse of several years, and after the death of Mr. BULOID, Mr. CASWELL carried on the business in his own name ; but soon, having formed a partnership with his brother, SoLo-
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MON T. CASWELL, and other gentlemen, established the house of JOHN CASWELL & Co. about 1836, which was successfully carried on at No. 87 Front Street, until his death.
By his industry and assiduity he acquired a considerable fortune, and obtained an unblemished reputation for integ- rity, sound judgment and decisive action, while the firm of JOHN CASWELL & Co. became one of the representative business houses in the China trade.
In the words of one of his former partners, his character- istics as a business man are thus described :
"JOHN CASWELL was a modest, retiring gentleman, very diffident, not disposed to put himself forward in anything, but he was an eminently sagacious man, shrewd and keen in his judgment of men and their motives. He was seldom deceived, although he never refused credit to an honest, industrious man who knew his business well. He had many of the characteristics of a truly great merchant. Never hastily adopting an opinion until it was thoroughly investigated, he did not readily change unless convinced that he was wrong, and then he was great enough to admit the error and rectify it. He was distinguished for the probity of his character ; his word was his bond ; and in an intercourse of more than a quarter of a century with him as clerk, partner and friend, I never knew him to utter a falsehood or prevaricate in the slightest degree."
Mr. CASWELL was an attendant at St. John's Chapel, then at the Church of the Ascension, afterwards at Trinity Chapel, and was elected a Vestryman of Trinity Church, which office he held for many years until his death.
He was an intimate friend of the late Rev. Dr. WILLIAM A. MUHLENBERG, and was one of the founders and first supporters of St. Luke's Hospital in this City, and liberally aided very many of the charitable institutions of the Church with which he was connected. Few of those out- side of the large circle who were recipients of his bounty, or were his chosen almoners, know how wise and discrimi-
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nating but ample and generous were his daily charities and benefactions.
He was director in the Union Bank, United States Trust Company, Continental Fire Insurance Company and Second National Bank, besides having many other responsibilities of a fiduciary nature, in all of which he was active and conscientious in the discharge of his duties.
Mr. CASWELL died in this City March 29th, 1871, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
DANIEL DRAKE-SMITH.
DANIEL DRAKE-SMITH was born in the City of New-York August 29th, 1818. His paternal ancestors were English, and on the maternal side Huguenots. One of his an- cestors in this country was JOSEPH DRAKE, who settled in Orange County, in this State, about 1750, and the family always cherished the tradition that this JOSEPH DRAKE was collaterally related to Sir FRANCIS DRAKE, the famous navigator of Queen ELIZABETH's time. Mr. DRAKE-SMITH'S whole business life, extending over fifty years, was identified with the underwriting interest. He was Secretary of the Atlantic Insurance Company, and afterwards President of the Commercial Mutual Insurance Company, which he established in 1852. For many years he was Vice-Presi- dent and afterwards President of the New-York Board of Marine Underwriters. On his retirement from active busi- ness in 1879 the Board of Trustees of the Commercial Mutual Insurance Company, of which he had been Presi- dent from the time of its incorporation, presented him with a handsome and valuable testimonial as a tribute of their esteem. His judgment upon questions of marine insurance was generally regarded as sound, and his opinions were frequently sought by those engaged in that business in this and other cities, and in fact he acquired distinction as one of the most accomplished underwriters of the
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country, while his uncompromising integrity and strict fidelity to duty were prominent traits of his high character. Mr. DRAKE-SMITH was also a writer of ability on economic and political questions, possessing a clear and vigorous style, and during the latter part of his life he trans- lated from the Latin and published "Spinoza's Ethics," which was regarded by competent judges as an excellent work.
In 1883 the Mayor of the City appointed Mr. DRAKE- SMITHI a Rapid Transit Commissioner, and as Chairman of the Commission he performed very effective service for the City.
He will be long remembered by the Sandy Hook pilots for the active and aggressive interest he took in defending the retention of the compulsory pilotage system.
During the Civil war he was an earnest supporter of the Government, and his voice was heard from many platforms in his country's interest, urging his fellow men to the per- formance of their duty as patriotic citizens.
He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce from May 6th, 1858, up to his death, and took part in the discussions on most important public and commercial questions, his wide and extended learning enabling him to throw much light upon intricate and controversial subjects, which the Cham- ber was called upon to consider. He also served on several of the Chamber's Standing and Special Committees. Mr. DRAKE-SMITH resided in this City until 1863, when he removed to Englewood, N. J., where he died on February Sth, 1887, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.
JACOB BARKER.
JACOB BARKER Was born in what is now the town of Per- kins, Swan Island, in the Kennebec River, in the province, now the State, of Maine, December 17, 1779. His parents were members of the Society of Friends, at Nantucket, and removed from thence to Maine in 1772. He was a distant
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cousin, on both the father's and mother's side, of BENJA- MIN FRANKLIN, whom he greatly resembled, in form and feature. His father died April 26, 1780, when JACOB was about four months old. After the peace of 1783, his mother returned to Nantucket, reaching there in April, 1785, where he enjoyed the advantages of the excellent schools of the island till he was in his eighteenth year, when, like most of the enterprising Nantucket boys of that time, he came to New-York to seek his fortune. He entered the counting-house of ISAAC HICKS, an eminent New-York commission merchant, in 1797. He remained with Mr. HICKS, greatly to their mutual satisfaction, until the close of 1800, when he entered into partnership with JOHN BARD and JONAS MINTURN as commission merchants. He was only twenty-one years of age, full of energy, and of great physical courage and enterprise, and he soon took the whole business upon his own shoulders and combined a shipping business with it ; a year later he was the owner of four ships and a brig.
He was a tireless worker, and before the war of 1812 was declared, he had become a thorough student of political economy, an attorney at law, a banker, a State Senator, and the largest ship-owner in the United States, except WILLIAM GRAY, of Boston and Salem. His ships traversed every sea. He established a house in Liverpool, and his business connections with most of the European States were very extensive ; with Russia, especially, he had established a very large trade. His transactions, in the purchase and sale of ships, with foreign governments, were of immense extent, and were almost all made with their Admiralty officers. He also took contracts with our own Government, supplying our light-houses with oil, when Mr. GALLATIN was Secretary of the Treasury. When ROBERT FULTON was building his first steamboat, Mr. BARKER imported for him, at his own risk and on his own account, the first marine steam engine brought into this country, and held it for him, until he could raise the necessary funds to pay for it. -
While he was State Senator, the Senate, under the old
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Constitution, sat as a Court of Errors ; Mr. BARKER de- livered an opinion in an insurance case, in opposition to that of Chancellor KENT, and his opinion was sustained by the Court. He was so thorough a student of the laws and principles of trade, commerce and finance, in their relations to the policy of the Government, that he became an ardent politician and political leader, and carried all the zeal of his earnest and restless nature into his political life. He espoused the cause of JEFFERSON, advocating the purchase of Louisiana, and subsequently defending the Embargo and Non-importation Acts, though he was convinced, that with his extended commercial and shipping business, the immediate result to him would be great and heavy losses. He was too patriotic to let this certainty outweigh the con- viction that his country would be benefited by a firm resistance to the encroachments of Great Britain and France on her commerce. He at first opposed the war of 1812, but when it was declared, he supported Mr. MADI- SON'S war policy. His ships were all captured during the war ; but his fortune was still ample, and in 1813, finding the Government distressed for funds, he obtained subscrip- tions for two million four hundred thousand dollars, sub- scribing one hundred thousand dollars on his own account ; and the next year, learning that the ten million loan advertised found few or no takers, with his subscription and his other arrangements to the same effect, he was pre- pared to offer to the Treasury an additional loan of five million dollars more, to sustain its credit.
After the battle of Bladensburg, at the request of Presi- dent MADISON'S wife, Mr. BARKER and ROBERT G. L. DE PEYSTER took from the President's house the original por- trait of WASHINGTON, by STUART, to preserve it from being seized by the British. They fell in with the train of the American army, then retreating from Washington, and continued with it till nightfall, when they stopped at a farmhouse near the banks of the Tiber, passed the night, and deposited the portrait there for safe-keeping. After the war was over, Mr. BARKER returned to the farm- house, and, re-claiming the picture, returned it to Mrs.
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MADISON, who placed it in the new White House, as soon as it was re-built, where it remains to this day.
After the war he established the Union newspaper, to advocate the election of DE WITT CLINTON. He founded the Exchange Bank in this City in 1815, and became largely con- cerned in stocks. He was again elected to the State Senate, and there, was among the first to advocate the construction of the Erie Canal, as well as other measures proposed by Gov- ernor CLINTON. He continued to take an active interest in politics, and in 1820 was the first man to nominate ANDREW JACKSON for the Presidency. He sustained him, also, in 1824 and in 1828. In 1834 he removed to New-Orleans, where he again engaged in banking, and, being admitted to the Louisiana bar, speedily became a political leader there, but, true to his early training in the Society of Friends, he would neither hold slaves nor support slavery. This bold and fearless stand undoubtedly diminished his fortune, but he never wavered in his position. He was an old man (eighty-two years of age) when the Civil War commenced, but though remaining in New-Orleans, he opposed the Re- bellion. In 1865 he was elected to Congress from that city, but, owing to the Reconstruction difficulties, was not permitted to take his seat. In 1867, with his great fortune lost from the vicissitudes of the war, he removed to the home of his son, ABRAHAM BARKER, in Philadelphia, where he died December 26, 1871, at the age of ninety-two years.
ALFRED S. BARNES.
ALFRED SMITH BARNES was born in New-Haven, Conn., January 28th, 1817. His father was the proprietor of an inn located in that part of the town known as Barnesville, and was a man of probity and Christian character. His mother was a MORRIS, of Huguenot descent, for whom her son, ALFRED, always cherished the tenderest recollections, as it seemed to be her life work to guide her children with love in all the Christian graces. Owing to a large family,
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ALFRED was sent away to a boarding school at nine years of age, and there received his rudimental education. Upon the death of his father, in 1827, he returned home and remained with his mother several years, when he was placed under the care of an uncle living near Hartford. Here he united farming and schooling, but soon became restless to enter a business. His uncle endeavored to interest him in the shoe-making trade, but, not having a taste for the occupation, he shrunk from it, and aspired to a position in a book store. In 1831 the way was opened to him to enter the book store of D. F. ROBINSON & Co., of Hartford, as errand boy, and with all the enthusiasm of his nature he entered upon his duties there, at thirty dollars per year, with a home in the family of Mr. ROBIN- SON included. The firm removed to New-York in 1835, and there he completed his clerkship.
In 1838 Mr. BARNES, then a young man of twenty-one, became acquainted with Professor CHARLES DAVIES, the mathematician, and the result was a copartnership under the firm name of A. S. BARNES & Co., for the publication of the latter's books. They removed to Hartford and opened business in a store about fifteen by twenty feet. Professor DAVIES furnished the material for the books, and Mr. BARNES published and went about introducing the same into the schools of the country, so far as the trav- elling facilities of that day permitted. Professor DAVIES remained a partner till 1848, and was succeeded by EDMUND DWIGHIT, who continued only a year or two, and was in turn succeeded by HENRY L. BURR, a brother-in-law of Mr. BARNES, who remained a partner till his death in 1865, since which time Mr. BARNES' five sons and a nephew have successively been admitted to the firm, and now carry on the business.
In 1840 the firm of A. S. BARNES & Co. removed to Philadelphia, and, after four years, removed again to New- York, where it has since remained. Mr. BARNES gave untiring attention to the affairs of the business for over fifty years, and his wise judgment in all matters pertaining thereto was one of the chief factors in its success. The list
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of publications has been mainly school books, (although some digression in other lines has been permitted, but only incidentally,) and embraces now over eleven hundred titles. The schools of several generations are familiar with the firm's imprint, and it is hardly necessary to recall the names of the more popular books. DAVIES' Mathematics have been more widely used, probably, than any other series extant, the aggregate sale of the series to date having been at least ten million copies ; a safe estimate of the total out-put of the house to date would be at least seventy-five million copies, Mr. BARNES would never permit an unwor- thy publication to emanate from his house, nor would he employ a man who did not impress him by an upright and gentlemanly bearing, and he was seldom deceived. Always genial himself, he sought to have pleasant feeling prevail throughout his establishment, and by absolute fair dealing the house has earned for itself an enviable reputation. For some years he was special partner in the publishing house of POTTER, AINSWORTH & Co., which, since his death, has been merged into the house of which he was the head.
In 1857 and 1861, periods of money stringency, he felt the clouds gathering about him, but by prudence and the confidence of his friends he passed safely over the troubled waters.
Mr. BARNES chose, as between money spending and money giving, the latter, and he seemingly gave with un- stinted hand to the numerous charities that favorably pre- sented themselves to him. Perhaps no better monument to his habit of giving could be mentioned, than the beauti- ful edifice he caused to be erected at Ithaca, N. Y., for the use of the Christian Association of Cornell University.
Mr. BARNES was a member of the Chamber of Commerce from April 27th, 1865 ; he was also associated as Director or Trustee in the Hanover Bank, Home Insurance Com- pany, Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, Provident Life Insurance Company, Fidelity and Casualty Company, Trus- tee in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Packer Institute and Cornell University, and in the Long Island Historical Society ; and with various railroads and other institutions,
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thus proving his untiring energy and interest in promoting all healthful and progressive enterprises. In the elevated railroads he was one of the pioneer investors, and although his original associates withdrew from the enterprise upon the failure of the endless-chain idea, he remained a stead- fast believer in an elevated mode of transit, and was a Di- rector of the New-York Company up to within a few years of his decease.
In benevolent societies and church affairs his name often appeared, indicating that his time was not entirely occupied with matters temporal. The title so often applied to him of " Christian merchant," in all that it implied, accurately describes the man.
He married, in 1841, HARRIET E. BURR, a daughter of General TIMOTHY BURR, of Hartford, to whom were born ten children, five sons and five daughters, all of whom survived their parents. Mr. BARNES died in Brooklyn, February 17th, 1888, at the age of 71 years.
JAMES BROWN.
JAMES BROWN, for a half century the head of the emi- nent banking house of BROWN BROTHERS & Co., was the fourth and youngest son of ALEXANDER BROWN, a wealthy and enterprising linen merchant of Ballymena, County Antrim, Province of Ulster, Ireland, and was born in Bally- mena on February 4th, 1791. About 1798 the elder BROWN migrated to Baltimore, and established a warehouse for the sale of linens there. He sent his sons to England to be educated, and, on their attaining their majority, took them into partnership. His business becoming extensive, and some ventures made during the Peninsular War and in the stormy times preceding our war of 1812, having proved largely successful, ALEXANDER BROWN resolved to estab- lish branch houses for the sale of his linens. The firm now became ALEXANDER BROWN & SONS, and the eldest son, WILLIAM, who had returned to the old home in Ire-
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land for a visit, established, in 1810, a branch house in Liverpool, which, in 1815, assumed the name of WILLIAM & JAMES BROWN & Co. Subsequently the firm name was changed to BROWN, SHIPLEY & Co. Mr. WILLIAM BROWN accumulated a large fortune, was elected a member of Par- liament, and with a liberal spirit which did him great honor, established the Free Library of Liverpool, to which he gave half a million of dollars. On his retirement from business he was created by the Queen a baronet. The next son, GEORGE, remained with his father in Baltimore ; JOHN A. became the head of a branch house in Philadelphia, and JAMES, the youngest, was sent to New-York in 1825. In 1826 the house of BROWN BROTHERS & Co., still in the linen trade, was founded in New-York. It was composed of ALEXANDER, the father, WILLIAM (afterwards Sir WIL- LIAM) in Liverpool, JOHN A. in Philadelphia, and JAMES, then thirty-four years old, in New-York. At the close of 1838 the firm sold out their linen business, and thenceforth devoted themselves exclusively to banking, in which, indeed, they had already been profitably engaged. Their character for integrity, financial ability and liberal dealing, as well as their abundant means, soon made them the representative banking house in this country. When the financial panic of 1837 came on, the firm held American bills for a very large amount, including four million dollars of protested paper, and other engagements in England to the amount of ten millions more. They were abundantly solvent, but the panic was raging in Europe as fiercely as here. The large amounts of American securities held by the firm, though good, were not available at that time, and it was almost impossible to draw bills or remit specie to Eng- land. There was a consultation between the brothers, and WILLIAM was deputed to go to the Bank of England and ask that a committee of their ablest financiers should be ap- pointed to investigate the condition of the American banking house, and, if they were satisfied, that the Bank should make them a loan sufficient to carry them through. The committee was immediately appointed, and, after ex- amination, reported so favorably that the Bank of England
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granted them a credit of five million pounds, or so much of it as they might need. At the end of six months the loan was repaid, and from that time their credit and reputation, both in Europe and America, stood higher than that of any other banking house having American connections. From that time to the present, the circular letters of credit of BROWN BROTHERS & Co. have been as current in every part of the world as the notes of the Bank of England. They have now their branch establishments, all carefully managed, in Boston, Philadelphia and Balti- more, and their representatives in New-Orleans, as well as in most of the principal cities of the world.
JAMES BROWN withdrew wholly from public and politi- cal affairs, to devote his whole powers to the consideration of the problems of finance and the conduct of his vast business. Though of genial manners and a most kindly nature, he suffered no interruption or intrusion upon his time during business hours, and his faithful servant per- mitted no access to his private office, without his master's explicit permission. Yet he found time for aiding and guiding great charitable and philanthropic institutions amid his busy life. He was for many years President of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, and an active and leading Director of the Bank for Savings in Bleecker-street, a Vice-President or Director of the Amer- ican Bible Society, of the Union Theological Seminary, of the Presbyterian Hospital and other charitable institutions, and in the charities of his own church he was always a large, though never an ostentatious, giver. He had been the Senior Elder of the University Place Presbyterian Church for many years.
For twenty years and more before his death Mr. BROWN had withdrawn from the more active duties of his bank- ing house, but his interest in it continued till his death, which occurred in this City, November 1st, 1877, in his eighty-seventh year. Mr. BROWN was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. BENEDICT, of Plainfield, Connecticut. Three daughters survived her. II:s second wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. JONAS COE,
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of Troy, who survived him. By this marriage he had three children, two sons and a daughter.
The Chamber of Commerce, of which body Mr. BROWN had been a member for more than fifty years. was informed of his death the same day, whereupon a Committee was appointed, consisting of A. A. Low, WILLIAM E. DODGE and SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, to prepare resolutions of respect to his memory. At the meeting of the Chamber, held December 6th, the Committee reported the following, which were unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That the demise of JAMES BROWN bids us pause amid the activities of business to add another name to the roll of our honored dead ; the name of one whose life, gathering brightness with length of years, has shed lustre upon the commercial character, not of our city only and of sister cities, but of the United States, the name of him who, as partner of the house of BROWN BROTHERS & Co., has extended American credit to the remotest quarters of the globe, and vitalized our relations with the commercial world.
Resolved, That it becomes us to bow with resignation to the will of GOD, who, in the fullness of years, has with- drawn from our Association one of its oldest and most es- teemed members, whose presence in this Chamber, although marked by an unostentatious reserve, imparted dignity to its proceedings and strength to its resolves.
Resolved, That we will cherish the memory of our late associate, and, making record of his long, useful and ex- emplary life-a life eminently conspicuous for its munifi- cent charities-we will hold this record sacred in our keeping as long as the love of rectitude, philanthropy, patriotism and Christian gentleness shall endure.
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