Charles A. Peabody Jr.

Charles Augustus Peabody, Jr. (April 11, 1849 – April 26, 1931)[1] was an American politician, lawyer, and prominent figure in New York banking and insurance.

Charles A. Peabody Jr.
Member of the New York State Assembly from the 11th district
In office
January 1, 1876 – December 31, 1876
Preceded byKnox McAfee
Succeeded byElliot C. Cowdin
Personal details
Born
Charles Augustus Peabody, Jr.

(1849-04-11)April 11, 1849
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 26, 1931(1931-04-26) (aged 82)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Charlotte Anita Damon
​
(
m. 1880; died 1912)
Children3
ParentsCharles Augustus Peabody
Julia Caroline Livingston
Alma materColumbia University
Columbia Law School

Early life

Peabody was born on April 11, 1849 in New York City. He was one of four children of Judge Charles Augustus Peabody (1814–1901)[2] and, his first wife, Julia Caroline (née Livingston) Peabody (1816–1878) who married at Trinity Church in 1846.[3] Among his siblings was brother Dr. George Livingston Peabody (who married Jane de Peyster Huggins),[4] Philip Glendower Peabody and Julia Livingston Peabody (the wife of Charles J. Nourse).[5][6] After his mother's death in 1878, his father remarried to Mary Eliza Hamilton. Mary was a cousin of Mrs. Astor, a daughter of John Church Hamilton and granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.[7] His father served one term on the Supreme Court of New York and was appointed a Provisional Judge in the District of New Orleans by President Abraham Lincoln.[7] After Mary's death in 1887, he married for a third time to Athenia Livingston (née Bowen), the widow of James Bowen (his "old-time warm friend and associate")[8] and daughter of Anthony Rutgers Livingston (brother to U.S. Representative Robert Le Roy Livingston).[5]

A Boston Brahmin, his paternal grandparents were Samuel Peabody (son of Capt. Richard Peabody of the Revolutionary War who commanded a Company at Fort Ticonderoga and Lake George) and Abigail (née Wood) Peabody. Her maternal grandparents were James Duane Livingston and Sarah (née Swift) Livingston.[3] Among his maternal family, all descendants of Robert Livingston, the 3rd Lord of Livingston Manor,[3] was aunt Alice Craufurd Livingston (wife of John Howard Tillotson), uncle Charles James Livingston (husband of Charlotte Lucia Merry) and aunt Louisa Livingston (wife of Oliver Hewlett Jones).[9]

Peabody attended Columbia University, where he played on the College's football team, graduating with the class of 1869, before attending Columbia Law School,[1] where he graduated in 1871.[10][11]

Career

After his admission to the bar in the 1870s, Peabody became a member of his father's firm, Peabody, Baker & Peabody, a law office at 2 Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. In 1875,[12] Peabody was elected to represent New York County's 11th district in the 99th New York State Legislature,[13] serving from January 1 until December 31, 1876,[14] when he was succeeded by Elliot C. Cowdin. His father ran for Surrogate in 1876.[15][16]

After his father's death in 1901, the firm continued under the name Baker & Peabody with Fisher Ames Baker as senior partner.[17] Baker was the uncle of George Fisher Baker, former president of Astor National Bank,[1] of which Peabody served as the first vice-president upon its formation in 1898.[18]

From 1893, until shortly before his death, Peabody was a trustee of the estate of the first John Jacob Astor, and was associated with William Waldorf Astor for many years as his representative in the United States after Astor moved to England.[19] Peabody also assisted with the creation of the Harriman State Park in 1910, through Mary Williamson Harriman (widow of railroad executive E. H. Harriman, with whom Peabody worked extensively with)[20] and Governor Charles Evans Hughes.[21]

After the "sensational insurance investigations by the Armstrong committee," Peabody was appointed president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company on January 1, 1906,[19] and worked from 32 Nassau Street.[22] When asked for an autobiography at the time of his appointment, he replied:

"I am a lawyer and have practiced in this city for about thirty years. There is nothing very exciting about my professional career. The only break in it was a short period during which I served in the State Legislature. The story of my life is just like that of a hundred other lawyers who work all the time at their profession and take an occasional day off on which to play."[1]

By the time of his retirement from Mutual Life on September 1, 1927,[23] he was "recognized as a leader in the advance of life insurance in America," and "in increasing the soundness of its foundations and in raising the esteem in which the business is held by the public."[1][24] Peabody was succeeded as president by David F. Houston, the former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Agriculture (under President Woodrow Wilson).[23] At various times throughout his life, he served on the board of directors, or trustees, of City Bank-Farmers Trust Company, Mutual Life Insurance Company, Wells Fargo & Co., the Astor Trust Company, Oregon Short Line Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway, Church Pension Fund, Delaware and Hudson Company (where he was a member of the board of managers), the Illinois Central Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.[22]

Personal life

On January 27, 1880,[10] Peabody was married to Charlotte Anita Damon (1842–1912),[25] the daughter of Anita (née Fales) Damon and John Wade Damon.[26] Together, they lived at 224 Madison Avenue in New York and had a country place at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. Charlotte and Charles were the parents of two boys and one girl, including:[27]

Peabody was a member of the University Club, the Metropolitan Club, the Piping Rock Club, the Tuxedo Club, and was a member of the Sons of the Revolution.[10]

His wife died at their Madison Avenue home in New York City on February 3, 1912.[25][33] After his wife's death, Peabody moved to 635 Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where he died on April 26, 1931. After a funeral at the Church of the Resurrection at 119 East 74th Street, he was buried alongside his wife at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[1]

Descendants

Through his eldest son, he was a grandfather of Julian Livingston Peabody Jr. (1914–2014), a lawyer with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Leiby,[34] and Daphne Peabody, who married Edward Eugene Murray, a Dartmouth College graduate who was the son of the Democratic Senator from Montana, James E. Murray, in 1944.[35]

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References
  1. "C.A. PEABODY DIES; INSURANCE FIGURE; Former President of Mutual Life Company Stricken at Age of 82. PRACTICED LAW 30 YEARS An Astor Estate Trustee and Director on Many Important Boards. Noted as a Lawyer. Retired in 1927" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 April 1931. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  2. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 July 1901. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  3. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1323. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  4. Kelly, Howard Atwood; Burrage, Walter Lincoln (1920). American Medical Biographies. Norman, Remington Company. p. 897. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  5. The Granite Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, History and State Progress. Concord, N.H.: J.N. McClintock. 1901. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  6. Record of the Descendents of John and Elizabeth Bull, Early Settlers in Pennsylvania. Shannon-Conmy. 1919. p. 144. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  7. "Ex-Judge Peabody Married: The Bride, the Guests, and Some of the Presents" (PDF). The New York Times. February 4, 1881. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  8. Mott, Edward Harold (1908). Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. New York: Ticker Publishing Co. p. 461. ISBN 9785880215393. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  9. 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. 1916. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  10. Who's Who in Banking. Business Press Incorporated. 1922. p. 527. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  11. Officers and Graduates of Columbia College, Originally the College of the Province of New York Known as King's College. General Catalogue 1754-1894. New York: Columbia College. 1894. p. 289.
  12. "Good Candidates to Elect.; William T. Graff, Robert H. Strahan, and Charles a. Peabody for the Assembly" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 October 1875. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  13. "Eleventh Assembly District.; Charles a. Peabody, Jr., Indorsed by the Best Citizens of the District. Rally of the Eleventh Assembly District Young Men's Republican Association" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 October 1875. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  14. Assembly, New York (State) Legislature (1914). Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York. p. 6. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  15. "Hon. Charles A. Peabody" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 November 1876. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  16. "Mr. Peabody's Acceptance" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 November 1876. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  17. Alborn, Timothy; Murphy, Sharon Ann (2018). Anglo-American Life Insurance, 1800–1914. Routledge. pp. 468–469. ISBN 9781351576512. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  18. "Opening of Astor National Bank" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 February 1898. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  19. "DECIDE ON C. A. PEABODY TO HEAD MUTUAL LIFE; Nominating Committee Unanimous in Recommending Him. TRUSTEES TO ACT TO-MORROW Was Original Candidate of Rogers-Baker Party -- Talking About Lawson's Proxy Hunt Now" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 December 1905. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  20. "HARRIMAN AND THE MUTUAL.; Its New President a Director in Two of His Railroads" (PDF). The New York Times. 16 December 1905. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  21. Senate, New York (State) Legislature (1910). Journal of the Senate of the State of New York. New York State Senate. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  22. Who's Who in New York City and State. L.R. Hamersly Company. 1914. p. 564. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  23. "PEABODY RESIGNS FROM MUTUAL LIFE; Will Leave Service on Sept. 1 After 22 Years as Head of Insurance Company. HOUSTON TO SUCCEED HIM Secretary of Agriculture and of the Treasury Under Wilson Has Had Varied Career" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 June 1927. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  24. "TRIBUTE TO C.A. PEABODY.; D.F. Houston, Mutual Life Head, Praises Predecessor" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 October 1927. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  25. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 February 1912. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  26. Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850: Births.- v. 2. Marriages and deaths. Wright & Potter Print. Company. 1914. p. 801. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  27. Marquis, Albert Nelson (1925). The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A.N. Marquis. p. 329. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  28. "DOUBLE FUNURAL FOR J. L. PEABODYS | Service Conducted in Church of Resurrection for Ship Disaster Victims. | NOTABLES ARE MOURNERS | More Than 500 Crowd Edifice at Final Honors to Memory of Architect and Wife". The New York Times. 29 January 1935. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  29. "JOHN D. PEABODY, 61, LAW FIRM MEMBER; Attorney Once a Director of Fulton Trust Co. Dies in Massachusetts Home" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 August 1944. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  30. Harvard University Class of 1906. Harvard University. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  31. "MISS PEABODY ENGAGED; Daughter of Charles A. Peabody to Wed Hamilton Hadden" (PDF). The New York Times. 2 September 1913. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  32. Hutto, Richard Jay (2006). Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members. Indigo Custom Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 9780977091225. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  33. "WOMAN OF WEALTH HAD MODEST JEWELS; Mrs. Charles A. Peabody Left a Large Fortune but Only $3,164 in Gems" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 July 1912. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  34. "Paid Notice: Deaths PEABODY, JULIAN". The New York Times. November 23, 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  35. "TROTH ANNOUNCED OF DAPIINE PEABODY; She Will Be Married to Lieut. E. E. Murray'of Air Forces, Son of Montana Senator" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 October 1943. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
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