From collection Creating Acadia National Park: The George B. Dorr Research Archive of Ronald H. Epp

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Ward Thomas Wren (1786-1858) Ward Lydia Gray (1788-1858) Pt 2 (1820- 1872)
Ward, Thomas Wren. 786-1858
2
Ward, Lydia Gray. 1788-1872
Pt. 2:1820-1872
MHs. Endicott Family Papers. B35.f. 22.
(Text after 1816 letters)
This house on Park Street, one of the best residences in
Boston at that time, looking out west acros the Common, became
my grandfather's home for the remainder of his life. His home
following his marriage tc my grandmother had been in Pearl Street
and it was in Pearl Street that his and his wife's first children
were born, my mother's older brother, Samuel Gray Ward, being
their first child to be born in Park Street.
My grandfather prospered so well during his connection
with Mr. Goodhue that, with bad times threatening and having
had experience of the dangers and uncertainties involved in
the business of that period, largely still confined to long
sea voyages and the risks connected with them, he decided to
devote himself to the good management of what he had and to work
of a public nature, to his own satisfaction and bringing him the
regard of others.
when Thomas Wren Ward began, late in life, as he tells in
bis journal of that time, to gather together his early letters
and papers, he found many lost, leaving the record fragmentary,
with long gaps between. The following letters tell what little
we do know of that period, including the attitude he had taken
in his mature life on the subject of religion:
Insert letters from TWW to Wm.Ward of
Nov. 3, 1820, July 30, 1825
[G.B.Dan]]
218
LISTS OF CITY COUNCILS.
1828.
Organized January 7.
MAYOR.
* JOSIAH QUINCY.
ALDERMEN.
* John Foster Loring,
* James Hall,
Robert Fennelly,1
* Phineas Upham,
James Savage,
* John Pickering,
* Thomas Kendall,
* Samuel Turell Armstrong.
* SAMUEL F. McCLEARY, City Clerk.
COMMON COUNCIL.
* JOHN RICHARDSON ADAN, President.
Ward 1.
Ward 7.
* Samuel Aspinwall,
* John Arno Bacon,
*
Ninian Clark Betton,
* John Belknap,
Horace Fox,2
* Waldo Flint,"
Eleazer Pratt.
* George Washington Adams,
* Thomas Wren Ward,
Ward 2.
* Benjamin Toppan Pickman.
John Warren James,
Ward 8.
Frederick Gould,
Henry Fowle, Jr.,
* John Chipman Gray,
George Washington Johnson.
John Prescott Bigelow,
* Norman Seaver,
* Daniel Lewis Gibbens.
Ward 3.
* John Richardson Adan,
Ward 9.
Thomas Gould,
* Benjamin Russell,
Levi Roberts Lincoln,
* Eliphalet Williams,
John Damarisque Dyer,
* Samuel King Williams,
James Lendall Pitts Orrok.
* Thomas Lamb.
Ward 4.
Ward 10.
*
Joseph Eveleth,
* Jonathan Simonds,
Quincy Tufts,
* William Parker,
Andrew Cunningham, Jr.,
* George Bethune,10
* James Means.
* Robert Treat Paine,
* John Lowell, Jr.
Ward 5.
Ward 11.
* George Washington Otis,
* Otis Everett,
* William Parker,
* Otis Turner,
* Lewis Glover Pray,
* Perez Gill,
* George Lane.
* Payson Perrin.
Ward 6.
Ward 12.
* Isaac Waters,
* Alpheus Cary,
* Francis Johonnot Oliver,
* Walter Cornell,
* Ebenezer Appleton,
* Joseph Neale Howe,
* David Moody.
* Benjamin Stevens.
* THOMAS CLARK, Clerk.
1 Died in September.
5 Resigned February 11.
8 From August 6.
2
From January 14 to December 29. See note.
9
From January 14.
8
Resigned April 29.
6 From May 12.
10 Resigned April 28.
.
From May 12.
7 Resigned July 14.
11 From May 12.
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1/10/2021
Catalog Record: Report of the Board of Directors of Internal I HathiTrust Digital Library
lof2
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Report of the Board of Directors of Internal Improvements
of the State of Massachusetts :
on the practicability and expediency of a rail-road from
Boston to the Hudson River, and from Boston to
Providence ; submitted to the General Court, January 16,
1829 ; to which are annexed, the reports of the engineers ;
with plans and profiles of the routes.
Description
Tools
Cite this
Export citation file
Corporate Author:
Massachusetts.
Related Names:
Willard, S.; Hayward, James 1786-1866:
Baldwin, James Fowle 1782-1862; Thomas Wren Werd (1386-1858).
Language(s):
English
Published:
Boston : Press of the Boston Daily Advertiser, 1829.
Subjects:
Boston and Providence Railroad.
Railroads > Massachusetts > Maps.
Railroads > Massachusetts.
Physical Description:
76, 119 p., [6] p. of plates : ill., fold. maps ; 23 cm.
Locate a Print Version: Find in a library
Viewability
Item Link
Original Source
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006109708
1/3
1/8/2021
Versions - Ward, Thomas Wren I FromThePage
2 of 2.
2020Elizabeth in November 1825. Ward was a subscriber to the
Subscriber to the
CasnerJun 25, Story Statue. Starting off as an importer on his
Story
2020Thom
own, in 1816 Ward became a partner in William
Statue(1786-
Burns
and Hardy Ropes, subsequently known as Ropes
1858) Attendee
and Ward. From 1830 - 1853 he was an agent for
of Dr. Jacob
the London banking firm of Baring Brothers. 1828- Bigelow's initial
1836 Treasurer of the Boston Athenaeum. 1830-
meeting about the
1842 Treasurer of Harvard College (1830-1842).
Mount Auburn
Trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Cemetery in
Ward was one of the authors (along with Nathan
November 1825.
Hale and George Bond) of "The Report of the
Ward was a
Board of Directors of Internal Improvements on
subscriber to the
the practicability and expediency of a Rail Road
Story Statue.
from Boston to the Hudson River and from Boston
to Providence," in 1829, promoting the
Starting off as an
development of these railroads. Buried in Lot 235
importer on his
on Walnut Avenue.
own, in 1816
Ward became a
partner in
William and
Hardy Ropes,
subsequently
known as Ropes
and Ward. From
1830 - 1853 he
was an agent for
the London
banking firm of
Baring Brothers.
1828-1836
Treasurer of the
Boston
Athenaeum.
1830-1842
Treasurer of
Harvard College
(1830-1842).
Trustee of the
Massachusetts
General Hospital.
https://fromthepage.com/mountauburncemetery/mount-auburn-cemetery-letters/article_version/55023
2/3
The Hairt Edith Whater 200m Jone 2020
Suren ad Mickelle Italy
of All Souls (Pep grein 2020)
What significance did Ms. Seven assign
THE Wharton's development and utilization
of be gardens in visitor after Whiston in continues industries,
the as subject the Queener was Jaylee greated, (The llant for both 2009);
mire in Does not suggest
Seven is surprised that she doesnt write
she has spch Edith t
S
leg Wanglow Form 11/4/20
mt. aeeburn Cametake Twilight Talk
Think,
3,500 leveal feet of archoe at MAC
Author : The Cet of Communication.
(19.5)
1831 of a r all designed classes Entrance of society
look indevidents intered.
First large scal designed landscape.
175 acles of treed landscape.
Grossez Band aport est in 1660, HELL Kings
Chapel 1630, ad Copps
Jonesh Quing 3 (1772-1804) led a
burnal reform survenet in 1822,
propose a new kind of bureal growtein
bunder of on William Tedor (1TLE-1830)
1826.
meg
In Nov. 1825 inviteda dozen form leadus
his St. Included:
ThomasWhen Ward
One not flore use [general Henry AS.Crearbora,
an ardent hosto culturest other Roxbury estate.
Q 1829 (6/12/29) establerked mass Hort. Society,
Bigilov wrote booklet a American Medical, Wooding
Collaborate between Bnyclow t Dearboer
George 10. Brimmefold in 1830 he Watertain
state to MHort: Soe. A-gorgeon 72-acre
estate overlooking
a compress begin to pronote new creation.
Describettest MAC look like a picture."
Natural feature. were recognize and needed
delp meior madifization
proplem named all paths walkways
Justice Storey will be mae 1st President
Dearbore if landscape artistect of mae. He
had i Alexander Washerrte
(1806-(898) of Hours to create 1st plan,
1st topog rapleria map of its kind in
the U.S. Wadowate is cousind Langfellow
300 a sq-theoty family lots.
9000 tues for schrobe, represents a thousand toya.
Burials will be closed id 200 years !
mountawboon. com.
org
notes: BowditeR and Ward families.
Su Tamara P. Thouton Mathensia Bowdeted
and the power of Numbers (2016)
1
T.W. Ward fellow member of the
practice marine Society, then
the numbership to moster supercard the goes
anorgemetro Salem makine Society +
more exclessive limiting
of vessels beyond who the had Cape novrigated food Hope maritime for elete.
sean anned Such Cape nev Hair had - Salem a global propertive Essex
(p.82). ward sold his have at on p8 97,
St. In 1811, to Nathanel Wm Bowditah see pleats.
see note 31, pp.282.
3 Henry Ingersell Bowdith, Nathasid's son, was
apprenticed to TWW. during Salem years
4
Mass Hospital Reference Co. (MNL) became
between 1823 and 1833, "the largest financial
5
By 1823, was the richest mon infosten. /p.187)
institution n New England. " (pg.161).
a 15. page record issay by R.M. Mason (1859)
is available at Hatthi Trust. of little value.
6
fee Reports and Letterbooks of the Treasurer
of
Thornton refers to Two as Bowditel's "orytime friend
Harvard 1678-1990. Archives.
and ally in the Life office (MLI), H Athenaeum, Howard affairs"
8 Bowdieh's TWW fath had summer residences in Canton.
Cp. 229).
lof4
Thomas Wren Ward as Harvard University Treasurer (1830-1842)
For a dozen years the maternal grandfather of George B. Dorr
served on the Harvard University Corporation as Treasurer. Historians
often comment that his selection for this position was precedent
making since he was not a Harvard alum.
In my Dorr biography I mention this anomaly but do not probe the
significance of his grandfather's activity as college treasurer. Yet this
issue has remained problematic for me over the years as I delved
deeper into the ciontext of ward's ascendency into this role and his
obvious success at it given his retention for more than a decade.
While many issues remain unresolved, here is what I have uncovered.
Harvard during the years of the Early Republic must be disassociated
from the institutional stature that greeted George Dorr when he
entered Harvard in 1870 under the new elective system of President
Charles W. Eliot. And that stature would grow exponentially in the
quarter-century following Dorr's graduation in 1874.
At this time, the student body was small, numbering fewer than a
hundred spread across four classes; SO too, for the number of faculty,
numbering less than a dozen. During a broader period from 1800 to
1860, the handful of Fellows who ran the Corporation were
collectively Boston residents, uniformly wealthy, major benefactors of
the college, politically conservative, in religion uniformly Unitarian,
and 92 percent were Harvard graduates. [See Ronald Story, The
Forging of an Aristocracy: Harvard & the Boston Upper Class, 1800-
1870 (Wesleyan U.P., 1974), pp.34-44].
pa. 2 of 4
The Corporation was "balanced" by the authority of the Board of
Overseers, a larger group of Harvard Fellows who again--other than
wealth-were akin to the Corporation members in status, politics,
and religion. Since its beginnings in 1810, the administration of the
Rev. John T. Kirkland embodied the Federalist ideal of gentlemanly
virtues and scholarship. As Samuel Morison emphasized, the "glory of
Kirkland's success [was that] he loved his work, he loved his
students," resulting in an improved reputation of the University (Three
Centuries of Harvard, 1936, 197). The Corporation trusted Kirkland
and the faculty and granted him increased power to establish a Law
and Theological School and the funds to support 15 new
professorships. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had subsidized
Harvard and when that subsidy was lost in 1814, the finances of the
University suffered though many in the community rejoiced at the
newfound fruits of independence.
That independence was also reflected in the election in 1826 of
Nathaniel Bowditch to the Corporation
Before Kirkland's resignation in 1829, Bowditch focused on the
inadequacies of Treasurer John Davis, "a judge of no great business
interests or acumen." (Story, Forging, p. 45). Combine this fact with
the student unrest and faculty dissension of the early 1820's, the
disarray of its financial accounts and records convinced some
Corporation Fellows that the management of college was no longer
effective, to say the least.
Josiah Quncy had studied law and served as a federalist
congressman and Mayor of Boston where he had substituted the
tradition and contested New England town meeting model with a
more complex government structure befitting the city status of
Boston at this time; he raised city expenditures for streets,
marketplaces, and sanitary improvements elevating his reputation as
pg. 30f4
a financier, a man of the world who understood the necessity of
discipline. Quickly he became known within and outside the
University as "The Great Organizer," a micromanager who had
boundless energy and an unusually high capacity for labor.
Bowditch was the key advocate for Davis' replacement as
Corporation Treasurer, Ebenezer Francis (1775-1858). Having begun
his career in Salem real estate and shipping, later becoming a
founder and officer in Bowditch's Massachusetts Hospital and Life
Insurance Company, not to mention his banking directorships.
Having interests in every sector of the New England economy,
scholars have described him as a 'shrewd and close financier'
whose 'rare mercantile talents' had long been 'concentrated upon
the acquisition of great wealth' (Story, Forging, p. 46). Thirty years
after his installation he left an estate of some #3.4 million, which Story
described as the largest estate ever probated in antebellum New
England.
Dorr's distant cousin, Francis C. Gray, heir to millionaire shipper
William Gray (Mary Gray Ward Dorr's farther), was also a member of
the newly elected Harvard Corporation. New Fellows were wealthier
more business-oriented than before. Moreover, it was no longer
necessary that Fellows have the classical education of Harvard
graduates-or be graduates of any college--as was the case with
both Bowditch & Francis. Nor were all Fellows reared in the town of
Boston, for several were from prosperous Salem families. Indeed, it
was a new more materialistic regime emphasizing tighter control of
finances, letter accounting procedures, more aggressive investment
policies, and closer supervision of faculty and students. Quincy's
leadership team was often characterized as the Salem
administration (R. Story, "Harvard and the Boston Brahmins," Journal
of Social History 8 [1975]:102).
After just two years, in 1830, Francis resigned due to health issues.
Who would Bowditch promote to sustain the values and behaviors of
Francis? George B. Dorr's maternal grandfather, Thomas Wren Ward,
another Salem born gentleman, was his successor. He had retired
pg. 4 of4
years earlier and only recently accepted a position with Barings
Brothers investment banking house. He too lacked a Harvard degree
but brought to the Corporation the international power of Barings
and the long standing relationship with the Bowditch family, aligning
himself with other Boston elites who-as Story puts it-- "for the first
time projected business values and practices onto its central cultural
institution (i.e. Harvard College)." From 1830 until 1842 Corporation
Treasurer T.W. Ward would be a major force in cultivating what Story
calls Harvard's new cast of mind: "discipline, precision, regularity,
utility, and productivity" (Brahmin, p. 102).
Ward, Thomas Wren & Harvard
pg. l of2
LD 2139
T5
Copy 1
A BUNDLE OF STATISTIC
RELATING TO THE
ose who
s an
GRADUATES OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
B N 14.
127,
VE
GATHERED FOR THE
Two hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary,
NOVEMBER 5-8, 1886.
P9.20F2
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
SENATUS ACADEMICUS, 1836.
0 029 934 474 5
PRASES.
HON. JOSIAS QUINCY, LL.D.
SOCII.
Hon. JOSEPHUS STORY, LL.D.
HON. NATHANAEL BOWDITCH, LL.D.
Hon. LEMUEL SHAW, LL.D.
How. FRANCISCUS-CALLEY GRAY, A.M.
REV. JACOBUS WALKER, S.T.D.
THOMAS-WREN WARD, Arm., Thesaurarius.
PROFESSORES.
Hist. Nat. Prof. Mass.
Rev. Henricus Ware, S.T.D., Theol. Prof. Hollis.
Theol. Nat., Phil. Mor., et Polit. Civ. Prof. Alford.
Jacobus Jackson, M.D., Med. Theor. et Prax. Prof. Hers.
Johannes-Collins Warren, M.D., Anat. et Chirurg. Prof. Hers.
Hon. Josephus Story, LL.D., Leg. Prof. Dan.
Ling. Hehr. cat. 9. Orient. Prof. Hancock.
Math. et Phil. Nat. Prof. Hollis.
Simon Greenleaf, LL.D., Leg. Prof. Royall.
Jacob Bigelow, M.D., Mat. Med. Prof.
Ling. et Lit. Hisp. Gall. g. Prof. Smith et Lit. Polit. Prof.
Gualterus Channing, M.D., Obstetricii et Med. Furisprad. Prof
Edvardus-Tyrrel Channing, A.M., Rhet. et Orat. Prof. Boylst n.
Georgius Hayward, M.D., Chirurg. et Chirurg. Clin. Prof. Acad.
Johannes-White Webster, M.D., Chem. et Min. Prof. Erving.
Rev. Henricus Ware, Jun., S.T.D., Eloquent. Sacr. et Cura Past. Prof.
Daniel Treadwell, A.M., Prof. Rumford.
Johannes Ware, M.D., Med. Theor. at Prax. Prof. Adjunct.
Rev. Johannes-Gorham Palfrey, S.T.D., Lit. Sacr. Prof.
Carolus Beck, P.D., Ling. Lat. Prof. Acad.
Cornelius-Conway Felton, A.M., Lit. Grac. Prof. Eliot.
Benjamin Peirce, A.M., Math. Prof. Acad.
College.
TUTORES.
Franciscus Bowen, A.B., Ling. Grac. Tut.
Josephus Lovering, A.B., Math. et Nat. Phil. Tut.
Carolus Mason, A.B., Ling. Lat. Tut.
PRACEPTORES.
Franciscus Sales, A.M., Ling. Hisp. et Gall. Pracept.
Petrus Bachi, A.M., J.U.D., Ling. Ital. et Hisp. et Ir.
Franciscus-Maria-Josephus Surault, Ling. Gall. Prac
Gulielmus-Hammatt Simmons, A.M., Rhet. el Oral.
BIBLIOTHECARIU
Thaddaes-Gulielmus Harris, M.D.
*Treasurer 0-1842. succeeded ly Samuel A-Eliot
1842-53
Harvard University. Treasurer. Records of the Treasurer of Harvard University : an invent Page 1 of 70
UAI 50.x
Harvard University. Treasurer. Records of the
Treasurer of Harvard University : an inventory
Harvard University Archives
VERRI
TAS
Harvard University
©2010 The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Descriptive Summary
Repository: Harvard University Archives
Call No.: UAI 50.x
Creator: Harvard University. Treasurer.
Title: Records of the Treasurer of Harvard University, 1669-2008
Quantity: 127.42 cubic feet (124 legal document boxes, 49 flat boxes, 16 document boxes,
11 card boxes, 220 volumes, 2 half document boxes, 1 legal half document box, 202 folders,
4 record cartons, and 1 reel)
Abstract: The Records of the Treasurer of Harvard University document the management
and oversight of Harvard's finances including income, expenses, and assets. Most of the
records date from 1755 to 1970, with a nearly complete series of University accounting
records spanning 1669 to 1966 and annual reports spanning 1735 to the present.
Note: This document last updated 2011 January 6.
Acquisition Information:
The majority of the records of the Harvard Treasurer were acquired by the University Archives
directly from the Treasurer's office, although some early records remained the personal property of
treasurers and were returned to the University at a later date.
Processing Information:
Most of this material was first classified and described in the Harvard University Archives shelflist
prior to 1980. In 2005, University archivists initiated a project to analyze and describe the Records of
the Treasurer. This involved a full survey, extensive reorganization, and enhanced description, as well
re-housing of the entire collection. This work was carried out by Michael Austin, Juliana Kuipers,
Jennifer Pelose, and Kate Bowers.
In the course of the project, call numbers were retained only for record series beginning in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The call numbers that were not retained were simplified. A list
of
http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/xslTransform;jsessionid=EBCC5512A91DD39889...
4/1/2011
4/25/20
Quing vennial Cataloger of Haward University
1830-1842, ps. 10 f.
Prendest Josech Juney (1/29/29 - 8/27/45)
Henry Ware are of Acting Pies. 1828-29*
Fallows 1818 Epiphalet Porter 1833
1825 Charles Jackson
1834
1825 Jooeph Aboy
1845
1826 National Boundetch
1830
1826 7.C. Ging
(836
1834 hemuel show
1861
1834 Jane Walker
1853
1837 John amous Lowell
1877
/ 838 Charle Gieely Loving
1857
Treasurer
1810 John Dars
1827
1827 Ebenizer France
1830
1830 Thom Walward
1842
1842 Samel athes Flort
1853
Prenent John T.Keihland hug resigned 4/2/1828
Page I of2
The Influence and History of the Boston Athenaeum.
Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1907.
In th e Preface it is stated that many portraits should have appeared in this volume but
were not included when it was decided to limit inbclusion to Trustee Presidents,
Librarians, and chief benefactors which accounts for the omission of Thomas Wren
Ward and others like Francis Parkman.
WARD FUND-The bequest in 1858 of $5,000.00 by Thomas Wren Ward, Treasurer of
the Athenaeum, the income for the purchase of books.
[Permanent Funds of the Boston Athenaeum, January 1, 1907]
[Chief Gifts and Bequests to the B.A.]:
T.W. Ward is a 8.5.22 Subscriber with 45 others to procure a portrait of James
Perkins, Esq.
T.W. Ward is a 1923 Subscriber with 51 others to erect a lecture building to
furnish literary and scientific instruction.
T.W. Ward is 1824 Subscriber along with 103 other gentlemen for a bust of
Washington.
T.W. Ward in 1826 along with 6 others Subscribed to purchase scientific
transactions of foreign societies.
T.W Ward in 1826 was part of a committee to raise funds for a scientific library
along with the likes of Nathaniel Bowditch and George Ticknor.
T.W. Ward was the fourth Treasurer of the B.A. from 1828-1936, preceded by Nathan
Appleton and succeeded by Josiah Quincy, Jr. Charles Pickering Bowditch would also
take on this role for two decades, 1877-1898.
Samuel Dorr was a Trustee, 1826-27.
Samuel Gray Ward was a Trustee 1853-55.
Barrett Wendell was a Trustee, 1890-
T.W. Ward was a Proprietor. See pg. 140, certificates # 270 and 271 dated 1844, the
latter passed to George Cabot Ward then Philippe Wolff in 1878 and then John Eliot
Wolfe whereas the former went to John Gallison Ward, Thomas Wren Ward (in 1859),
then Theodore Hastings (1886), Charles Chauncy Shackforth (1886), and then Robert
Swain Peabody (1894). There was an additional earlier certificate (#154) to T.W. ward
in 1822 that went to Charles L. Field (1858), John Sidney Davenport (1867), and Augusta
Page 2of
Kimball Horton (1876). Finally, certificates 689 to Samuel GFray Ward (1850) then to
Charles Henry Bennett and Charles Goddard Weld; to T.W. Ward in 1850 then to
Catherine Scollay in 1858, Sullivan Whitney in 1863, William dade Brewer Jr. in 1891
and George Dade Blinn in 1898.
Samuel Dorr (#179) certificate dated 1822 went to Charles Hazen Dorr in 1845 then to
George Bucknam Dorr in 1894.
R.Epp
46
The Forging of an Aristocracy
The Financial Regime
47
Massachusetts Hospital Life, where he introduced a number of
founder and officer of the Massachusetts Hospital Life and the
crucial financial and accounting procedures during the 1820s,
Suffolk Bank and a director of the Boston Bank, the Massachu-
Bowditch, too, acquired a comfortable, if not enormous, estate.
setts Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Boston, the Charles
He also drew an annual salary of $6,000 from the Massachusetts
River Bank of Cambridge, and of large textile firms in Massachu-
Hospital Life, making him the highest-paid business executive in
setts, New Hampshire, and Maine. So utterly successful was
the country at the time. 15 "There are few," said a contemporary,
Francis's quest for wealth that he left an estate of some $3.4
"who have done so much for the community in some of the most
million, the largest ever probated in antebellum New England;
intricate branches of business, particularly in those relating to
and SO imposing was his business reputation that when Bowditch
navigation and insurance, or who have given so much thought
urged the resignation of Kirkland's steward, Stephen Higginson,
and attention to business. "16 Indeed, as a historian of American
it was argued that under Francis even Higginson might do
science writes, it was precisely his "success in business" that
adequate work. Quincy saw Francis's financial reforms as the
enabled Bowditch to complete his greatest scientific contribu-
bedrock of Harvard's future development. As Francis's son-in-
tions" in mathematics. 17
law tactfully phrased it, "Few of his contemporaries had a clearer
Bowditch, appropriately enough, disliked the merely "orna-
understanding of the working of our institutions "21
mental" with some intensity. Having played the flute as a young
Another member of this administration was Francis C. Gray
man, he abandoned it as "unprofitable" and conducive to bad
an heir of millionaire shipper William Gray. Gray studied law
habits, and advised a friend that music and business were in-
but, like Quincy, never bothered to practice, spending his time
compatible and that no one had ever succeeded at both. While
instead in Whig politics, in such organizations as the Histori-
traveling, he preferred the sight of mills and machines, with
cal Society and the Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in be-
their "strong marks of usefulness" and "great saving of labour," to
coming an economic writer of some note. 22 But Gray's interests
mere scenery. At all times he loved "authority," dealt "harshly"
also involved large business ventures, notably the Merchants
with deviations from "the straight line of his directions," and
Bank of Boston, the Western Railroad, a Boston machine shop, a
"abhored the capricious exercise of mercy. "18 He was naturally
Boston ropeworks, a New Hampshire textile mill. and the New
offended by Kirkland's airy indiscipline and affectations of ele-
England iron manufacturing firm of his brother, I lorace Gray. 23
gance; but he naturally worked exceedingly well with Quincy,
The Corporation of 1829 also included two prominent
who was a veritable alter-ego. As Bowditch told Quincy's
lawyers, Charles Jackson and Joseph Story. Both were jurists
daughter in 1827, "There has a great deal been wasted and lost at
and legal scholars who made their living teaching, practicing,
Cambridge, but there is a noble property left. Mr. Francis and I
and adjudicating the law. Both, however, had significant busi-
have put the finances in order, and if you ladies will only let Mr.
ness interests as well. Jackson was a heavy investor in the
Quincy go there, the Corporation will do everything for you. "19
Waltham and Lowell textile mills which his brother Patrick
"Mr. Francis' was the Corporation's new treasurer, Ebenezer
Tracy Jackson had helped to organize. He also owned an iron
Francis, a "shrewd and close financier" whose "rare mercantile
rolling mill in East Boston and, according to his brother James,
talents" had long been "concentrated upon the acquisition of
"kept busy enriching himself and all of us who were concerned
great wealth. "20 Francis began his business career in shipping
with him in his Pennsylvania Iron Works. "24 Jackson seems in
and real estate, where he was so "exceedingly economical" that
fact to have been the first Corporation Fellow with substantial
he "wheedled" writing pens from his clerks and forced them to
industrial investments outside New England.
collect his rents as well as record his ladings. But he was also a
Joseph Story's tenure on the Corporation coincided with his
Ronald Story
48
The Forging of an Aristocracy Wesleyan U.P.,
The Financial Regime
49
tenure on the United States Supreme Court, which understand-
1980
Benjamin Nichols, who worked on the administrative records
ably occupied much of his time, and with his law professorship
and financial accounts in the late 1820s, was a director of the
in Cambridge, which occupied still more of it. In his judicial
Suffolk Bank, the Massachusetts Hospital Life, and the National
capacity alone Story was of immense practical value to Harvard,
Insurance Company. Of Nichols, who also held stock in several
as will be seen later. But he was a fitting and active member of
Massachusetts textile mills, a leading financier said that "he
this particular Corporation as well. He was, for example, a direc-
unites the Lawyer, the Investigator, and the Man of business
tor of the Salem Savings Bank and an officer of the Merchants
more than almost any one. "28
Bank of Salem, and his contemporaries considered him an "able
Three other men rounded out the regime to perfection. The
financier" whose direction made his commercial bank a "model"
I
first was Samuel Hubbard, who served as counsel for the Corpo-
for others to emulate.
ration in this period and was a director of the three great financial
Indeed, as recent biographical work demonstrates, it was
institutions of Boston and an officer and stockholder of the
Story's intimate banking interests, among other things, which
largest New Hampshire textile mill. The second was Franklin
gave him his exceptional insight into the workings of the emerg-
H. Story, who acted as counsel in the early 1830s. Story was a
ing capitalist economy. He thus promoted an "industrial de-
director of the Globe Bank and the Boston Manufacturers'
velopment board" for Salem; took the lead in urging the passage
Mutual Fire Insurance Company and also assistant agent of the
of limited liability legislation for Massachusetts corporations;
American office of Baring's, where by the 1830s he earned the
and sought, as a jurist and scholar, to bring "order to the law
very considerable salary of $5,000 per year.
29
governing the American economy," now clearly a "mobile,
Finally, Thomas W. Ward, who replaced Ebenezer Francis as
business-oriented economy rather than a static agricultural
treasurer at the end of 1830, was not only head of Baring's
one. "25 His opinions, accordingly, aimed at encouraging venture
American branch but also,a director of the Provident Institution
capital by securing the rights of property and also at stimulating
for Savings, the Massachusetts Hospital Life, the Boston Marine
industrial technology by securing the rights of inventors; and his
Insurance Company, the Boston and Worcester Railroad, and a
works proved the "cornerstone" of American commercial and
substantial investor in New England textile mills. "A life of
patent law. Story urged the establishment of a chair of commer-
constant exertion and activity," Ward wrote to a friend early in
cial law at Harvard and dedicated a renowned work on prom-
his career, renders "business a pleasure to me." So important
issory notes, appropriately enough, to the famous Boston mer-
was his position as Baring's agent in Boston - in which capacity
chant, Thomas Handasyd Perkins. Equally appropriately, he
he accumulated some $250,000 in manufacturing stocks
supported the election of "stout Quincy" to the presidency. 26
alone - that by 1830, when he became Harvard's treasurer, he
These same interests, attitudes, and values appeared through-
felt able to say of virtually any fellow industrialist, "If I say I
out the "financial" administration. Thus Charles Sanders, who
know him to be a man of property his credit is for the time
replaced Higginson as steward, was a former associate of Salem
established. 30
millionaire Dudly Lowell Pickman, who recommended him as
"very correct and methodical in his accounts" and exactly suited
for the office. Once installed, Sanders initiated "a rigid financial
These new Fellows did not hesitate to mold the Harvard Corpo-
system in the details of college expenditures, similar to that in-
ration in a different image. Where Kirkland had been tolerant
itiated by Mr. Francis in the management of the funds." Mean-
and lackadaisical in his administration, exercising light and flexi-
while, he accumulated for himself an estate of some $500,000. 27
ble control over faculty and students, Quincy and his colleagues
The Forging of an Aristocracy
The Financial Regime
53
Francis. Francis, to complete the circle, married a daughter of
Israel Thorndike, a Beverly-born millionaire (and Harvard pa-
Additional support came from families such as the Lawrences
tron) who had arrived in Boston in 181 37
and Curtises, whose interests and antecedents (commercial-
Like "financial," however, "Salem" had pejorative connota-
industrial, nouveau-arriviste) were similar to those of the new
tions, as its coupling with words such as "cynicism" and "sailor"
group. Textile magnate Amos Lawrence thus wrote to Bow-
ditch's sons in later years:
would suggest. The epithet implied that the new men were in
fact parvenus, at least as compared to the families of somewhat
I hardly feel that I am a competent judge, where any question
longer standing - Winthrop, Eliot, Adams, Brooks, Lowell,
comes up touching your father's labours & trials in reforming the
Cabot - who were most prone to use the term. There was, of
college, for I was a daily witness of them for months & Years, &
course, substance to the insinuation. Bowditch was a cooper's
sympathized in all his feelings. He is entitled to the gratitude of
son who began his career as a clerk and a ship's hand; Francis's
the public for these labours, & will receive it & be remembered for
father was an impecunious Continental soldier whose death in
good, when Dr. K[irkland] will be forgotten. 40
1777 left his son to his own resources. 38
In the same vein, it was said that these were men "without
Further support came from conservative politicians such as
classical education, or not originally belonging to the Alumni of
Rufus Choate and Daniel Webster, who wrote to Joseph Story in
Harvard." And indeed, of the four non Harvardians elected to
connection with the election of Quincy, "I am against a clergyman.
the Corporation during the nineteenth century, three -
He is not to soar up the shrouds, nor to go out in the Boat,
Bowditch, Francis. and Ward - belonged to this "financial" or
but to stand at the helm and look at the needle. "41 Finally,
even
"Salem" group. Josiah Quincy, with his indisputable colonial
such erstwhile critics as the Lowells, Cabots, and Brookses came
antecedents, surely served to redress the balance. But even
round. Remarks about parvenus and materialism gradually sub-
Quincy's nomination reportedly "startled" the Board of Over-
the elite. 42
sided. By 1835 or so support was reasonably solid throughout
seers in much the way that Charles Eliot's nomination did in
1869, and a third of the Board actually opposed his election. 39
The acceptance of the new Corporation, after SO compara-
tively cool a reception, resulted partly from the gradual accom-
modation of conflicting personalities, an accommodation made
This new regime thus seemed to many observers simultaneously
much easier, no doubt, because the new group was as uniformly
materialistic, abrasive, clannish, and arriviste - hardly, on the
Federalist (proto-Whig) and Arminian (Unitarian) as the old. But
surface, an auspicious reputation on which to build. It is impor-
acceptance derived from three more fundamental and interre-
tant to note, therefore, that the group was not only elected in
lated circumstances as well. First, the emergence of the new
spite of this image but drew strong support from an increasing
regime represented the "arrival," both residentially, and eco-
range of elite families. Backing came first, understandably
nomically, of an element so cohesive and influential that it could
enough, from Essex County, where the new Fellows retained
not easily be denied access to positions of appropriate status and
close ties with men who became large donors or were influential
power in the elite community. Such accessions to prominence,
on the Board of Overseers, including Pickerings and Pickmans,
though perhaps more spectacular in this case because of its ab-
Saltonstalls and Silsbees, Danes and Peabodys, most of them in
rupt "phalanx" quality, were not atypical in the evolving Proper
the process of moving to Boston, like the new Corporation Fel-
Boston of the nineteenth century. Service on boards such as the
lows.
Harvard Corporation was an important step of absorption and
consolidation within the elite. The ascension and acceptance of
The Forging of an Aristocracy
The Financial Regime
55
the Salemites, precisely because of their own internal cohesion
and influence, their involvement with so large and prestigious an
one of "ever-increasing importance" on through the middle dec-
institution, and the unique visibility of the process, was among
ades of the century. So, too, with the heretofore rather casually
the most important and interesting consolidating steps of all.
considered office of treasurer. By 1840 Thomas W. Ward was
Second, the group represented financial and industrial
calling its duties "onerous"; by 1860 many believed it to be as
interests - textile mills and other manufacturing interests, New
important as the presidency. 44
England railroads and British investment banking, the major
Piety, elegance, and learning were by no means disregarded in
Boston financial institutions as well as traditional maritime
mid-century Cambridge; nor would the business-culture connec-
commerce - - which, again, involved a kind of concentrated eco-
tion at Harvard necessarily be the crude type which obtained
nomic power difficult to deny. In many cases these interests had
between certain late nineteenth-century private universities and
not existed prior to 1820; certainly they were not so thoroughly
their Robber Baron patrons. 45 In spite of its steady seculariza-
represented on the Harvard Corporation before 1825. Nor, it
tion, for example, the Corporation always included a minister,
should be noted, was the time lag very great, for these concerns
and, in spite of commercialization, often a scholar of some kind.
were rapidly becoming primary investment outlets for the elite
As a rule, too, Corporation members probably remained more
as a whole, as attested by the concomitant triumph of protec-
highly partisan in religion and politics, or at least more articulate
tionism in Boston political circles. In this sense, therefore, the
and voluble, and possibly (not certainly) a shade less acquisitive
Corporation served as a mechanism for the maintenance of a
at the core of their being. Ralph Waldo Emerson noted of Ed-
healthy relationship between a central elite cultural institution
ward Everett's election to the presidency in 1846, "The satisfac-
and the economic forces which were becoming the foundation of
tion of men in this appointment is complete. Boston is contented
elite development. At Princeton, Yale, and the University of
because he is so creditable, safe, & prudent, and the scholars
Pennsylvania, by contrast, the governing boards remained non-
because he is a scholar, & understands the business."46 Thomas
secular and noncommercial for another half-century
Ward writing to an English banker in 1850, described John
3
Finally, and perhaps most crucial, the financial regime intro-
Amory Lowell in similar terms of balance and proportion: "Illisis
duced to Harvard a cast of mind whose chief characteristics, as
in the government of Harvard College, has the sole care of the
perceived by contemporaries and as worked out in practice, were
Lowell Institute, and although a thorough man of business is also
discipline, precision, regularity, utility, and productivity -
a man of taste and great literary acquirement. "47 Men recognized
"bourgeois" characteristics, as it were, which were deemed es-
the fact that a university was not precisely a textile mill nor a
sential because the university was now larger and more complex
professor precisely an industrial functionary, and that an effec-
and required more effective governance and also because its
tive Fellow required a multiplicity of interests and an apprecia-
funds now derived solely from business patrons who exhibited
tion of intellect as well as efficiency. Hence the identity of
this mentality in their own affairs, prized it for its own sake, and
patron lute. and governor, however close, would never become abso-
favored its extension, at least at this administrative level, to Har-
vard. The president of the university, accordingly, was no
Nonetheless, since organizational complexity and business pa-
longer a teacher or preacher or cultural "ornament" as before or
tronage were more or less constant at Harvard for the rest of the
as his counterparts at Yale, Princeton, and Pennsylvania would
century and beyond, the business presence was likewise more or
remain till late in the century and beyond. 43 At Harvard, for
less constant. This was the underlying meaning of the financial
better or worse, the president was now an administrator, his role
administration: it was the vehicle whereby the Boston elite, al-
most in spite of itself, projected business values and practices
The Forging of an Aristocracy
onto its central cultural institution. The election of Lowell to the
Corporation in 1837 did not therefore signal the ascendance of
State Street at Harvard. It simply finalized a development well
under way by 1830. Thanks to Quincy, Bowditch, Francis,
Story, and Ward, whatever the university's broader social func-
tions might be, administratively and financially it would hereaf-
ter reflect the banker's mentality and the rhythms of modern
industry. With all qualifications acknowledged, in sum, the con-
sequence of the infusion of private business wealth into Harvard
was the "purchase" of its primary governing body.
196
The Forging of an Aristocracy
the Common Man,' American Historical Review 76(October 1971):989-1034;
Richard Eddy Sykes, "Massachusetts Unitarianism and Social Change: A Reli-
gious Social System in Transition, 1780-1870" (Ph.D diss., University of
Minnesota, 1967); Horace Wadlin, Twenty-Fifth Annual Report of the Massachu-
setts Bureau of Statistics of Labor (Boston, 1885), pp. 264-267.
5.) Blumin, "Mobility and Change," p. 206. When Oliver Wendell Holmes
first used the term "Brahmin" in Elsie Venner (Boston, 1861), he referred to the
intellectual elite of New England rather than to its economic princes (pp.
17-19), although in other works from these years he clearly indicated that
books also implied wealth and position, as I note in chapter 7. Just three years
later, John Lothrop Motley employed the word to mean "rich, well-born. and
virtuous" (Memorial to Josiah Quincy [Cambridge, 1864], p. 11). By 1869 the
anonymous author of Fair Harvard (New York, 1869) means by "Brahmin"
someone of inherited wealth and ascribed high status and assumes that his
audience will understand and accept that usage without further explanation
(pp. 269-270). For "Boston Associates" and "Whig Aristocracy,' see e.g. Han-
nah Josephson, The Golden Threads (New York, 1949), p. 79-111.
As I note in the preface, an "upper class" may be said to differ from an "elite"
in the greater proportion of community wealth it controls; in the greater cohe-
sion of its occupational, familial, and generational components; and in its
greater consciousness of its interests vis-à-vis antagonistic social elements. Dif-
ferent theorists have, of course, stressed different aspects of class development.
For an emphasis on accumulation and economic engrossment, see e.g. G.
William Domhoff, Who Rules America? (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967), p. 5; for
coherence and continuity, Edward N. Saveth, "The American Patrician Class:
A Field for Research," in American History and the Social Sciences, ed. E. N.
Saveth (New York and London, 1964), pp. 212-215; for conflict and con-
sciousness, Eugene D. Genovese, The World the Slaveholders Made (New York,
1969), p. 5. In this study I have generally followed the usage of Frederic Jaher,
employing "elite" when discussing developments before 1860 and "upper class"
thereafter.
6. Lee Soltow, "Comment," in Soltow, Six Papers, p. 25. The "middle-class
democracy" concept is from Robert E. Brown, Middle-Class Democracy and the
Revolution in Massachusetts, 1691-1780 (Ithaca, 1955), a much-maligned but
meritorious work. For "common man" interpretations of the antebellum era per
se, see, e.g., Marvin Meyers, The Jacksonian Persuasion (Stanford, 1957); Stanley
Elkins, Slavery (New York, 1963), pp. 140-206; Lee Benson, Tbe Concept of
Jacksonian Democracy (Princeton, N.J., 1961), where it is suggested that the
period be called the "Age of Egalitarianism."
7. Blumin, "Mobility and Change," p. 204.
8. Frederic Cople Jaher, "Nineteenth-Century Elites in Boston and New
York," Journal of Social History 6(spring 1972):39.
9. Henry G. Pearson, "Frederic Tudor, Ice King," MHSP (November
1933): 185-186.
Page I of4
Ward, Thomas Wren
(20 November 1786-04 March 1858)
J.R. Killick
https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1001715
Published in print: 1999
Published online: February 2000
Ward, Thomas Wren (20 November 1786-04 March 1858), merchant banker, was born in Salem,
Massachusetts, the son of William Ward, a merchant, and Martha Proctor. His father had worked for
William Gray of Salem, the leading New England shipowner; he later moved to Medford and became
president of the State Bank in Boston. Thomas's mother died when he was young, and his father
married Joanna Chipman of Marblehead, Mrs. William Gray's sister. Thomas Ward was educated at
Foster's School in Andover but was sent to sea at the age of ten. By the time he was twenty he had
sailed several times to Asia, Europe, and the American South and was commanding his own ship. At
age seventeen he had brought his ship home from Calcutta, his captain being ill and the mate dead. In
1810 he married Lydia Gray, the daughter of his uncle Samuel Gray, William Gray's brother. The couple
had eight children.
Ward soon set up business in New York with his cousin Jonathon Goodhue. Aided by generous
commissions from William Gray, the firm apparently prospered, despite the difficult trading conditions,
between 1810 and 1817. In 1817 Ward returned to Boston and formed a new partnership with William
Ropes; this lasted until early 1825 when, "business becoming unprofitable," he "retired" to enjoy his
family, private study, and Boston social life However, by September 1827, he confided to his diary, he
would shortly have to either reenter business or retrench. If he chose business, he added, then his
commitment should be wholehearted. In 1828 he visited England, where he was invited by Joshua
Bates to become sole agent for Baring Brothers in America. Bates had worked with Ward in William
Gray's counting house, had then managed Gray's ships in England, and had recently become a leading
partner in Barings. After some consideration Ward agreed to Barings' proposition in October 1829)
With Ward's assistance, Barings became the leading Anglo-American merchant house in the early
1830s. The Barings and Bates provided the capital and strategy of the house, but Ward provided the
essential American connection and representation. The London partners recognized Ward was hard
working, determined, honest, and well informed, if sometimes also mildly eccentric. His main task in
the early 1830s was to select, organize, and report on the Barings' clients and business interests in
North America. He was able to build a strong clientele for the firm among prosperous New England
merchants and manufacturers who needed Baring credits to import coffee and sugar from Latin
America or cotton from the American South. He also tapped into the network of New England
merchants, who, like Jonathon Goodhue and Prime Ward and King, had established themselves in New
York in the early nineteenth century and had become the leading American trading houses. These and
similar firms controlled many of the New York packet lines. Through them the Barings' interests
extended to financing several packet lines and controlling a substantial share of the southern cotton
trade. Ward also bought and sold on the firm's behalf.
The Barings controlled the general policy of the firm, for instance, encouraging Ward to expand credits
in the early 1830s and to contract sharply in 1836. They also established detailed rules over the
handling of credits. In practice, however, slow transatlantic communications often obliged them to
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trust Ward's discretion. Almost all of the Barings' North American business passed through his hands,
and he was paid a substantial basic salary of £2,000 in 1832, with additional allowances and
opportunities (In the first three years of his agency-exclusive of bond operations, he calculated later-
he had granted credits to American merchants worth $50 million. In comparison, the total value of
American imports over the same period was about $250 million
Barings' share fell in the mid-1830s as more aggressive houses took advantage of the boom. Barings'
cautious policy and Ward's careful administration, however, placed them in a very strong position after
the panic of 1837. In 1837 and 1839, therefore, Ward not only dunned recalcitrant clients but also
expanded Barings' operations. From 1838 to 1842 he secured for the firm very large cotton shipments
on commission and on their own account, These exceeded 100,000 bales in 1839-1840, worth about $4
million. Barings considered cotton "the great staple by which we hope to make up for all our
losses" (Hidy, p. 255) They also floated very large loans in Europe for state governments, canals,
banks and railroads, and assisted the Second Bank of the United States (BUS). Ward handled the
American end of all these substantial transactions through very difficult times, effectively and with few
losses.
Ward protected the Barings' interests not only by effective management but also by influencing
American public opinion.) In 1838 he argued strongly in the press and with leading bankers in favor of
resumption of specie payments. Assisted by both the temporary recovery in 1838 and large gold
inflows, most banks had resumed payments by mid-1839. The fresh collapse in late 1839, however,
caused new suspension in the South and West, but not in New York and New England. Ward claimed in
January 1840 that the Boston and New York banks
were prevented from suspending mainly through my influence & knowledge of the position of
the Bank of the United States, and that it must suspend [I showed] them that the effect [of
its suspension] would be to relieve [them]
After the suspension, the [BUS] did
everything in [its] power to break down the New York Banks and the Boston Banks
I
authorized the Banks in both cities to draw on Barings largely, which gave confidence &
prevented export of specie and suspension. Mr. Sam Ward in New York & Mr. Wm Appleton
and Mr. Nathan Appleton here aided much in giving publick opinion the right direction
(Diary, 5 Jan. 1840)
Ward also led the struggle in America in the 1840s to persuade state governments to avoid default and
to resume payments on their debts. The Barings were especially interested in Maryland, Pennsylvania,
and Louisiana and hoped that if these could be persuaded to resume the rest would follow. "If we can
keep Maryland right" wrote Bates to Ward in November 1841, "I shall be very happy pray look to it
without delay" (Ziegler, p. 153). Initially Ward balked, but he then launched a very effective campaign
to encourage resumption. He secured Daniel Webster as counsel; hired agents such as John H. Latrobe,
the attorney of the Baltimore and Ohio, to lobby politicians; and flooded the press with articles
demanding resumption. He even persuaded the clergy to adapt their sermons. "Every Christian man
and woman," he wrote, "will feel this obligation when it is presented to their attention" (Ziegler, p.
154). Most states did resume payments in the mid-1840s. Long run influences such as the growing
prosperity of the United States and the increased desire for new investments were most important.
However, Ward's campaign did count at critical points, including victories in the Pennsylvania and
Maryland legislatures in 1844 and 1847, respectively.
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Ward continued to manage the Barings' substantial cotton purchases through the 1840s. He also
executed very large secret British government corn orders for Ireland in 1847. By the late 1840s Ward
began seeking retirement. Bates had assured him in 1841 that he "possessed the entire confidence of
the House" and that they had permitted him "to exercise a power which no one partner would have
been allowed to exercise" (Diary, 30 Aug. 1841). In 1848 Bates assured him that they would "never find
anyone to manage the business as well as you have done" (Hidy, p. 580). Privately, however, in 1849,
Bates reported Ward had become prolix and slow and that "the liberality and high character of the
House drew the business and not T. W. W.'s influence, which was rather a drag" (Ziegler, p. 208).
Finding a new agent as experienced and trustworthy as Ward proved difficult, however, and thus Ward
remained Barings' agent until 1853, when his son Samuel Gray Ward succeeded him and ran the
agency until 1884. Samuel had worked with his father since 1849, handling the negotiations for the
large Mexican indemnity loan and managing Barings' rapidly growing railroad interest.
The relative freedom of the agent's role suited Ward's personality. He wrote in 1838 that "having no
concerns of my own, my mind is free for Barings, free for Society, free for my family and free for
objects of public usefulness" (Diary, Mar. 1838) Yet this role, despite his relative anonymity, made him
one of the most influential men in the United States. He was on good terms with the leading Boston
merchants and manufacturers, the Appletons, Brooks, and Lawrences, and few ventures in
Massachusetts were started without their approval and aid Ward served as trustee of the
Massachusetts General Hospital, treasurer of the Boston Athenaeum (1828-1836), director of the
Massachusetts Board of Internal Improvements, and treasurer of Harvard (1830-1842) Of the latter
he wrote in 1841, "I should continue to hold the office of Treasurer there is no one else who has the
means of doing it so well or with so little trouble, nor is there any other person in the Corporation who
will give his time and thought to the general management of the College" (Diary, 24 Jan. 1841 Ward's
major private preoccupation was reading, in English, the British, French, and Latin classics. His diary
shows great concern for his family Upon his death at home in Boston, he left $650,000, including small
legacies to the Boston Athenaeum, Harvard, the American Peace Society, and the Boston Missionary
Society.
Bibliography
Ward's career can be followed from three main sources: the Ward Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical
Society in Boston; the Baring Papers at the Bank in London, England; and the Baring papers in the Canadian National
Archives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Barings' London archives originally contained all of Ward's in-letters and the
Barings' replies. The Baring collection in the Canadian National Archives was created when a substantial proportion of
these letters were removed to Ottawa before World War II. The collection in the Massachusetts Historical Society
includes Samuel Gray Ward, The Ward Family Papers (1900), by Thomas Ward's son; transcripts of Thomas
Ward's diaries, 1828-1855; and many Ward family papers, 1655-1899. These include Ward's correspondence with his
family, 1797-1857, and with Joshua Bates. The most useful books on Barings and on Ward's role in the firm are Ralph
W. Hidy, The House of Baring in American Trade and Finance: English Merchant Bankers at Work,
1763-1861 (1949), and Philip Ziegler, The Sixth Great Power: Barings, 1762-1929 (1988). Hidy focuses
relatively narrowly on the business history of the firm's operations in North America over the antebellum period;
Ziegler provides a wider ranging survey. Hidy's original relatively brief Dictionary of American Biography entry
was apparently written before he had used the London and Massachusetts manuscript sources. Stanley Chapman,
The Rise of Merchant Banking (1984), provides a good survey of British merchant banking. The milieu in which
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Ward moved in Boston can be assessed from Robert F. Dalzell, The Enterprising Elite: The Boston
Associates and the World They Made (1987), and Edward Pessen, Riches, Class and Power before the
Civil War (1973).
See also
Gray, William (1750-1825), merchant and public official
Bates, Joshua (1788-1864), merchant and banker
Webster, Daniel (1782-1852), politician and lawyer
Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval (1803-1891), lawyer
Page 4 of 4
Printed from American National Biography. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out
(for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice)
note E.Fromes was Treasures
with
400
of the Harvard University
A
immediately prior to the
maternal
1830-42 tenure of the pate
SKETCH OF THE LIFE
grandfather of George B. Darr,
OF THE LATE
Thousa When Ward.
EBENEZER FRANCIS,
OF BOSTON.
Rebert
BY R. M. MASON.
[Robert Means Mason]
From Hunt's Merchants' Magazine for April, 1859,
New Park :
PRINTED BY GEORGE W. WOOD,
NO. 9 DUTCH STREET.
1859.
8/20/2020
Xfinity Connect RE_Web question Printout
Meg Winslow
8/20/2020 6:09 PM
RE: Web question
To eppster2@comcast.net Copy Jennifer Johnston
Hello again! Thank you for your email and request about Thomas W. Ward who was indeed recorded as having been at the famous
meeting held by Dr. Bigelow in his home on Summer Steet in 1825. Below is a clip from the 1857 Dearborn's Guide detailing those
"promient citizens" and "gentlemen of Boston" were there that day - including Thomaw Wren Ward. I hope this is helpful. I will be
able to dig a little further if needed - just let me know. I do remember when you were at Mount Auburn so many years ago
researching George Dorr. I hope this finds you well.
With all my very best, Meg Winslow
Licorge Whe. Bond, Treasurer
2
This latter society was Incorporated, as "THE PROPRIETORS OF MOUNT
AUBURN CEMETERY," June 23, 1831, and the ground consecrated on the
24th of Sept., in that year : the first meeting for agitating this subject,
was held in 1825, at the house of Dr. Jacob Bigelow, the present Pres-
ident of the society; with the aid of the late George Bond, Wm. Sturgis,
Jr.
Pickering the late Hon. John Lowell, the late Samuel P. Gardiner, Thomas W.
Ward, Nathan Hale, and John Tappan; who realized their fondest hopes
in founding the FIRST, by date ; the most enobling, and most beautiful
garden cemetery in this extensive country ; to become in time a paradise
of sculptuary, of monuments and mausoleums, interspersed amid nature's
lovliest productions ; the capaciousness of the ground will permit 20,000
*
his daughter, Elizbeth married John Chipreca Gray.
https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054551/print.html?print_1597970409358
his wife was Rebecaa Russell towell.
1/3
8/20/2020
Xfinity Connect RE_Web question Printout
lots of 300 superficial square feet, the price of which is fifty cents per
square foot in its natural state, and with few exceptions, such as choice
locations, for which a higher price is required; around these lots the
Avenues for carriages, 20 feet wide, and Paths for pedestrians, 6 feet
wide, are laid out circuitously, to an extent, if measured in one straight
line, would span a distance of 30 miles : about 2600 Lots have been
disposed of, and about 450 Monuments, Shafts, Cenotaphs, Obelisks,
and Slabs, have been raised to hallow and adorn the spot. All monies
received from the sale of Lots or from any other source, is expended in
ornamenting and improving this Garden Cemetery. During the two first
Meg L. Winslow
Curator of Historical Collections & Archives
Mount Auburn Cemetery
580 Mount Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
mwinslow@mountauburn.org
From: Jennifer Johnston
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2020 4:22 PM
To:
Meg
Winslow ; Jessica Bussmann ; (s.pinkerton@verizon.net)
https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054551/print.html?print_1597970409358
2/3
8/20/2020
Xfinity Connect RE_Webquestion Printout
Subject: Web question
Ronald Epp
eppster2@comcast.net
Would appreciate information on whether Thomas Wren Ward (1786-1858) was invited by Jacob Bigelow to the 1825 Mt. Auburn
exploratory meeting at his home. Ward is regarded as a proprietor but knowing about the beginning of his involvement would be
most helpful to me as I make revisions on the life of his grandson, George B. Dorr (1853-1944).
image002.jpg (136 KB)
https://connect.xfinity.com/appsuite/v=7.10.3-6.20200722.054551/print.html?print_1597970409358
3/3
NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY 73 (Dec.2000):603- 624.
Redefining the Economic Elite in Salem,
Massachusetts, 1759-1799:
A Tale of Evolution, Not Revolution
RICHARD J. MORRIS
C
onsider, if you will, three case studies. Born into an old and
prosperous agricultural family in northern Essex County,
Massachusetts, in 1724, George Dodge migrated to Salem
around 1750. Prior to the American Revolution, he became a
successful master mariner, and thereafter, having invested
heavily in privateers during the conflict, he prospered as a mer-
chant. When he died in 1806, his estate was valued at nearly
$200,000. The Reverend William Bentley tells us that Dodge
was "a man acute in business
allowing little intercourse at
his house, even to his children, who were permitted to pay
short visits.
He had no information at all upon any subject
See i to
but "business," and "Public opinion is that he was not indulgent
to his children, and nothing is known of him out of the walks of
business in which he had uncommon success."
Far less successful was Joseph Searle, better known as "the
chandis ,619; 609,
Commodore." Searle was renowned as "a remarkable imitator
of Cocks" because he could "deceive the animal day or night."
Bentley found Searle "indolent" and "lecherous but never
drunk tho' not abstemious." On the eve of his death in 1805,
Grays and 6 isead
Searle insisted that he had always attended meeting, and, ad-
dressing Bentley, he claimed that "I have prayed for you in my
way as well as I could." Bentley remarked in turn that Searle
"never seemed to associate any malignity with his enormities."
Though Searle married well twice, he never prospered.
'William Bentley, The Diary of William Bentley, 4 vols. (Gloucester, Mass: Peter
Smith, 1962), 3:339.
2Bentley, Diary, 3:156.
603
310
"REMARKS ON THE CANTON TRADE"
sometimes, in order to which, a great many small articles,
may be sent down in the Ships Boats & in other Chops.
CHEEQUA & TOWN are the only Linguists I know of both
are very good. I believe I employed Cheequa and had no
reason to complain of any want of attention. He is old, but
his men are good.
Tom BIRDMAN is one who buys & sells every thing, but
most in the Ship Chandlery line, & whom we were frequently
obliged to deal with some way or other. He is without doubt
as great a villain as ever went unhung.
Tom BULL, a ships Comprador, is like all other Chinese
you deal with, except in one particular: he is an honorable
scoundrel, and will tell you how much, & why, & wherefore
he cheats you. He is as good as any of them. I dealt with
him considerably in selling my outward cargo, & had some
trouble, but he was pretty punctual for a Comprador.
You must pay the two Side Mandarins as they are
called at Canton $19 for their fees, permitting your Boats
to pass and examining the Same.
OLD SYNCHONG is head China Ware Merchant, is some-
times much dearer, often a little cheaper, generally better
China & always best packed of any man in Canton. Is a
close fisted old miser, gets drunk every day, but performs
his contracts & whatever you can bind him to, he will ful-
fill. I prefer dealing with Synchong to any other.
EXCHING is next
has much business-some mean-
ness about him-does not pack SO well, and China ware not
generally so good, great breakage-has considerable business.
SONYECK you can make good bargains with, but he is
rather slippery
rising in the world, active & industrious,
get no cyphered China of him.
FOUCHONG is a pretty good man, & well spoken of by the
Philadelphians. 2% is diducted from all Bills for China
Ware and payment made @ 75 Candereens pr Dollar
The Ch. St. Merchants are generally Brokers, with
whom you contract for goods. They have them made &
you pay them: they pay the manufacturer. The prices
are generally the same, & where a man abates much, he
expects to make it up by cheating you.
x Carl L. Johnson. Protessor Long Fellow of Harvard. Eugene: U.of Oregon, 1944.
pg.lof3
BOOKS FOR THE COLLEGE LIBRARY
17
II. LONGFELLOW BUYS BOOKS FOR THE
thousand dollars would be voted as Ticknor had requested. He had
COLLEGE LIBRARY
spent rather freely. Now he must limit his purchases. It is easier, he
discovered, to select wisely two thousand dollars worth of books than
A
LTHOUGH Longfellow was obliged to travel without an of-
one thousand dollars worth. The unofficial Smith Professor was trou-
ficial title, he had an official duty. He was commissioned to buy
bled. The tone of his reply is courageous; yet it betrays his uneasiness
books for the Harvard College Library.1 This responsibility was
at facing such ceremonious taskmasters as the gentlemen of the cor-
not in itself unpleasant, since Longfellow loved to browse among old
poration. He entirely misinterprets one of the votes. Yet he chooses a
dusty tomes. Like Irving and Poe, he relished the thought of discov-
good tack-Harvard's need of the German philological works then ap-
ering "some quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore." His re-
pearing-in an effort to secure at least part of the extra one thousand
sponsibility, however, demanded more than a random search. Before
dollars which he had expected. Longfellow's letter follows:
he departed, a list of books desired had been drawn up. Ticknor sub-
mitted this list to the corporation, together with a letter requesting that
STOCKHOLM July 23. 1835
Longfellow be allowed a sum of two thousand dollars. On April 10,
T. W. Ward Esq.
1835
DEAR SIR,
1835, it was
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letters (Nos 1 &2.) of
Voted-That the list of Books, recommended by Prof. Ticknor, be trans-
the 10th April, containing copies of the Votes of the Corporation of Harvard
mitted to Mr. Longfellow for his information.
College, authorising me to expend the sum of Two hundred pounds Sterling in the
Voted-Tha the Treasurer place at the disposal of Prof. Longfellow the sum
purchase of Books for the College Library.
of One thousand dollars to be expended by him in the purchase of books relating
The List of Books, which I made out at Mr. Ticknor's request, and which
to Modern languages & literature, not now in the Library.
was to have been transmitted with the letters, did not come with them; and unfor-
Voted-That Professor Longfellow be requested to send from Europe a list
tunately a copy of the same, which I had in my possession was accidentally lost in
of such other Books as he may think it important to purchase for the College, with
London, in one of my rambles among the booksellers' shops.
the cost of the same.
Thinking, however, that I was not to abide strictly and entirely by the List-
An offer to the College from Mr. Longfellow of the "Histoire Littéraire de la
(indeed this being the understanding before I left America) I made a collection
France" was referred to the Committee on the Library with authority to pur-
of some rare and curious works in London, which were shipped by Rich,7 and
chase the same if they see fit.4
which, I trust, have safely reached you. The amount expended was £41.11.6.
I intend to expend about the same amount here for Swedish books-and about
On April 10, also, the Committee on the Library "agreed to pur-
as much more in Copenhagen for Danish and Icelandic-thi being the department
chase of Professor Longfellow the Histoire Littéraire de la France for
in which the Library is most deficient.
$72. dollars. T. W. Ward, treasurer of Harvard, addressed two let-
The Corporation desire another List of books to be made out with the prices.
This I would willingly do, had I the necessary materials by me; but I have not.8
ters to Longfellow informing him of the action of the Committee on
I deem it, however, of the greatest importance to the Department of Modern Lit-
the Library and of the votes of the corporation, When Longfellow
erature in Harvard College, that a still farther sum should be voted for German
received Ward's letters, he had already taken liberties with the list and
Works; particularly Philological works, and republications of the old literature
had lost his copy of it besides. He had taken for granted that two
of the country-a branch of learning, which at the present moment excites great
attention in Germany, and upon which much is written and published.
1 Ticknor was traveling in Europe when he received the offer of the Smith
Professorship. One of the conditions of his acceptance was that he should receive
6
In his letter to the corporation, Ticknor had stated that Longfellow should
money with which to buy books pertaining to modern languages. Ticknor asked
have full freedom in selecting the books the list was only to provide suggestions.
for "from two to three thousand dollars"-t amount that would accrue from the
Obadiah Rich was for many years the agent of Harvard in Europe for the
was allowed.
Smith endowment before he assumed his duties. A sum of one thousand dollars
purchase of rare and valuable books. Longfellow had known him as American
consul at Madrid.
This letter, dated Apr. 4, 1835, is in the "Harvard College Papers," vol. VII,
Longfellow apparently misunderstood the third vote of the corporation, in
p. 47.
which the Harvard officials requested that he observe the books available in other
The first sixteen volumes of the Histoire littéraire de la France "par des
fields than modern languages and note their prices.
religieux bénédictins de la Congrégation de S. Maur." This set marked with Long-
Grimm brought out the Reinhart Fuchs in 1834, and the Deutsche
fellow's bookplate is still in the Harvard Library.
Mythologie in 1835; the first two parts of Franz Bopp's Vergleichende Grammatik
4 "College Records," vol. VII, p. 391.
des Sanskrit, Zend, Griechischen, Lateinischen, Altslavischen, Gothischen, und
5
"Harvard College Papers," vol. VII, p. 51.
Deutschen appeared in 1833 and 1835; the Etymologische Forschung of August
Friedrich Pott in the years 1834-36. Other philologists of the time were Friedrich
16]
Christian Diez, Georg Friedrich Creuzer, and Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt.
page
2
of
I expect to be in Berlin, about the Ist of October, and hope to hear from you
Dollars voted. in I have answered, that as any farther appropriation would be
again upon this subject as soon as possible.
expended in Germany, I had not the materials necessary for such a list, but hoped,
With much respect,
that another thousand dollars would be voted notwithstanding. I trust you will do
Yr. Obt. Sert.
all in your power to help forward this matter; and I will send from Germany such
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW10
a collection of rare things, as is not to be found under the Western star.
Longfellow's letter was read at a special meeting of the corpora-
In the present box, as in the last, are some books of my own, which you may
deliver to Felton, or place in some quiet corner till my return. I also take the
tion on October 17, 1835, and it was
liberty of troubling you with a few packages. So good an opportunity could not be
Voted-That it is not expedient to make a further appropriation for books in
resisted.
the department of Modern Languages at this time. 11
With much regard
Very truly yrs.
The gentlemen of the corporation had reached their limit in behalf of
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.14
the language department by increasing the salary of the Smith Pro-
Winter came and spring came, but Longfellow had yet received
fessor and by allowing one thousand dollars to be spent for books.
12
no word from either Ward or Harris. He finally concluded that no
Whenever possible, they voted according to precedent rather than in
further sum of money had been granted, but he wondered whether the
response to individual demands. The sum voted for Ticknor and Long-
two shipments of books had arrived safely and whether his colleagues
fellow was the customary amount given to professors for books abroad,
approved his selections. In his quandary, Longfellow wrote to Ticknor,
and remained SO for another half century.
who, like himself, was always attentive to his correspondence. Tick-
There is no evidence that Longfellow ever received notice of this
nor's reply reflects some of the irritation he had felt toward the cum-
last vote of the corporation. However, scarcely a month after writing
bersome, conservative, and frequently bungling administration of
to Ward, he became anxious about his request for more funds. From
the university under President Kirkland. Ticknor had been a leader
Stockholm, he sent a box containing modern Swedish literature to
of the liberalizing movement, and had met with many obstacles and
the librarian, Thaddeus William Harris, and dispatched a letter to
disappointments. Undismayed, however, he had continued his efforts.
15
Harris at the same time, urging that he do all in his power "to help
Even now, after resigning his post, 16 he tempers disillusion with
en-
forward this matter." Longfellow's letter below is not dated, but a
couragement and wise counsel. Part of Ticknor's letter follows:
notation on it indicates that it reached Harris on October 23. The un-
favorable vote had already been recorded.
DRESDEN March. 29-1836.
My DEAR SIR,
Dr. Harris,
I am sorry you feel disappointed at hearing nothing about your purchase of
DEAR Sir,
books for the College; but, if you were as much used to the management of things
I hope the box of books from London reached you without accident. In my
there as I am, you would not even be surprised. The truth is, the sum, that was
estimation, they were very valuable. It cost me many days, and not idle ones to
given to you, was considered as given to your discretion entirely & nobody will
collect them, here and there, in the great metropolis; and I trust the purchase
is
undertake to pronounce a judgement upon the result of your purchases. Indeed,
satisfactory to you all in Cambridge. Among them were some shabby=looking Ital-
who knows whether you have chosen well in Swedish, Danish, in Dutch, but your-
ian plays; very valuable;-containing specimens of many of the Italian dialects.
self-or who else knows whether it be worth while to have Schiller or not But,
The books I now send are of more modern date. They comprise all the Modern
of one thing, you may, I think, be sure;-I mean a kind reception when you get
Lit. of Sweden. Old books are not to be bought here. I hope to send you some from
home & a confiding trust that what you shall do, will be right.- Perhaps it will
Copenhagen, in a few weeks.
surprise you :-but it is nevertheless true, that I know no more about the college
I have been requested, through Mr. Ward, to make out a list of books, which
I should think it expedient to purchase after the expenditure of the first Thousand
13 This is a new and still more erroneous interpretation of the third vote of
the corporation.
10 "Harvard College Papers," vol. VII, p. 138.
14 Manuscript in the Treasure Room of Widener Library.
11 "College Records," vol. VII, p. 406.
15 As yet, no thorough and comprehensive study of Ticknor's work has been
12 The Department of Modern Languages had always operated at a very low
made. There is a chapter, somewhat superficially done, entitled "Efforts for Reform
cost and had fully cooperated with the university in its efforts to expand in other
in Harvard College," in Life, Letters, and Journals of George Ticknor by Anna
fields. Beginning Sept. 1, 1827, Ticknor had voluntarily reduced his own salary
Ticknor and others, 2 vols. (Boston, James R. Osgood and Company, 1876), vol. I.
from $1,000 to $600, even though the income from the Smith donation was then
16 Mrs. Ticknor's health continued to fail. Ticknor resigned from his duties
$1,100. The four instructors in the department received together only $2,500 per
in May 1835, and sailed for Europe soon afterward.
year. The number of students receiving instruction ranged from one to two hundred.
pag
BOOKS FOR THE COLLEGE LIBRARY
21
than you do, & that I do not expect to hear anything about it during my absence,
be it shorter or longer.
1829) bears the acquisition date, 1875. Longfellow loved books.28 Buy-
As to studying at a German University, I have always strenuously advised
ing books was one of his greatest pleasures. The attitude of the college
those who intended to qualify themselves for either of the three professions,17 to
was beyond his comprehension. When he went abroad again in 1842,
do it at home, with the exception of those who need a knowledge of Anatomy &
Surgery, & to whom the Hospitals & Schools of Paris, London & Edin. are, no
he made no effort to get money to buy books for the college library.
doubt, vast resources. But as to literature & those who are to be teachers, it is
Why should he ask for a task that would yield either worry or disap-
another thing; &, I suppose, the German schools & universities are their appro-
pointment? Longfellow was too practical to make such a mistake.
priate places of preparation. Indeed, the business of education, I believe, is better
understood here & more thoroughly carried on, than any where else :-as in truth,
28 In one of his last sonnets, "My Books" (1881), Longfellow compared him-
self gazing at his books to an old knight gazing at his armor:
seems to be plainly enough proved by the fact that there are more really learned
"So I behold these books upon their shelf,
men and that there is more absolute learning in Germany, than in all the rest of
My ornaments and arms of other days
the world besides. Such men, too, as Raumer18 at Berlin, Heeren19 & Müller20
at
Not wholly useless, though no longer used,
Götingen &c must exert a great influence wherever they may be-to say nothing
For they remind me of my other self,
of the mode of teaching, by extemporaneous lectures given from notes to persons
Younger and stronger, and the pleasant ways
In which I walked, now clouded and confused."
who have been educated so as to take notes, which I think the most effectual of the
modes of teaching. Our mode of lecturing in the U. States by eloquent written lec-
tures, which the hearers come to admire & go away to forget, is all naught. It may
stir the mind :-but there is no real teaching done by it.21
Ticknor's letter seems to have put an end to Longfellow's worries.
The question of books for the college library disappeared from his
correspondence.
So far as written evidence is concerned, Longfellow made only one
more request for books. In 1838, he addressed the following brief note
to the gentlemen of the corporation
May. 12. 1838
GENTLEMEN,
I respectfully request that the following works may be purchased for the
College Library. They are for sale at Chs. Little's.
1. Turner on the Ancient British Poetry. 8vo. 1 vol. $3.12
2. The German Pulpit: Selections from Celebrated German Divines. 8vo.
1 vol. $2.25.
Respectfully Yr. Obt. Svt.
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW22
The work by Turner is not yet in the Harvard Library. The German
Pulpit (translated from the German by Rev. Richard Baker, London,
17 Law, medicine, and divinity.
18 Friedrich von Raumer (1781-1873), professor of political science and
history.
10 Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (1760-1842), professor of history.
20 Karl Otfried Müller (1797-1840), professor of ancient literature.
21 "Letters to Longfellow 1835-37." At Bowdoin College, Longfellow prepared
a series of five lectures entitled "Literary History of the Middle Ages." They were
of the "eloquent written" type, which Ticknor here assails. Many of the lectures
which Longfellow delivered at Harvard were given from notes.
22 "Harvard College Papers," vol. VIII, p. 323.
pg. lot3
Jarmed of Social History
FREDERIC COPLE JAHER
(1972):
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ELITES IN
32-71,
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
1333
two
S
weeping statements about class behavior frequently distort class
analysis by ignoring the wide range of responses that different
environments elicit from enclaves lumped together in the same
social or economic stratum. Variations in customs, values, atti-
tudes and structures create contrasts in elites from different types
of cities. Crucial factors that differentiate wealthy New Yorkers
from wealthy Bostonians are their origins, rate and magnitude of
turnover in the group, and degree of adaptation to economic
change. These interdependent factors are shaped by class and
urban environments. The intent of this investigation is to compare
nineteenth-century wealthy residents of New York and Boston
and to relate their characteristics to their respective group and city
backgrounds.
Boston and New York were centers of commerce and capital;
hence both cities depended upon trade, transportation and capital
accumulation as their economic bases* But within forty years of
American independence, New York had become both the nation's
chief port and its primary financial center, for gains in one aspect
of business activity facilitated triumphs in other endeavors.
Three qualities distinguished New York's overseas merchants
from those in Boston: The New Yorkers were more inventive,
their firms had shorter lives and they were considered greater
Professor Jaher is in the history department of the University of Illinois. He wishes to
thank the American Philosophical Society for a grant in 1967 which enabled him to do
the research for this essay. He is indebted to his research assistants J. Noel Criscuola and
Michael Periman at the University of Chicago and Jocelyn Ghent at the University of
Illinois and to Professors Peter R. Knights and Leonard Dinnerstein and to Mrs. Myra
Dinnerstein for their aid in accumulating and organizing the quantitative data. A shorter
version of this paper was read at the Organization of American Historians Meeting in
New Orleans in April 1971.
page
NINETEENTH-CENTURY ELITES
33
credit risks. Gotham's merchants established the earliest viable
auction system for marketing imports, initiated the first regularly
scheduled freight and passenger service to England, owned the first
American ocean-going steamships; and began the earliest mercan-
tile ventures to the Far East Boston businessmen, far slower to
innovate, finally succeeded in operating a viable packet service to
England twenty-seven years after the opening of the Black Ball
packet line (1817) between New York and London.2 Another
example of the lagging response to New York's aggressive bid for
commercial leadership was the refusal of Boston capitalists to risk
investment in alternatives to the Erie Canal. Such timidity resulted
in delayed and unimaginative projects that precluded effective
competition for commercial preeminence 3
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Ward Thomas Wren (1786-1858) Ward Lydia Gray (1788-1858) Pt 2 (1820- 1872)
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1786 - 1872