Samuel_Denison_Babcock

Samuel D. Babcock

Samuel D. Babcock

American banker

Samuel Denison Babcock (May 16, 1822 – September 14, 1902) was an American banker.[1]

Quick Facts President of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, Preceded by ...

Early life

Babock was born on May 16, 1822, in Stonington, Connecticut. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin Babcock Sr. and Maria (née Eells) Babcock.[2]

His ancestors were natives of Essex, among the staunchest of Puritan families, who went to Leiden, Holland, before landing at Plymouth Rock in 1623 with one of the first parties of colonists following the Mayflower.[3] The family grew wealthy and rose to prominence, holding high civil and military positions during the American Revolutionary War.[3]

Career

At age fourteen, Babcock moved to New York City and began working as a bank messenger.[3] He later served as president of the International Bell Telephone Company and of the Central, Manhattan, Colonial, and New York Real Estate Associations and the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York;[4] vice president of the Providence and Stonington Steamship Company and the City and Suburban Homes Association; treasurer of the Improved Dwellings Association; a director of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, the New York and Harlem Railroad Company, the National Bank of Commerce in New York, the American Exchange National Bank, the Continental Insurance Company, the Guarantee Trust Company, the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, the United States Mortgage and Trust Company; a trustee of the Central Trust Company, the Fifth Avenue Trust Company, and of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. He was also a member of the Advisory Committee of the United States Lloyds.[3]

His business partners in property development ventures included William W. Woodworth and Henry L. Atherton.

In 1889, he served as president of the Finance Committee for the proposed World's Fair in New York in 1892.[5]

Personal life

On December 2, 1846, Babcock married Elizabeth Crary Franklin (1828–1881), a daughter of Richard L. Franklin and Evelina (née Crary) Franklin. Elizabeth's younger sister, Cornelia Fulton Franklin, was married to Samuel's younger brother, Charles Henry Phelps Babcock.[2] Together, they were the parents of:[6]

  • Henry Denison Babcock (1847–1918),[7] who married Anna Mary Woodward (1849–1923), a daughter of Robert Thomas Woodward.[6]
  • Evelena Franklin Babcock (1849–1908),[8] who married lawyer William Palmer Dixon (1847–1926)[9] in 1871.[lower-alpha 1]
  • Emily Franklin Babcock (1855–1925), who married banker Fordyce Dwight Barker (1847–1893), a son of Benjamin Fordyce Barker.[6]
  • Elizabeth Babcock (b. 1857)[6]
  • Frances Morris "Fanny" Babcock (1858–1940), who married Henry Alexander Murray, a grandson of Lt.-Col. Hon. Alexander Murray (son of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, a governor of the Province of New York).[6]
  • Maria Babcock (b. 1860)[6]
  • Parthenia Babcock (1863–1865), who died young.[6]
  • Kate Spaulding Babcock (1868–1923),[11] who died unmarried.[6]

His New York City residence was at 636 Fifth Avenue, and he had a country residence, Hillside, in Riverdale-on-Hudson, New York.[3][12]

His wife died at their Riverdale residence, Hillside, on May 28, 1881. Babcock died on September 14, 1902, at the Livingstone Cottage, his long-time summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts.[3] He was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Descendants

Through his son Henry, he was a grandfather of Alice Woodward Babcock (1877–1941), who married banker Henry Rogers Winthrop Jr. (1876–1958),[13] son of Buchanan Winthrop, in 1905.[14][15][16]

Through his daughter Evelena, he was the grandfather of Evelena Babcock Dixon (1873–1935), who married Eben Stevens, an 1892 Yale graduate who was the son of banker Alexander Henry Stevens.[17]

Through his daughter Fanny, he was a grandfather of Virginia Murray (1890–1980) (who married U.S. Representative Robert L. Bacon, son of Secretary of State Robert Bacon),[18] Henry Murray (1893–1988), the Harvard psychologist who developed a theory of personality called personology,[19] and Dr. Cecil Dunmore Murray (1897–1935).

References

Notes
  1. William Palmer Dixon (1847–1926) was the son of Courtlandt Palmer Dixon (1817–1883) and Hannah Elizabeth (née Williams) Dixon (1817–1888). He was a cousin of U.S. Representative and Senator Nathan F. Dixon III, a nephew of Nathan F. Dixon II, and a grandson of U.S. Senator Nathan Fellows Dixon.[10] William's sister, Priscilla Palmer Dixon (1851–1924), married Thomas C. Sloane and James Lent Barclay.[10]
Sources
  1. [1]
    Munch,Janet Butler (1993). "Villas on the Hudson: An Architectural and Biographical Examination". Lehman College, CUNY. pp. 96–97.
  2. [2]
    Babcock, Stephen (1903). Babcock Genealogy. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  3. [3]
    Times, Special to The New York (15 September 1902). "SAMUEL D. BABCOCK DEAD; Stricken Suddenly with Heart Disease at Lenox". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  4. [4]
    "CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PLAN; ITS RAPID-TBANSIT BILL TO BE TAKEN TO ALBANY TO-DAY. Provides for a Commission to Consist of the Mayor, the Controller, the President of the Chamber, Samuel D. Babcock, Seth Low, John Claflin, and Alexander E. Orr -- Roads to be Built at City's Expense if Private Capital Be Not Forthcoming". The New York Times. 16 March 1894. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. [5]
    "THE FINANCE COMMITTEE; MEN OF MILLIONS ORGANIZE FOR THE GREAT FAIR. SAMUEL D. BABCOCK CHAIRMAN--A NOTABLE ASSEMBLAGE AT CITY HALL--MR. SELIGMAN SUBMITS A PLAN. (Published 1889)". The New York Times. August 21, 1889. p. 1. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  6. [6]
    Babcock, A. Emerson (1903). Isaiah Babcock, Sr. and His Descendants. Eaton & Mains. p. 391. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  7. [7]
    "HENRY D. BABCOCK DEAD.; Retired Stock Broker Was Treasurer of St. Luke's Hospital". The New York Times. 2 June 1918. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  8. [8]
    Times, Special to The New York (3 May 1908). "Mrs. EVELENA FRANKLIN DIXON". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  9. [9]
    OBITUARY RECORD OF YALE GRADUATES: 1925-1926 (PDF) (TWENTY-SECOND SERIES | NUMBER TWENTY-TWO ed.). NEW HAVEN: BULLETIN OF YALE UNIVERSITY. August 1, 1926. p. 38. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  10. [10]
    "Mrs. Priscilla Barclay". The New York Times. 18 May 1924. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  11. [11]
    "Died". The New York Times. 15 October 1923. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  12. [12]
    Munch,Janet Butler (1993). "Villas on the Hudson: An Architectural and Biographical Examination". Lehman College, CUNY. pp. 96–97.
  13. [13]
    "Obituary 1 -- No Title" (PDF). The New York Times. November 15, 1958. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  14. [14]
    Who's Who in Finance, Banking, and Insurance. Who's Who in Finance, Incorporated (N.Y.). 1911. p. 724. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  15. [15]
    "HENRY R. WINTHROP TO WED.; Will Marry Miss Alice Woodward Babcock Next Autumn" (PDF). The New York Times. August 8, 1905. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  16. [16]
    "MISS BABCOCK WED TO HENRY R. WINTHROP; Guests at Ceremony Include the Duchess of Marlborough. MERRY RIDE IN OLD COACHES Dr. Stires Marries the Equitable's Financial Manager and the Daughter of Henry D. Babcock" (PDF). The New York Times. October 4, 1905. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  17. [17]
    Stevens, Eugene Rolaz; Bacon, William Plumb (1914). Erasmus Stevens and his descendants. Tobias A. Wright. pp. 16, 60–62. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  18. [18]
    "Robert L. Bacon To Wed. Ex-Ambassador's Eldest Son to Marry Miss Virginia Murray" (PDF). New York Times. February 21, 1913. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
  19. [19]
    Taylor, Eugene (1999). "Murray, Henry Alexander, Jr.". American National Biography (online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1400869. (subscription required)
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