James Cunningham Bishop Explained

Birth Date:	13 May 1870
Birth Place:	Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, US
Death Place:	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Alma Mater:	Harvard University
Parents:	Heber R. Bishop Mary Cunningham Bishop
Children:	5

James Cunningham Bishop (May 13, 1870 – June 1, 1932), son of New York capitalist Heber R. Bishop, was a banker.

Early life

Bishop was born on May 13, 1870, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.^[1] He was the son of Heber R. Bishop (1840–1902) and the former Mary Cunningham (1842–1905). Among his siblings were Mary Cunningham Bishop,^[2] Elizabeth Templeton Bishop (wife of James Low Harriman, eldest son of Oliver Harriman)^[3] Harriet Arnold Bishop^[4] (wife of James F. D. Lanier),^[4] Heber Reginald Bishop Jr.,^[5] Francis Cunningham Bishop,^{[6] [7] [8]} Edith Bishop,^[9] (wife of Moses Taylor V, a grandson of Moses Taylor),^{[10] [11]} and Ogden Mills Bishop.^[12]

He was a graduate of Harvard University.^[1]

Career

After graduating from Harvard, Bishop became an associate member of Redmond & Co. of New York, a securities firm, in 1904. Beginning in 1916, he was a "heavy stockholder and officer" of the Welsbach Street Illuminating Company. At the time of his death, Bishop served as vice president and treasurer of the firm.^[1]

He also served as a director of the Syracuse Lighting Company and held directorates or executive positions in the American Street Lighting Company, the Barron Collier Company, the Kitson Company, the Pennsylvania Globe Company, and the Automatic Lighting Company, as well as a group of Welsbach enterprises.^[1]

Personal life

Bishop married Abigail Adams Hancock (1870–1949), niece of Winfield Scott Hancock, in 1891 and had five children. They divorced in 1913 in what was an early, high-profile divorce.^{[13] [14] [15]} Bishop's attorney was Henry Waters Taft, brother of ex-president William Howard Taft.^{[16] [17]}

• Mary Cunningham Bishop (1893–1980), who married John Damon Peabody (1883–1944),^[18] a son of Charles A. Peabody Jr. and brother of Julian Livingston Peabody.^{[19] [20]}
• Augusta Hancock Bishop (b. 1894), who married David Rives Sigourney (1893–1968), a descendant of William Cabell Rives, in 1917.^[21]
• Natalie Holmes Bishop (1898–1960), who married Charles Francis Choate III (1893–1930).^[22]
• Muriel Bishop (1901–1992),^[23] who married Benjamin Rush.^[24]
• Abigail Hancock Bishop (1905–1997), who married Winthrop Donnison Hodges.^[25]

On June 1, 1932, Bishop was found dead at the wheel of his car in his garage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the motor was running when he was discovered by a gardener, investigators concluded that the cause of death was heart disease rather than gas fumes.^[26]

Descendants

Through his youngest daughter, Abigail, he is the great-grandfather of Fidelity Investments multi-billionaire Abigail Johnson.

Notes and References

1. News: 2 June 1932 . JAMES C. BISHOP DIES AT PHILADELPHIA HOME; Body of Utility Official Is Found by Employee at Wheel of His Car in Garage. . . 20 July 2017.
2. News: 4 February 1948 . MISS MARY C. BISHOP . . 20 July 2017.
3. News: 6 March 1934 . MRS. J. L. HARRIMAN DIES IN BALTIMORE; Daughter of Organizer of First Elevated Railroads Here-Native of New York. LIVED IN PARIS FOR YEARS Husband Was Related to Late Railroad Financier  - Sister Was Mrs. J. F. D. Lanier. . . 20 July 2017.
4. News: 4 November 1931 . NOTABLES MOURN MRS. H. B. LANIER; Artur Bodanzky Leads Chorus of Friends in Music From St. John Passion. ORCHESTRA MEN ATTEND figures in Music World Also Join Relatives in Tribute to the Founder of Group. . . 20 July 2017.
5. News: 17 February 1923 . Obituary  - BISHOP . . 20 July 2017.
6. News: 3 September 1927 . FRANCIS C. BISHOP DEAD.; Member of Old New York Family Dies at His Country Home. . . 20 July 2017.
7. News: 30 December 1905 . H. R. BISHOP'S SON TO WED.; Engagement of Francis C. Bishop to Miss Gertrude Pell Announced. . . 20 July 2017.
8. News: 15 October 1953 . MRS. FRANCIS C. BISHOP . . 20 July 2017.
9. News: 9 January 1959 . MRS. NICHOLSON, 84, FINANCIER'S WIDOW . . 20 July 2017.
10. News: 20 August 1896 . SOCIETY WEDDING IN NEWPORT.; The Marriage of Moses Taylor to Edith Bishop Solemnized Yesterday. . . 20 July 2017.
11. News: 26 December 1950 . G. J. G. NICHOLSON, INDUSTRIALIST, 79; Retired President of Alabama Coal Concerns and Former Wyoming Rancher Dies . . 20 July 2017.
12. News: September 23, 1955 . OGDEN MILLS BISHOP . en . . 20 July 2017.
13. News: May 28, 1913 . W.J. Kinsley Gives Testimony to Help Mrs. Bishop in Divorce Action. . . 2009-08-07 . Justice Goff, in the Supreme Court, began the trial yesterday afternoon without a jury of Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's divorce suit against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. Mrs. Bishop is receiving $10,000 a year temporary alimony pending the outcome of the trial of the suit..
14. News: May 30, 1913 . Water Bottled at Bishop Farm, Check Shows, Was Sent to Room. . . 2009-08-07 . A midnight meal check of the Hotel Astor, dated Dec. 28, 1912, was put in evidence yesterday before Supreme Court Justice Goff, who is hearing Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's suit for divorce against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. The check called for one quart of Orchard water, among its other items, to be delivered to room 622, occupied by a man and woman registered as Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Baer of Philadelphia..
15. News: 3 June 1913 . MURIEL BISHOP, 11, TO CHOOSE PARENT; Justice Golf Orders Banker to Produce Child Before Him Tomorrow. . . 29 July 2020.
16. News: March 29, 1913 . Guilty of Contempt of Court in Keeping Daughter with Her, Banker's Lawyer Argues. . . 2009-08-07 . Henry W. Taft, brother of Ex-President Taft and attorney for James Cunningham Bishop, the banker who is being sued by his wife for divorce, appeared before Supreme Court Justice Platzek yesterday and argued that Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop be committed to jail for contempt of court in disobeying an order of Justice Hendrick which gave the custody of her daughter, Natalie, 15 years old, to her father pending the outcome of the divorce suit..
17. News: 18 September 1921 . BANKER'S EX-WIFE SUES TO OBTAIN HER ALIMONY; Mrs. Abigail H. Bishop Asks Court to Sequestrate Trust Fund Left to Former Husband. . . 20 July 2017.
18. News: JOHN D. PEABODY, 61, LAW FIRM MEMBER; Attorney Once a Director of Fulton Trust Co. Dies in Massachusetts Home . 30 September 2019 . . 28 August 1944.
19. Book: Harvard University Class of 1906 . . 30 September 2019 . en.
20. News: Paid Notice: Deaths PEABODY, JOHN DAMON JR. . 29 July 2020 . . 8 February 2006.
21. Book: Leach . Josiah Granville . Some Account of Capt. John Frazier and His Descendants: With Notes on the West and Checkley Families . 1910 . Private Circulation . 35 . 29 July 2020 . en.
22. News: WAR ADVANCES WEDDING.; Chas. F. Choate, 3d, to Marry Miss Nathalie Bishop Tomorrow. . 29 July 2020 . . 13 June 1917.
23. News: RUSH . 29 July 2020 . . 23 June 1992 . 6.
24. News: Muriel B. Rush Is Bride of Douglas B. Gillespie . 29 July 2020 . . 9 May 1977.
25. News: HODGES--Of Nahant . 29 July 2020 . . 9 April 1997 . 26.
26. News: JAMES C. BISHOP DIES AT PHILADELPHIA HOME; Body of Utility Official Is Found by Employee at Wheel of His Car in Garage.. 20 July 2017. The New York Times. 2 June 1932.