James de Peyster Ogden explained

James de Peyster Ogden
Office:President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
Term Start:1856
Term End:1857
Predecessor:Frederic De Peyster
Successor:Gulian Crommelin Verplanck
Term Start1:1850
Term End1:1851
Predecessor1:John Alsop King
Successor1:Ogden Hoffman
Office2:President of the
New York Chamber of Commerce
Term Start2:1842
Term End2:1845
Predecessor2:Isaac Carow
Successor2:James Gore King
Birth Date:August 26, 1790
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Death Place:New York City, U.S.
Parents:Jacob Ogden Jr.
Mary Reade de Peyster
Spouse:Lavinia Beckwith
Children:3
Signature:Signature of James de Peyster Ogden (1790–1870).png

James de Peyster Ogden (August 26, 1790 – April 7, 1870) was an American merchant, and businessman.

Early life

Ogden was born in New York City on August 26, 1790, a scion of two well-known New York families. He was the only child of Dr. Jacob Ogden Jr. (1762–1802) and Mary Reade (née de Peyster) Ogden (1765–1790), who married in 1789.[1] His mother died a few months after his birth and his father, who was a friend of George Washington had studied medicine alongside David Hosack when both were students of Samuel Bard.[2]

Career

Orphaned at age 11, he was adopted by a de Peyster aunt, who died shortly thereafter, and then he went to live with his uncle, Frederick de Peyster.[3] Ogden then began his business career as a clerk with Van Horne and Clarkson, a mercantile firm in New York City, and then spent several years in Liverpool, England as an agent for LeRoy, Bayard and Company, another mercantile firm. During the administration of President Andrew Jackson, he held the post of U.S. consul for Liverpool.[4]

Ogden served as the first president of the Atlantic Dock Company, chartered by New York State on May 6, 1840. The company developed the Brooklyn harbor by erecting a docks, warehouses, and a basin for deep water ships which today is known as Red Hook and South Brooklyn.[5]

In 1845, he began his three year tenure as the first president of Nautilus Insurance Company (today known as New York Life), which had also been chartered in 1840.[6] The company sold life, fire, and marine insurance,[7] as well as insuring the lives of slaves for their owners (although the company voted to end the sale of insurance policies on slaves in 1848).[8] [9]

Reportedly, he "deeply deplored the Civil War, and his sympathies were very strong with the South; yet he recognized the duty of opposing secession and exerted all his powers against it."[1]

He was a member and president of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York,[10] an organization of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York, serving from 1850 to 1851, and again from 1856 to 1857.[11] He was also a founding member of the New York Chamber of Commerce,[12] of which he served as president of from 1842 to 1845.[13]

Personal life

Ogden was married to Lavinia Beckwith. Together, they were the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter,[1] namely Charles Richard Ogden (1840–1882), who married Bessie A. Jerome (d. 1918);[14] James Ogden;[1] and Mary Elizabeth Ogden, who married George Hyatt.[1]

Ogden died on April 7, 1870. His funeral was held at Trinity Church and he was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Alstyne . Lawrence Van . Ogden . Charles Burr . The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906 . 1907 . Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company . 109 . 9 June 2018 . en.
  2. Book: Barrett . Walter . The Old Merchants of New York City: By Walter Barrett, Clerk [pseud.]. ]. 1870 . M. Doolady . 92–98 . 9 June 2018 . en.
  3. Book: Belknap . Waldron Phoenix . The De Peyster Genealogy . 1956 . . 49–51 . 9780674198012 . 9 June 2018 . en.
  4. Book: Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Select Committee on the Extinction of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions . Analysis of the Report of a Committee of the House of Commons on the Extinction of Slavery . 1833 . Society for the Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions . 134 . 9 June 2018 . en.
  5. Web site: Guide to the Atlantic Dock Company collection 1978.151 . dlib.nyu.edu . . 9 June 2018.
  6. Book: Hudnut, James Monroe . 1906 . History of the New York Life Insurance Company, 1895-1905 . New York . 2 . New York Life Insurance Company .
  7. Web site: Landmarks Preservation Commission February 10, 1987; Designation List 187 LP-1512 . 10 February 1987 . New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission . 30 May 2017.
  8. News: Insurance Policies on Slaves: New York Life's Complicated Past . Rachel Swarns . . December 18, 2016 . May 26, 2017.
  9. Web site: An early history of life insurance . 15 August 2012 . . 30 May 2017.
  10. Book: The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1- . 1905 . . 116 . 9 June 2018 . en.
  11. Book: Portraits of the presidents of the society, 1835-1914 . Youngs . Florence Evenlyn Pratt . 1914 . The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York . 682402324 . 24 December 2011.
  12. New York Chamber of Commerce Collection, Monthly Bulletin, vol. 40 (1948–49), Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.
  13. Web site: UNION SQUARE SAVINGS BANK, 20 Union Square East a/k/a 101-103 East 15th Street, Borough of Manhattan. Built 1905-1907; architect Henry Bacon. . nyc.gov . Landmarks Preservation Committee . 9 June 2018 . February 13, 1996.
  14. News: Mrs. Bessie Jerome Ogden . 9 June 2018 . . 26 Mar 1918 . 5 . en.
  15. News: The Late James De Peyster Ogden--Funeral at Trinity Church--Action of the Chamber of Commerce. . 9 June 2018 . . 10 April 1870.