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

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Ward Family of New York Samuel Ward (1814-1884) Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910
Ward Family of New York
Samuel Ward (1814-1884)
Julia Ward House(1819-1910).
Maud Howe Elliott
1938
198
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
199
Nearly a hundred years later, in April, 1928, the National
article closes with a poem Julia wrote after her father's
of Commerce published in its organ, Commerce Comment
The last two lines proved prophetic:
appreciative notice of its first President, from which the
ing excerpts are quoted:
For we would live as thou bast lived
And die as thou bast died.
Samuel Ward was a descendant of Thomas Ward of Glou
a soldier in the armies of Cromwell, who emigrated to
Rhode Island upon the accession of Charles II, married a grandda
the time he was fourteen Sam's father devoted himself
of Roger Williams and left a long line of illustrious descen
taking a fortune. From his childhood Sam devoted himself
Sam
He began his business career at the age of fourteen
Indering that fortune. The crumbling of the Ward wealth prevented
clerk in a banking house. His ability was soon discover
the enervating influences of inherited riches SO vividly described
his advancement rapid. He is said to have expressed his
by Sam in an early letter to his father. Today my
mination when a boy to become "one of the first bankers
father's descendants are hard-working men and women-
United States." This was ever his aim. Success crown
scientists, teachers-of moderate means. I never heard my
early efforts when at the age of twenty-two he was tal
mother express regret at the change in the family circum-
partnership. Subsequently he became an active and influ
and well remember how pained she was when others,
man in business and finally the head of his firm, Prime, W
less Spartan character, lamented over it!
King, which attained an enviable reputation in banking and
ness circles. It is natural that this exceptional experience
have been utilized by his associates in the establishment
Samuel Word Sr., father of
(1814-84)
Bank. The confidence which Mr. Ward had in the suce
this organization was clearly shown by his generous subscr
Samuel Cutler Ward, Jr., th Lobbyist
for 3,100 of the original 50,000 shares issued.
In thinking of Mr. Ward one usually associates his name
a descendant of Thomas Ward
the crisis during 1836-37, when the exercise of his skill
commercial man and banker was called forth in the highest
His efforts to avert the financial crisis of that time were
of glowcerter, England, unlike
strenuous, and when the Banks of the City finally decided
pend specie payments he set to work at once to repair the
the Wards of Boston who
While his partner, Mr. King, went to London to negoti
Edward
Miles
teace Ineage to
Ward of
financial assistance, he remained in New York to deal
situation as best he could. To their united influence mor
to anything else was due the success of the country in
from a period of business disaster and depression. Althou
Kent, England.
labors during this great financial crisis told upon his hea
shrank from no duty and avoided no sacrifice.
He
man of decided views, sincerity of character, exact and
in all dealings, and in his personal intercourse with the
direct, almost to abruptness.
archives.nypl.org -- Samuel Ward papers
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ARCHIVES & MANUSCRIPTS
(http://www.nypl.org/)
(/)
About
Contact (/about) (/contacts/compose?collection_id=5521&layout=true&org_unit_id=1)
Digitized (/collection/digital)
Samuel Ward papers
1647-1912
Creator
Ward, Samuel, 1814-1884 +(/controlaccess/31652?term=Ward%2C+Samuel%2C+1814-1884
Call number
MssCol 3221 (http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b11992523)
Physical description
2.5 linear feet (8 boxes)
Language
Materials in English
Preferred Citation
Samuel Ward papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Advance notice required. Request access to this collection. (/contacts/compose?
illection_id=5521&layout=true&mode=request&org_unit_id=1)
Samuel Ward (1814-1884) was an American lobbyist, financier, author, and adventurer. He was the son of
the banker Samuel Ward (1786-1839) and the grandson of Samuel Ward (1756-1832) soldier and
merchant. His sister was Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". After leaving his
father's banking house, Prime, Ward & King, he visited Latin America on behalf of U.S. corporate and
government interests. By the end of the U.S. Civil War he was settled in Washington, D.C. where he lobbied
the government on behalf of financiers. Collection contains the papers of Ward, his father, his grandfather,
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archives.nypl.org -- Samuel Ward papers
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and other family members, as well as his collection of autograph letters of mathematicians and scientists.
Papers include handwritten and typescript letters, notebooks, transcripts, photographs, and printed matter.
Samuel Ward correspondence, 1825-1882, concerns his activities, intellectual and literary matters, and
family concerns. Many letters were written by friends who were historical figures. Autograph collection,
1647-1856, comprises letters by famous mathematicians and scientists acquired by Ward with his purchase
of the library of mathematician A.N. Legendre. Also, Ward's travel notebooks, and letters, photographs and
other papers of various members of the Ward family.
BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Samuel Ward (1814-1884), lobbyist and financier, was the son of the banker Samuel Ward (1786-1839) and
the grandson of Samuel Ward (1756-1832), soldier and merchant. Among his immediate and extended
family were his sister Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", his brother-in-law the
sculptor Thomas Crawford, and his nephew the novelist F. Marion Crawford.
Ward was born in New York City and attended the Round Hill School and Columbia College, which granted
him a B.A. in 1831. He subsequently traveled to Paris to study mathematics, purchasing there the library of
the mathematician Legendre, which he later donated to the Astor Library. He spent time in Germany and
received a doctorate from the University of Tubingen. In Heidelberg, he met another American abroad,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who became a lifelong friend.
Following his return to New York, Ward dabbled in mathematics and entered his father's banking house,
Prime, Ward & King. In 1837, he married a daughter of William B. Astor, Emily, by whom he had a daughter,
Margaret. Emily and a son died subsequent to the latter's birth, and in 1844 Ward married Medora Grymes.
Ward eventually separated from Medora, and his two sons by her both died in the 1860s.
Ward left Prime, Ward & King sometime after his father's death in 1839 and had lost his inherited fortune
by 1849. He joined the gold rush to California - assuming a rough-and-ready lifestyle there - and visited
Mexico, Nicaragua, and Paraguay on behalf of United States corporate and government interests. By the
end of the Civil War, he was settled in Washington, D. C., where he engaged in the lucrative business of
lobbying the government for financiers. He was known as a charming gourmet, and his success as a lobbyist
earned him the epithet "King of the Lobby."
Over the years, Ward had developed friendships with many noted individuals including Thomas F. Bayard,
William Maxwell Evarts, William Henry Hurlbert, George Ticknor, and the Earl of Rosebery. He died in Italy
in May 1884.
SCOPE AND ARRANGEMENT
The Samuel Ward Papers span the years 1647 to 1912. They include the papers of Ward, his father, his
grandfather, and other family members, as well as his collection of autograph letters of mathematicians and
scientists. The papers consist of handwritten and typewritten letters, clippings, photographs, notebooks,
printed books, transcripts, and other documents and are organized into seven series.
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The Samuel Ward papers are arranged in seven series:
I. Letters Received by Samuel Ward (1814-1884) (/mss/3221#c1085853)
Highlights of the collection are some of the Letters Received by Samuel Ward, many written by friends
who were historical figures. Letters from Longfellow discuss intellectual and literary matters. Letters
from Thomas F. Bayard and William Maxwell Evarts discuss social engagements and Samuel's
lobbying. Other prominent correspondents are George Bancroft, C. C. Felton, John W. Francis, Jared
Sparks, and George Ticknor. Fitz-Greene Halleck and the Earl of Rosebery are represented primarily
by transcripts of their letters.
There is a dearth of letters to Ward dating from his California and Latin, America period. Notable
exceptions are "confidential" letters from Samuel Barlow regarding the procurement of gold and silver
from Nicaragua and an 1854 commission to Ward to save the life of Count Raousset, imprisoned by
President Santa Anna in Mexico. Unusual enclosures with other letters received are a musical program
printed on satin, from 1839, and a Mathew Brady cabinet card of General William T. Sherman,
autographed by the general.
[other than family] - SEE: Index at end of box listing.
II. Letters Sent by Samuel Ward (1814-1884) (/mss/3221#c1085881)
[other than family].
The Letters Sent by Samuel Ward are in French and are addressed to Charles F. Mersch, a German
student with whom he traveled to Heidelberg.
III. Family Letters & Papers (/mss/3221#c1085885)
Other letters from Samuel are to relatives and highlight the Family Letters & Papers series, which also
includes letters from F. Marion Crawford, M. Eliza Cutler, Julia Ward Howe, Francis Marion Ward,
Henry Ward, and the elder Samuel Wards, among others.
IV. Miscellaneous Papers of Samuel Ward (1814-1884) (/mss/3221#c1085956)
V. Notebooks of Samuel Ward (1814-1884) (& Other Bound Volumes) (/mss/3221#c1085969)
VI. Collections - Autographs (collected by Samuel Ward) (/mss/3221#c1085977)
The outstanding Autograph Collection comprises substantial letters by famous mathematicians and
scientists - from a 1647 letter by Marin Mersenne to Johann Hevelius to an 1856 letter from the
naturalist Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland. Included are holograph letters from Jean Bernoulli,
Euler, Hailey, Lagrange, and Leibniz. Most of the collection was probably acquired by Ward with his
purchase of the Legendre library, some of the letters actually being addressed to A. M. Legendre.
VII. Transcripts of Ward Family Letters (/mss/3221#c1086054)
Miscellaneous transcripts (holograph & typewritten) especially of letters by/to Lt. - Col. Samuel Ward
(1756-1832). Unsorted.
Also: page proofs of "The Correspondence of Samuel Ward, May 1775 - March 1776, edited by
Bernhard Knollenberg, Providence, R. I. Rhode Island Hist. Soc., 1952. Uncorrected proofs through p.
205 [not present: Genealogy of the Ward Family...].
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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
PROCESSING INFORMATION
jds, August 1973
KEY TERMS
NAMES
Armstrong, John, 1758-1843 (/controlaccess/31657?term=Armstrong, John, 1758-1843)
Bancroft, George, 1800-1891 (/controlaccess/4620?term=Bancroft, George, 1800-1891)
Bayard, Thomas F. (Thomas Francis), 1828-1898 B(/controlaccess/16834?term=Bayard, Thomas F.
(Thomas Francis), 1828-1898)
Bernoulli, Jean, 1667-1748 (/controlaccess/31658?term=Bernoulli, Jean, 1667-1748)
Brady, Mathew B., 1823 (ca.)-1896 (/controlaccess/10960?term=Brady, Mathew B., 1823 (ca.)-1896)
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion), 1854-1909(/controlaccess/31659?term=Crawford F. Marion
(Francis Marion), 1854-1909)
Cutler, M. Eliza (/controlaccess/31660?term=Cutler, M. Eliza)
Euler, Leonhard, 1707-1783 (/controlaccess/21530?term=Euler, Leonhard, 1707-1783)
Evarts, William Maxwell, 1818-1901 (/controlaccess/31661?term=Evarts, William Maxwell, 1818-
1901)
Felton, C. C. (Cornelius Conway), 1807-1862 (/controlaccess/10204?term=Felton, C. C. (Cornelius
Conway), 1807-1862)
Francis, John W. (John Wakefield), 1789-1861 (/controlaccess/22418?term=Francis, John W. (John
Wakefield), 1789-1861)
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 1790-1867 (/controlaccess/14686?term=Halleck Fitz-Greene, 1790-1867)
Halley, Edmond, 1656-1742 (/controlaccess/31662?term=Halley,E Edmond, 1656-1742)
Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910 (/controlaccess/14312?term=Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910)
Lagrange, J. L. (Joseph Louis), 1736-1813(/controlaccess/31663?term=Lagrange,J. L. (Joseph Louis),
1736-1813)
Legendre, A. M. (Adrien Marie), 1752-1833 (/controlaccess/31665?term=Legendre, A. M. (Adrien
Marie), 1752-1833)
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr von, 1646-1716 (/controlaccess/31664?term=Leibniz, Gottfried
Wilhelm, Freihern von, 1646-1716)
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882 (/controlaccess/7732?term=Longfellow, Henry
Wadsworth, 1807-1882)
Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, Earl of, 1847-1929 (/controlaccess/10696?term=Rosebery,
Archibald Philip Primrose, Earl of, 1847-1929)
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891 (/controlaccess/9536?term=Sherman, William T.
(William Tecumseh), 1820-1891)
Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866 (/controlaccess/17323?term=Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866)
Ticknor, George, 1791-1871 (/controlaccess/21028?term=Ticknor, George, 1791-1871)
Ward, Francis Marion, 1820-1847 (/controlaccess/31666?term=Ward, Francis Marion, 1820-1847)
Ward, Henry, 1818-1840 (/controlaccess/31667?term=Ward Henry, 1818-1840)
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Ward, Samuel, 1756-1832 (/controlaccess/31668?term=Ward, Samuel, 1756-1832)
Ward, Samuel, 1786-1839 (/controlaccess/31669?term=Ward, Samuel, 1786-1839)
Ward, Samuel, 1814-1884 /controlaccess/31652?term=Ward, Samuel, 1814-1884)
Ward family (controlaccess/31653?term=Wardfamily)
SUBJECTS
Banks and banking -- New York (State) -- New York (/controlaccess/14620?term=Banks and banking
-- New York (State) -- New York)
Mathematics (/controlaccess/6271?term=Mathematics
Mines and mineral resources -- Nicaragua (/controlaccess/31654?term=Mines and mineral resources
-- Nicaragua)
Science (/controlaccess/24272?term=Science)
PLACES
Europe -- Description and travel (/controlaccess/5191?term=Europe -- Description and travel)
Mexico -- History -- 1821-1861 (/controlaccess/31655?term=Mexico -- History -- 1821-1861)
New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs (/controlaccess/4211?term=New York (N.Y.) -- Social life
and customs)
United States -- Intellectual life -- 1783-1865 (/controlaccess/31656?term=United States --
Intellectual life -- 1783-1865)
OCCUPATIONS
Capitalists and financiers (/controlaccess/26783?term=Capitalists and financiers)
Lobbyists (/controlaccess/9830?term=Lobbyists)
MATERIAL TYPES
Autographs (/controlaccess/159169?term=Autographs)
Diaries (/controlaccess/3232?term=Diaries)
Photographs /controlaccess/3158?term=Photographs)
USING THE COLLECTION
LOCATION
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
ACCESS TO MATERIALS
Advance notice required. Request access to this collection. (/contacts/compose?
collection_id=5521&layout=true&mode=request&org_unit_id=1
http://archives.nypl.org/mss/3221
5/1/2020
Collection: Samuel Ward papers | HOLLIS for
Page 1 of 4
HOLLIS for Archival Discovery
COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 2201
" CITATION
REQUEST
VIEW PDF
CSV
? ASK A LIBRARIAN
Samuel Ward papers
FOUND IN: Houghton Library / Samuel Ward papers
COLLECTION OVERVIEW
COLLECTION INVENTORY
DIGITAL MATERIAL
Overview
Papers of the American lobbyist and author Samuel Ward.
Dates
1814-1936
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1.5 linear feet (3 boxes)
COLLAPSE ALL
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
Letters from Samuel Ward to Elliot mostly concern his life in Washington D.C., and family
news. Collection also contains Ward's diary from 1834 in Paris, a poem by Ernest Rhys entitled
"To M.H.E.," a poem by William Thayer entitled "To Mrs. Julia Ward Howe," a drawing of
Medora Ward, parts of literary manuscripts and lectures by Ward, clippings, and magazines
containing research material Elliott used. Much of the correspondence is with Maud Howe
Elliott, and concerns her research on her uncle Samuel Ward; his work, Diary of a Public Man;
her family history; complements on her book, Uncle Sam Ward and his Circle; and also from
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Collection: Samuel Ward papers | HOLLIS for
Page 2 of 4
publishing companies giving her permission to reprint material, a letter and poem from the
Atlantic Monthly, and part of the California Historical Society Quarterly about the McAllisters.
ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION
Biographical / Historical
Ward, an American lobbyist, financier, author, and adventurer, was well known in social and
political circles in both the U.S. and Europe. Maud Howe Elliott was his niece, and the
daughter of reformer Julia Ward Howe.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
I. Letters
II. Papers
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
51M-300. Gift of Miss Rosalind Richards, Gardiner, Maine; received: 1951.
Link to catalog
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Title
Ward, Samuel, 1814-1884. Samuel Ward papers, ca. 1814-1936: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
EAD ID
hou01451
REPOSITORY DETAILS
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ois:HOU
https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/24/resources/2692
5/1/2020
NYHS_v28_n01_Quarterly_Report_194401_024 islandora
NYHS_v28_n01_Quarterly_Report_194401_024
Return to Book View(/islandora/object/islandora%3A10169)
II D
In Collection(s)
NYHS v28 no1, Quarterly Bulletin, January 1944(/islandora/object/islandora%3A10169)
New York
Society Quarterly Bulletin,Jan.1944.
Descriptive Metadata
Details
Title
NYHS_v28_no1_Quarterly_Report_194401_024
Identifier (local)
3782
Full Text
WARD RESIDENCE, 14 CARROLL PLACE, C. 186j Northeast corner, Bleecker
and Thompson Streets, New York City Photograph presented by Mrs. Louisa H.
Clarke, Messrs. Charles M. Ward, Henry Marion Ward, and William F. Ward,
9/18/2017
Samuel Cutler Ward Wikipedia
Samuel Cutler Ward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward IV (January 27, 1814 - May 19, 1884), was an
Samuel Cutler Ward
American poet, politician, author, and gourmet, and in the years after the Civil War
he was widely known as the "King of the Lobby." He combined delicious food, fine
wines, and good conversation to create a new type of lobbying in Washington, DC
social lobbying over which he reigned for more than a decade.
[1]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 California gold rush
2.2 Washington, D.C.
2.3 Later life
3 Personal life
3.1 Legacy
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 Notes
7 External links
"Uncle Sam"
Early life
Ward as caricatured by Spy (Leslie
Ward) in Vanity Fair, January 1880
Sam was born in New York City into an old New England family and was the eldest
Born
January 27, 1814
of seven children. His father, Samuel Ward III, was a highly respected banker with
New York City, New
the firm of Prime, Ward, and King. His grandfather, Col. Samuel Ward, Jr. (1756-
York, U.S.
1832), was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Sam's mother, Julia Rush Cutler,
was related to Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution.
Died
May 19, 1884 (aged 70)
1824
Naples, Italy
When Sam's mother died while he was a student at the Round Hill School in
Resting
Trinity Church
Northampton, Massachusetts, his father became morbidly obsessed with his
children's moral, spiritual, and physical health. It wasn't until he was a student at
place
Cemetery, New York
Columbia College, where he joined the Philolexian Society and from which he
City, New York, U.S.
graduated in 1831, that he began to learn about the wider world.
Education
Round Hill School
The more he learned, the less he wanted to become a banker. He convinced his
Alma mater
Columbia College
father first to let him study in Europe, He stayed for four years, mastering several
University of Tübingen
languages, enjoying high society, earning a doctorate degree from the University of
Political
Democrat
Tübingen, and, in Heidelberg meeting Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who became
party
his friend for life. Sam literally dined out for decades on stories of his experiences
Spouse(s)
Emily Astor
during these years.
(m. 1838; her
Career
death 1841)
Medora Grymes
(m. 1843)
He returned to New York, married Emily Astor, the eldest daughter of businessman
William Backhouse Astor, Sr., in January 1838 and tried to settle into the life of a
Parent(s)
Samuel Ward III
young banker.
Julia Rush Cutler
Relatives
Julia Ward (sister)
His father. Samuel Ward III, died unexpectedly in November 1839. Next, Sam's
brother Henry died suddenly of typhoid fever. In February 1841 his wife gave birth
Samuel Ward, Jr.
to a son, but within days both she and the newborn died. Sam was executor of his
(grandfather)
father's several-million-dollar estate, partner now in a prestigious banking firm,
guardian of his three sisters, a widower, father of a toddler, and 27 years old.
9/18/2017
Samuel Cutler Ward Wikipedia
He remarried in 1843, and urged on by his new wife. Sam began speculating on Wall Street. In September 1847, the
financial world was stunned by news that Prime, Ward and Co. (King had wisely withdrawn) had collapsed.
California gold rush
Broke, Sam joined the '49ers rushing to California. He opened a store on the San Francisco waterfront; plowed his profits
into real estate; claimed he made a quarter of a million dollars in three months; and lost it all when fire destroyed his
wharves and warehouses. For a time he operated a ferry in the California wilderness; he alluded to mysterious schemes in
Mexico and South America; and he bobbed up in New York a wealthy man again.
He plunged back into speculating and lost all of his money again, and with it went Medora's affection. This time he finagled
a berth on a diplomatic mission to Paraguay. When he sailed home in 1859, he brought with him a secret agreement with
the president of Paraguay to lobby on that country's behalf and headed to Washington, DC, to begin a new career.
Washington, D.C.
Sam was a Democrat with many friends and family in the South. He also believed in gradual emancipation, which put him
at odds with his sister, Julia Ward, who would later write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and her husband, Samuel
Gridley Howe. But there was no question that he would remain loyal to the Union. He put his dinner table at the disposal of
his neighbor Secretary of State William Henry Seward. His elegant meals, which had already begun to be noticed, provided
the perfect cover for Northerners and Southerners looking for neutral ground. In the early days of the war, Sam also traveled
through the Confederacy with British journalist William Howard Russell, secretly sending letters full of military details
back to Seward for which he surely would have been hanged or shot if exposed.
In 1862, he told Seward he was wrong to think that the Confederacy would have rejoined the Union had war been averted:
"I differ from you. I found among the leaders a malignant bitterness and contemptuous hatred of the North which rendered
this lesson necessary. within two years they would have formed entangling free trade and free navigation treaties with
Europe, and have become a military power hostile to us. [2]
At the war's end, Sam's friends in high places, his savoir faire, his trove of anecdotes and recipes, and his talents for
diplomacy augured well for his success in Washington, where the coals were hot and ready for an era of unprecedented
growth and corruption that became known as "the Great Barbeque" or "The Gilded Age."
His entrée into the Johnson administration was Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, who, faced with the colossal
task of financial reconstruction, turned for help to Sam, who won for him a partial victory via cookery. Soon Sam was
boasting to Julia that he was lobbying for insurance companies, telegraph companies, steamship lines, railroad lines,
banking interests, mining interests, manufacturers, investors, and individuals with claims. Everyone, he crowed, wanted
him. What they wanted was a seat at his famous table. His plan de campagne for lobbying often began with pâté de
campagne, with a client footing the bill.
Sam took great care in composing the menu and guest list for his lobby dinners. If his client's interests were financial,
members of the appropriate House and Senate committees received invitations. Mining and mineral rights? That was
another group of players. He also orchestrated the talk around the table and used stories from his variegated life like
condiments at his dinners.
The results? "Ambrosial nights," gushed one guest. "The climax of civilization," another enthused. But how did these
delightful evenings serve his clients' ends? Subtly, and therein lies what set Sam Ward apart as a lobbyist. He claimed, and
guests agreed, that he never talked directly about a "project" over dinner. Instead, he let a good food, wine, and company
educate and convince, launch schemes or nip them in the bud At these evenings new friendships developed, old ones
were
cemented, and Sam's list of men upon whom he could call lengthened.
This was the hallmark of what reporters labeled the "social lobby," and, by the late 1860s, Sam was hailed in newspapers
across the country as its "King." And yet nowhere in this age of corruption and scandal-not in the press, in congressional
testimony, or in his own letters or those of his clients-was there any hint that "the King" ever offered a bribe, engaged in
blackmail, or used any other such methods to win his ends.
Later life
By the late 1870s, the "King of the Lobby" was slowing down. Although friends urged him to retire, the truth was that he
couldn't. Sam was famous, but he was not rich. He lived well-very well indeed-but on other men's money. But then his
9/18/2017
Samuel Cutler Ward Wikipedia
California gold fields and Sam had nursed him back to health. Keene never forgot his kindness. He manipulated railroad
stock with his good "SAMaritan" in mind, and, when he came East in 1878, he gave Sam the profits-nearly $750,000.
With this dramatic change in his circumstances, the "King" abdicated his crown, decamped for New York, and naively
backed unscrupulous strangers developing a grand new resort on Long Island. To no one's surprise but Sam's, the project
failed and Sam's final fortune evaporated.
In order to evade creditors. Sam sailed for England. He bobbed up in London and was straightaway entertained by his many
friends there and then moved on to Italy. During Lent in 1884. he became ill near Naples. On the morning of May 19, he
dictated one last lighthearted letter and died.
Personal life
In January 1838, he married Emily Astor, eldest daughter of businessman William
Backhouse Astor, Sr. and Margaret Rebecca Armstrong of the Livingston family. In
November 1838, Emily gave birth to their daughter, Margaret Astor Ward, who
married John Winthrop Chanler, son of John White Chanler and Elizabeth Shirreff
Winthrop. Together, they had ten children, including William Astor Chanler, Sr.,
Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, and Robert Winthrop Chanler. In February 1841, Emily
gave birth to a son, but within days both she and the newborn died. Sam was
executor of his father's several-million-dollar estate, partner now in a prestigious
banking firm, guardian of his three sisters, a widower, father of a toddler, and 27
years old.
In 1843, Sam married a beautiful fortune-hunter from New Orleans, Medora
Grymes, who bore two sons in quick succession. [3]
Legacy
Ann Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ward
(Emily Astor), 1837. Miniature on ivory.
Within days of his passing, obituaries appeared in dozens of newspapers in the
1/2 X 4 1/2 in. Private collection,
United States and England The New York Times' obituary filled two entire columns.
Barrytown, New York
The New York Tribune correctly concluded that Sam Ward's "greatest achievement
was establishing himself in Washington at the head of a profession which, from the
lowest depths of disrepute, he raised almost to the dignity of a gentlemanly business.. He never resorted to vulgar bribery;
he excelled rather in composing the enmities and cementing the rickety friendships which play SO large a part in political
affairs, and he tempted men not with the purse, but with banquets, graced by vivacious company, and the conversation of
wits and people of the world."
Sam's book of poetry, Lyrical Recreations, soon sank into obscurity. His hilarious anonymous magazine accounts of his stint
in the gold fields were edited into a volume entitled Sam Ward in the Gold Rush in 1949. For years after his death, bar
patrons ordered "Sam Wards," a drink he invented of cracked ice, a peel of lemon, and yellow Chartreuse. Restaurants
carried Chicken Saute Sam Ward on their menus for decades. Locke-Ober in Boston served for years a dish called
Mushrooms Sam Ward. He was immortalized by his nephew author Francis Marion Crawford as the delightful Mr.
Bellingham in Dr. Claudius. And Sam's name has been kept alive by scholars speculating upon the identity of the
anonymous author of "The Diary of a Public Man," published in 1879.
The social lobby that Sam Ward perfected also lives on. Although entertaining by lobbyists has been circumscribed by
legislation, it endures because, as Sam understood, bringing people together over good food, wine, and conversation
remains a fruitful way to conduct business. As Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. noted 100 years after Sam's death, " every close
student of Washington knows half the essential business of government is still transacted in the evening where the
sternest purpose lurks under the highest frivolity." Sam Ward's art was to guarantee that the guests who enjoyed his
ambrosial nights never focused on the purpose that lurked beneath his perfectly cooked poisson.
References
1. "Ward, Samuel. Papers"(http://archives.nypl.org/uploads/collection/pdf_finding_aid/wards.pdf)(PDF).
archives.nypl.org. The New York Public Library. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
2. Nevins, Allan. The War for the Union, vol. 1, The Improvised War, 1861-1862 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1959), p. 53.
9/18/2017
Samuel Cutler Ward Wikipedia
3. Jaçob, Kathryn Allamong (2010). King of the Lobby: The Life and Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-Washington in the
`Gilded Age e(https://books.google.com/books?id=8K1fvejDBQEC). JHU Press. ISBN 9780801893971. Retrieved
30 August 2017.
Bibliography
Crawford, Francis Marion. Dr. Claudius. New York: Macmillan, 1883.
Crofts, Daniel W. A Secession Crisis Enigma: William Henry Hurlbert and "The Diary of a Public Man. 'Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State university Press, 2010.
TW
Elliott, Maud Howe. Uncle Sam Ward and His Circle. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938.
Jacob, Kathryn Allamong. King of the Lobby, the Life and Times of Sam Ward. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2010.
Thomas, Lately (pseudonym of Robert Steele). Sam Ward "King of the Lobby". Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1965.
Ward, Samuel. Lyrical Recreations. New York: D. Appleton, Boston, 1865.
Ward, Samuel. Sam Ward in the Gold Rush. (edited by Carvel Collins) Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1949.
Notes
http://web.archive.org/web/20140714151850/http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dav4is/people/WARD743.htm
External links
Kathryn Allamong Jacob, King of the Lobby. The Life and Times of Sam Ward (https://books.google.com/books?id=
8K1fvejDBQEC) at Google Books
Samuel Ward, Alias Carlos Lopez (http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=3441) UNIVERSITY OF
ROCHESTER LIBRARY BULLETIN Volume XII Winter 1957 Number 2
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Cutler_Ward&oldid=798016106"
This page was last edited on 30 August 2017, at 13:47.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
189+218
sterention
Reviews
89
an interim commission in 1874, where her
lobbying-its practice, its abuses, its exco-
narrative effectively ends. Contemporaries un-
riation-it was ever thus. Yet one would sell
derstood that an appointed commission was a
Samuel Ward's exciting and varied life short by
likely outcome of the territory's collapse. Still,
simply focusing on the two decades he spent
akin to the Control Board of 1995-2001, the
in the nation's capital. Jacob vividly portrays
interim commission of 1874-78 was struc-
a man who was involved in many of the great
tured as a federal receivership. The significance
events of nineteenth-century America.
of the financial and administrative provisions
Born in New York City in 1814, Ward was
of the 1878 organic act-with its promised 50
the son of a prominent banker, a partner in
percent federal appropriation in exchange for
the firm Prime, Ward, and King. As a young
congressional control of the D.C. budget, and
man he was accustomed to the company of the
Army Corps control of Washington's public
great and the good who sat at his family's ta-
works-is why Washington historians treat es-
ble: Washington Irving, James Fenimore Coo-
tablishment of the permanent commission as
per, Hamilton Fish, Thurlow Weed, William
the turning point, even though residents' vot-
Henry Seward, and John Jacob Astor among
ing rights were terminated in the interim bill
others. Many of them turned out to be partic-
of 1874.
ularly useful connections during his Washing-
Masur had to end somewhere, but stopping
ton career. Not that he had to go far afield to
in 1874 rather than leaving the story to fade
encounter the famous: his younger sister, Julia
sadly feeds a tendency among historians and
Ward (who would pen "The Battle Hymn of
readers to concentrate on episodes of possi-
the Republic") was his lifelong confidante and
bility and drama at the expense of periods of
occasional scold.
routine and disappointment. For Washington,
It is a measure of Ward's social status that
time was vivid between 1861 and 1874. But
he married Emily Astor, granddaughter of
neither Washingtonians nor their historians
John Jacob. She died shortly after giving birth
should turn from the gray years that followed.
to their second child, who also died. His sub-
If the capital is to serve as an example of prin-
sequent marriage to Medora Grymes resulted
ciples proclaimed at high moments in its sto-
in an irrevocable breach with the Astors. This
ry, Washingtonians need to understand details
marriage was as unhappy as the marriage to
of the city's situation that become inescapable
Emily Astor had been happy and was a source
during eras of disillusionment.
of much sadness throughout his life.
As a young man, Ward boarded at Round
Hill School in Massachusetts, where he met
many leading sons of Southern society, con-
King of the Lobby: The Life and
nections that served him well in the years to
Times of Sam Ward, Man-About-
come. He graduated from Columbia College
Washington in the Gilded Age
and then traveled to Europe, where he extend-
ed his web of friendship. In Heidelberg he met
By Kathryn Allamong Jacob. (Baltimore: The
the young Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009). 240 pag-
began an intimate friendship that lasted until
es; illustrations, notes, index. Cloth, $40.00.
Longfellow's death.
In Europe Ward managed to pick up a
Reviewed by John Peter Olinger
number of languages and a doctorate from the
University of Tubingen, and it would appear
Kathryn Allamong Jacob's King of the Lobby
that, had he wished, he could easily have pur-
is a timely reminder that when it comes to
sued an academic career in mathematics, or
90
Washington History(2011), Vol. 23
perhaps classics, or philosophy. Instead, he fol-
lowed his father into the family bank, the one
career to which he appears to have been little
K ING of the
suited. Although Ward had a talent for making
money for others and for himself, he was never
LOBBY
able to hold onto his own fortune. In 1847,
the family bank, then known as Prime, Ward
and Co., collapsed.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Then began a decade-long odyssey that car-
ried Ward to gold rush California, where as
SAM WARD
was his custom, he quickly made money and
MAN-ABOUT-WASHINGTON
important friends. He moved on to Mexi-
IN THE GILDED AGE
CO and Central America, making contacts all
along the way, then on to Europe. By the time
he came to Washington in the late 1850s, his
web of friendships spanned the Atlantic, and
North and South America.
At the outset of the Civil War, Ward trav-
elled throughout the South with his English
acquaintance, the war correspondent William
Henry Russell. He arrived in Charleston just as
Fort Sumter fell, and proceeded on to Macon,
Kathryn Allamong Jacob
Montgomery, Mobile, New Orleans, and up
to Jackson, Memphis, and Cairo, all the while
sending reports to Secretary of State Seward.
Ward's lobbying career began when he se-
the beneficiaries of bribes, as was a clerk of the
cured a post as secretary to a U.S. diplomatic
House of Representatives, as well as commit-
mission to Paraguay. The mission was success-
tee clerks, some of whom were retained by in-
ful in diplomatic terms and for Ward person-
dividuals and businesses who had matters be-
ally. When he returned to Washington he car-
fore the committees. Reporters and society
ried not just a proposed treaty between the
hostesses were not immune to the blandish-
two nations, but also a personal commission
ments of these same interests.
as agent for President Carlos Antonio Lopez of
Ward came into his own as King of the
Paraguay. Lopez had secretly paid him to lob-
Lobby, or Rex vestiari, after the Civil War. It
by on behalf of the treaty. With its adoption,
was a period of great change and expansion in
Ward claimed his first success as a lobbyist.
Washington, which had grown during the war.
Placing Ward's Washington career in its
Opening the West, building railroads, expand-
context, Jacob supplies a useful short history
ing commerce-all made the federal govern-
of lobbying, a practice as old as the republic
ment a central player in the forging of a na-
itself. Using documents from periodic con-
tional economy. And as the national economy
gressional investigations of lobbying, begin-
grew, SO did the world of lobbying.
ning with that of Samuel Colt's efforts to se-
Jacob argues that Ward was sui generis, the
cure the renewal of his arms contract, Jacob
first "social lobbyist." He practiced his art
provides several short sketches that remind us
not in the halls of Congress but in his home,
that the selling and buying of influence has an-
where he entertained lavishly. Ward said that
tique roots. Representatives and senators were
he never paid a bribe and that he never asked
Reviews
x
91
for anything at dinner. And his dinners were
vor of the measure; that I thought it a good
notable. Jacob takes the reader on an excursion
measure." Whether the members of the Ways
through the culinary history of the gilded age,
and Means Committee were any more enlight-
with new and exotic foods gracing the tables
ened than we are by this answer is hard to de-
of the wealthy and sophisticated. Ward, an
termine. In any case, the investigation led to a
early habitué of Delmonico's in New York in
brief eruption of congressional virtue-in the
his youth, introduced Washington society to
House but not the Senate. During the 44th
new cuisine. To sit at Ward's table was a much
Congress, beginning in 1876, lobbyists were
sought-after honor. Among those who supped
required to register. This requirement, which
with him were James Blaine, James Garfield,
lacked any enforcement mechanism, lapsed
and Chester Arthur. The food was hardly the
at the end of that Congress. Over 100 years
only attraction. Garfield and Ward for instance
passed before the requirement was revived.
shared a deep knowledge of classical literature
Ward gradually withdrew from the world
and their correspondence reflects that fact.
of lobbying, though he continued to be much
Over the course of fifteen years, Ward fig-
sought after as a host and conversationalist. He
ured in many of the great battles of the emerg-
escorted Oscar Wilde on his American tour in
ing national economy, beginning with Sec-
1882. It is inconceivable that Wilde would
retary of the Treasury McCulloch's postwar
have tolerated a poor table or a boring host.
retirement of the greenback and return to the
Ward's talent for losing money persisted
gold standard. Ward regarded this as one of
to the end. He left the United States to avoid
his great accomplishments. Yet it is difficult to
creditors and died in Pegli on the Italian Rivi-
tell exactly what role he played. Similarly, he
era near Genoa in 1884, which seems fitting
was active in the effort to prevent the Senate
for a man who had lived a dramatic life on
from carrying out the House's impeachment
a world stage. He was much more than the
of President Andrew Johnson. Despite Repre-
"King of the Lobby." In this relatively short
sentative Ben Butler's subsequent investigation
work, Jacob succeeds in conveying the rich-
of the lobbying surrounding the Senate trial, it
ness of his life and the texture of the times.
is not exactly clear what Ward did.
One is left with the impression that an eve-
Therein lies the problem with assessing
ning spent with Sam Ward would have been
Ward's career. Whether it is his role in the trea-
delightful, informative, perhaps even profit-
ty with Paraguay, the epic battle for control of
able. That may well be the essence of a great
the Erie Railroad, or the securing of a duty ex-
lobbyist, in any age.
emption for the imported alcohol that Louis
Agassiz used to preserve his specimens at Har-
John Peter Olinger, senior vice president at the
vard, Ward's actions are cloaked in secrecy. Al-
Downey McGrath Group, a government affairs
though he did not seek anonymity and in fact
firm, was formerly president of the Rainbow
reveled in his reputation, he apparently was
History Project, which collects, preserves, and
careful not to discuss his work, either publicly
promotes the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-
or in his correspondence.
gendered history of Washington.
Ward was the star witness in the House
Ways and Means Committee investigation of
lobbying on behalf of the Pacific Mail Steam-
ship Company for the contract to carry mail
to China. When asked the nature of his work,
Ward said "Simply stating on all occasions,
where it was proper to do so, that I was in fa-
646
THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY V.11,143 (1938),
his own contribution had inevitably to be cut down to fit the
space that remained.
The selections are admirably chosen; the bibliography of
nearly forty pages is the best on its subject and the book as a
whole, quite the most useful single work on American humor.
For New Englanders it will have special interest since a large
proportion of it is devoted to writers in the northeastern states,
who found in our local characters and ways of life the material
for comedy.
KENNETH B. MURDOCK.
Harvard University.
Uncle Sam Ward and His Circle. By Maud Howe Elliott. (New
York: The Macmillan Company. 1938. Pp. xiv, 699. $5.00.)
Sam Ward, the ebullient elder brother of Julia Ward Howe,
was a New Englander only in his six generations of Rhode
Island ancestors, his five years at Cogswell and Bancroft's Round
Hill School at Northampton, and his lifelong friendships with
such Cambridge personages as Longfellow, Sumner, and Felton.
In more ways than one, Mrs. Elliott's genial Uncle Sam may be
regarded as the antithesis of the New England spirit. A light-
hearted dilettante with fortune usually on his side, Sam Ward
got a great deal of fun out of charming his way through the best
social circles of three continents. At the age of eighteen he
escaped from "the iron tyranny of his father's piety" to spend
four profoundly unsettling and enjoyable years in Europe. A
checquered business career in Wall Street, where the gambling
bored him, was followed by a happy fifteen-year reign in Wash-
ington as King of the Lobby and "gastronomic pacificator."
Between times he ran through three fortunes; married an Astor
and later a New Orleans belle; and adventured in the California
gold rush, Paraguay, Mexico, and Brazil. Convinced that he
might have been a great mathematician or linguist or poet or
indeed all three at once, he accomplished nothing substantial in
any intellectual field save perhaps the reckless purchase, in his
BOOK REVIEWS
647
youth, of Legendre's mathematical library, and some sugges-
tions of themes for poems submitted to his friend, Longfellow.
Sam Ward worked hardest at the art of being a universal uncle-
the craft of charm, the ways and means of being liked by the
right sorts of people. His almost unbroken series of successes in
that field (even British nabobs yielded) counterbalance, in the
eyes of his adoring niece, his irresponsible failures in his other
pursuits. But it is hardly likely that future critics will be as
indulgent. Sam's triumphs were triumphs of elegance; he may
live as a great gourmet, for he was a better judge of food and its
political uses than of anything else, although he dabbled in
almost everything at one time or another. The cinematic story
of his ups and downs should have been written with a light
touch in the days before American plutocracy suffered its catas-
trophic failure of nerve. To the social conscience of the present,
Sam Ward supplies but one more illustration of the incredible
blindness of the privileged to the consequences of their antics.
Julia Ward Howe's daughter has compiled a monumental
and apparently uncut biography made up to a considerable
extent of letters among the members of the Ward family, all
"inveterate correspondents," and their many friends and ac-
quaintances. Much is included, as a result, that is trivial and
obstructive, except in the eyes of the immediate family or of
the social historian. The most important letters are those ex-
changed by Sam Ward and Longfellow between 1836 and 1882.
The poet's grandson regards them as "the liveliest and, I may
say, the most indiscreet letters he ever wrote"; which is one
more proof that discretion is a relative concept. The friendship
of Sam and his "Longo" was a union of opposites; for even Sam
realized that Longfellow's works were "domestic," while his own
were nothing if not foreign and sophisticated No one, however,
succeeded in taking Sam Ward's measure more accurately than
Charles Sumner when he said: "I disagree with Sam Ward on
almost every human topic, but when I have talked with him
five minutes I forget everything save that he is the most delight-
ful company in the world."
HAROLD A. LARRABEE.
Union College.
Kathryn a. Jacab of the Labby the Life n
Times of Sam ward. in
the gilded agr. Baltswire: T.Hopkins, 2010.
3.
Jacobs femones the foot that Word never crute
calcutotiography. "That is a pity. such
book would is lead have beaw delicious."
Somes reign in Washeryton "coincided c the
post often described as a
uredearable corrupt ers. scould
often scondel associated write. postaver
4
Fedual government e broad new powers
An els of "veral politiceds,
repactors robber barons, and wily
hobbyists contact selling, vote
buying, t election legging opienty."
While the medic ralleid against Colibyist
these in business of corruptab influencing
legislators - SamWaid win it "a class
by honself."
Except to has parents, Some was almost
7.
allergy 'Som' sat Sound He who a
"man of the world, master 4 cookery,
mathemat is, and holfa dogenlongages,
failed financiar
He returned from CA in 1859
WashingtonDC
s
Jacoh
Queentry of Same indiaded a captain in Olever Connectle's
29
army, two calorial governor, c member of the
Crestinental Congress, two officials in g. Washington's army
and Frances Marlon, the 'Swamp Fox,
He producted for Round Hill in 1828-at 14-the off
to Columbia V where begaberated in 1831. What he
wanted most was to goto Booton to study motherities
o Nathaniel Bounlitch ad his Roard Hell math
preferre, Berjjum Price, then at Howard
Son published 2 active on problebility + a revered of
Loche for the American Juacture berrow official
a trashy position at U.S.M.A. Same proposed
you
of study with in Europe, military engineering.
Get sait October 1832. Three years passed too
quickly He meets Longfillow in Heidelberg.
See characterization on 19 33.
Jacabs the author, descubes (p.198)
Cuide as "a sweet, uncritical value of
heavily edited letters [with]little
commentary, even less analysis... The
"Circle' is for fracity, net the larger Certle of
freeds 7 acquestances.
a
Lately Thomas SomeWord is a "straight
p-198
forward borgraph based a source available
thigh 1960's. Here there is" lettle "about
the Lo bby. The real noun of Theres is
Robert Steele
3
Much of Sanis writings "aent up lii flames "some
!
papers escaped Julies boxfire. "Fortunately
the Julea ward House papers ad th largest
of several collections & Howe famil paper
(ms Am 2119) are "gold mines not of for
letter to ad from Some but for intrafomilial
p.199 coursespectence in which fan is dis ceased."
Lately Thomas
NYC
(1814-1884) )
Sam Ward: King of the Labby.
Boston HM, 1965.
4th to hear that none, father a bonher -partician
p.4.
in Prince t Ward year ladlin married
Boston grid of Huguent heritage. Liki
goes back to Cal San Wad, Rev. Wae veteran
much furth line founded f a captain in
Olevi Comewell's covaly, Thomas Ward, who
exigrated to Anneual and settled in R.I.
& 1816, Heny berre ad in 1820 Fearners Maroon.
15
Round Holl teliod (chap 2) @ 30 stadents Th
effect of geographed Liversif of fellow students"
was to footer sat not synpathies exclude
secti malesm, a choroctoritic that was to
make mark him always. "Enclled the at
Eleven year of age ? Secret poltered after
a German Jynessons, plas cel eyeseen equal in
supt. to S term classical ecencienter Every
Surver bag set out on hiking vestuer thighte
Behahues or to Nahart Etc.
25
States Caleevfia u. in 1829. Graducter in 2 year.
Pablesh several ach ds, one on Joehe affersal johat
West Point. Probled off to Europe in 1832. for
the next 4 years Anmils stades abroad, mt Her dobberg.
Bach to u.s. x much infept. '36, hepan with mWall St.
after spedy several ureh in theford
2
Thomas, L.
p 72
Julia at 17 was "pert, strong minded, Vivacious,
but included to be moody. "Like Sew, b
76
begreeded clerking when the words of
Plato and Surtanices becaused. "The air
of innote goodness that some radiated
78
socially, Loyfollow experienced over who
he readed Ansurance 1836. 4
to May, 1837 the brebble of the resultance born
forest, bash after bach failed Paric spread
Ever Wards King was I copordayed new York
State tattered on the edge f ingolerency. best
Ring negotiated c Baringo bork endorsement
29
a loan 1,000,000 England
Record gold + newyork was saved few
acpudiation. "It weakened health f Ion
82
Ward, Sr. but the your San, in has fothers
view, was injection to tube "meaning of
system and Moderat on. "But in the offmg
Wes his in pending marrigg 1/25/38170
Enily astor, "to when be in 1837
91
Fust child been 1/20/40, road mergaret.
Still Wach for politics ,Saw bed little regard!
interest urished more wovif
In
Then in puly of 1838, Uncle Herry Ward deid + her
fortune tellto (+ house ot 23 Bond St. ) lert to
wefe + there ory fon, Hery Hall word
3
San gone a paper Harach at th NYHes.Sec
Balthe f Longbland
93
ESGW in attendence For he ad Somal
Ward f Bond Street have be loutstill ace)
endlessly confused "Lihe
was "a correspondent of Barings for in London
Rs bogs, they well schoolmetical
So no, Lanffeller are then freat "But in
respect to temperariat, taste, and experience
the two "were antitheses, defferentiated by their
freeds as 'the good SamWard (Boston) and
the gay some Ward (New York " close
were the her families although in no way
related, at one time May Ward iv. was
enjoyed to may Heny Ward, the New
york Sam's brother."
[ Notes author dor vat descuss the
ways is whil they wen similar -
wirth pursuing RR J.
95
for example the San was nown full patre
in PNK, he still complained " "Hao toelsons
is the guest for gold! Discubed selfs N
9L
"packhouse -- compelle to forgo mesic."
Sari neglect of duties grew
Disappointly his patter whose condetridetis roated
Deed nov 24, 4839. Santhu moved in to "the
Garenel directorsley My PWK."
What is date of Hearen's death?
4
An Feb 1841, a for was berr. With Ale month next 2 dags
mother had dead of infection, There dap late
mother -in-law deed Two weekslate , son
too deid. With fofteen month for
98.
lost be fathe, brother wife, xson.
100
Sam brother llown, & 3 sisters had "come
into formidable wealth."
124
Julia + SGHONE, she was 22, he 40.
Engeach annound in 1843, marry in 4/26/43.
manage dood was not realyed below
Hour refeend to sign a apeent that pleased
Julia wealth in trust, a Tristers
An end, uncountry her investments word b
Sm remarks, medora, th family rendered
paid to pelin
divided @ the manage Burght he
136
to Boston where interactia c Tichners
Summer, Longellar appletens, Late
Julia completed it give SGH her income
The SCA repected it. Bad relations !
141
Some at odds c PWK. Wated to Herela's
for quect returns, contray to conservator
partner Cuftert King withdow. it
set up separate book. that left -
Preming Word of Co. in 1846. a failure-
mouse
UNCLE SAM WARD
AND HIS CIRCLE
BY
MAUD HOWE ELLIOTT
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1938
From a portrait by von Vogelstein
SAM, WITH ROVER, IN THE GOLDEN AGE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. THE FAMILY CIRCLE
1
II. ROUND HILL SCHOOL: MASTERS AND PUPILS
14
III. COLUMBIA COLLEGE IN LITTLE OLD NEW YORK
30
IV. PARIS IN THE GOLDEN AGE: ARAGO, LISZT, OLE
BULL
44
V. HEIDELBERG: A GERMAN BARON'S HOSPITALITY
68
VI. KING OF SAXONY. COUNT STROGANOFF. LONG-
FELLOW
84
VII. ENGLAND: JOSHUA BATES. THE BARING BROTHERS
116
VIII. RETURN TO NEW YORK. MARRIAGE TO EMILY ASTOR
150
IX. THIRTY-TWO BOND STREET
171
X. LIFE AT NEWPORT; DEATH OF SAM'S FATHER
185
XI. THE ASHBURTON TREATY. MRS. BREVOORT'S BALL.
THE LOCOFOCOS. DEATH OF SAM'S WIFE AND
SON
200
XII. MARION WARD GOES TO NEW ORLEANS AND FIGHTS
A DUEL
217
XIII. THE BOYS: HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW;
CHARLES SUMNER; CORNELIUS C. FELTON;
GEORGE S. HILLARD; SAMUEL GRIDLEY HOWE
238
XIV. MATRIMONIAL: JULIA MARRIES DR. HOWE; LONG-
FELLOW MARRIES FANNY APPLETON; SAM WEDS
MEDORA GRYMES
365
XV. LIFE AT CAPO DI MONTE. DEATH OF MARION IN
NEW ORLEANS. FAILURE
393
XVI. THE GOLD RUSH: SAM AND THE McALLISTERS JOIN
THE FORTY-NINERS
418
XVII. ADVENTURES IN MEXICO; MISSION TO PARAGUAY;
WITH THACKERAY IN PARIS
435
xi
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE LOBBY
455
ES TO ITALY TO SEE THE EMPEROR OF
IL
496
ANDFATHER KNEW How TO GIVE PRESENTS
533
ILLUSTRATIONS
HIPS: PRESIDENT GARFIELD, WILLIAM A.
TS, THOMAS F. BAYARD
547
SEBERY AND THE MENDACIOUS CLUB
Sam, with Rover, in the Golden Age
Fro
580
CRAWFORD AND OSCAR WILDE
601
NEVOLENT DESPOT
Governor Richard Ward
610
E LION OF THE LONDON SEASON
Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Ward
639
THE END OF THE ROAD
671
Samuel Ward-Sam's Father
LOGY
688
Julia Rush Cutler Ward
689
Henry, Sam, and Julia Ward
"The Corner," Where Sam Lived as a Boy, at Bond Street an
Broadway
Sam's Diploma from the University of Tübingen
The Fall River Boat "Massachusetts"
Sam's Home on Bellevue Avenue, Newport
Charles Sumner
Taglioni
Fanny Elssler in "La Tarentule"
Longfellow
Edouart Silhouettes
Cornelius C. Felton
Mrs. Samuel Ward (Medora Grymes)
The Grymes House, Capo di Monte, Staten Island
Rachel as Phèdre
Ristori as Mary Stuart
Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil
Sam Ward, 1874
Lord Rosebery
Uncle Sam Ward
xiii
208
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
209
Mr. Kirk was a young Presbyterian clergyman to whom Julia
had been ornamented with flowers the night my young wife slept
was engaged for a short time. He was very unpopular with her
there for the first time, ornamented with flowers when my father
brothers. For those who remember her in later life these state-
slept there for the last time, and ornamented with flowers this
ments about her health seem incredible, for she had a magnificent
sad night of October 2nd.
constitution and during all of her ninety-one years was in perfect
We are all desolate and heartbroken. The gold and silver
health.
chords of our lyre are broken.
A new and devastating grief now darkened Sam's life in the
In other respects I have no changes to report. I have not
death of his brother Henry. Grandfather's and fäther's deaths
yet decided whether I shall continue the lectures upon the Doc-
were in the natural order. But a younger brother-that brought
trine of Chances. At present I am much with my sisters who need
mortality close. Had he been a little hard on Henry? A letter to
constant attention. I generally visit them three times a day and
his father about Henry at school, and a later one from Europe,
pass either the afternoon or the evening in their society. Mrs.
give that impression. Remorse, perhaps, was mixed with grief?
Ward came to town on Saturday, in time to take leave of my dear
That makes the bitterest sorrow of all.
brother, and we shall not return to Hellgate.
Hellgate was then a farm of many acres, located near what is
S. W. TO C. F. M.
now Eighty-eighth Street and Second Avenue.
BOND STREET, Mercredi, 7 October, 1840
Henry's death, following SO closely on their father's, was a
My dear friend,
cruel blow to the young Wards. Now, when mourning is no
The mourning border of this paper will announce to you the
longer the fashion and the doctrine of cheerful oblivion of
sad news of our young, beautiful and beloved Henry. Yes, my
bereavement prevails SO widely, it is hard to realize the impor-
dear, God has wished that we should count but five and death has
tance then given to death. Today the accent is all on life!
taken the most beautiful flower from our triste arbre, already sadly
Julia, who at nineteen wished she had died with Henry, de-
despoiled.
clared when she was ninety:
The evening of your departure my poor brother promised so
"It is not my business to think about dying, but to think about
well for the night that I, because of the rain, stayed at Hellgate,
living!"
where I had been for eight days. In the morning I hurried to the
Henry's fiancée, Mary Ward, wore widow's weeds for several
city, found the family at table, demanded gaily how he had spent
years and until the end held him in close remembrance, Later she
the night.
Henry had died at 5 in the morning.
married Charles H. Dorr, and became the social arbiter of Bos-
o, mon Dieu, give us strength to bear this dreadful blow.
ton's fashionable society. An intense, dramatic woman, full of
He died of a fever in all the strength and vigor of his twenty-
kind impulses and of some that were less kind. In her later
two years. The next day we placed him beside my father in a tomb
years she said to my sister Laura: "I have been reading
that had already opened four times, to receive those dear to me,
over your mother's old letters. They were very clever. I burned
in the last four years.
I stayed with the poor body the last
them."
night it passed on earth. He lay on the bed on which my poor
Henry died in Julia's arms. All through her life she noted in
father had breathed his last ten months before. It was our nuptial
her Journal the anniversary of his death. "This day my dear
bed in our wedding chamber. Sad bed, sad chamber. The bed
brother Henry died."
214
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
UNCLE SAM WARD AND HIS CIRCLE
215
nurse who was said to be gifted with second sight. The woman
too great to be reached by any of the common topics of consola-
declared that she had heard three coffins fall. This was a portent
tion and, therefore, I shall abstain from urging them.
of three deaths in the family.
The shadow cast by Henry's death upon Sam, the central sun in
GEORGE TICKNOR TO S. W.
the Ward solar system, was darkened to a total eclipse when his
BOSTON, Feb 20, 1841.
young wife Emily Astor Ward died shortly after the birth of
a
son. As if that were not sorrow enough Sam's firstborn son,
We are much grieved for you, my dear friend. Sorrow has come
Emily's little boy, soon followed his mother; and so the old nurse's
upon you, unexpected, overwhelming, and though I can say noth-
prophecy was fulfilled and three new coffins were placed in the
ing that will sound to you like consolation now, still, even in the
great vault at Greenwood where generations of Wards lie, await-
extremity of our trouble it is not unwelcome to know that our
ing the last trump.
friends are sympathetic and suffer with us.
The last eighteen
In a letter from New Orleans, dated February 22nd, Marion
months have brought with them an unusual amount of the trials
refers to Sam's loss. The only other letters on the subject, except
of affliction for you.
Sam's to Longfellow, are from two Boston friends. As the family
were inveterate correspondents, it seems probable that all letters
Mr. Ticknor writes quite at length upon the needed lesson of
concerning Emily, or written by her, were at some time seques-
sorrow and then tells Sam to read the four chapters of St. John's
trated from the rest of Sam's papers.
Gospel beginning with the fourteenth. "I know not," he con-
cludes, "where else in divine or human teachings such words can
be found."
C. C. FELTON TO S. W.
Mrs. Ticknor adds some lines to her husband's letter:
CAMBRIDGE, Feb. 20, 1841.
My dear Ward,
Let your thoughts as well as your heart follow your Angel to
Day before yesterday I was much gratified to receive your letter
heaven and you will feel a thought that is gained only by such
announcing the birth of a son. Yesterday I went to Boston and
communion. But, I take my pen simply to tell you how much my
was going to mention the pleasant news to your friends, but I was
heart is touched with grief for you, that I shall think of you con-
inexpressibly shocked to hear from Sumner that a letter had just
stantly and that I am,
come in from his brother with the information of the sudden
Affectionately your friend,
death of Mrs. Ward. I shall not intrude upon your sorrow fur-
ANNA TICKNOR.
ther than to say that you have my deepest sympathies in your
bereavement.
In the three short years of his married life Sam touched the
I had seen but little of Mrs. Ward, but her gentle, refined man-
heights and depths of human experience. The gay and happy
ner, her soft, low voice, that most excellent thing in woman, have
bridegroom who led Emily Astor to the altar was a shining sword
many times come back to my memory since my return from New
of a man, fit and able to conquer the world. The pride and hope
York. I saw enough of her to know that she was a woman in
of his father, idol of his sisters and brothers, admiration and per-
whom the best affections of an honorable and cultivated man
haps envy of his friends, chosen lover of a lovely woman, his cup
would be garnered up and that the affliction of her loss must be
of happiness was full and running over. Then came the deepest
GENEALOGY
John Ward, an officer in Cromwell's Army, died Newport,
Rhode Island, 1698. His son
Thomas Ward, Deputy from Newport to General Assembly,
was born in 1641, died in 1689, married (2nd time) Amy Smith,
granddaughter of Roger Williams. Their son
(Governor) Richard Ward of Rhode Island was born in 1689,
died in 1763. His son
(Governor) Samuel Ward of Rhode Island was born in 1725,
died in 1796, married Anne Ray, lineal descendant of Roger
Williams. Their sixth child was
(Lieut. Col.) Samuel Ward, born in 1756, died in 1832. He
married Phebe, daughter of Governor Greene of Rhode Island.
Their fifth child,
Samuel Ward (1786-1839), banker, of New York City, mar-
ried Julia Rush Cutler. Their first child,
Samuel Ward (Uncle Sam), born in 1814, died in 1884,
married first Emily Astor, who had two children-Margaret
Laura Astor Chanler = Lawrence G. White
Beatrice Margaret Mary Charler = Pierre F. Allegaert
Hester Marion Char
Ward and a son (died in infancy) ; married secondly Medora
b. Sept. 30, 1887
b. Aug. 21, 1891
m. Oct., 1923
b. Apr. 25, 1893
Grymes, who had two sons, Samuel Ward and Randolph Ward,
both of whom died young.
Frederick Lawrence Peter White
Pierre F. Allegaert, Jr.
Anthon
b. Mar. 2. 1917
b. Dec. 23, 1924
b. M
Elizabeth Stuyvesant White
Beatrice Therese Allegaert
Margar
b. July 12, 1920
b. Oct. 31, 1927
Robert Winthrop White
Winthrop John Allegaert
Jane
b. Sept. 19, 1921
b. Dec. 29, 1928
b. D
Alida Mary White
David
b. Feb. 2. 1923
John Chanler White
Marthe
b. Apr. 25, 1925
Cynthia Margaret White
b. Mar. 4, 1926
Sarah Matilda White
b. Aug. 5, 1928
Ann Octavia White
b. Mar. 30, 1932
688
NEW YORK HISTORY
37. #2 / 1956)
Sholes and Glidden, brought to Philo by James Densmore, began
in September 1873 but it was not introduced to the public until
1876 at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
Alden Hatch's book is the third major gun biography to ap-
pear in the past three years. The others were Harold F. Wil-
liamson's Winchester, the Gun That Won the West and William
B. Edwards' The Story of Colt's Revolver which unfortunately,
ended with Sam Colt's death in 1863 and left untold much of the
story of Colt arms.
The Hatch book, on the contrary, brings the history of Rem-
ington products up to the present. It is enormously improved
by the addition of forty-three pages illustrating Remington guns
from the 1816 flintlock to the most modern bolt action handling
the spectacular .222 cartridge. The book lacks an index and a
bibliography but in other respects is excellent.
Utica
VICTOR N. MASON
Three Saints and a Sinner: Julia Ward Howe, Louisa, Annie
and Sam Ward. By LOUISE HALL THARP. (Little, Brown &
Co., Boston, 1956. Pp. 406. $5)
When Broadway ended at Union Place and the Astor House
was new, when water was peddled in barrels at a cent a gallon-
Bond Street was one of the best-known streets in little old New
York. By all odds the best-known family living on that fashion-
able row a decade or two before the middle of the nineteenth
century was the family of Samuel Ward, the banker. The Ward
sisters, known to society as "the Three Graces of Bond Street"-
Julia, Louisa and Annie-and their incorrigible brother Sam are
the subjects of the present book.
Julia, the eldest sister, was all flash and fire, with red hair and
dazzling blue eyes that hinted at her irrespressible gaiety and
wit. Her marriage to one of the most noted abolitionists and cru-
saders for human freedom of that day, Samuel Gridley Howe,
was not to make her staid or solemn. Indeed a time came when
she conducted a daring crusade for the freedom of women, her-
self included. And something else was to make the spirited Julia
Ward Howe's name forever a part of American history. It was
she who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Louisa, the second sister, was "the beautiful Miss Ward." She
458
BOOK REVIEWS
was as dark as Julia was fair. Men constantly fell in love with
Louisa, but it was the young sculptor, Thomas Crawford, who
won her, after he followed her to New York from Rome. Their
Roman "palazzo" was to become a haven for Americans abroad
and several of Louisa's children became famous in their own
right. With two such sisters, it would not have been surprising if
Anne Eliza Ward, the youngest of the three, had remained "lit-
tle Annie." Sweet and shy as she was, who could guess that she
would marry a grandson of Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's elder
brother and former King of Spain, and would become mistress
of the huge Bonaparte palace and estates at Bordentown, New
Jersey.
And then there was Sam. Sam inherited his father's talent
for making money, but not his talent for keeping it. He was
blessed with too great a sense of the joys of living. Sam Ward
quickly went through the family estates, including those left in
trust for his sisters. And, of course, Sam's sisters forgave him then
and always. Besides, he soon made another fortune, as a Forty-
niner in the California gold rush. After he lost that fortune, a
third came his way, although with the title, "King of the Lob-
byists," for he was the most notorious of professional intermedi-
aries who dealt with a Congress that could be bought and the
men who wanted to buy it.
People said of Sam Ward that he was the only man capable
of strutting when sitting. Ward McAllister, the famous arbiter of
society who invented the Four Hundred, was his cousin, and
Sam's first wife was an Astor. Sam was the most brilliant talker,
the greatest wit of his day. He owned a superb library and an ex-
cellent collection of pictures. If you offered him a glass of wine,
he could identify after one sup its vintage and its year. Of all
his feats perhaps none made Sam Ward more famous than his
sponsorship of a young writer who arrived in America when
Ward was already an old gentleman. This writer was an Irish-
man born but he had risen to fame in London like that later
Irishman, George Bernard Shaw.
The young poet came to lecture at Americans, like many an-
other English author. He came, too, with tremendous advance
publicity. His appearance alone was extraordinary and he played
it up by his costume. Sam Ward SO described him: "Long black
hair hanging to the shoulders, brown eyes, a huge white face
like a pale moon
a white waistcoat, black coat and knee brit-
459
NEW YORK HISTORY
ches, black silk stockings and shoes with buckles. Until he
speaks, you think him as uncanny as a vampire." Crowds gaped
at Ward's protege when he sauntered down Fifth Avenue carry-
ing a walking stick in his lavender-gloved hand. The diners at
Delemonico's rose to stare at him when he entered with a party.
His lectures were sold out and his hotel suite deluged with flow-
ers and invitations.
This oddity was to go back to England and become involved in
a notorious trial, to be sentenced and serve a prison term. He
died a broken man. Yet he left several plays SO sharply witty
that 1956 audiences still applaud them. For his name was Oscar
Wilde.
This is the delightful story that the author of the Peabody
Sisters of Salem, Until Victory, Horace Mann and Mary Pea-
body has told.
New York City
DOROTHY M. PLANTER
Sickles the Incredible. By W. A. SWANBERG. (Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York, 1956. Pp. xiv, 433. $6.00)
In February 1859 the pre-Civil War tension of official Wash-
ington was relieved by a delicious scandal culminating in a sen-
sational murder. The victim was Philip Barton Key, District At-
torney for the District of Columbia, son of Francis Scott Key
and known as the handsomest man in Washington. His murderer
was no less notable, being Daniel Sickles, descendant of a notable
New York family himself, a Tammany Democrat, New York
Congressman and an intimate of President Buchanan. The mur-
der inevitably was a triangle affair. The lady in the case was
Sickles' wife, the former Teresa Bagioli, daughter of a noted
musician.
The "incredible" of Mr. Swanberg's title seems a mild sort of
word when one considers Dan Sickles' exploits during his career
of ninety-four years. He was born in New York City in 1819, a
descendant of a Dutch family important in the town for six gen-
erations and the son of a brilliant but erratic father whose for-
tunes alternately soared and collapsed. The Sickles family had
always been active in politics and young Dan, after a brief career
as a Glens Falls printer, was soon elected to the New York State
Assembly. It was there that he first showed another aspect of his
460
382
American Literature 30, 33 / 1958)
THREE SAINTS AND A SINNER: Julia Ward Howe, Louisa, Annie and Sam
Ward. By Louise Hall Tharp. Boston : Little, Brown and Company.
1956. X, 406 pp. $5.00.
On April 26, 1843, a twenty-four-year-old, orphaned heiress named
Julia Ward married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, eighteen years her senior.
Among those present at the wedding, besides a notable triumvirate of
Howe's friends-H. W. Longfellow, C. C. Felton, and Charles Sumner-
were Julia Ward's elder brother Sam and her sisters, Louisa and Annie.
In Three Saints and a Sinner, Louise Hall Tharp records the life-
stories of these four members of the Ward family. That the personality
of Julia Ward Howe dominates the narrative is probably not surprising.
What may surprise the reader of this composite biography is the sustained
interest with which the author invests her account of the less well remem-
bered Wards. For, as Mrs. Tharp makes abundantly clear, not only
Julia but her brother and sisters, in one way or another, came in contact
with many of the forces, personal and social, that gave direction, color
and vitality to nineteenth-century American life.
To some readers, Sam Ward-the "sinner" of Mrs. Tharp's title-may
often seem a more interesting person than his "saintly" sisters. Parts of
his story have been told before, especially those having to do with his
experiences in the Gold Rush and with his activities in the nation's capital
-activities that earned him the title of "King of the Lobby." Mrs.
Tharp does not neglect these aspects of Sam Ward's career. But she
makes it possible for us to see them, perhaps for the first time, as episodes
in the life of a man who had an enormous zest for human relationships,
even when, as in both his marriages, they ended painfully or tragically.
Of Sam Ward's sisters, Annie, the youngest, was also the gentlest,
Louisa, the most beautiful, and Julia, the most talented. After her
marriage to Adolph Maillard, grandson of the Joseph Bonaparte who
had been king of Spain, Annie lived first on the Bonaparte estate at
Bordentown, New Jersey, and, later, on a near-baronial ranch in Cali-
fornia. Louisa's adult life, on the other hand, was spent mainly in Rome.
Her first husband was Thomas Crawford, once-famous American sculp-
tor; after Crawford's death, she married Luther Terry, a painter. One
of her six children was F. Marion Crawford, the novelist.
It was Julia Ward, however, for whom fame was indeed the spur and
who became, long before her death in 1910 at the age of ninety-one, an
American institution. Just before her marriage to Dr. Howe, Longfellow
described her as a "fine, young, buxom damsel
who is full of talent-
indeed carrying almost too many guns for any man who does not want to
be firing salutes all the time." Although Howe, whose mission in life,
Book Reviews
383
Mrs. Tharp tells us, was "to change the world in which he lived," did his
best to include the high-spirited Julia among his objects of reform, he was
less successful with her than he was with, say, the cause of Grecian inde-
pendence or the education of the blind. The marriage was in many re-
spects happy, for Mrs. Howe adored her "Chevalier." But it was also
considerably less idyllic than earlier biographers have suggested. On at
least two occasions, Howe proposed a "final separation," and there were
times when Mrs. Howe felt strongly that any further reforms should
begin with "Chev" and not with herself.
Mrs. Tharp not only presents a detailed, circumstantial account of the
Howes' domestic life. She also looks closely at Mrs. Howe's contribu-
tions to the women's club and women's suffrage movements, and at her
literary career (about which Dr. Howe was not always enthusiastic),
showing that the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was not merely an
accidental production of a momentarily inspired writer. Among her
other writings were two volumes of verse and two plays, as well as num-
erous articles and miscellaneous pieces.
Through the pages of Three Saints and a Sinner move celebrities by
the dozen. Besides those already mentioned, there are such figures as
Holmes, Bryant, Halleck, Irving, Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Theodore
Parker, Dickens, Thackeray, Horace Mann, and Abraham Lincoln, to
say nothing of innumerable Wards and descendants of Wards. One
could wish, in view of the extensive Ward relationship and the many
children of her four protagonists, that Mrs. Tharp had included some
kind of genealogical chart. This lack and occasional minor errors are
nevertheless overshadowed by the general excellence of the book.
Roosevelt University.
KENDALL B. TAFT.
THE SOUTH IN NORTHERN EYES 1831 TO 1861. By Howard R. Floan.
Austin: University of Texas Press. 1958. xi, 198 pp. $3.95.
Professor Floan has attempted here to reconstruct from the writings
of literary figures the image of the South which existed in the North be-
tween the founding of the Liberator and the opening of the Civil War.
He divides his study into two parts "New England" and "New York,"
and in each section moves from the least friendly to the most friendly at-
titudes. Thus in New England he examines Garrison, Wendell Phillips,
Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow, Holmes, and Haw-
thorne. In New York he examines Irving, Paulding, Melville, Bryant,
and Whitman. And he examines ideas of the South expressed in popular
magazines in both regions.
The conclusions Mr. Floan reaches are neither new nor surprising.
OT MAO.I MO MOOR
E.
Laura Richards
112
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
Boston: Page Co., 1893
FULIA WARD.
113
weather Julia and her sisters went to school
She could not have been older when she
in thin slippers and white cotton stockings.
You shiver at the bare thought of this, my
heard a class reciting an Italian lesson, and
girl readers! You look at your comfortable
fell in love with the melodious language.
leggings and overshoes (that is, if you live
She listened, and listened again then got a
in upper New England, or anywhere in the
grammar and studied secretly, and one day
handed to the astonished Italian teacher a
same latitude), and wonder how the Ward
children lived through such a course of
letter correctly written in Italian, begging
"hardening" But they did live, and Julia
that she might join the class.
seems now far younger and stronger than
When I was speaking of the good aunt
any of her children.
who was a second mother to the Ward chil-
School, which some children regard with
dren, I meant to say a word of the stern but
mingled feelings (or so I have been told),
devoted father who was the principal figure
was a delight to Julia. She grasped at
in Julia's early life. She says of him He
knowledge with both hands, - plucked it as
was a majestic person, of somewhat severe
a little child plucks flowers, with unweary-
aspect and reserved manners, but with a vein
ing enjoyment. Her teachers, like the "peo-
of true geniality and a great benevolence
ple in the case of the
of heart." And she adds: "His great grav-
ity, and the absence of a mother, raturally
"Young lady whose eyes
Were unique as to color and size,"
subdued the tone of the whole household;
and though a greatly cherished set of chil-
all turned aside, and started away in surprise,
dren, we were not a very merry one."
as this little red-haired girl went on learning
Still, with all his gravity, Grandfather
and learning and learning. At nine years
old she was studying Paley's Moral Phi-
Ward had his gleams of fun occasionally.
losophy," with girls of sixteen and eighteen.
It is told that Julia had a habit of dropping
greatfith
off her slippers while at table. One day her
8
OT MAO.I MO HOOS
114
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
JULIA WARD.
115
father felt a wandering shell of kid, with no
nose, most pleasant to pull I fear I soiled
foot to keep it steady. He put his own foot
it sometimes with my little grimy fingers. I
on it and moved it under his chair, then said
trust children never do such naughty things
in his deep, grave voice, "My daughter, will
nowadays.
you bring me my seals, which I have left on
Then there was Great-grandfather Ward,
the table in my room And poor Julia,
Julia's grandfather, who had the cradle
(1766-1833)
Sanward
after a vain and frantic hunting with both
and the great round spectacles. Doubtless
feet, was forced to go, crimson-cheeked,
he had many other things besides, for he
white-stockinged and slipperless, on the
was a substantial New York merchant ; but
required errand. She would never have
the cradle and the spectacles are the only
dreamed of asking for the shoe. She was
possessions of his that I have seen. I have
the eldest daughter, the companion and joy
the cradle now, and I can testify that Great-
of this sternly loving father. She always
grandfather Ward (for I believe he was
sat next him at table, and sometimes he
rocked in it, as his descendants for four gen-
would take her right hand in his left, and
erations since have been) must have been
hold it for many minutes together, continu-
an extremely long baby. It is a fine old
ing to eat his dinner with his right hand;
affair, of solid mahogany, and was evidently
while she would rather go dinnerless than
built to last as long as the Wards should
ask him to release her own fingers.
last. Not so very long ago, two dear people
ward
Grandfather Ward ! It is a relief to con-
who had been rocked together in that cradle
Some
fess our faults and it may be my duty to say
fifty - or is it sixty ? - years ago, sat down
that as soon as I could reach it on tiptoe, it
and clasped hands over it, and wept for
was my joy to pull the nose of his marble
pure love and tenderness and leal souvenir.
bust, which stood in the great dining-room
Not less pleasant is its present use as the
at Green Peace. It was a fine, smooth, long
good ship " Pinafore," when six rosy, shout-
OT
MAOJ
116
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
ing children tumble into it and rock vio.
get
was
of
lently, singing with might and main,-
" We sail the ocean blue,
Great.
Ward
was
And our saucy ship's a beauty !"
That is all about the cradle.
Sam
My mother writes thus of Great-grand-
father Ward, her own grandfather -
"
He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the war of
American Independence. A letter from the Com-
mander-in-Chief to Governor Samuel Ward (of
Rhode Island) mentions a visit from " your son, a
tall young man of soldierly aspect." I cannot quote
the exact words. My grandfather had seen service
in Arnold's march through the wilderness' to
Quebec. He was present at the battle of Red
Bank. After the close of the war he engaged in
commercial pursuits, and made a voyage to India
as supercargo of a merchant vessel belonging to
Moses Brown, of Providence. He was in Paris at
the time of the king's death (Louis XVI.), and for
some time before that tragic event. He speaks in
his journal of having met several of the leading
revolutionists of that time at a friend's house, and
LIEUT.-COL. SAMUEL WARD.
characterizes them as exceeding plain men, but
Born Nov. 17, 1756 Died Aug. 16, 1832.
very zealous.' He passed the day of the king's
execution, which he calls ' one of horror,' in Ver-
sailles, and was grieved at the conduct of several
MAO.I
MO
JULIA WARD.
119
Americans, who not only remained in town, but
also attended the execution. When he finally left
Paris, a proscribed nobleman, disguised as a foot-
man, accompanied the carriage, and so cheated the
guillotine of one expected victim.
" Colonel Ward, as my grandfather was always
called, was a graduate of Brown University, and a
man of scholarly tastes. He possessed a diamond
edition of Latin classics, which always went with
him in his campaigns, and which is still preserved
in the family. In matters of art he was not so well
posted. Of the pictures in the gallery of the Lux-
embourg he remarks in his diary: The old pic-
tures are considered the best, I cannot think why.'
"I remember him as very tall, stooping a little,
with white hair and mild blue eyes, which matched
well his composed speech and manners."
I have called Great-grandfather Ward a
merchant, but he was far more than that.
The son of Governor Ward of Rhode Island,
he was only eighteen when, as a gallant young
captain, he marched his company to the
siege of Boston; and then (as his grandson
writes me to-day) he " marched through the
wilderness of Maine, through snow and ice,
barefoot, to Quebec." Some of my readers
120
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
JULIA WARD.
121
may possess an engraving of Trumbull's
famous painting of the "Attack on Quebec."
and went on banging; while grandpapa, who
Look in the left-hand corner, and you will
made no pretense of being a musician, offered
no further comment or remonstrance.
see a group of three,- - one of them a young,
active figure with flashing eyes; that is
Julia grew up a student and a dreamer.
Great-grandfather Ward. He rose to be ma-
She confesses to having been an extremely
jor, then lieutenant-colonel; was at Peeks-
absent person, and much of the time uncon-
kill, Valley Forge, and Red Bank, and wrote
scious of what passed around her. In the
the official account of the last-named battle,
large rooms of my father's house," she says,
which may be found in Washington's corre-
"I walked up and down, perpetually alone,
spondence. Besides being a good man and
dreaming of extraordinary things that I
a brave soldier, he was a very good grand-
should see and do. I now began to read
father; and this made it all the more naughty
Shakspere and Byron, and to try my hand
for his granddaughter Julia to behave as she
at poems and plays." She rejoices that none
did one day. Being then a little child, she
of the productions of this period were pub-
sat down at the piano, placed a music-book
lished, and adds: "I regard it as a piece of
on the rack, and began to pound and thump
great good fortune for a little praise or a
little censure would have been a much more
on the keys, making the hideous discord
which seems always to afford pleasure to
disturbing element in those days than in
these." I wish these sentiments were more
the young. Her grandfather was sitting by,
book in hand; and after enduring the noise
general with young writers.
for some time patiently, he said in his kind,
Still, life was not all study and dreaming.
courtly way, " Is it SO set down in the book,
There were sometimes merrymakings: wit-
my dear?
ness the gay ball after which Julia wrote to
"Yes, Grandpapal" said naughty Julia,
her brother, " I have been through the burn-
ing fiery furnace; and I am Sad-rake, Me-
140
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
OUR MOTHER.
141
played the puppets. [Chev was the name by
which she always called our father ; it was an ab-
the Valley more than any other place on
breviation of Chevalier, for he was always to her
earth, I think; so it is always pleasant to
the knight without reproach or fear.'] The effect
fancy her there. Study formed always an
was really extremely good. The spectators were
important part of her life. It was her delight
in a dark room, and the little theatre, lighted by a
and recreation, when wearied with household
lamp from the top, looked very pretty."
cares, to plunge into German metaphysics,
This may have been the play of " Beauty
or into the works of the Latin poets, whom
and the Beast," of which the manuscript is
she greatly loved. She has told, in one of
unhappily lost. I can recall but one passage:
her own poems, how she used to sit under
the apple-trees with her favorite poet, -
" But he thought on 'Beauty's' flower,
And he popped into a bower,
" Here amid shadows, lovingly embracing,
And he plucked the fairest rose
Dropt from above by apple-trees unfruitful,
That grew beneath his nose."
With a chance scholar, caught and held to help me,
Read I in Horace," etc.
I
remember the theatre well, and the pup-
pets. They were quite unearthly in their
But I do not think she had great need of
the chance scholar." I remember the book
beauty, - all except the "Beast," a strange,
fur-covered monstrosity. The "Prince" was
well, - two great brown volumes, morocco-
bound, with "Horatius Ed. Orelli" on the
gilded in a most enchanting manner, and his
mustache curled with an expression of royal
back. We naturally supposed this to be the
pride. I have seen no other prince like him.
writer's entire name; and to this day,
'
All this was at Green Peace; but many as
Quintus Horatius Flaccus' (though I have
R.T
are the associations with her beloved pres-
nothing to say against its authenticity) does
ence there, it is at the Valley that I most
not seem to me as real a name as "Horatius
Ed. Orelli."
constantly picture our mother. She loved
Our mother's books, - alas that we should
142
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
OUR MOTHER.
143
have been SO familiar with the outside of
that was very good for us ; but our mother's
them, and have known SO little of the inside !
kiss made it easier to jump up.
There was Tacitus, who was high-shouldered
Horace could be brought out under the
and pleasant to handle, being bound in
apple-trees; even Kant and Spinoza some-
smooth brown calf. There was Kant, who
times came there, though I doubt whether
could not spell his own name (we thought
they enjoyed the fresh air. But our mother
it ought to begin with a C!). There was
had other work besides study, and many of
Spinoza, whom we fancied a hunchback,
her most precious hours were spent each day
with a long, thin, vibrating nose. (" What's
at the little black table in her own room,
in a name?" A great deal, dear Juliet, I
where papers lay heaped like snowdrifts.
assure you.) Fichte had a sneezing sort of
Here she wrote the beautiful poems, the
face, with the nose all "squinnied up," as we
brilliant essays, the earnest and thoughtful
used to say and as for Hilpert, who wrote
addresses, which have given pleasure and
the great German dictionary, there can be
help and comfort to so many people through-
no reasonable doubt that he was a cripple
out the length and breadth of the land.
and went on crutches, though I have no
Many of her words have become household
authority to give for the fact beyond the
sayings which we could not spare; but there
resemblance of his name to the Scotch verb
is one poem which every child knows, at
"hirple," meaning " to hobble."
whose opening line every heart, from youth
Very, very much our mother loved her
to age, must thrill, - The Battle Hymn of
books. Yet how quickly were they laid
the Republic." Thirty years have passed
aside when any head was bumped, any knee
since this noble poem was written. It came
scratched, any finger cut! When we tumbled
in that first year of the war, like the sound
down and hurt ourselves, our father always
of a silver trumpet, like the flash of a lifted
cried, "Jump up and take another !" and
sword; and all men felt that this was the
206
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
OUR GUESTS.
207
ever was seen, telling her what Maud had
was one whom we loved more than all others
said.
put together. Marked with a white stone
Again, there was a certain acquaintance
was the happy day which brought the won-
long since dead- who was in the habit
derful uncle, the fairy godfather, the reali-
of making interminable calls at Green Peace,
zation of all that is delightful in man, to
Uncle
Ward,
and who would talk by the hour together
Green Peace or the Valley. Uncle Sam
without pausing. Our parents were often
Sun
Ward - uncle by adoption to half the young
wearied by this gentleman's conversational
people he knew, but our very own uncle, our
powers, and one of them (let this be a
mother's beloved brother. We might have
warning to young and old) chanced one
said to him, with Shelley, /
day to speak of him in Maud's hearing as
great bore." This was enough ! The
" Rarely, rarely comest thou,
next time the unlucky talker appeared, the
Spirit of delight !"
child ran up to him, and greeted him cor-
dially with, " How do you do, bore ? Oh,
for he was a busy man, and Washington was
you great bore ! A quick-witted friend
a long way off; but when he did come, as
who was in the room instantly asked Mr.
I said, it was a golden day. We fairly
S
smothered him, - each child wanting to sit
if he had seen the copy of Snyder's
" Boar Hunt" which our father had lately
on his knee, to see his great watch, and the
bought, thinking it better that he should
wonderful sapphire that he always wore on
fancy himself addressed as a beast of the
his little finger. Then he must sing for us ;
forest th an as Borus humanus; but he kept
and he would sing the old Studenten Lieder
his own counsel, and we never knew what he
in his full, joyous voice; but he must always
wind up with " Balzoroschko Schnego" (at
really thought of Maud's greeting.
least that is what it sounded like), a certain
But of all visitors at either house, there
Polish drinking-song, in which he sneezed
208
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
OUR GUESTS.
209
and yodeled, and did all kinds of wonderful
summer morning at the Valley, by the sound
things.
of a voice singing outside, - will never for-
Then would come an hour of quiet talk
get creeping to the window and peeping out
with our mother, when we knew enough to
through the blinds. There on the door-step
be silent and listen, - feeling, perhaps, rather
stood the fairy uncle, with a great basket of
than realizing that it was not a common
peaches beside him; and he was singing the
privilege to listen to such talk.
lovely old French song, which has always
No matter how much I may differ from
since then seemed to me to belong to him:
Sam Ward in principles or opinion," said
Charles Sumner once, "when I have been
Noble Châtelaine,
Voyez notre peine,
with him five minutes, I forget everything
Et dans vos domaines
except that he is the most delightful man
Rendez charité!
in the world."
Voyez le disgrace
Qui nous menace,
Again (but this was the least part of the
Et donnez, par grace,
pleasure), he never came empty-handed.
L'hospitalité!
Now it was a basket of wonderful peaches,
Toi que je révère,
Entends ma prière.
which he thought might rival ours; now
o Dieu tutelaire,
a gold bracelet for a niece's wrist; now a
Viens dans ta bonté,
beautiful book, or a pretty dress-pattern that
Pour sauver l'innocence,
Et que ta puissance
had caught his eye in some shop-window.
Un jour recompense
Now he came direct from South America,
L'hospitalité!'
bringing for our mother a silver pitcher
There is no sweeter song. And do you
which he had won as a prize at a shooting-
think we did not tumble into our clothes
match in Paraguay. One of us will never
and rush down, in wrappers, in petticoats,
forget being waked in the gray dawn of a
in whatever gown could be most quickly put
14
210
WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE.
on, and unbar the door, and bring the dear
Selections from
wanderer in, with joyful cries, with laughter.
L. C. Page & Company's
almost with tears of pure pleasure?
Ah, that was "long ago and long ago;"
Books for Young People
and now the kind uncle, the great heart that
overflowed with love and charity and good-
THE BLUE BONNET SERIES
will to all human kind, has passed through
Each large 12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated,
per volume
$ 2.00
another door, and will not return Be sure
The seven volumes, boxed as a set
14.00
that on knocking at that white portal, he
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
found hospitality within.
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS.
BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY
And now it is time that these rambling
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND EDYTH ELLERBECK READ.
notes should draw to a close. There are
BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON
many things that I might still speak of.
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
But, after all, long ago is long ago, and
BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE
these glimpses of our happy childhood must
By CAROLINE E. JACOBS AND LELA HORN RICHARDS.
necessarily be fragmentary and brief. I
BLUE BONNET- DEBUTANTE
By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
trust they may have given pleasure to some
children. I wish all childhood might be as
BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS
By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
bright, as happy, as free from care or sorrow,
BLUE BONNET'S FAMILY
as was ours.
By LELA HORN RICHARDS.
"Blue Bonnet has the very finest kind of wholesome,
honest, lively girlishness and cannot but make friends
THE END.
with every one who meets her through these books about
her."-Chicago Inter-Ocean.
"Blue Bonnet and her companions are real girls, the
kind that one would like to have in one's home."-New
York Sun.
LIVES
OF
AMERICAN
MERCHANTS
BY
FREEMAN HUNT
TWO VOLUMES
I
[1856]
K
REPRINTS OF ECONOMIC CLASSICS
AUGUSTUS M. KELLEY . PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK 1969
LAMSON LIBRARY
PLYMOUTH STATE COLLEGE
PLYMOUTH. N. H. 03264
294
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
in molasses, rice, and sugar, if the price of that produce is
very low, adding that the whole will depend on the success
in selling the small Liverpool cargo. The consignees of
said cargo should follow the same line of conduct, and if
properly attended to by yourself and them, I and convinced
SAMUEL WARD.
that the cargo of coffee can be purchased ten per cent.
cheaper than it would be, if it is publicly known there is a
THE record of a good man's life, while it soothes the
quantity of Spanish dollars on board, besides a valuable
affections of all who loved and survive him, has the higher
cargo of British goods intended to be invested in coffee, for
merit of encouraging the struggles and sustaining the vir-
Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia.
tue of those who, entering upon life with no other reliance
During my long commercial experience, I have noticed
than their own strong arms, and resolute hearts, and honest
that no advantage results from telling one's business to
principles, are cheered on their way by the example of suc-
others, except to create jealousy or competitors when we
cess achieved and high character established, under like
are fortunate, and to gratify our enemies when otherwise.
circumstances, by others.
If my remarks are correct, I have no doubt they will
It is a brief record of this sort, and not a eulogy, that is
show you the necessity of being silent, and to attend with
here attempted of the late SAMUEL WARD. The pompous
activity, perseverance, and modesty, to the interests of your
funeral orations which commemorate the death of the great
employer.
ones of the earth, too often, by the very exaggeration of
As my letters of instruction embrace several interesting
their praise, mark a painful contrast between the actions
objects, I request you to peruse them in rotation, when at
of the man, and the votive offerings that decorate his tomb.
sea in fine climates, during your voyage to Batavia-and to
The reader, while his taste is gratified by splendid perora-
take correct extracts, SO as to render yourself master of the
tions, and his imagination is excited by brilliantly drawn
most essential parts. I conclude by directing your atten-
pictures, yet feels his moral sense shocked at the discovery,
tion to your health and that of your crew. I am yours
that flattery stops not even at the grave; and although it
respectfully,
STEPHEN GIRARD.
can not " soothe the dull, cold ear of death," that it yet
finds profit in ministering to the vanity of the living.
Ours is a humbler and more honest task-that of sat-
isfying the feelings of private friendship, while we adhere
to the impartiality of unadorned narrative.
Mr. Ward was a native of Rhode Island, and sprang
from a race illustrious in the annals of that renowned com-
monwealth. The founder of the family, Thomas Ward, of
Gloucester, England, was a soldier in the armies of Crom-
well, who, after the accession of Charles II., in 1660, retired
to this country, and settled at Newport, Rhode Island. He
296
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
SAMUEL WARD.
297
married Amey Smith, a grand-daughter of Roger Williams,
twenty-two, he was taken into partnership by Mr. Prime;
and left an only son, Richard, who was subsequently gov-
and from that time till the period of his death, lie continued
ernor of Rhode Island. His sons, Thomas and Henry, were
an active and influential man of business.
successively secretaries of the plantation for half a century,
Money was the commodity in which Mr. Ward dealt;
and his son Samuel was governor thereof for several years.
and if, as is hardly to be disputed, money be the root of all
Samuel was also it member of the Continental Congress
evil, it is also, in hands that know how to use it worthily,
from 1774 to March 1776, when he died at Philadelphia.
the instrument of much good. There exists, undoubtedly,
Of this gentleman, old John Adams, a member of the same
in regard to the trade in money, and respecting those en-
congress, thus wrote: "He was a gentleman in his manners,
gaged in it, many and absurd prejudices, inherited in part
benevolent and amiable in his disposition, and as decided,
from ancient error, and fomented and kept alive by the
ardent, and uniform in his patriotism as any member of that
jealousies of ignorance and indigence. It is, therefore, no
congress. When he was seized with the small-pox, he said,
small triumph to have lived down, as Mr. Ward did, this
that if his vote and voice were necessary to support the
prejudice, and to have forced upon the community in the
cause of his country, he should live; if not. he should die.
midst of which he resided, and upon all brought into con-
He died, and the cause of his country was supported but
nection with him, the conviction that commerce in money,
it lost one of its most sincere and punctual advocates. IIc
like commerce in general, is, to a lofty spirit, lofty and en-
was an ingenious man, and well-informed."
nobling; and is valued more for the power it confers, of
Samuel, the son of this gentleman, and the father of the
promoting liberal and beneficent enterprises, and of con-
subject of our notice, early took part with his country
ducing to the welfare and prosperity of society, than for
against the oppression of England. At the breaking out of
the means of individual and selfish gratification or indul-
genee.
the Revolutionary War he commanded a company, and
was one of those who made the perilous march with Ar-
The incidents of such a career as that of Mr. Ward are
nold, through the unbroken forests of New England, to
necessarily few; and as he was of remarkably unobtrusive
Quebec. IIe was subsequently a lieutenant colonel in the
disposition, though of great firmness of purpose and well-
Rhode Island line, and served with distinction throughout
settled notions of duty, the impress of his character upon
the war. IIe was a gentleman and a scholar, and passed
those around and in contact with him, though sure and sal-
through a long life with unblemished reputation.
utary, was yet silent and gradual.
Samuel Ward, his son, was born 1st May, 1786, soon
Mr. Ward was married to Miss Cutler, in October, 1812
after which the family, in 1790, removed to New York. A
-a lady of great beauty and fine understanding. The
narrow income and a large family prevented the father
years of his married life, though few and fleeting, were
from gratifying the wish, early expressed by his son, for a
bright and joyous. A liberal and elegant hospitality pre-
collegiate education; and therefore, at the age of fourteen,
sided over his household, while the domestic hearth was
having received only the ordinary instruction of an English
gladdened with the merry voices of the children of their
marriage.
school, he entered as a clerk in that banking-hous of which
he eventually became the head. In 1808, at the age of
In the year 1824, death took from him the wife of his
298
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
SAMUEL WARD.
299
affections, leaving him with the charge of a family of three
particularly near to his heart, the rather that he himself
sons and three daughters.
A filiction, like adversity, tries and proves the character.
had been balked in his favorite wish of obtaining such an
Mr. Ward, stunned for a while by the blow which had
education. This loss was, to the day of his death, a source
scattered, in an instant, his dreams of human happiness,
of regret to him, although assiduous self-culture and much
soon recovered the tone of his mind, by looking to that
reading, in the intervals of a very busy life, had, in the
religion which heretofore, perhaps, had occupied too small
estimation of others, left him little to regret on this point.
a portion of his thoughts, and which alone can adequately
He therefore followed up, with ardor, the plan of the univer-
console the broken heart.
sity, took part in the proceedings of the literary convention
IIe roused himself to his duties as a father, as a member
which, in 1830-1, was held in New York, and over which
of society, and, above all, as a Christian; and after the
John Q. Adams presided-having for its object inquiries
lapse of a few years, he became zealous and active in his
into the state of education among us, and as to the best
efforts to advance the objects of various literary institutions
modes of advancing it; and he persevered until the New
and associations for promoting the growth of morality and
York University was established.
About the year 1831, Mr. Ward turned his attention
religion.
In 1828, the Historical Society-which, though early
more especially to the moral and religious condition of the
founded, had struggled along through a precarious exist-
poorer classes of the city of New York, and entered warmly
ence, and without other local habitation than such as the
into the efforts then making in behalf of the cause of tem-
indulgence of the corporation of the city allowed it, in the
perance, SO intimately connected with morality; and in
behalf of mission churches in those parts of the city where
building known as the old Alms-House--was, in the progress
of the city's growth, which required the application to city
there was most need of, and least opportunity for, religious
instruction.
purposes of all their buildings, turned out of doors. Mr.
Ward immediately interested himself, earnestly and suc-
Of the City Temperance Society, which was then formed,
cessfully, in procuring for it, and its already valuable col-
he became the president, and SO continued until the day of
lection, a safe and convenient retreat, in the new building
his death, directing its operations with the well-known en-
then just erected by Mr. Peter Remsen, on the corner of
ergy of his character; but, at the same time, with the dis-
cretion and forbearance that could alone conciliate friends
Broadway and Chambers-street.
In 1830, in connection with Albert Gallatin, Rev. Drs.
to this new and most beneficent reform. It is mainly
Wainwright, Matthews, and others, Mr. Ward was exceed-
owing to the good sense and sound judgment which Mr.
ingly active in founding the New York University, toward
Ward exhibited in this situation, resisting. the extreme de-
which he himself subscribed two thousand five hundred
mand of total abstinence, and the more injurious pretension
dollars, and was mainly instrumental in inducing other
to interfere with the divine institution of the Eucharist, that
the New York City Temperance Society has maintained
large subscriptions.
The subject of sound and liberal education, to be placed
its ground unshaken amid the perils resulting from ultra
and unpopular doctrines. In addition to his personal ser-
within the reach of all, or as nearly SO as possible, was one
vices, Mr. Ward's pecuniary contributions to this society
SAMUEL WARD.
301
300
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
Without neglecting any former objects, he extended the
were from three hundred to five hundred dollars per
field of his labors and benefactions. He took a lively in-
annum.
terest in Kenyon College, Ohio, of which Bishop Mellvaine
The establishment of the Mission Church, in Vandewater-
had recently become president; he made a donation to it
street, New York, the first in connection with the Protestant
Episcopal Church, attested his efficiency in this cause. It
of one thousand dollars, and loaned it a very large sum be-
was upon his indication and recommendation that the Rev.
sides on the security of its lands. He also gave liberally
to Bishop Kemper for his college, and to Bishop Smith, of
B. C. Cutler (his brother-in-law) was brought from Quiney,
the diocese of Kentucky, for the spiritual wants of the West.
Massachusetts, to take charge of this free church and the
success with which he ministered there, until called to a
His money, however, as before remarked, was perhaps the
least valuable part of his services; for he took a personal
sphere of wider usefulness, in Brooklyn, amply justified the
interest in all these subjects, consulted about and contrived
choice. Mr. Ward's contributions in money, large as they
were, to this object, and large as were the sums which he
means for advancing them, enlisted the active support of
many, and the sympathy of all, in their behalf, and thus
prevailed upon others to give, were hardly more important
literally went about doing good.
than his punctual and diligent personal attendance, once or
In 1836 Mr. Ward, in conjunction with other public-
twice weekly, at the meetings held to advance the interests
spirited individuals, founded the Stuyvesant Institute, and
of this evangelical undertaking.
It was about 1831, that, after years of self-examination
erected the fine edifice bearing that name in Broadway
which, it was fondly hoped, like the Atheneum in Boston,
and study and meditation, he determined to join the church.
might become a center for literature, art, and science, in
From the period of Mrs. Ward's death, his mind had been
turned to this result but he was too conscientious to act in
the upper part of our wide-spreading city. The political
and financial reverses that soon followed defeated, at least
SO grave a matter, without due preparation and certain con-
for the present, this expectation, and annihilated for Mr.
victions. Having at last arrived at his own conclusions,
Ward the large sum of four thousand dollars he had con-
which, because adopted with caution, were rarely indeed
altered, he took the final pledge; and he lived up to it, SO
tributed to this enterprise. After years, however, may yet
realize the benefits which he and his associates meditated
far as fallible human judgment may decide, for the remain-
for their day and generation, and the noble fabric still
der of his days. Among the aids to which he was indebted
stands, and long may it stand, a monument to the liberal
for a right decision, on this inomentous subject, was Butler's
spirit of its founders.
Analogy of Revealed Religion and Mr. Ward would
With very clear and decided notions on political sub-
sometimes dwell with emphasis upon the satisfaction with
jeets, Mr. Ward had yet kept himself-as was, indeed, un-
which, after repeated trials, and a good deal of intense
til 1834, the case with very many of the leading and active
study, he finally mastered that most powerful, consistent,
commercial men in New York-free from party strife. As
and logical treatise upon Christianity.
an American, he felt bound to take an interest in the elec-
The prosperity which rewarded his labors as a man of
tions, as they recurred, and never omitted to fulfill the
business seemed only to impose on him the desire, as it
obligation of voting; but in the mere scramble for office,
afforded the means, of being more extensively useful.
302
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
SAMUEL WARD.
303
the contest between the ins and the outs, he neither felt nor
correct reasoners was enlarged, until, carly in the year 1838,
feigned any concern.
the sentiment that the banks could and should return to
The winter of 1836-7 was one that called forth, in the
specie payments became more and more irresistible. Op-
highest degree, the exercise of Mr. Ward's principles as a
position from elsewhere only induced greater efforts on the
commercial man, proud of the great city with whose growth
part of Mr. Ward, and those who shared his counsels and
his own was identified, and whose honor was to him dear
coincided in his views, to sustain the confidence of the New
as his own. Long and strenuously he strove to avert the
York institutions in their ability to carry out their honest
financial crisis then impending, declaring himself ready to
purposes. After these banks had announced their determi-
put all his own earnings at hazard, rather than witness the
nation to resume within a year from the day of suspension,
dishonor of the banks of New York. Individual effort, how-
Mr. Ward was active in organizing the public meeting
ever, was vain, and the 10th of May saw all the banks r'e-
which pledged the merchants and traders to stand by the
duced to suspend specie payments; and upon no man did
banks. They did resume; and, as Mr. Ward had again
that disastrous day close with deeper mortification than
and again predicted, specie, instead of being drawn from,
upon the subject of this notice. Personally, and in his
flowed into the banks. All difficulties were overcome, and
business relations, this event affected Mr. Ward as little
the path of honor and duty was once more entered upon by
possibly as any one at all connected with affairs; but, in
those institutions. Mr. Ward, overwrought as he had been
his estimation, it vitally wounded the commercial honor
by the almost exclusive charge of the extensive business of
and character of the city of New York. He was not, how-
the house--his partner, Mr. King, being in Europe-and by
ever, a man to waste in unavailing regrets hours that might
his great efforts out of doors, in bringing back specie pay-
be more advantageously employed to repair the evil, and
ments, fell sick. It was on a bed of suffering that he first
he therefore at once set about the arrangement of measures
received from his partner, in London, the gratifying intelli-
for inducing and enabling the banks to resume at the ear-
gence that the Bank of England, influenced by a wise and
liest possible moment. The public mind was far from
provident desire to restore the currency of our country, so
sound on this topic; the business of banking had been
intimately connected in business with Great Britain, had
made a sort of mystery, and ideal difficulties, and inter-
determined to confide to their house for that purpose a loan
ested objections, and timid anticipations, were again and
of nearly five millions of dollars, in gold. This extraordi-
again the sole replies to the direct and manly suggestions
nary mark of confidence, this well-carned tribute to the
of common sense, honesty, interest, and duty, which Mr.
prudence and integrity of the house, Mr. Ward did not
Ward, from day to day, in season and out of season, in the
affect to undervalue; and confirming, as it did, the saga-
street, in his office, and in bank-parlors, iterated and reiter-
city of his own views, and the results which be had SO con-
ated about the absolute necessity and certain practicability
fidently foretold, it was not lost upon the community in the
of an carly resumption. So much earnestness, however,
midst of which he lived.
backed by SO much good sense and untiring perseverance,
It was shortly after this period, that the law of the State
could not fail to obtain a hearing, and gradually to make
of New York was passed permitting private associations or
proselytes. Little by little the circle of sound thinkers and
individuals to transact the business of banking. Mr. Ward
304
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
SAMUEL WARD.
305
conceived this to be a good occasion for establishing a bank
on what, from long experience, he deemed to be sound
In July of 1839, feeble and emaciated, he made his ac-
principles ; and the result of his cogitations and consul-
customed summer visit to Newport, but not with the
tations, frequent, though not with many persons, was the
accustomed result of renovated strength and spirits; the
establishment of the Bank of Commerce, which, in its con-
recuperative powers of the system seemed exhausted, while,
stitution and by-laws, may, it is believed, be truly described
from the critical condition of the commercial and financial
as presenting a model bank.
affairs of the country, he, from his connection with the
The health of Mr. Ward, which had undergone several
Bank of "Commerce, was not allowed the respite from busi-
violent shocks from the painful and exhausting disease of
ness, which, at Newport, he had hitherto been wont to
inflammatory gout, began to give way under the severe
enjoy. He kept up an active daily correspondence with
trials and constant fatigues to which he exposed himself;
the bank, took a lively interest in all its transactions,
and when, therefore, on the declension of Mr. Gallatin, by
and when, in October, the banks of Pennsylvania, and of
reason of advanced age, to accept the presidency of the
the States south thereof, suspended specie payments, and
Bank of Commerce, the station was pressed upon him,
clamors almost amounting to menace were heard against
both his shattered constitution and the unaffected diffidence
the declared purpose of New York banks to maintain at all
which instinctively held him back from accepting promi-
hazard their payments, Mr. Ward hurried back, valetudi-
nent station, combined to urge him to refuse. But when
narian as he was, to the city; threw himself at once into
he was solicited with increased earnestness to accept the
the conflict, sustained, encouraged, and convinced the timid
post, and appeals were made to his sense of duty, he
and the doubting, replying with truth and energy to a
yielded his consent to take the helm, until the new bank
friend who admonished him of the peril to his exhausted
should be fairly afloat, and under full and successful head-
frame of such exertions, that " he would esteem life itself
way, stipulating, with that rare disinterestedness that en-
not unworthily sacrificed, if, by word or deed, he could aid
tered SO largely into his character, not to receive any
the banks in adhering faithfully to their duty." For nearly
compensation for his services. Unhappily, the rooms in
two weeks he gave up his time, thoughts, and labor to this
the new Exchange, in which the business of the bank was
object; and when, at last, he saw that it was accomplished,
transacted, were yet damp from recent plastering, and two
and that the honor and fair fame of the much-loved city in
successive attacks of his ancient malady were thereby in-
which, and with which, he had grown from boyhood to
duced in the spring of 1839, which, by their severity and
mature age, were to be inviolably maintained, he went
rapid succession, fatally undermined his health. But he yet
home to die. It was literally so: the bed which received
struggled against disease and debility, giving all the energy
him after the accomplishment of this his last labor, he never
of a mind that soared above the influence of bodily suffer-
again left alive.
ing, to perfect and consolidate an institution, by the endur-
Enduring pain without a murmur-patient, gentle, hum-
ing, just, and beneficent operations of which lie might
ble, and resigned-looking death steadfastly in the face, as
reasonably hope to be remembered in after years among
one whose features he had accustomed himself to contem-
men.
plate-leaning for support upon the Rock of Ages-con-
soled by the memories of a well-spent life-at peace with
306
LIVES OF AMERICAN MERCHANTS.
himself and with the world--he expired in the midst of his
family and friends, on the 27th of November, 1839.
In his personal intercourse with the world, Mr. Ward was
direct, almost to abruptness. Sincere and decided in his
own views, he was impatient of circumlocution and indeci-
sion in others. He was a stickler for punctuality, not only
MATHEW CAREY.
as an act of politeness, but as economizing what he deemed
a precious possession-time.
THE characters of great and good men belong to man-
Having early proposed to himself a particular aim in
kind and there is no duty more pleasant or useful, than
life, he never lost sight of it until success crowned his
that which seeks the recognition of their virtues, and stimu-
efforts. Of this singleness of purpose and unwavering de-
lates in after life to the imitation of their example.
termination, this ancedote is told by an elderly lady, still
Few men have ever won a larger space in the public
living: that upon her questioning him, while yet a lad, as
regards than Mathew Carey; and what constitutes that fact
to what he meant to be, his immediate reply was, "I mean
one of peculiar gratification to those who knew him best,
to be one of the first bankers in the United States."
few indeed were ever more deserving of public esteem.
In the intercourse with his family and friends, he was
There is, then, an agreeable service that we may render
eminently confiding, generous, and tender. As son, brother,
unto ourselves, in studying aright, if possible, the points of
parent, and friend, he was not irreproachable merely, but
his character which went to make him what he was.
admirable; and in all the relations of life, he exemplified
Mr. Carey was born in Ireland, on the 28th of January,
and adorted the character of a good citizen, a humble
1760. His father was a very worthy man, and by the
Christian, and an honest man.
prudent exercise of his trade, that of a baker, amassed a
If we have not wholly failed in our sketch of such as
handsome fortune. In early life, he was not remarkable
character, it will not be without its moral and encourage-
for any extraordinary exhibition of his intellectual powers
ment for others.
and his education, previous to his reaching the age of
fifteen, was mostly confined to the branches of a common
English course. When, at that age, it became necessary
to select x trade, his own inclination was decidedly in favor
of that of a printer; and though he says his father was
very much opposed to that avocation, he was finally able
to overcome the aversion, and went as an apprentice to a
Vide an Autobiographical Sketch, which he prepared not many years since,
at the suggestion of a gentleman (Mr. Buckingham) who, like Mr. Carey, was
the architect of his own faine, of the facts of which free use will be made in
this sketch.
Bil
Wards and Cutlers
N2
1/07
X
around for soldiers. Here also vessels of every sort could be seen,
from the Liverpool packets, which now made regular runs across
the Atlantic, to the little market craft that sailed up and down
Wards and Cutlers
the coast and along the inland waterways.
places
The view from the Battery had not always been SO full of
Having words ward 44 88
activity. Only a few years earlier the War of 1812 had brought
shipping in New York Harbor almost to a standstill. Vessels
fütred at their moorings, while bankers and merchants fretted in
their countinghouses. By 1821, however, the hardships of war
-may
1845
were all but forgotten and merchants could proudly boast that the
I was born 'neath a clouded star
value of New York's trade had greatly surpassed that of its prin-
More in shadow than light have grown;
cipal rivals, Boston and Philadelphia.
Loving souls are not like trees
The population of the bustling little city was growing as fast
That strongest and stateliest shoot alone.
- Julia Ward Howe, "Salutory"
its wealth. In the early 1820's nearly ten thousand people a
year were coming to New York to seek their fortunes. The great
majority of these newcomers settled in the already overcrowded
lia Ward Howe's earliest recollections were of a tall brick
tenements of the Lower East Side. Here, with little or no sanita-
facing Bowling Green, the oldest city park on Manhattan
tion, often living in converted warehouses or shacks, the poor
Her father, Samuel Ward, a partner in the banking offices
crowded together in windowless rooms, while to the north and
ne & Ward, had bought one of the seven lots facing the
west of them the well-to-do occupied the handsome houses west
in 1821, when Julia, the third child and only daughter, in
of Broadway or those around Gramercy Park and Union Square.
vas then a family of four, was a year and a half old. Six
Citizens of more modest means lived east of Broadway below
were erected on the plot of land where first a fort and later
Fifteenth Street in a section containing solid rows of dwellings
vernment House had stood. The Wards' was in the middle
and shops, some of brick and others of wood. Here lived the
hort block with two nearly identical dwellings flanking it.
skilled factory workers, the owners of small shops, and the clerks
were narrow and deep, with four stories and a view from
and bookkeepers employed by the wealthy merchants and bankers
:k windows of the Battery and the harbor beyond. From
of the city,
nt one looked northward across the Green and up Broad-
No matter where one lived in New York then, the noise and
en the most fashionable avenue in the city. By the end of
buscle were overpowering. A visitor in 1824 described the "ever-
he four little Wards, their parents and various servants
lasting clatter of carriage wheels
the stunning clamour of
ole to move into Number 5 Bowling Green, where the
ten thousand side-mouthed bells, scavengers and travelling
n divided their time between the nursery on the top floor
hucksters, re-echoing from corner to corner. 1
Buildings were
ttery Park. The Battery had served the city of New York
constantly being torn down and others put up in their places. In
ne Revolution as a playground, village green and parade
1824 alone more than sixteen hundred dwellings of various sorts
6
7
Wards and Cutlers
Wards and Cutlers
ar
as
were built, extending the city limits north along Broadway. New
was first married at the age of sixteen and moved to Georgetown,
York was not only noisy but dirty. Rubbish and dust filled the
where she was left a widow four years later. Her second husband,
streets and as late as 1842, Charles Dickens noted with disgust
Benjamin Clarke Cutler, whom she married in 1791, has been
the large number of swine, gaunt, unwholesome-looking scaven-
described as a "genial handsome man much given to hospital-
gers, that wandered the streets. 2
key," But when he died in 1810, he left his widow with five
Julia Ward and her brothers and sisters were undoubtedly
children, an old drafty house in Jamaica Plain and the promise of
shielded from the uglier aspects of city life. Twice a day on fine
various legacies, but little money for immediate needs. Sarah
days they and their nurse took a walk in Battery Park and joined
Cutler, whose chief talents were a lovely voice and a passion for
the other children with their balls and skipping ropes. Their
literature, found poverty difficult, but with the help of various
mother would often sit in the parlor window of the house and
relatives she managed somehow.
watch them, loving, as she said, the sight of the "lively groups of
Of the three Cutler girls, Julia was apparently the best
children and their nurses taking their daily promenade. 3 Mrs.
educated. At the age of six she had been sent down to New York
Ward would rarely join her children on their walks, for every
to attend Mrs. Isabella Graham's school on Bowling Green, right
spring since her marriage in 1812 she had been subject to flare-
across the park from where she later lived as a married woman.
ups of tuberculosis and forced to spend much of her time in bed
She must have been the youngest or one of the youngest pupils in
or in one of the parlors downstairs.
the school, for she slept in the same bed with "Grandmamma," as
By 1821, the year the Wards moved into the house on
the called Mrs. Graham, and her particular playmates were Mrs.
Bowling Green, Mrs. Ward, even though she was still in her
Graham's two granddaughters. But she was apparently a good
middle twenties, had lost her youthful freshness. The weakness
student, and Grandmamma's only complaints about her pupil
caused by both illness and childbearing had left her thin and pale
concerned her rather moody disposition. 6
with sunken eyes and cheeks. Only nine years before, in January
Why Julia Cutler was sent away to school at such a tender
1812, when she had first met Samuel Ward, Julia Cutler had
age is nowhere explained, but she could hardly have been left in
been a lovely brown-haired, dark-eyed girl of fifteen, whose gai-
better hands, at least in her mother's view. Isabella Graham, who
ety, charm and intelligence had completely won over the serious
was known for her piety, had an excellent reputation as a school-
young banker.
mistress. Born in Scotland and reared in the stern tradition of
She had been born and brought up in Jamaica Plain Mas-
Scottish Presbyterianism, she had come to New York in 1789, an
sachusetts, where her mother, the widow of Benjamin Clarke
impoverished widow with three unmarried daughters. A number
Cutler, still lived. Sarah Mitchell Cutler, a South Carolinian by
of influential persons had helped her found the school on Bowling
birth, came of a wealthy, plantation-owning family in Charles-
Green.' Mrs. Graham probably felt more concern for the souls
ton. She had once been considered an "elegante" of Southern
than the minds of her pupils, for she eventually abandoned her
society and remembered with pleasure an evening in her youth
school to devote her time to philanthropy. In 1797 she founded
when George Washington had crossed the ballroom floor ex-
one of the earliest charitable associations in the United States, the
pressly to speak to her. 4 The niece of Francis Marion, the Swamp
Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children. Her
Fox, Sarah Cutler prided herself on her Huguenot ancestry. She
evangelical piety, with its emphasis on the need for regeneration
9
8
Wards and Cutlers
Wards and Cutlers
us
us
and good works, left a permanent mark on Julia Cutler as it did
was some ten years Julia's senior and so very grave in manner that
on so many of her pupils.
8
Grandmamma remained as important
she could not think of him as a beau; he seemed more like an
to Julia as any member of the Cutler family, and perhaps her
uncle or a father.
influence, through Julia, extended to the next generation. Julia
The Wards were an old and respected Rhode Island family,
Ward Howe would herself fall for a time under the spell of
who had emigrated to America from England during the Restora-
Calvinism, and in later life, long after she had grown away from
tion. Samuel's father, Colonel Samuel Ward, had fought in the
the stern religion of her parents. she would devote herself to
Revolution under General Washington. When he retired from
many of the great reform movements of the nineteenth century,
the army at the age of twenty-one (he was already possessed of a
whose origins can be traced to the good works of men and women
wife and several small children), he found the prospects in New-
like Isabella Graham.
port poor and decided to try his fortune as a merchant in New
When Julia Cutler's schooling was finished, she returned to
York. He proved to be only moderately successful as a
Jamaica Plain, but not for long. In the winter of 1812 she and her
businessman: he enjoyed the good things in life too much ever to
older sister, Eliza, were brought down to New York by their
devote himself wholeheartedly to his work. Consequently, when
mother in the hope that a winter in the city would find them both
his fifth son and namesake reached the age of fourteen it was
husbands. Mrs. Cutler installed the girls in a boardinghouse.
decided for financial reasons that instead of being sent to college,
This was not as unusual as it may at first sound: "respectable"
young Sam would be apprenticed to a banking firm as a clerk. In
boardinghouses were regarded as excellent places in which a girl
some respects this was a wise choice. Sam was an intelligent,
of good family could make a suitable match. 9 Having been as-
hard-working boy with a good head for figures, and grew up to be
sured that the two Ward brothers who were staying in the same
one of the most successful private bankers, and one of the richest
house were already spoken for and that Mrs. Graham would keep
men, in New York, But Sam would always regret that he had
an eye on the two girls, Sarah Cutler returned to Jamaica Plain
never gone to college, and like so many parents whose own
leaving her two daughters to fend for themselves.
schooling had been necessarily limited, he would place great
As it turned out, neither of the Ward brothers, Samuel and
emphasis on giving his own children the best education possible.
Henry, was engaged and it was not long before the former had
At twenty-five, Sam considered himself prosperous enough
made up his mind that Julia Cutler was the wife for him. Poor
to provide for a wife and family, so when he first met the pretty
Eliza, although lively and witty enough, did not provide much
and cultivated Miss Julia Cutler in the early winter of 1812, he
competition for her sister. She suffered both from poor teeth and
was ready to fall in love. In late January, only a few weeks after
hairy moles on her face and there were those who found her
the two Cutler girls had been installed in their lodgings, Sam
personality rather overpowering. But she was a warmhearted and
handed Julia a note asking for her hand in marriage. She was
good-natured young woman, and would eventually marry when
completely taken by surprise and apparently offended him by the
she was well into her thirties.
look of astonishment that crossed her face as she read his letter.
Julia was pleased with the attentions shown her by the tall,
She explained her bewilderment to him a few days later: "I take
serious Mr. Ward in the boardinghouse parlor. In fact, Samuel
up the pen, but how shall I address you, now all that sweet
Ward was a very eligible bachelor with excellent prospects but he
intercourse of father and daughter has fled between us." She
10
11
New York Girlhood
New York Girlbood
us
us
various banks in the city. Specie payments in New York resumed
relatives in quick succession was by no means unusual in the early
once more, but Samuel Ward's efforts to save his city had cost
him his
Bineteenth century, when death and disease were common OC-
health. 23 He went to Newport to recuperate from the
currences, and to some degree explained the deep need people had
crisis and never really mended. By the summer of 1839 it became
for religious consolation. New York was at that time in the midst
obvious that the end was near. In November he died, leaving
of an evangelical revival, and Julia was persuaded by a friend to
behind him his six children and an estate estimated to have been
attend some meetings. As in revivals today, the preacher would
worth about six million dollars.
leek to convince the unrepentant of their need for conversion.
Julia later recalled "the desolate hush which fell upon our
The sinner must be overwhelmed by a sense of personal guilt and
house when its stately head lay, silent and cold, in the midst of
he must truly repent his misdeeds. Then he would experience an
weeping friends and children." Whatever disagreements and dis-
illepervading sense of joy at being born again and at having
sensions there may have been among the orphaned children
Entered into a new and deeply personal relationship with God.
26
quickly dissipated, and the six were drawn together "in a bond of
Julia did not, unfortunately, experience the joy of conver-
common
sorrow. 1224 It was to her brother Henry that Julia now
ilon. The evangelical doctrines only came home to her with
turned for comfort and consolation. Although he was as full of
greater force, emphasizing as they did the sinfulness of man's
fun as any of the Ward brothers and sisters, the serious side of
nature, and she suffered what she described in her diary as "a
Henry
Henry's nature ran deeper than Sam's, and it was natural that
season of religion (or irreligion), melancholy, and of irrational
ward
Julia should seek out him rather than her eldest brother. Sam
despair. .27 She was also wracked by pangs of guilt for the way she
himself had come to rely heavily on Henry, whose business sense
had treated her father. How much he had done for her and yet
and dedication to the world of banking far exceeded his own
how little she had appreciated his solicitude! Although he was
What a blow it was, therefore, to both Sam and Julia, when less
dead, perhaps she could in some sense repay him for his care by
than a year after the death of their father, Henry succumbed to an
seeking to continue in his family the ways that would have
attack of typhoid fever. Many years later Julia recalled that the
pleased him. She was now the oldest member of the household
death of this beloved brother had almost killed her The two had
and she forced her newfound evangelist creed on the younger
become particularly intimate in the months after their father
members of the family. She became for a time the image of her
death, and while Henry was sick Julia never left his bedside. The
father in the severity of her rule and her solicitude for the
progress of the disease was swift and the family had scarcely
spiritual welfare of her younger brothers and sisters. Only cold
become aware of the seriousness of his condition before he was
meat was allowed on Sunday. Uncle John christened this unin-
dead. Julia remembered the time that followed this terrible loss
as
"without
viting meal "Sentiment." Hot tea, which was permitted on Sun-
light
or
comfort.
25
Poor Sam's sorrow was soon
day evenings, was known as "Bliss" and Julia herself, who in
compounded by the death of his young wife and baby son in the
happier times had been known as "Jolie Jule," was now referred
winter of 1842, and consequently he could be of little comfort to
his sister.
ER by her brothers and sisters as "The Old Bird."
At the same time Julia poured out her misery in poems,
Faced with the deaths of so many who had been close to her
helodramatically spurning the fellowship of all humankind in
Julia turned again to religion for solace. The loss of a number of
her anguish over the death of her brother Henry:
40
41
New York Girlhood
New York Girlhood
as
as
Bible, this time it would be not "in the light of enthusiasm but
Dorchester and it was while returning from one of these that she
of common sense and experience. "30 She was, in other words
moving away from the evangelical faith of her parents, which
first met a man whose writing and philosophy were to have a
RWE
tremendous effect on her own thinking. On the train with Mary,
stressed both Biblical and ecclesiastical authority as well as the
innate depravity of man, toward a more liberal Christianity
Staring out at the bleak winter landscape that stretched from
which believed that human nature, though by no means perfect
Boston to Providence, she found herself being introduced to
was inherently capable of reforming itself and possessed consider
Halph Waldo Emerson. As she later remembered the episode, she
able powers of conscience and reason.
horrified by the thought of finding herself face to face with
man whose transcendentalism represented the very kind of
During the time following the deaths of her father and
brother Julia received much advice and comfort from her one
radical" thinking she had been taught to distrust. "I do not wish
good friend outside the family circle Mary Ward of the Boston
meet the wicked man!" she cried out in dismay to Mary, but
May
Wards. The two Ward families (they were not related) had met in
despire the awkwardness which must have followed this outburst,
Newport the summer before Mr. Ward's death and Mary not only
Mary persisted, and almost immediately Julia's feelings toward
became intimate with Julia but engaged to Henry as well. It was
Amerson began to soften. In the tall, thin man with blue eyes and
Julia
therefore natural that after Henry died both girls would wish to
quiet smile Julia noticed a "gentle, ethereal quality which
share their sorrow. Julia sent Mary many of the poems written in
belied his reputed wickedness." She warmed to him even more
RWE.
the months immediately following her brother's death. By the
later on in the day. The train had stopped for some time at a way
time she sent them shé had already recovered from the worst of
station. and she caught a glimpse out the window of Emerson
her grief and was spurning the most morbid of her religious
walking up and down the platform with a small child on his
thoughts, and Mary wisely pointed out that Julia's poems no
shoulders. She had thought the "great Transcendentalist" was a
longer represented her true self. They "would not universally
"very remote from common human sympathy but this action
interest, because they express but a very partial view of the truths
his part could not but impress me as most kind and
of our religion and that one of a stern, painful, ascetic character to
himane.
32
which the whole spirit of the time is opposed." She reminded
The trip from Boston was delayed by a blizzard, which
Julia that the verses were "the exact impress of the religious views
forced the weary travelers to spend the whole of the following day
aboard the steamer that ran from Providence to New York (there
which you entertained one year ago, which were ever painful to
behold," that her mind at the time had been "excited" and
was then no train connecting the two cities). The delay did have
"deeply suffering" and had consequently seized hold of religion
the advantage, however, of giving Julia a further chance to talk to
"almost as a scourge and penance
her new acquaintance. Emerson, a man of few words, was a
This is not your religion,
in an excited state of mind you strove to make it so, but nearly
patient listener. He sat quietly while this earnest young woman
lost your reason in the attempt.
31
repounded her views on religion and philosophy. Trying to im-
Mary at least understood the
suffering her friend had endured. She also knew that the time had
press him with her thinking, she spoke at Tength on the great
come for Julia to place all that behind her and begin again.
powers of Satan, and when she had finally completed her dis-
Julia had been making several trips a year to visit Mary in
course his only comment was, "Surely the angel must be stronger
than the Demon. ⑉33
44
wordbox
45
sm
destr.
New York Girlbood
New York Girlbood
no
as
manners are very free and cordial
He circulates as univer-
dilettante in literature.
48
A
letter
she
wrote
Mary
during
the
m
sally as small change, and understands the art of gratifying others
course of that gay winter of 1842 explains her feelings: "How
without troubling himself - "43
utterly are one's best thoughts invaded by this going out in
In New York the entertainments provided for the famous
society. I feel it. I have striven to be myself, everywhere, to retain
novelist were numerous and lavish, and Julia was back from
my own principles, and notions of things, and SO I hope to get
Boston in time to enjoy at least some of them. Philip Hone noted
through the winter without any more serious evil than the loss of
in his diary, "There is a danger of overdoing the matter and
time, and the ruin of ball dresses. The former of these is serious
making our well-meant hospitalities oppressive to the recip-
enough, but I had wanted to see something of society, it seemed
ient."14 He was right. Dickens himself wrote of his stay in New
hardly fair that I should never give myself an opportunity of
York: "I can do nothing that I want to do, go nowhere that I
judging and being judged by it. 144
want to go, and see nothing that I want to see. If I turn into the
Julia Ward had, in fact, enjoyed an extraordinary amount of
street I am followed by a multitude. If I stay at home the house
freedom in the years after her father's death. She could go where
becomes with callers like a fair
I have no rest or peace. "45
she pleased and see whom she pleased. Neither Uncle John nor
On the evening of February 19, a dinner in Dickens's honor was
her brother Sam had approved of Samuel Ward's overprotective
given at the City Hotel, No ladies had been invited to the dinner,
ways. But while Julia enjoyed her newfound freedom, she also
but a few, including Julia, Mrs. Dickens and Catherine
found it bewildering. She had been so protected, not only from
Sedgwick, the novelist, had hidden themselves in a small room
the enjoyable aspects of life but also from its responsibilities, that
from which they could catch a glimpse of the proceedings. Over-
when these were suddenly thrust upon her she almost longed to
come by curiosity they slowly moved further and further out from
have her restrictions back again. It was therefore not surprising
their hiding place until they were in full view of the assembled
that when Julia did fall in love, it was with someone whom she
company. 46 Julia would not have been there if it hadn't been for
regarded with awe and respect as much as with love, a man nearly
Sam, and Sam was already showing his ability to charm and per-
twenty years older than herself, a person in whom she could lose
suade people into doing almost anything he wished them to do.
herself as a child does in its father.
That same winter Sam and his sisters gave a party to which
two hundred people were invited. Julia wrote Mary Ward that
everything had gone off "beautifully. The planed floor was
smooth as glass the music heavenly - the supper
superb - we danced till two." But she missed Boston. "Boston
is an oasis in the desert, a place where the larger proportion of
people are loving, rational and happy. I long for its green pas-
tures and still waters, its pure intellectual atmosphere and its
sunlight of kindness and truth. 47 Later in life Julia would claim
that if she had married a New Yorker she would have remained a
"frequenter of fashionable society, a musical amateur and a
50
51
The Chevalier
The Chevalier
as
as
everything else he pursued, once he determined that Julia was the
wife for him, he would not give up until she was his. Julia was
require from one to whom your whole life and yourself are given"
equally in love but unlike the determined Dr. Howe she had her
and urged her to "be sure that he for whom you make this
reservations about such a marriage. Underneath her love lay the
sacrifice and to whom you give your whole heart is worthy of
possessing it
Remember too that yours is no common
realization that she would lose much if she let herself be captured
by this proud, domineering man. She yearned for the strength he
character and that it ought to be committed to the charge of no
would provide and admired his courage and idealism but she also
common person, but to one who could feel that your destiny is a
knew her own pride and valued her newfound independence. The
noble one, and who would share it with you. 13 Mary had under-
if she married Sam Howe.
first would have to be stifled, the latter would disappear entirely
stood rightly that Julia had chosen the minister with her mind
and not with her heart. Now, Julia was SO obviously in love with
The courtship turned out to be a stormy one. Julia's inde-
Chev that Mary could only give her encouragement.
pendent spirit rose to the surface often enough between the party
In February 1843, before they were officially engaged, Julia
in June 1842 and the wedding day in April 1843 for Chev to be
went to Dorchester for a long visit, presumably to be near her
disturbed. He never considered giving her up but he did do his
lover. During this period their romance reached a crisis. Chev
best to try and change her. It was not that he minded indepen-
was becoming tired of pleading with Julia to accept him, and
dent women. In fact he had been working very closely with
employing the best possible tactic to insure her acquiescence, he
Dorothea Dix in her efforts to better the terrible conditions in
took off one day for New York without saying goodbye or even
prisons and mental asylums. From Sam Howe's point of view, for
letting her know where he was going. When Julia heard that he
had left for New York she immediately suspected that all was
an unmarried woman to be independent was one thing, but it was
over between them and that he was at that very moment in the
quite another for his own wife, or prospective wife. He was very
aware of Julia's literary ambitions but made it clear that once they
parlor at 32 Bond Street proposing to her sister Louisa. Actually,
Chev had no intention of marrying Louisa and before many days
were married she must discard them. Julia herself was rightly
concerned that her future husband should have SO little sympathy
had passed he was back in Boston. The engagement took place
for her interests, and she therefore had many moments of doubt-
without further hesitation on Julia's part.
ing the wisdom of giving up SO many of her own dreams in order
Julia returned to New York early in March. No word was
to remain obedient to her lover.
said about her engagement but her brother Sam was immediately
Her family and friends were of little help to her. She was
aware of a change in his sister. "It was very funny to see the little
obviously in love and they do not seem to have taken very seri-
difficulty our truant warbler found in tuning her throat to a pitch
ously Chev's obstinacy with regard to the necessity of her
in concert with us. We were the same laughing and screaming set
sacrificing all for him. Mary Ward thoroughly approved of Sam
of madcaps and the intensity of our pleasures was heightened by
MSOW
Howe as a husband for her friend, and had encouraged the ro-
her presence. But a gentle change had come over the spirit of the
'old bird's dream' - 'Care sits upon the brow of Cupid. "14
mance from the beginning. Several years earlier, when Julia had
A week later Sam wrote Chev that there were rumors of an
become briefly engaged to a clergyman (his name is now un-
known), Mary had counseled her "to think of how much you will
engagement. Julia's behavior seems to have sparked these
rumors, Sam observed, as she "has been refusing to go out,
60
61
Early Years in South Boston
Early Years in South Boston
UN
as
But for all the charm and comfort of Green Peace compared
ters, "but tried to be kind. Mary was more like her old self than I
to the institute, Julia was as lonely and cut off from the outside
expected - the interview was, however, a painful one. It was
world as ever. In a letter addressed to an unknown person and pre-
kind of them to call - I think Mary will love me again, as I will
served in one of her many scrapbooks, she described her life in
ever love her.
"11
South Boston during those first years of her marriage:
As was the custom both on Bond Street and Beacon Street,
Julia let it be known that she would receive callers every Friday
I live in a place in which I have few social relations, and
afternoon between twelve and two. Her first At Home could
all too recent to be intimate. I have no family around me, my
hardly be called a great success. "I dressed myself quite nicely,
children are babies and my husband has scarcely half an hour in
opened the two parlors, and remained from twelve to two o'clock
twenty-four to give me. So, as I think much in my way, and
nobody takes the least interest in what I think, I am forced to
in readiness to receive visitors - none came but the Everetts,
make myself an imaginary public, and to tell it the secrets of
nor do I expect ever to see many people at my receptions. 12 The
my poor little ridiculous brain. While I am employed with
fact was that few Bostonians in those days had private carriages,
fictions my husband is dealing with facts, but as we both seek
and therefore only Julia's and Chev's closest friends were willing
truth which lies beyond either, we do not get so very far apart
to make the effort to cross the South Boston bridge to pay a call
as you would think. At least I know all that is in his mind, if
on the Howes. Julia did go to n'occasional evening party during
he does not occupy himself much with mine. 9
her first winter in South Boston.
It may perhaps seem surprising that she was not asked out
For all the loneliness of these first years of her marriage,
more frequently, considering the charming impression she had
there were distractions and bright moments when she appeared
made on the Ticknors during her visit in the winter of 1842. But
almost contented with her lot. From the beginning she enjoyed
as Mrs. Howe, Julia was no longer a novelty and Boston showed
her daily walks with Julia Romana. As she wrote Sam, the baby
less eagerness to accept her now that she was claiming the right of
was already at nine months beginning to resemble her, for "like
citizenship. Sam Howe had never belonged to the inner circle of
mine, the breadth of her face exceeds its length. "10 In March
Beacon Street society or the "Boston of the Forty" as Julia later
1845, Annie came to spend ten days with her sister and the
called it. 13 His family had always been made up of nonconform-
following summer the newly married Crawfords joined Annie for
ists, and although Chev was admired for his work with the blind,
another visit before sailing for Europe. Mary Ward occasionally
when he began tampering with such matters as their school sys-
came to call from Dorchester, which was nearby, but the
tem he lost favor with conservative Bostonians. Not that Chev
friendship between the two young women had become strained
particularly minded what people like the Ticknors thought of
after Louisa had broken off her engagement to Mary's brother
him. He was no socialite and had no intentions that his wife
John. In those days an engagement was almost as binding a
should be one either. Furthermore, he was too occupied with his
contract as marriage, and the Boston Wards felt, perhaps rightly,
various causes to have much time to spare for evening parties.
that John had been badly treated. Mary and her sister Martha
One of the livelier hostesses on Beacon Hill, however, was
called on Julia at the institute soon after the Howes returned from
Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, the widowed daughter-in-law of the
Europe. "Martha was very constrained," Julia informed her sis-
onetime mayor of Boston. Julia had been to her house a number
88
89
5/1/2020
Samuel Ward (banker) - Wikipedia
WIKIPEDIA
Samuel Ward (banker)
Samuel Ward III (born in Rhode
Samuel Ward
Island, May 1, 1786; died in New York
City, November 27, 1839) was an
American banker.
Contents
Early life
Career
Personal life
Descendants
References
Early life
Samuel Ward III was born in Rhode
Born
May 1, 1786
Island on May 1, 1786. He was the son of
Rhode Island
Col. Samuel Ward, Jr. (1756-1832) and
Phebe Greene. His paternal grandparents
Died
November 27, 1839
were Samuel Ward, Sr. (1725-1776) and
(aged 53)
Anne Ray. His maternal grandparents
New York City, New
were William Greene, Jr. (1731-1809)
York, U.S.
and Catharine Ray.
Spouse(s) Julia Rush Cutler
(m. 1812; her
Career
death 1824)
Children
Samuel Cutler Ward
After his education he entered a banking
Henry Ward
house as clerk, and in 1808 was taken into
Julia Ward
partnership, continuing as a member of
the firm of Prime, Ward & King until his
Parent(s)
Samuel Ward, Jr.
death. In 1838. he secured through the
Phebe Greene
5/1/2020
Samuel Ward (banker) - Wikipedia
Bank of England a loan of nearly
Relatives
Samuel Ward, Sr.
$5,000,000 to enable the banks to
(grandfather)
resume specie payments, and established
William Greene, Jr.
the Bank of Commerce, becoming its
president.
He was a founder of the University of the City of New York (now New York
University) and of the New York Temperance Society, of which he was the
first president, and was active in organizing mission churches. He was a
patron of many charities and the giver of large sums in aid of Protestant
Episcopal Churches and colleges in the west.
Personal life
In October 1812, he married Julia Rush Cutler
(born in Boston, January 5, 1796; died in New York
City, November 9, 1824), the sister of Rev.
Benjamin Clarke Cutler (who was the brother-in-
law of General Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe), and,
through her mother, a grandniece of Francis
Marion. Julia was a poet, and one of her poems is
preserved in Rufus Wilmot Griswold's Female Poets
of America (Philadelphia, 1848). They had seven
children, including:
Samuel Cutler "Sam" Ward (1814-1884), a
lobbyist who married Emily Astor (1819-1841),
Portrait of Ward's
daughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. [1]
daughter, Julia Ward
Henry Ward (1818-1839)
Howe, by John Elliott,
1925
Julia Ward (1819-1910), a poet who married
Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876)(2)
Louisa Cutler Ward (1823-1897), who married Thomas Gibson Crawford
(1813-1857), a prominent sculptor. After his death, she married Luther
Terry (1813-1900), an artist. [3][4]
Descendants
His son, Sam Ward, had two children with Emily Astor before her death.
Their only surviving daughter, Margaret Astor Ward, married John Winthrop
and
had
5/1/2020
Samuel Ward (banker) - Wikipedia
eleven children, including William Astor Chanler, Sr., Lewis Stuyvesant
Chanler, and Robert Winthrop Chanler. After Emily's death, Sam married
again and had two more children with his second wife, Medora Grymes, who
both died in the 1860s. [1]
His daughter, Julia gave birth to six children: Julia Romana Howe (1844-
1886), Florence Marion Howe (1845-1922), Henry Marion Howe (1848-
1922), Laura Elizabeth Howe (1850-1943), Maud Howe (1855-1948), and
Samuel Gridley Howe, Jr. (1858-1863). Julia was likewise an aunt of novelist
Francis Marion Crawford. [5]
References
Notes
1. "Samuel Ward Papers" (http://archives.nypl.org/uploads/collection/pdf_fin
ding_aid/wards.pdf) (PDF). nypl.org. New York Public Library Archives.
Retrieved February 7, 2017.
2. "Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)" (http://www.nwhm.org/education-resource
/biography/biographies/julia-ward-howe/) National Women's History
Museum.
3. "MRS. W. A. CHANLER, AUTHOR, MUSICIAN; Niece of Julia Ward Howe
and the Half-Sister of F. Marion Crawford Dies at 91" (https://www.nytime
S.com/1952/12/20/archives/mrs-wa-chahler-author-mijbioiuq-niece-of-julia
-ward-howe-and-the.html). The New York Times. December 20, 1952.
Retrieved February 21, 2018.
4. "F. Marion Crawford" (https://www.nytimes.com/1897/12/19/archives/illustr
ated-weekly-magazine-f-marion-crawford.html). The New York Times.
December 19, 1897. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
5. Martyris, Nina (March 16, 2016). "Battle Hymn At The Dining Table: A
Famous Feminist Subjugated Through Food" (https://www.npr.org/section
s/thesalt/2016/03/16/470444422/battle-hymn-at-the-dining-table-a-famous
efeminist-subjugated-through-food). NPR. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
Sources
W
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public
domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1889). "Ward, Richard" (https://en.
wikisource.org/wiki/Appletons%27_Cyclop%C3%A6dia_of_American_Bio
graphy/Ward, Richard).Appletons'Cyclopadia ofAmerican Biography.
New York: D. Appleton.
9/18/2017
prime - pafg03.htm Generated by Personal Ancestral File
Merchant Networks
Descendants of Prime
a website project in economic and maritime history
Progenitor-419418
by Ken Cozens Dan-Byrnes
Third Generation
We Prefer PayPal
Donate
3. US financier Prime Nathaniel-303670 (Joshua Progenitor) was
BANK
VISA
born in 1768 in Rowley Mass. He died in 1840 in New York.
If you value the information posted here,
and the project of this history website in general,
you may like to consider making a donation
With Samuel Ward. Nathaniel Prime, of Prime Ward and King,
to help reduce our production costs.
Stock and Commision brokers. Per Linda Minor. A few doors
It would be greatly appreciated.
Options include:
below Wall street court entrance in 1830 was a marble building
paying via PayPal which this website uses - Ed
erected by Nathaniel Prime. It had offices in the upper part. The main floor was occupied as
the banking rooms of the great banking house of Prime, Ward & King. What a wonderful
firm that was thirty years ago! Originally it was "Nathaniel Prime, Stock and Commission
Broker, No. 42 Wall Street," in 1796. In 1808, he took in Samuel Ward as a partner, and the
firm was then Prime & Ward. In 1816 Joseph Sands was made a partner, and the firm was
Prime, Ward & Sands, still doing business at the old stand, No. 42 Wall Street, until 1825,
when the office was temporarily removed, in order that the present building might be
erected. That year, James G. King was made a partner, and the firm was Prime, Ward,
Sands, King & Co. Joseph Sands of the above firm, was a son of the celebrated Comfort
Sands, who died in 1835. In 1826 Joseph left the above firm, and it again became Prime,
Ward, King & Co. James Gore King, of the above firm, had previously been engaged in
business in Liverpool, England, under the firm of King & Gracie. After he returned to this
country, he was taken into the great firm for his financial ability, and the firm changed as
above stated. Mr. Prime bought the house on the corner of Broadway and Battery Place,
now occupied as the Washington Hotel. He lived there many years, and saw his sons and his
daughters intermarrying with the first families in New York. Code-US Thirty years ago, Mr.
Prime was deemed the third richest man in New York, and yet no one set him down as
worth over a million! Thirty years ago there was but one man in this town worth over a
million; that one was John Jacob Astor. There were four other rich men -- Robert Lenox,
John G. Coster, Stephen Whitney, and Nat Prime; the latter was regarded as the most
wealthy of the last four names.
Mr. Nathaniel Prime, of the great firm of Prime, Ward & King, did not legitimately belong
to the old set. He claimed a place, however, for his sons and his daughters had intermarried
with the Jays, the Rays, the Sands, the Palmers, and the undoubted old families. Aside from
this, his partners were of the pure breed. Prime, Ward & King were the first large genuine
private bankers in the city of New York. They allowed interest on all sums deposited with
them for either a short or long term. They bought up good bills on Paris or London, and
remitted to their bankers, and then every packet day, Prime, Ward and King were large
sellers of their own sterling and French bills at one per cent more than they paid for the best
private bills. Such was their credit. The firm had no rivals at that time. J.L. & S. Josephs had
a banking house on the corner of Wall and Hanover. They were the agents of the
Rothschilds, but had no such standing in this town as Prime, Ward & King.
Old Nat Prime was a fearfully long-headed man. He could see through a mill-stone quicker
than any other man in Wall Street. But he was frequently sold. On one occasion a Hartford
horse jockey, named Adam Hitchcock, sold him a leopard-spotted horse for $1500. It was
alright until the white and black horse got caught out in a rain, when such a mixing of paints
occurred as perfectly astonished him. Mr. Prime left behind him three fine sons -- Edward,
who succeeded him in the firm in 1831; Rufus, who at one time formed one of the firm of
Christmas, Livingston, Prime & Coster. What a firm that was! Charles Christmas (he is now
9/18/2017
prime pafg03.htm - Generated by Personal Ancestral File
Mortimer Livingston, of the Havre packet line agents, C. Bolton, Fox & Livingston, who
married a daughter of Francis Depau, who married Sylvie de Grasse, a daughter of that
Count de Grasse who commanded the French fleet on this coast in the Revolutionary
war.do'Another member of the C.L.P.C. firm was Washington Coster. What a gay boy was
Wash. Coster! He married a daughter of old Francis Depau, and there were cart loads of
gold on both sides of the house. Wash, was not a son of old John G. Coster -- he was a
nephew. Poor fellow, he was fond of good eating and good drinking, and he paid the
penalty. He died on a sofa at Blancard's Globe Hotel in Broadway near Exchange Street,
now a dry goods store. Wash, got no sleep for several days, and a celebrated Irish
adventurer named John S. Nugent (who was hired by Cozzens as a bar-keeper, and wound
up his week's work by running away and marrying the sister of Mr. Cozzens, (West Point
Hotel) -- gave him a dose of morphine to make him sleep. It was successful, for poor Wash.
has never woke up since, unless he made an unknown turn over in the grave. ofMr. Prime
had a third son named Frederick. He was a lawyer, and married a granddaughter of the great
John Jay, chief Justice in Washington's day of the United States.
Cf., Per Ken Cozens, Walter Barrett, 1863, The Old Merchants of New York City, Second
Series.
Nathaniel married Sands Cornelia-303685 daughter of Merchant, founder Bank of New York Sands
Comfort-413823 and Dodge Sarah-413824. Cornelia was born in 1773 in Rowley Mass. She died in
1852.
They had the following children:
4 M
i Prime Frederick-303686 was born in 1807.
He is son3.
Frederick married (1) wife1 Jay Mary Rutherfurd-303687 daughter of Of
New York Jay Peter Augustus-3141 and Clarkson Mary Rutherford-3142.
Mary died in 1835.
Frederick married (2) Hare Lydia-419410 daughter of Dr Hare Robert-
419409 and parent recheck Clarke Harriet-419415.
5
F ii Prime Cornelia-419411 was born in 1800. She died in 1874.
Cornelia married Ray Robert-419412 son of Ray Cornelius-419413 and
RNotknown Miss-419414.
6 F iii Prime Miss-479423.
Cf., Per Ken Cozens, Walter Barrett Clerk, 1863, The Old Merchants of
New York City, Second Series.
Miss married Coster Gerard H.-479422 son of US-Dutch traders Coster
John Gerard-479158 and Holsmann Catharine Margaret-479415.
Cf., Per Ken Cozens, Walter Barrett Clerk, 1863, The Old Merchants of
New York City, Second Series.
+
7 M iv Of New York Prime Rufus-413989.
H
Surname List | Name Index
9/18/2017
James G. King Wikipedia
James G. King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Gore King (May 8, 1791, New York City - October 3,
1853, Weehawken, New Jersey) was an American businessman and
James Gore King
Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey's 5th
congressional district in the United States House of Representatives
from 1849 to 1851. King was the third son of Rufus King, and
brother of John Alsop King, who served as Governor of New
York. [1]
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 United States Congress
2.2 Later career
3 Personal life
3.1 Descendants
4 References
5 External links
Early life
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
James Gore King was born in New York City on May 8, 1791 to
from New Jersey's 5th district
Rufus King and Mary Alsop. He pursued classical studies in
In office
England and France, returned to United States and graduated from
March 4, 1849 - March 3, 1851
Harvard University in 1810. He studied law at the Litchfield Law
School. [2]
Preceded by Dudley S. Gregory
Succeeded by Rodman M. Price
Career
Personal details
Born
May 8, 1791
During the War of 1812, he served as assistant adjutant general of
New York City, USA
the New York Militia. [1]
Died
October 3, 1853 (aged
After the war, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in New York City
62)
in 1815. In 1818, he established a banking establishment, King &
Weehawken, New
Gracie, in Liverpool, England with his brother-in-law, Archibald
Jersey, USA
Gracie, Jr.
Political
Whig
party
In 1824, he returned to New York City and engaged in banking as a
partner in the firm of Prime & Ward (thereafter Prime, Ward &
Spouse(s)
Sarah Rogers Gracie
King), with residence in Weehawken, New Jersey. In 1835, he
Parents
Rufus King
became president of the Erie Railroad until 1837, when by his visit
Mary Alsop
to London he secured the loan to American bankers of $1,000,000
from the governors of the Bank of England
Alma mater
Harvard College
Profession
Politician
9/18/2017
James G. King Wikipedia
King was elected as a Whig to Congress, serving in office from March 4, 1849 to March 3, 1851, but
declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1850.
Later career
After leaving Congress, he resumed the banking business. By this time the firm he had worked for had
undergone dissolution, and SO was succeeded by the House of James G. King & Son. He died at his country
place,("Highwood," near Weehawken on October 3, 1853, of a "congestion of the lungs" and was interred
in the churchyard of Grace Church, Jamaica, N.Y.
Personal life
King married Sarah Rogers Gracie (1791-1878), the daughter of Archibald Gracie (1755-1829). Together
they had: [3][4]
Caroline King (1813-1863), who married Denning Duer (1812-1891), son of William Alexander
Duer
Sarah Gracie King (1815-1815)
Harriet King (1817-1838)
James Gore King, Jr. (1819-1867)
Archibald Gracie King (1821-1897), who married Elizabeth Denning Duer (1821-1900), daughter
of William Alexander Duer
Henry Myers King (1824-1825)
Mary King (1826-1890)
Frederika Gore King (1829-1916), who married Bancroft Davis (1822-1907), an American lawyer,
judge, diplomat, and president of Newburgh and New York Railway Company.
Edward King (1833-1908)
Alsop King (1835-1836)
Fanny King (1836-1905)
Descendants
His granddaughter, May Denning King (1848-1925) married John King Van Rensselaer (1847-1909), son
of Henry Bell Van Rensselaer and grandson of Stephen Van Rensselaer III, the patroon of
Rensselaerwyck. [5] His great-great-granddaughter Ellin Travers Mackay married Irving Berlin. Another
great-great-grandchild was Wolcott Gibbs, who was also a direct descendant of Martin Van Buren (James
Gore King's grandson married Martin Van Buren's granddaughter, and Wolcott Gibbs was their grandson).
References
Notes
1. "James Gore King | American banker" (https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Gore-King).
britannica.com Encyclopxdia Britannica. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
2. "Litchfield Ledger - Student" '(http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/1455).
www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
3. "James Gore King (1791 - 1853) - Find A Grave Memorial" (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.
cgi?page=gr&GRid=7257624). www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
4. "The Sackett Family Association - Hon James Gore King" (http://www.sackettfamily.info/g9/p9443.
htm). www.sackettfamily.info Retrieved 6 December 2016.
9/18/2017
James G. King Wikipedia
5. Sullivan, Robert G. (1911). "Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Van Rensselaer
Vol. IV*(http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/vanrensselaer-3.html).
www.schenectadyhistory.org. Schenectady County Public Library. pp. 1814-1821. Retrieved
6 December 2016.
Sources
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.
(1911). "King, Rufus". Encyclopcedia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Obituaries (https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980DE0DF1131E13BBC4D53DFB667
8388649FDE), The New York Times, October 5, 1853. Retrieved September 23, 2007
External links
United States Congress. "James G. King (id: K000203)" (http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodis
play.pl?index=K000203). Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
James Gore King (http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/king5.html#R9M0J300H) at The Political
Graveyard
James Gore King (https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7257624)atFind a
Grave
James Gore King V http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/erving.html) New-York Historical
Society
Business positions
Preceded by
President of New York and Erie Railroad
Succeeded by
Eleazar Lord
1835 - 1839
Eleazar Lord
U.S. House of Representatives
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Succeeded by
from New Jersey's 5th congressional district
Dudley S. Gregory
Rodman M. Price
March 4, 1849 - March 3, 1851
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_G._King&oldid=800191166"
This page was last edited on 12 September 2017, at 00:42.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
5/1/2020
Prime, Ward & King - Wikipedia
WIKIPEDIA
Prime, Ward & King
Prime, Ward & King was a prominent
American investment bank in the 18th
Prime, Ward & King
and 19th Century based in New York City.
Industry
Financial
Predecessor
Nathaniel Prime,
Stock and
Contents
Commission Broker
Prime & Ward
History
Prime, Ward &
Services
Sands
Prime, Ward,
Timeline
Sands, King &
See also
Company
References
Founded
1796
Founder
Nathaniel Prime
History
Defunct
1847
Headquarters
42 Wall Street, New
In 1796, Nathaniel Prime organized
York City
"Nathaniel Prime, Stock and Commission
Key people
Nathaniel Prime
Broker" at 42 Wall Street where he
Samuel Ward III
bought and sold bank stocks. [1] After
James Gore King
opening the private bank, he allowed
Samuel Cutler
customers to deposit money and then
Ward
loaned it out.
[1]
In 1808, Prime brought in Samuel Ward III as a partner and the firm was
renamed Prime & Ward. [2] In 1816, Joseph Sands, Prime's brother-in-law,
was made a partner and the firm became Prime, Ward & Sands. [3][4]
In 1823, Prime met with and, eventually, invited James Gore King became a
partner upon his return from England. [5] King, a son of U.S. Senator Rufus
King, had previously been affiliated with the firm of King & Gracie, founded in
1818 in Liverpool, England by King and his brother-in-law, Archibald Gracie,
Jr. (the son of Archibald Gracie). King wound up the affairs of the house in
England, returned to New York and became a partner of the house of Prime,
5/1/2020
Prime, Ward & King - Wikipedia
Ward, Sands, King & Company on May 1, 1824, which at the time consisted of
Nathaniel Prime, Samuel Ward, Joseph Sands, James G. King and Robert Ray
(Prime's son-in-law). [6]
In 1826, after Joseph died the firm was again reorganized as Prime, Ward &
King with the previous partners and including Edward Prime, Prime's son. [3]
In 1832, Prime retired and was replaced as a co-partner in the firm by his son,
Edward. [3] In 1839, Ward died and was replaced by his son Samuel Cutler
Ward, who had joined the firm the previous year. [6] In 1844, King's son
Archibald Gracie King joined the firm which already included Denning Duer,
the son of William Alexander Duer and the elders King's son-in-law. [6]
In
1846, King and his family left the firm and started James G. King & Son,
which he operated until his death in 1853. [7][8]
The firm stunned the financial world when it collapsed in September 1847,
which some claim was caused by the younger Ward's "excessive speculation in
commodities" and caused the bankruptcy of the Ward family. [9]
Services
Among their biggest clients was Baring Brothers, a British merchant bank
based in London that was the world's second oldest merchant bank founded
in 1762 and owned by the German-originated Baring family of merchants and
bankers. [10]
In 1823, Baring bought Erie Canal bonds through the firm, causing other
international investors to do the same. The success of the Canal bonds caused
the firm to take the lead in financing American expansion out west. [1]
After the financial crisis of 1836 to 1837, the Bank of England in an effort to
assist New York City banks in resuming specie payment, confided a loan of
almost 5 million dollars of gold to the firm which was considered a
remarkable sign of confidence. [2]
Timeline
The firm was known by various names throughout its existence,
including: [7][3]
Nathaniel Prime, Stock and Commission Broker (1796-1808)
5/1/2020
Prime, Ward & King - Wikipedia
Prime & Ward (1808-1816)
Prime, Ward & Sands (1817-1825)
Prime, Ward, Sands, King & Company (1825-1826)
Prime, Ward & King (1826-1846)
Prime, Ward & Company (1847)
James G. King & Son (1847-1853)
See also
Nathaniel Prime
References
1. Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (1998). Gotham: A History of New York
City to 1898 (https://books.google.com/books?id=xF4NDALYWSAC&pg=P
A445&lpg=PA445). Oxford University Press. p. 445.
ISBN 9780199741205. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
2. Ward, John (1875). A Memoir of Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Ward, First Rhode
Island Regiment, Army of the American Revolution: With a Genealogy of
the Ward Family (https://archive.org/details/memoiroflieutco00ward). p. 1
(https://archive.org/details/memoiroflieutco00ward/page/n25).F Retrieved
10 March 2018.
3. Barrett, Walter (1885). The Old Merchants of New York City (https://archiv
.org/details/oldmerchantsnew01barrgoog). Thomas R. Knox & Company.
p. 10 (https://archive.org/details/oldmerchantsnew01barrgoog/page/n35).
Retrieved 10 March 2018.
4. Wilkins, Mira (1989). The History of Foreign Investment in the United
States to 1914 4(https://archive.org/details/historyofforeign000Owilk).
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 657 (https://archive.org/d
etails/historyofforeign0000wilk/page/657). ISBN 9780674396661.
Retrieved 10 March 2018.
5. "SAMUEL WARD PAPERS" (http://archives.nypl.org/uploads/collection/pd
f_finding_aid/wards.pdf) (PDF). archives.nypl.org. New York Public
Library. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
6. Hunt, Freeman (1858). Lives of American Merchants (https://archive.org/d
etails/bub_gb_lygKAAAAIAAJ). Derby & Jackson. p. 189 (https://archive.o
g/details/bub_gb_lygKAAAAIAAJ/page/n211) Retrieved 10 March 2018.
From: Yellow House Papere Notes
6/13/05
Pg. 146
Col. Someel Ward
(17 56- 1832) - 10 offspring
WM. Green
Ward
Samuel Ward
Ann G
(un man)
Henry was
Phoeles
Heary Hall
Wad
waid
Richard
Ray Was
Samel ward
III I Banker
John
M. Julia Cutler
was
wm
Greet
was
Henry
Julia
Sanal Word IV
died
died
Louise Cuther
ware
young
young
M. Emily Astor
Anne
Way
Eliza
m. A.
Julia Romana House
Maillard
Florease Marion Have
Julia ward
Henry Marion Howe
m. Dr. Someol
Cridley Howe
Laura Elizedoeth Have Mar. Henry Richards
Haud Here
Sound gudly Hnee Jr.
p208
The Richards Form Papers.
John Rochards V 7 agent for
ford Ashburton and the
Baring Brother of Loneon:
/ Edinburgh Collection National Lbray
of Scotland(P3.217).
2/ Baing Paper
MucoFilm made by Public Record
office in London from paperin
the Archives of th Baing Broteen
banking house. Copy in L C,
toyth c a calendar. These
proper mg he suppleated s examination
of the Publications if te
Colonial Society 2vols, 1954.
3/ Harison Gray Otis paper
at MHS.
4/ Letter hook correcy the Sale
of Maine land 1790 to 1810 -
persesses of faif descadets
Richard Peper John Richal (1884- 1975)
Engled fept. chee- at St.Paul'T
Laura E. Wiggen (sister) placed
Some of his spapers then
p-209 Ward Fanif Papies
1. Pepu S. gov. Samel Word,
GGF of at
RItist Soc., Provides
ocse
Conesponde of governor Sanceed Ward,
May 1778- March 1776
2. Paper at 5. YORK HISTORECAL soaef
byt Wm. Ward, second cousin
L all da Se. Richards.
3. Paper of Somell Word the Booke
(father of Julia Word House) +
Samul Ward the Sinner at
ny Dub- Lib. Oney. part of
Astor Lbrag
(1819-1910)
Paper of Illea Word Here at L.C.
10 Ms. boxes.
MHS
7/14/05
Yellow House Papers.
call. 2085. R,
R65A, F.I 4R to LR
876
- Boston, 6/28/76 is Commence remon
spent time c Freddy Bowdler.
1876 letter an richly illustrated c avariactures
t almost eat expepting for boston,
time spect = Julic many poems
R65A, f 2
7/80
880
- BHR letter 1/12/80 no mentia of Dorrs. Cardier,
HR 15 have LER is not.
Other letter for Josh', etc.
R65A, f 3.
1879-82
-2 letter, / for He LER.
RC 18 f.7 Julia Ward Home to
- -T. brother Henry 1838. Copy.
Refa to "Pefers to "a clandistive
correspondance would appear
a had argument of it it were
found out [wita Many ?7, +
those they do come to life
prevating , smehare a Her
Deni Day speaks flypri fo
confident in her letters ! if I
her, surred shoot gire, c ug the hasitation
thight you capable of dropperat
2.
She is too pure, too lovely to beloyth
any mone t I don't pure west you
done to deserve her. Be a good
by describe Reekie, and love,
Your un, Dudy"
(quea)
Jan.??
Julian ward to us May 6.ward Tus. 10th
??
-She is "sade neglectfule in not unity to you...
- "Now do not freeze me by a long silence
or worse still, a cold admonitory letter
-Letter - firef for NYC. Set Out 200 invies
to cream JNYSOCIET for party.
- If y ne come (to pay) John C. S. will
Buy you be is now in Boston, or
Junes Lawrence, wh has promand to come on."
Refer to new @ everyt of
Jeanie to William Story since she
is why not through bred." As to
hizzie Lynan, Julie wishes Merjoy.
As to Tim, I wish you joy &
thish you neyer do worse - as
to Myself, I an not engaged to
no good now, who will toler can
of ree - but I my be - I have a
sweet + mark truely letter
fun San Eliot and but he is dying,
poor child : "I shall write age
Dearent Malley, when shall I see gn
typed, and take
again ? Signed "Jules"
3.
fille to my Deared Uolly" Tuad 17th
Vy glad tyot him letter, "when was as hid
as it who short."
Refer to Bo for as "an asis in the despert,
proportion an of people are loving
a place when the leyer Mertine
national old happy I long fired
green pastures + still waters, its
pure intellectual atroupher t its
11
Sayleful of hindness t truth
Look forwar to Boston vest For nist is
"the resting point of the whole winter,
+ motes it underful shorter."
update my me party -went off beautiful
Dember for tailet (attire).
11/2 pp., typed, dable opposed
RC 98, F. 10. LER Sidesbour
near End of dozen sans, lable
'S de Shares ; refer to her great-cute,
John Ward
Anoth eny "The Soman Relalises, her b
ago in pring at "Side Shores he sgp
what what she her "not the health
beep for children A gradeholdina
-4-
-Uncle San, Soul Word, 1814- 1884
@ 10 pp my mother's eldest brother,"
-the Have Deletors
- put levele John
Credit lies
Yellow Hour Papers : the have
E. Richards Collection
Handine Whra Association and
Main Histould Society
4
Call 2085, Leand Group #
.
Vellow Ham Puper The has shareed call
Antiricatory
By Day D. smith
2nd ed. , 2002.
Republic"] together w/dresses costumes which were formerly
part of her wardrobe incl. exquis. 2 part dress, ivory
Samori sword, etc.
Goody writes of sending me much material. I didn't
remember that I had sent you anything particular about
Uncle Marion; did I? Anyhow, whatever comes shall be
iten
fitn
most religiously put away in the cabinet, formerly of
Mother's room, now of yours; perhaps the most
haura
interesting piece of furniture that I have ever known
of. It came, you remember, from Bond Street; it
maul.
to
remained, during Mother's life, untouched, stuffed with
family papers. After Mother went, good Clarkey - who
went so soon herself, alas! - went all over it,
classifying and so on. It now contains everything in
the way of family papers, all carefully docketed.
It
might amuse you sometime to look at it.
It was strange that of those three brilliant brothers,
US.
only Sam remained. I somethimes think of Henry and
john.
Marion; don't think I should have been very fond of the
latter, who seems to have been very domineering. As to
beautiful Henry, I recall only my wicked husband's
words, spoken when he was in the throes of building
Mrs. Dorr's house, "The best thing you Uncle Henry ever
did was to die!"
This last and cryptic reference is in the realm of "almost
genealogy, i.e. a family alliance which would have occurred
if Henry Ward had not died during his engagement to Mary
Ward of Boston, sister of the "good Samuel Ward,"
a
sobriquet in contrast to Samuel Ward IV of New York, brother
of Julia Ward Howe, i.e. Sinner Sam. Mary had been engaged
your
to Henry Marion Ward until the time of his premature death,
and she then married Charles Dorr, great Boston lawyer whose
celebrity needs no comment here. Laura E. Richards in
"Family Side Shows" said that in certain Boston circles Mrs.
Dorr was not received, and the portrait of this "almost
Aunt" in "Family Side Shows" is actually caricature.
A great number of letters of Samuel Ward IV, brother of
Julia Ward Howe, are at Craigie House in Cambridge,
Massachusetts because of his connection with Longfellow.
That additional Ward papers might be there is suggested by
the comments in this letter of 10 May 1938 from Laura E.
Richards to her sister Maud Howe Elliott.
This morning comes your delightful letter, telling me
about the Longfellow letters and SO on. I take it that
Craigie House is being kept as a sort of museum and
general repository of all things connected with H.W.L.,
and perhaps father reaching, taking in the other
worthies of Cambridge of that time.
Pq-
FÁMOUS LOBBYIST DEAD
3
New York Times (1857-Current file); May 20, 1884; ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times
pg. 5
A FAMOUS LOBRYIST DEAD
hisyouth. and was always looking out for fresh
information on the subject. He had read all the
books that afforded a hint on oooking from those,
of ancient Greece to. his own day. and he had
SAM WARD DIES IN ITALY IN HIS
watched with epiourean BY mpathy the best oull-
SEVENTY-FIRST YEAR.
nary processes of Germany Italy, Russia, France,
England, and America. He was convinced that
MAN WHO ENJOYED HIMSELF IN MAKING
perfect digeation was the true source of happf-
ness, and that he who dined properly would enjoy
OTHERS HAPPY-PRINCE OF GOOD FEL-
an easy conscience, and see the world in its finest
light. He knew to the exact degree what tem-
LOWS AND FRIEND OF GREAT MEN.
perature Bordeaux, Burgundy, sherry, and cham-
Sam Ward, the king of lobbyists and
pagne should bear. and was the most advanced
thinker in everything that pertained to dainti-
prince of epicures, died in the little Summer
ness of the table. He was no mean cook himself,
resort of Pegli. Italy, yesterday, in the seventy-
and could on occassion turn out food 80 appe-
first year of his age. He had spent the last 18
tizing that the rudest Spartan might be tempted
by it. His gastronomic knowledge was his stock
months in Europe, living principally with
in trade, and upon it he lived like a potentate in
his nephew, F. Marion Crawford, the
Washington for nearly a score of years.
novelist, in Rome, but failing health
Sam Ward first went to Washington to aid in
the passage of the bill for the contraction of the
drove him to Pegli, where it was boped
currency, which was favored by Secretary of the
the climate would restore the genial old gentle-
Treasury McCulloch, and for his work as lob-
man. The hopes of his friends reapparently to
byist in regard to this measure he received $12,-
000 as 'dinner expenses." He conducted this
be justified, for after his removal to Pegli Mr.
business to the satisfaction of everybody
Ward began to show signs of returning vigor. and
interested, and his next task was the advo-
a letter received in this city last week from Mr.
cacy of a tax on lotteries, a soheme which
he supported in behalf of John Morris-
Crawford spoke cheeringly of his condition. say-
sey, who wanted the tax imposed, because
ing that he was growing stronger and stronger
he was willing to pay it. knowing that none of
every day, and would probably pay a visit to this
his competitors could afford to do 80. Mr. Mor-
rissey advanced a good sum to cover" dinner ex-
city next Autumn. This programme has been
penses" to Congressmen, and Sam Ward spent it
suddenly set aside by his unexpected death, the
to the satisfaction of his employer and the Con-
news of which was an utter surprise to the many
gressmen, whom he provided with probably the
only artistic dinner that they ever enjoyed.
friends and acquaintances of "Uncle Sam," as he
After these two jobs the fame of Sam was
was familiarly known, in this city. By his bed-
established, and be found plenty of men to en-
side when he died were his sister, Mrs. Luther
gage his services as gastronomic pacificator,"
as he called himself. Much of the railroad legis-
Terry, who resides in Rome: his nephew. F.
lation of Congress was discussed and modeled
Marion Crawford, and a number of appreciative
over the dinners which 8am prepared, and over
and loving friends. The nearest relatives who
which he presided with so much grace and genial
hospitality. Whenever a difficulty presented
survive him are Mrs. Terry and Mrs. Julia Ward
itself in the shape of personal grounds among
Howe, another sister.
the public men of Washington Sam ap-
The name of Sam Ward only needs to be spoken
peared as the Great Reconciler." When
Gen. Garfield (afterward President) and
to recall to the minds of thousands in this city
James Brooks on one side, and Fernando
and Washington the figure of a man who can
Wood and Gen. Schenck on the other, became
never be forgotten by those who have once seen
sworn enemies, Sam Ward arranged a large din-
ner party at Welcker's, the Delmonico's of Wash-
him, and especially by those who have sat
ington, and invited the warring statesmen, tak-
at his table or listened to his entertaining
ing care not to let one party know that the other
talk. A short, stout man, with a broad
was expected. They met in the ante-room,
and passed each other coldly, each couple hid-
chest and long powerful arms, a chubby,
ing their surprise at the rencontre, but
florid face, which told no less of good hu-
each inwardly vowing vengeance against Ward
mor. than of good living, set off and given
in the near future. When the dining-room was
entered the enemies found that Sam had 80 ar-
more expression by a white mustache and a
ranged it that they were seated side by side.
tapering white imperial, Sam Ward gave one
Good breeding forcade them to change their
the impression at first sight of a wily, but
seats, and before the dinner was ha f over the in-
fluence of Sam's wine and food was felt, and the
dignified diplomat. His head, in his later
sworn enemies were fast friends.
years. was perfectly bald, save for a little
The exploit in which Sam Ward took the most
rim of snowy hair around the edge, and his bluish
pride during his career in Washington was giv-
gray eyes were always twinkling as though be
ing to President Johnson the first news of
was trying to suppress an outburst of laughter
his impeachment, and it was on his recommenda-
over some remarkably good joke which he was
tion, as he always claimed, that Johnson secured
unwilling to share with the world at large. His
the counsel that he did. "It was on Washing-
surprise.
Samuel Ward, as he was christened, though he
to the President, when I found him at 10 o'clock.
would hardly have recognized himself had he
told him to secure the most eminent counsel,
been called anything but plain, familiar "Sam,"
half Democrats and half Republicans. He took
was born in this city in January, 1814. fath-
Curtis and Evarts and Nelson and Groesbeck.
er, after whom he was named. was a member
What killed the impeachment it is not for me to
of the house of Prince, Ward & King,
say here. But it is due to the late Senator Grimes,
at that time one of the wealthiest bank-
of Iowa, to state that he was the hero of the OC-
ing firms in this city. The credit of this
casion."
house was higher than that of any bank in
The great strength of Sam Ward in his dinner
America, and they did what at that time was an
parties lay in the fact that he was the incarna-
enormous business. Sam was born with a golden
tion, so to speak. of European luxury. When
spoon in his mouth, and if he let it slip from
giving a dinner he scarcely tasted anything him-
him marry times in his subsequent career, he
self, bestowing nearly all of his own time in
clung to it tenaciously during his youthful days,
attentions to his guests. On days of great ban-
and made the most of the opportunities which
quets he usually ate a mutton chop and drank
it gave him. The boy was reared in luxury, and
a glass of Burgundy himself before the hour
developed a strong tendency to spend money
for the dinner, and when that time arrived he
rapidly, instead of devoting his energies to ac-
merely attended to the wants of his guests. Dur-
cumulating it. as his father had done before him.
ing the administration of Secretary McCulloch
He was sent for his early education to the Round
in the Treasury Mr. Ward was a veritable power
Hill school, at Northampton, Mass., and then he
behind the throne, and seekers after legislation
studied under the late Joseph G. Copewell and
as well as legislators themselves understood it
George Bancroft, the historian. Coming from
and bowed to his power. He was a strong and
the Round Hill school he entered Columbia Col-
earnest Democrat and a great friend of President
lege in 1829, and was graduated in 1831, skip-
Johnson, who was himself not averse to
ping a year and a half of the collegiate
sharing the honor of Sam's table. When Gen.
course. Then his father sent him to Europe,
Grant was made President Mr. Ward's power
where he spent four years in study, and observa-
was. of course, greatly curtailed. He tried hard
tions on French and German cookery, for
to gain influence with Secretary Evarts, who
even when a boy be had developed a remarkably
was Hayes's Secretary of State, but failed, and
fasildious taste, and before he had reached his
his power gradually waned from the close of
majority he was a recognized authority on gas-
Johnson's term. Still, there was a respectable
tronomics among his fellow-students. It was his
Democratic minority in Congress. and Sam Ward
opinion at this early age that the main object of
was found very handy in preparing good dinners
life was to live well, and he devoted as much care
for them. It was always claimed by his hosts of
to the ordering of his meals as he did to the cul-
friends that, although an acknowledged lobbyist,
ture of his mind. although he by no means neg-
he was not a corrupt man, and that he never
lected the latter branch of his studies.
went beyond his gastronomic feats in his
While abroad Sam accomplished his first liter-
efforts to influence legislation. It is certain
ary labor, which was the translation of Laplace's
that Sam never had more than money enough
Mécanique Celeste." Hisexecution of this work
during the most successful part of his career as
gained for him the friendship of Laplace, who
a lobbyist to pay his. daily expenses. He threw
introduced him to Humboldt and a number of
money about him with a lavish hand, and often
the leading savants of Europe, thus laying the
when be had had $1,000 in his pocket in the morn-
foundation of that extensive acquaintance with
ing he was without enough in the evening to pay
foreign celebrities which he so assiduously culti-
for a carriage. As long as Sam Ward had a doliar
vated in after years. In 1837 he returned to
his friends were welcome to a portion or all of it.
this city and was admitted as a partner
It was in 1881, after the inauguration of Gar-
in his father's bank. He showed little inclination
field. that Ward gave up living in Washington
to attend to business in the whirl of Wall-street,
and returned to this city to live. He took a
however, but a great deal of inclination to draw
house at No. 84 Clinton-place and entertained his
his share of the profits regularly and enjoy
friends as lavishly as of old, making money
8 life of luxury and good eating. He
enough in Wall-street to keep his establishment.
entered society with zest, and having a
It was here that he entertained Oscar Wilde and
wealthy father, and being possessed of unusually
almost every European of note who visited
entertaining powers as a conversationalist, he
the city. His old friend, James R. Keene,
soon became a favorite among the select people
was taken dangerously ill about this time, and
who made up society in the first half of this cen-
Ward nursed him as tenderly as though ne were
tury, He soon found himself head over ears in
a babe. Keene recovered, and out of gratitude
love with the daughter of William B. Astor, and
for Ward's attentions, to which he believed
after a short but characteristically vigorous
he owed his life, purchased a lot of Northern
courtship he won the lady's heart and inconti-
Pacific stock, held it in his name until tbe
nently married her. Miss Astor lived only three
profite amounted to a good fortune, and
years after her marriage, dying in 1840 and leav-
then turned the gain over to Sam. putting him
ing Sam with a daughter to care for. This child
on his feet again. With this money in his
subsequently became the wife of Congressman
pooket Sam closed up his house one day about
John W. Chanler. Mr. Ward subsequently mar-
two years ago, and started for Europe to spend
ried Miss Medora Grymes, the daughther of
the remainder of his days. He always pre-
New-Orleans lawyer, and this lady lived until a
ferred Europe to America, and it was the
few years ago. when she died in Paris, where she
dream of his life to be able some time to
had been living to educate her two sons. Sam
lived there. He was as hale and hearty when he
was not a domestic man in any sense of the word,
left this city, although 68 years old, as when a
and his married life was not altogether happy.
young man, and when disengaged and left to his
In the meantime, Sam continued in Wall-street
own whims was capable of clearing a big dish of
with his father, working a little, but enjoying
truffles en servietee, with a quart bottle of cham-
himself more, and living completely up to his
pagne to wash it down. and then going to bed
income, which was a handsome a peculiarity
and passing the night in dreamless repose.
which
characterized
him
through
life.
He
Sam Ward was. in the earlier days of his career.
was not a aomestic man in any sense or the word,
left this city, although 68 years old, as when a
and his married life was not altogether happy.
young man, and when disengaged and left to his
In the meantime, Sam continued in Wall-street
own whims was capable of clearing a big dish of
with his father, working a little, but enjoying
truffles en servietee, with a quart bottle of cham-
himself more, and living completely up to his
pagne to wash it down. and then going to bed
income, which was a handsome a peculiarity
and passing the night in dreamless repose.
which characterized him through life. He
Sam Ward was. in the earlier days of his career,
studied cook-books and improved on the prepara-
looked upon as a delightful essayist and a clever
tion of French dishes, imported his wines, select-
poet. More than a quarter ofa century ago, when
ing them with great care, and gave good din-
his sister, Julia Ward Howe, published her
ners to bis friends, until 1849, when the firm
volume of poems entitled 'Passion Flowers,"
of Prime, Ward & King succumbed to a financial
he declared that he could equal them, and
stringency, and he found himself a bankrupt on
some of his associates having expressed
the street. His courage, largely fed by his inim-
doubt of bis ability, he set to work.
itable animal spirits, which nothing could dash,
and in a few months issued a little book of
did not fail at this crisis. The California gold
poems, which was very favorably received. He
fever bad just broken out, and Sam thought he
was well up in Greek and the classics. and de-
saw a chance to retrieve his fortunes. He joined
lighted in referring to writers not generally
a party of "Argonauts" and sailed around
known. with whom he was familiar. such as Ja-
the Horn for San Francisco. Reaching the
cobi. Stendahl, Giordano Bruno, Helietius, and
Golden Gate, he saw that there was a
Holboch. Healways kept abreast of currentliter-
great lack of accommodations for the many car-
ature, and could give intelligent opinions of all the
goes which were flowing from the East, and in-
new books, whether philosophy, poetry. biogra-
stead of going to the mines be established an auc-
phy. or essay. He numbered among his friends
tion and mercantile house and at once gained 8
and acquaintances some of the most prominent
large and profitable business in that line of
men and women of Europe, including Prince
trade. He accumulated a large fortune in
Bismarck, King Humbert of Italy, Victor Hugo,
a very short time, notwithstanding the fact
President Grévy, Gladstone, Robert Browning,
that he spent recklessly as he went, but
the Prince of Wales, the Emperor Francis Jo-
fortune again smote him, and his warehouses
seph, the Czar of Russia, Thomas Huxley, the
and property were swept away in the great con-
poet Tennyson, Hortense Schneider, Mary E.
fiagration which visited San Francisco in 1851,
Braddon, Rhoda Broughton, Pope Leo XIII.,
when nearly $7,000,000 worth of property was de-
Paul de Cassagnac, Cardinal Newman, Don Car-
stroyed. Sam then went to the mines, but was
los. Alphonse Daudet, Sarah Bernhardt, the late
unsuccessful, and he passed a few months among
Charles Reade, Ernest Renan, Henri Rochefort,
the Piute Indians, who looked upon him as a won-
and the Duke of Argyll, and Dom Pedro, Em-
derful man, and made him a chief. It was
peror of Brazil.
his boast in after years that at this period of
his career he made a bet with a miner that he
could learn any Indian dialect in three weeks,
and that be won his bet by learning the Plute
dialect. The ways of the savages, wever, and
particularly their rude method of preparing food,
proved distasteful to him, and, after remaining
with them a year, he turned from them in dis-
gust and made his way back to this city.
He opened a small broker's office in Wall-street
in 1853. and began life once more in the midst of
civilization. His success was not great, but he
made enough to live well, and, according to his
invariable custom, spent all that he made on
himself and his friends. For the next nine years
he passed a kind of roving life, remaining
nowhere for any long period, visiting
Mexico, Paraguay, and Nicaragua, where he
went to secure the renewal of the transit across
the Isthmus of Panama, which was afterward
rendered useless by the blocking up of the har-
bor of Greytown with sand. In 1885 he appeared
in Washington, and entered upon what Talley-
rand has called the "best kind of diplomacy,"
the reconciliation of bostile political factions by
means of good dinners and social entertainments,
and from this time on Sam became known as
a national figure-better known, indeed. to
the country at large than Senators or Represent-
atives. He had only $5,000 as a capital upon
which to start when he went to Washington, but
he entered upon a career of splendor which daz-
ded the country and fairly bewildered the states-
men of the interior and far West with whom his
peculiar business often brought him in contact.
He soon became known as the King of
Lobbyists," a title of which he was proud,
and the Great Reconciler," a name in
which he took still greater delight. His
power as a mediator during the inglorious term
of Andrew Johnson became so great, and was so
generally recognized, that the mere fact that he
advocated a measure in Washington was looked
upon as strong argument in favor of its adop-
tion. He lived like a prince, entertained all the
brightest and most celebrated men of the coun-
try. treating all alike, indifferent as to their poli-
tics or religion. and gained an amazing influence
in national affairs, which he turned to good ac-
count for those.whom he favored.
All this Sam did through his power as gastro-
nomical pacificator. His theory was that the
way to win men's support and good will was
through their throats, and that the best, because
the most available, part of men's souls rests in
their stomaohs.i He acted on this belief through-
out his career as & lobyist, nearly 18 years, and his
exportance went far to justify his belief. No
person living had a more accurate understanding
of what constituted a perfect meal than Sam
Ward. He had made the matter & study since
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
47/Acadia,
DOX
441.
NAKA
1crl
Nollicia
101
UNITED STATES
RCHIVES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
File
December 23, 1946
MEMORANDU for the Superintendent,
Acadia National Park.
There is enclosed a copy of Superintendent Small's
memorandum of December 17, concerning the Dorr's family
collection of papers at Acadia, which is self-explanatory.
You will observe that he is interested in getting certain
information concerning these papers which might be useful
at Salem.
Be
would appreciate your comments on the questions
raised by Superintendent Small, and request that they be
sent to this office in four copies.
Thomas J. Allen,
legional Director.
nclosure 250
Cc:
Director w/attachment
ashington
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
NARA/COl R6791 CCF,1933-49/Acedia. Box 791.
Kabler
UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
54
December 19, 1946.
Mrs. Richard W. Hale,
Strawberry Hill,
R. F. D. No. 1,
Needham, Massachusetts.
Lear Mrs. Hale:
We are interested in collecting all the historical data we
can on the areas in the National Park System. Mr. George B. Dorr,
over a period of many years, was active in the establishment of
Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine, and became its first
superintendent. He was also interested in Salem Maritime National
Historic Site, Salem, Massachusetts, especially because of ancestral
associations.
We shall appreciate any references that you may suggest as to
possible sources of information covering Mr. Dorr's interest and
activities in the two above-mentioned areas.
Sincerely yours,
FILLORY A. TOLSON
Hillory A. Tolson,
HEX:1c
Assistant Director.
cc:/hr. Demaray.
Regional Director, Region One (2).
ARCHIVES
A/CPIR679/CCF,1933-49/Acdia Box 791.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site
Custom House, Derby Street
Salem, Massachusetts
December 17, 1946.
MEATOMANDUM for the Regional Director, Region One:
Reference is made to the memorandum of December 11 from Acting Regional
Director Cox quoting a paragraph from Superintendent Hadley's memorandum of
December 4 concerning historical material relative to Salem from former Super-
intendent Dorr's family papers at Acadia National Park.
The families of Gray and card were both important during the brilliant
era of Salem shipping and if letters and documents left by Mr. Dorr touch on
their business enterprises during this period or even only provide information
about their family life and activities, we are sure they would be of consider-
able interest and value here in Salem.
We find that the Essex Institute has the following on the Grays and Wards
in its collection of manuscripts:
Gray, William and Gray, William, dr.
Letters, etc., 1804-1852
1 envelope
card, John
Receipts, 1821-1822
1 envelope
ard, Joshua
Bills, 1758-1829; invoices, etc., 1781-1801;
letters, 1780-1804; shipping, 1781-1839
38 boxes
ard, Miles
1 envelope
Commercial, 1699-1819
1 portfolio
ard family
15 volumes
Commercial, 1709-1832
2 envelopes
It is our thought that former Superintendent Dorr's papers may possibly
contain desirable additions and supplements to the above collections. If this
is the case, they are for certain well worth further examination.
In this connection we would be interested to know whether it is intended
to retain all of former Superintendent Dorr's papers at Acadia National Park
or whether the pertinent family papers might be available for deposit here at
Salem.
NAL ARCHIVES
NARA /CP/ RG79/CCF, 1933-491Archia, Box 791.
If for the seantime the papers are to be kept intact at Acadia, we would
be very glad of the opportunity to examine them sometime during the course of
the next travel season when it may be possible as it is not now for us to motor
down that way.
Some further indication 38 to the quantity of the papers relating to the
Salem families and the way in which the papers are now preserved or stored
would be helpful.
(Sgd) Edwin W. Small
Edwin W. Small,
Superintendent.
CC: Regional Director, Region One (2)
Coord. Supt., Korristown MHP
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Ward Family of New York Samuel Ward (1814-1884) Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910
Details
1814 - 1910