William Bard Explained

Office:President of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company
Term Start:1830
Term End:1847
Predecessor:Inaugural holder
Successor:Morris Franklin
Birth Date:4 April 1778
Birth Place:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Place:Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Alma Mater:Columbia College
Parents:Samuel Bard
Mary Bard
Children:14, including John Bard

William Bard (April 4, 1778 – October 17, 1853) was a lawyer and pioneer in life insurance who founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company.

Early life

Bard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1778. He was the son of cousins, Mary (née Bard) Bard and Samuel Bard, a prominent doctor who was a founder of Columbia University's medical school and physician to George Washington.[1] His younger sister, Eliza, was the wife of John McVickar, the First Rector of St. James Church in Hyde Park and professor at Columbia University.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Suzanne (née Valleau) Bard,[3] a granddaughter and heiress of Pierre Fauconnier, and John Bard, a friend of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin who had invested in Hyde Park, then a 3,600 acre plantation.[4]

William graduated from Columbia College, in 1798 and began the study of law under Judge Maturin Livingston, the former Recorder of New York City.[1]

Career

After his marriage in 1820, they moved to Hyde Park where his father had transferred a large portion of his estate, together with a considerable fortune that his wife received from her grandmother, Madame du Nully of San Croix. Around 1826, Bard sold their estate in Hyde Park to David Hosack (the doctor who tended to the fatal injuries of Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804) and moved to Manhattan, before eventually settling in Staten Island where he purchased a large piece of property becoming the first of his family to reside on Staten Island. There he built a large house in West New Brighton, located on the north shore of the island, at Bard Ave. (which was named for him) and Delafield Place. He was offered the position of president of Columbia College, but declined the offer.

He later founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, which was the first insurance company in New York,[5] and served as its first president.[6] After his retirement in 1847, he was succeeded by Morris Franklin, who served as president from 1848 until his death in 1885.[7]

Personal life

On October 7, 1802, Bard was married to Catherine Cruger (1781–1868) at Trinity Church in Manhattan.[8] Catherine was the daughter of Ann (née du Nully) Cruger and Nicholas Cruger (brother of Henry Cruger),[9] a slave-trader in St. Croix, West Indies.[4] Together, they were the parents of fourteen children, eight of whom lived to adulthood:[10]

Bard died on October 17, 1853, at his home on Staten Island. He was buried in the family vault in St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. His widow, Catherine, died on October 14, 1868, also in Staten Island. Their Staten Island estate in the Livingston neighborhood, which was later owned by their daughter Eliza, became the Staten Island Cricket Club.

References

Notes
Sources

Notes and References

  1. Hirsch . Felix . October 1941 . The Bard Family . Columbia University Quarterly . Bard College Archives, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY .
  2. Book: Year Book of the Dutchess County Historical Society . 1938 . . 79 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  3. Web site: The Bard Era (1764-1821) . www.vanderbiltgarden.org . . 12 August 2019 . en.
  4. Book: Wilder . Craig Steven . Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities . 2014 . Bloomsbury Publishing USA . 9781608194025 . 229 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  5. Book: Brooks . Charles E. . Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution: The Holland Land Purchase . 1996 . . 9780801431203 . 209 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  6. Book: Report of the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company; made to the Chancellor of the State of New-York, March 29, 1831 . 1831 . . 24 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  7. News: MORRIS FRANKLIN . 12 August 2019 . . 23 October 1885.
  8. Web site: | Bard College: A 150 Year History . Hvmag.com . 2016-06-15.
  9. News: COL. S. V. R. CRUGER ACCUSED.; John Bard Says that He Has Held Back Money Due Him Under His Wife's Will. . 12 August 2019 . . 6 February 1898.
  10. Book: Helffenstein . Abraham Ernest . Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants: With Some Account of the Allied Valleaux . 1911 . Press of S. H. Burbank & Company . 95 . 9780598995292 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  11. Book: Hall . Henry . America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York . 1895 . . 527 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  12. Book: Johnson . Dale T. . American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection . 1990 . . 9780870995972 . 193 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  13. Book: Davenport . Charles Benedict . Naval Officers; Their Heredity and Development . 1919 . Carnegie Institution of Washington . 12 August 2019 . en.
  14. Book: Schnurmann . Claudia . A Sea of Love: The Atlantic Correspondence of Francis and Mathilde Lieber, 1839-1845 . 2018 . BRILL . 9789004344259 . 812 . 12 August 2019 . en.
  15. News: RICHARD DELAFIELD, BANKER, DIES AT 76; Chairman of Board of National Park Bank Succumbs at Tuxedo After Long Illness. MEMBER OF NOTED FAMILY He Was President of Bank for 22 Years and Official or Director of Other Corporations. . 12 August 2019 . . 5 August 1930.