Nathaniel Platt Bailey

Nathaniel Platt Bailey (June 7, 1809 – October 12, 1891)[1] was an American merchant and philanthropist.

Nathaniel Platt Bailey
26th President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
In office
1884–1884
Preceded byAbraham Riker Lawrence
Succeeded byCornelius Vanderbilt II
Personal details
Born(1809-06-07)June 7, 1809
Chateangay, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 12, 1891(1891-10-12) (aged 82)
Fordham Heights, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Eliza Meier Lorillard
​
(
m. 1836; his death 1891)
RelationsTheodorus Bailey (uncle)
Children3
ParentsWilliam Bailey
Phoebe Platt Bailey

Early life

Bailey was born on June 7, 1809, at Chateangay near Plattsburgh, New York. He was the son of William Bailey (1763–1840) and his second wife, Phoebe (née Platt) Bailey (1779–1859). His father's first wife was Hannah Hagaman, who died in 1798. Among his siblings was Phebe Altie Bailey, and Theodorus Bailey, John William Bailey, and Mary Elizabeth Bailey.[2] His father was a pioneer settler and surveyor in Clinton and Franklin Counties who later became a Judge.

His paternal grandparents were Altje (née Van Wyck) Bailey and Col. John Bailey. His uncle was Theodorus Bailey, a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from New York.[3] His maternal grandparents were Phebe (née Smith) Platt and Capt. Nathaniel Platt (brother of Zephaniah Platt and uncle to Judge Jonas Platt and New York State Treasurer Charles Z. Platt).[2]

Career

In 1824, Bailey came to New York and entered into business as a merchant, retiring when he was thirty-five years old.[1] He was a Vestryman of Trinity Church served as a senior Governor of New York Hospital.[1]

Bailey also owned 28 acres (11 ha) in the Bronx, part of what is now called West Fordham (formerly the site of Fort No. 6 during the Revolutionary War, extending from Fordham Road to Kingsbridge Road and from Bailey Avenue to University Avenue.[4] There, Bailey built a large mansion that overlooked the Harlem River, and, reportedly, the New Jersey Palisades to the west.[5] Upon his death, the estate was subdivided into streets and avenues and the bulk of the property became the grounds of the current U.S. Veterans Medical Center.[4]

Bailey was a member of the Union League Club, the Union Club, the Century Club and the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York, for which he served one term as president the 26th President in 1884, succeeding Abraham Riker Lawrence.[6] He previously served as third vice-president in 1879, second vice-president in 1880 to 1881, and first vice-president from 1882 to 1883.[7]

Personal life

On July 26, 1836, Bailey was married to Eliza Meier Lorillard (1815–1900).[8] Eliza was a daughter of Jacob Lorillard Jr., a wealthy leather merchant, and a granddaughter of Jacob Lorillard (son of Pierre Abraham Lorillard, founder of the Lorillard Tobacco Company). Her sister Emily Lorillard married Lewis G. Morris.[9] Together, they were the parents of three children, including:

Bailey died at his country residence in Fordham Heights in New York City on October 12, 1891. After a funeral at Trinity Chapel on West 25th Street, he was buried alongside his family in the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, New York.[1][15] In 1899, his Bronx estate was sold to the Sisters of Charity for $290,000 (equivalent to $8,912,280 today) and was used to operate the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum.[5]

Descendants and legacy

Through his son James, he was a grandfather of Alletta Nathalie Lorillard Bailey (1883–1935),[14] an amateur architectural historian and photographer,[16] who married Lewis Gouverneur Morris II (1882–1967)[17] in 1908.[18] After Alletta's death, Morris remarried to Anita de Braganza, widow of Prince Miguel, Duke of Viseu.[17][19]

Bailey is the namesake of a playground known as Bailey Playground and bounding Bailey Avenue in Kingsbridge, Bronx.[4]

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References
  1. "NATHANIEL PLATT BAILEY" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 October 1891. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  2. Platt, George Lewis (1891). The Platt Lineage: A Genealogical Research and Record. T. Whittaker. p. 124. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  3. 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. 11. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  4. "Bailey Playground Highlights : NYC Parks". www.nycgovparks.org. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  5. Munch, Janet Butler (1993). "Villas on the Hudson: An Architectural and Biographical Examination". The Hudson Valley Regional Review. 10 (2): 93–126. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  6. Youngs, Florence Evelyn Pratt; Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1914). Portraits of the Presidents of The Society, 1835-1914. New York, NY: Order of the Society. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  7. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: Organized February 28, 1835, Incorporated April 17, 1841 ... Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1923. pp. 170–174. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  8. Association, John Conrad Weiser Family (1960). The Weiser family: a genealogy of the family of John Conrad Weiser, the elder (d. 1746); prepared on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in America, 1710-1760. John Conrad Weiser Family Assoc. p. 210. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  9. Museum (R.I.), Newport Art (2000). Newportraits. University Press of New England. p. 186. ISBN 9781584650188. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  10. Senate, New York (State) Legislature (1908). Documents of the Senate of the State of New York. E. Croswell. p. 13. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  11. Dwight, Benjamin Woodbridge (1874). The History of the Descendants of John Dwight of Dedham, Mass. J.F. Trow & Son, printers. p. 289. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  12. Proceedings and Addresses at Ephrata, October 20, 1899. The Pennsylvania-German Society. 1900. p. 50. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  13. "Mrs. Alletta R. Bailey" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 February 1930. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  14. "MRS. LEWIS MORRIS DIES IN HER HOME; Wife of Descendant of Patriot Was Socially Prominent and Former Tennis Champion". The New York Times. January 14, 1935. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  15. New York Surrogate's Court Book of Wills 31 December 1891. Liber 466, Page 64.
  16. "Alletta Nathalie Lorillard Bailey Morris (1883-1935)". columbia.edu. Columbia University. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  17. "LEWIS G. MORRIS, 85, EX-MUSEUM TRUSTEE". The New York Times. 15 August 1967. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  18. "MISS ALETTA BAILEY WEDS LEWIS MORRIS; The Bridegroom Is a Descendant of Lewis Morris and Gov. Bradford. OTHER WEDDINGS OF A DAY Miss Georgia Gray Marries Frederick Henoken and Miss Arden Weds Lieut. George W. Beavers". The New York Times. 21 April 1908. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  19. Gray, Christopher (7 August 1994). "Streetscapes/100 East 85th Street; A Slim Town House Survivor on a Park Ave. Corner". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
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