William Bard

William Bard (April 4, 1778 – October 17, 1853) was a lawyer and pioneer in life insurance who founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company.

William Bard
President of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company
In office 1830–1847
Preceded by	Inaugural holder
Succeeded by	Morris Franklin
Personal details
Born	(1778-04-04)April 4, 1778 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	October 17, 1853(1853-10-17) (aged 75) Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Catherine Cruger ​ ( m. 1802; his death 1853)
Children	14, including John Bard
Parents	Samuel Bard Mary Bard
Alma mater	Columbia College

Early life

Bard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 4, 1778. He was the son of cousins, Mary (née Bard) Bard and Samuel Bard, a prominent doctor who was a founder of Columbia University's medical school and physician to George Washington.[1] His younger sister, Eliza, was the wife of John McVickar, the First Rector of St. James Church in Hyde Park and professor at Columbia University.[2]

His paternal grandparents were Suzanne (née Valleau) Bard,[3] a granddaughter and heiress of Pierre Fauconnier, and John Bard, a friend of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin who had invested in Hyde Park, then a 3,600 acre plantation.[4]

William graduated from Columbia College, in 1798 and began the study of law under Judge Maturin Livingston, the former Recorder of New York City.[1]

Career

After his marriage in 1820, they moved to Hyde Park where his father had transferred a large portion of his estate, together with a considerable fortune that his wife received from her grandmother, Madame du Nully of San Croix. Around 1826, Bard sold their estate in Hyde Park to David Hosack (the doctor who tended to the fatal injuries of Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804) and moved to Manhattan, before eventually settling in Staten Island where he purchased a large piece of property becoming the first of his family to reside on Staten Island. There he built a large house in West New Brighton, located on the north shore of the island, at Bard Ave. (which was named for him) and Delafield Place. He was offered the position of president of Columbia College, but declined the offer.[5]

He later founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, which was the first insurance company in New York,[6] and served as its first president.[7] After his retirement in 1847, he was succeeded by Morris Franklin, who served as president from 1848 until his death in 1885.[8]

Personal life

On October 7, 1802, Bard was married to Catherine Cruger (1781–1868) at Trinity Church in Manhattan.[9] Catherine was the daughter of Ann (née du Nully) Cruger and Nicholas Cruger (brother of Henry Cruger),[10] a slave-trader in St. Croix, West Indies.[4] Together, they were the parents of fourteen children,[lower-alpha 1] eight of whom lived to adulthood:[5]

• Samuel Bard (1803–1883), who died unmarried.[5]
• Anne Bard (1804–1834), who married Edward Prime (1801–1883),[11] son of Nathaniel Prime, in 1827.[5]
• Caroline Bard (1806–1883), who died unmarried.[5]
• Susan Bard (1812–1838), who married Ferdinand Sands (1806–1839),[12] a grandson of Comfort Sands.[13][14]
• Eliza Bard (1813–1902), who married Rufus King Delafield (1802–1874), brother of merchants Richard Delafield and Edward Delafield.[15]
• William Henry Bard (1815–1834), who died unmarried.[5]
• John Bard (1819–1899), who founded Bard College with his wife, Margaret Taylor Johnston (1825–1875), daughter of merchant John Johnston and sister of John Taylor Johnston, founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[5]
• Mary Bard (1821–1847), who married Arthur B. Morris.[5]

Bard died on October 17, 1853 at his home on Staten Island. He was buried in the family vault in St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. His widow, Catherine, died on October 14, 1868, also in Staten Island. Their Staten Island estate in the Livingston neighborhood, which was later owned by their daughter Eliza, became the Staten Island Cricket Club.

References

Notes

1. Their children that died in infancy were: Mary Bard (b. 1807), Catharine Bard (b. 1809), Nicholas Bard (b. 1816), Bertram de Nully Bard (b. 1817), Cruger Bard (b. 1823), and Nathaniel Pendleton Bard (b. 1825).[5]

Sources

1. Hirsch, Felix (October 1941). "The Bard Family". Columbia University Quarterly. Bard College Archives, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
2. Year Book of the Dutchess County Historical Society. Dutchess County Historical Society. 1938. p. 79. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
3. "The Bard Era (1764-1821) |". www.vanderbiltgarden.org. F. W. Vanderbilt Garden Association, Inc. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
4. Wilder, Craig Steven (2014). Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 229. ISBN 9781608194025. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
5. Helffenstein, Abraham Ernest (1911). Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants: With Some Account of the Allied Valleaux. Press of S. H. Burbank & Company. p. 95. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
6. Brooks, Charles E. (1996). Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution: The Holland Land Purchase. Cornell University Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780801431203. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
7. Report of the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company; made to the Chancellor of the State of New-York, March 29, 1831. New York Life Insurance and Trust Company. 1831. p. 24. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
8. "MORRIS FRANKLIN". The New York Times. 23 October 1885. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
9. "| Bard College: A 150 Year History". Hvmag.com. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
10. "COL. S. V. R. CRUGER ACCUSED.; John Bard Says that He Has Held Back Money Due Him Under His Wife's Will" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 February 1898. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
11. Hall, Henry (1895). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York. New York Tribune. p. 527. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
12. Johnson, Dale T. (1990). American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 193. ISBN 9780870995972. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
13. Davenport, Charles Benedict (1919). Naval Officers; Their Heredity and Development. Carnegie Institution of Washington. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
14. Schnurmann, Claudia (2018). A Sea of Love: The Atlantic Correspondence of Francis and Mathilde Lieber, 1839-1845. BRILL. p. 812. ISBN 9789004344259. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
15. "RICHARD DELAFIELD, BANKER, DIES AT 76; Chairman of Board of National Park Bank Succumbs at Tuxedo After Long Illness. MEMBER OF NOTED FAMILY He Was President of Bank for 22 Years and Official or Director of Other Corporations" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 August 1930. Retrieved 12 August 2019.

External links

• William Bard at Find a Grave