James de Peyster Ogden

James de Peyster Ogden (August 26, 1790 – April 7, 1870)[1] was an American merchant, and businessman.

For the Attorney General of Indiana, see James M. Ogden.
James de Peyster Ogden
President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
In office
1856–1857
Preceded byFrederic De Peyster
Succeeded byGulian Crommelin Verplanck
In office
1850–1851
Preceded byJohn Alsop King
Succeeded byOgden Hoffman
President of the
New York Chamber of Commerce
In office
1842–1845
Preceded byIsaac Carow
Succeeded byJames Gore King
Personal details
BornAugust 26, 1790
New York City, U.S.
DiedApril 7, 1870(1870-04-07) (aged 79)
New York City, U.S.
SpouseLavinia Beckwith
Children3
Parent(s)Jacob Ogden Jr.
Mary Reade de Peyster
Signature

Early life

Ogden was born in New York City on August 26, 1790, a scion of two well-known New York families.[2] He was the only child of Dr. Jacob Ogden Jr. (1762–1802) and Mary Reade (née de Peyster) Ogden (1765–1790), who married in 1789.[1] His mother died a few months after his birth and his father, who was "intimately known and esteemed by the great Washington," had studied medicine alongside Dr. David Hosack when both were students of Dr. Samuel Bard.[3]

His paternal grandparents were Jacob Ogden and Elizabeth (née Bradford) Ogden. His maternal grandparents were James Abraham de Peyster (a grandson of New York mayor Abraham de Peyster) and Sarah (née Reade) de Peyster (daughter of vestryman and politician Joseph Reade).[4]

Career

Orphaned at age 11, he was adopted by a de Peyster aunt, who died shortly thereafter, and then he went to live with his uncle, Frederick de Peyster.[5] Ogden then began his business career as a clerk with Van Horne & Clarkson, a mercantile firm in New York City, and then spent several years in Liverpool, England as an agent for LeRoy, Bayard and Company, another mercantile firm. During the administration of President Andrew Jackson, he held the post of U.S. consul for Liverpool.[2][6]

Ogden served as the first president of the Atlantic Dock Company, chartered by New York State on May 6, 1840. The company developed the Brooklyn harbor by erecting a docks, warehouses, and a basin for deep water ships which today is known as Red Hook and South Brooklyn.[2]

In 1845, he began his three year tenure as the first president of Nautilus Insurance Company (today known as New York Life), which had also been chartered in 1840.[7] The company sold life, fire, and marine insurance,[8] as well as insuring the lives of slaves for their owners (although the company voted to end the sale of insurance policies on slaves in 1848).[9][10]

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

He was a member and president of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York,[11] an organization of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York, serving from 1850 to 1851, and again from 1856 to 1857.[12] He was also a founding member of the New York Chamber of Commerce,[13] of which he served as president of from 1842 to 1845.[14]

Personal life

Ogden was married to Lavinia Beckwith. Together, they were the parents of three children, two sons and a daughter,[1] namely Charles Richard Ogden (1840–1882), who married Bessie A. Jerome (d. 1918);[15] James Ogden;[1] and Mary Elizabeth Ogden, who married George Hyatt.[1]

Ogden died on April 7, 1870. His funeral was held at Trinity Church and he was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[16]

References
  1. Alstyne, Lawrence Van; Ogden, Charles Burr (1907). The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906. Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company. p. 109. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  2. "Guide to the Atlantic Dock Company collection 1978.151". dlib.nyu.edu. Brooklyn Historical Society. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  3. Barrett, Walter (1870). The Old Merchants of New York City: By Walter Barrett, Clerk [pseud.]. M. Doolady. pp. 92–98. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  4. McKito, Valerie H. (2015). From Loyalists to Loyal Citizens: The DePeyster Family of New York. SUNY Press. p. 114. ISBN 9781438458120. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  5. Belknap, Waldron Phoenix (1956). The De Peyster Genealogy. Harvard University Press. pp. 49–51. ISBN 9780674198012. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  6. Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Select Committee on the Extinction of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions (1833). Analysis of the Report of a Committee of the House of Commons on the Extinction of Slavery. Society for the Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions. p. 134. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  7. Hudnut, James Monroe (1906). History of the New York Life Insurance Company, 1895-1905. New York: New York Life Insurance Company. p. 2.
  8. "Landmarks Preservation Commission February 10, 1987; Designation List 187 LP-1512" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. February 10, 1987. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  9. Rachel Swarns (December 18, 2016). "Insurance Policies on Slaves: New York Life's Complicated Past". New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  10. "An early history of life insurance". Library of Congress. August 15, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
  11. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1905. p. 116. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  12. Youngs, Florence Evenlyn Pratt (1914). Portraits of the presidents of the society, 1835-1914. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. OCLC 682402324. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  13. New York Chamber of Commerce Collection, Monthly Bulletin, vol. 40 (1948–49), Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University.
  14. "UNION SQUARE SAVINGS BANK, 20 Union Square East a/k/a 101-103 East 15th Street, Borough of Manhattan. Built 1905-1907; architect Henry Bacon" (PDF). nyc.gov. Landmarks Preservation Committee. February 13, 1996. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  15. "Mrs. Bessie Jerome Ogden". Norwich Bulletin. March 26, 1918. p. 5. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  16. "The Late James De Peyster Ogden--Funeral at Trinity Church--Action of the Chamber of Commerce". The New York Times. April 10, 1870. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
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