5 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook of the Massachusetts-Born Merchant in the South, London-Based Banker, and Philanthropist's Life, Influence, and Related People, Places, Events, and Institutions. ©2007, By Franklin Parker & Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
This work updates and expands Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, ©1971, revised with illustrations ©1995), and the authors’ related George Peabody publications. Note: To read on your computer Franklin Parker’s out-of-print George Peabody, A Biography, 1995, as a free Google E-book copy and paste on your browser: http://books.google.com/books?id=OPIbk-ZPnF4C&pg=PP1&lpg=PR4&dq=Franklin+Parker,+George+Peabody,+a+Biography&output=html&sig=6R8ZoKwN1B36wtCSePijnLaYJS8
Background: Why these 1 to 14 blogs on George Peabody? The authors attended George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville (renamed Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ. July 1, 1979). Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” 1956, has been an ongoing research and writing interest for over 50 years. The authors’ intent is to perpetuate public memory of him.
George Peabody, now largely forgotten by scholars and the public, was significant as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South, beginning as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29); then head of Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-43), importing dry goods and other commodities worldwide for sale to U.S. wholesalers. He transformed himself from merchant into: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), which helped finance the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and by choosing Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner Oct. 1, 1854, was a root of the JP Morgan international banking firm.
Merchant-turned-banker George Peabody finally became: 3-the best known U.S. philanthropist of the 1850s-60s, founding the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; founder in the U.S. of 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), a model for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations.
Two tributes to George Peabody:
Historian John Steele Gordon called George Peabody the "Most Underrated Philanthropist.... Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time." Ref.: American Heritage. Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69.
"The Peabody Fund, established in 1867 by George Peabody to assist southern education, is often credited with being the first foundation…." Ref.: Reader's Companion to American History, ed. by Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991). Internet: http://HistoryChannel.com/
End of Background. HTML symbols are intended for blogging (ignore). This 5 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Harding, Abner Clark 1 to Lee, Mildred Çhilde.
GP's Union Loyalty Questioned
Harding, Abner Clark (1807-74). 1-Cast Doubt on GP's Union Loyalty. Abner Clark Harding was the U.S. House of Rep. member (R-Ill.) who on Mar. 9, 1867, cast doubt on GP's Union loyalty in the Civil War. This action occurred after Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced his joint Congressional resolutions: "Resolved: that both Houses of Congress present thanks to George Peabody of Massachusetts, for his gift for education for the South and Southeastern states.... Resolved: that the President of the United States have a gold medal struck to be given, along with these resolutions, to Mr. Peabody in the name of the people of the United States," March 5, 1867. See: Grimes, James Wilson (above). Congressional Gold Medal and Resolution of Praise to GP.
Harding, A.C. 2-Congressional Resolution and Gold Medal for GP. Sen. Sumner and Sen. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876, D-Md.) defended GP. The Senate voted 36 yeas, 2 nays (by Senators J. W. Grimes and T.W. Tipton), with 15 senators absent; passage in the U.S. House was on March 14, 1867. Pres. Andrew Johnson signed the Resolutions March 16, 1867. GP's Congressional Resolution and Gold Medal are displayed in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. Ref.: (On Rep. A.C. Harding), Boatner, p. 375.
GP’s Portrait by Chester Harding
Harding, Chester (1792-1866). 1-Portrait Painter. Under U.S. artist Chester Harding's portrait of GP, printed in "Baltimore's 150th Birthday," Maryland History Notes, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Nov. 1947), p. 1, is printed, "Painted during the early years of his maturity," probably in GP's early thirties. Chester Harding visited Baltimore in 1828 and again in 1830-31, when the painting may have been made. GP gave the oil painting on canvas, 30" x 25," in an oval frame, to Mrs. George Nathaniel Eaton (née Susan Brimmer Mayhew, 1824-86) of Baltimore on his last U.S. visit (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). She was the daughter of Baltimore merchant William Edwards Mayhew (1781-1860) and the wife of George Nathaniel Eaton (1811-74), the latter one of 16 original PEF trustees, who was the brother of Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93), original PIB trustee. A daughter of the George N. Eatons, Mrs. Charles R. Weld (née Frances Eaton, died March 13, 1947) donated this portrait to the Md. Historical Society, Baltimore. See: Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named.
Harding, Chester. 2-Career. Chester Harding was born in Conway, Mass., fought in the War of 1812, was a cabinet maker, sign painter, and largely a self-taught artist although he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Design. He painted portraits in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Boston; visited England in 1823 and 1843 and had three years of artistic and social success in London; and became a fashionable painter in Boston. His best known portraits are of Daniel Webster (1782-1852, one in the NYC Bar Association, another in the Cincinnati Art Museum), John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1843, the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C.), U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835), Henry Clay (1777-1852), and Washington Allston (1779-1843). Chester Harding died in Boston. Ref.: Grove Dictionary of Art Online (seen Feb. 9, 2000): http://www.groveart.com
Harding, Chester. 3-Others Who Painted GP's Portrait. Other known portraits of GP were painted by (in alphabetical order): a- British painter Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908); b-Boston-born George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-94); c-James Reid Lambdin (1807-89); d-Philadelphia-born photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), whose life-size photo of GP was said to have been painted over by Queen Victoria's portrait painter, Jules Arnoult, to resemble an oil painting; and e-London-born Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875). See: artists named. Engravers-artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Peabody, George, Portraits of. Schuler, Hans (for his bust of GP in N.Y.U. Hall of Fame). Story, William Wetmore (for his seated GP statue in London, a copy of which is in Baltimore).
Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., is where GP was buried Feb. 8, 1870. See Death and Funeral, GP's.
Harris, Gwinn (1780-1837). 1-GP Sought His Support to be Md. Fiscal Agent Abroad. Gwinn Harris is listed as a member of the Md. Governor's Council during 1835-37. GP wrote to him on Jan. 12, 1837, seeking and likely gaining Harris's support in his (GP's) successful effort to succeed Samuel Jones, Jr. (1800-74) as one of the three commissioners appointed to negotiate Md.'s eight million dollar bond sale abroad to promote internal improvements. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad (1837-47) and GP.
Harris, Gwinn. 2-Biographical Sketch. Little is known of Gwinn Harris. While not listed as a member of the Md. General Assembly, he is mentioned in "Joseph Harris of Ellenborough," Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 31 (1936), pp. 333-337, as Gwinn Harris of Charles County, one of thirteen children of Colonel Thomas Harris and Ann Gwinn, born April 27, 1780, [p. 334]. The Md. Archives lists Harris as deceased in 1837. The Southern Maryland Studies Center, Charles County Community College, Md., has an index entitled "Tombstone Inscriptions in Cemeteries in Charles County Maryland-Name Index," which indicates that his tombstone in Harris Cemetery, Mt. Tizrah, Rt. 257, Tompkinsville, Md., lists his birth date as April 27, 1780, and death date as Aug. 12, 1837.
GP & the Md. Historical Society
Harris, James Morrison (1817-98). 1-Praised GP, Jan. 30, 1857. James Morrison Harris was a member of the Md. Historical Society who praised GP at the society's reception for GP in Baltimore, Jan. 30, 1857, marking GP's first return visit to the U.S. from London in nearly 20 years. J.M. Harris said: "Mr. Peabody is a liberal friend of our Society. He donated some of our most valuable books and aided us in the erection of this building [Athenaeum Bldg. on Saratoga and St. Paul Sts., Baltimore]. I express for the people of Maryland thanks to him for sustaining our credit abroad during our darkest hour. I was in London twelve years ago and know personally of Mr. Peabody's hospitality. I saw with my own eyes the credit of our state assailed and then saved by our friend." See: Md. Historical Society.
Harris, James Morrison (1817-98). 2-Career. Born and educated in private schools in Baltimore, J.M. Harris entered Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. (1833) but left before graduation because of an eye infection. He worked in a Baltimore bank, cofounded the Mercantile Library of Baltimore, studied law under Baltimore lawyer David Stewart, and was admitted to the bar (1843). Failing health led him to travel abroad in England, France, Germany and Italy (about 1845). He served as Md.’s representative in the U.S. Congress (March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1861), stood strongly against Md.’s secession in the Civil War, and was active in educational and religious work, and spoke at the fiftieth anniversary of the Md. Historical Society (March 12, 1894). Ref.: Harris-a, p. 18. Harris-b, pp. 645-646. U.S. Govt.-f, p. 1139.
Harris, William Torrey (1835-1909), educational administrator and philosopher, was born in Conn. and educated at Yale College. He was public school superintendent, St. Louis, Mo., where with Susan Blow (1843-1916) he founded the first permanent public school kindergarten; was the fourth U.S. Commissioner of Education (1889-1906); and introduced the Hegelian philosophy into the U.S. He wrote as follows on the influence of the PEF: "It would appear to the student of education in the Southern States that the practical wisdom in the administration of the Peabody Fund, and the fruitful results that have followed it, could not be surpassed in the history of endowments." Ref.: quoted in Curry-a, p. 230. See: PEF.
Harrison, John Jacob (1822-88), Rev., is the Royal Navy Chaplain who participated in the Dec. 11, 1869, transfer of GP's remains from the funeral train at Portsmouth harbor, England, to the HMS Monarch. He was born in Yorkshire, educated at Shrewsbury School (graduated 1840 as John James Harrison) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Univ. (B.A., 1844; M.A., 1849); was ordained in York as deacon (1844) and Anglican priest (1845); and was Royal Navy Chaplain (1846-77), during which he served aboard HMS Royal Adelaide, won three medals, and was Chaplain of Haslar Hospital, the Royal Navy's hospital near Portsmouth, England. His obituary is in The Guardian, March 21, 1888. Ref.: "Harrison, J.J." See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Harrogate, England. For occasional rest and relaxation GP went to Brighton, a seaside resort, or the Sulphur and iron-rich mineral springs in Harrogate, in Yorkshire's old West Riding, North of England.
PIB-Johns Hopkins Libraries Merger
Hart, Evelyn (née Linthicum) (1923-85). 1-Integrated PIB-Johns Hopkins Libraries. Evelyn Hart, familiarly called Lynn Hart, was the librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library who, from July 1, 1982, supervised the merger of the PIB Library as part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library system. Background: GP's philanthropic example influenced Baltimoreans Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) to found Johns Hopkins Univ., Hospital, and Medical School (1876); and Enoch Pratt (1808-96) to found Enoch Pratt Free [public] Library (1882). In the mid 1960s the PIB Reference Library, in financial crisis, became part of the tax-supported Enoch Pratt Free Library (July 2, 1966-July 1, 1982, 16 years). When Baltimore's finances became strained, the PIB Reference Library became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library system from July 1, 1982. Some saw poetic justice in GP's gift to Baltimore being aided and sustained by institutes created by two Baltimoreans he had influenced. See: Persons named. PIB Reference Library.
Hart, Evelyn. 2-Career. Born in Baltimore, she graduated from Goucher College and earned a master's degree in library science from Catholic Univ. of America. She was school liaison librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library (1942-50), was head circulation librarian at Goucher College (1950-58), returned to Enoch Pratt Free Library as head of book selection (1965-76), and then headed the PIB Library of Enoch Pratt Free Library (1976-82) when, from July 1, 1982, she skillfully supervised the integration of the PIB Reference Library's 250,000 volumes and seven staff members into the Peabody Library department of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Ref.: Ibid.
Hart, Joseph Kinmount (1876-1949). See: PCofVU. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Harvard Astronomical Observatory. GP's thoughts about a gift to Harvard Univ. were: first to add to its astronomical observatory, then to found a school of design (probably art or architecture), and finally the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Oct. 8, 1866, $150,000. The Peabody Museum idea came partly through the influence of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), whose education, paid for by GP, enabled Marsh to become the first professor of paleontology at Yale Univ. and the second such professor in the world. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Harvard school of design (art or architecture). GP's second thought in regard to a gift to Harvard Univ., a school of design, probably art or architecture, had been suggested to him by former Harvard Univ. Pres. Edward Everett (1794-1865) Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Honorary Degrees
Harvard Univ., Honorary Degree to GP (July 17, 1867). 1-Oxford, June 26, 1867. Of the two honorary degrees GP received in 1867, he was present for the Doctor of Laws degree from Oxford Univ. on June 26, 1867. When his name was called, Oxford undergraduates and others applauded, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond doubt, Mr. Peabody." Ref.: (Oxford degree): Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 4-6. Oxford Chronicle and Berks and Bucks Gazette, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 1-2.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 2-Harvard, July 17, 1867. Harvard Univ. conferred the honorary Doctor of Laws degree on GP, July 17, 1867, in absentia (he was then in London). Harvard's honorary degree followed by nine months GP's gift (Oct. 8, 1866) of $150,000 to found the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard Univ. Some at Harvard would have preferred GP's gift to go to the liberal arts rather than for science. There were then disturbing theological doubts about the theory of evolution proposed in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859). The debate over evolution had swept England and Europe earlier but was delayed in the U.S. by the Civil War. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 3-Harvard Selling Degree? At the time of GP's gift to Harvard, evolution was being denounced from U.S. pulpits. This controversy may or may not have been behind the charge made against GP in the Worcester Daily Spy, July 26, 1867, that Harvard was "selling its degree": "[Harvard] college is flourishing.....It made one man a doctor...whose prescriptions, pellets or what not, to the tune of $150,000, will make up for Dr. Walker's diversion of his money to Amherst and elsewhere. I mean George Peabody, now a doctor of laws. I don't know about this. If it is not selling titles of honor what is it?" Ref.: (Harvard degree): Worcester (Mass.) Daily Spy, July 26, 1867, p. 2, c. 6. (Note: Harvard's Pres. James Walker, 1794-1874).
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 4-Doubt and Praise. At the 1867 commencement dinner Harvard's president ran through the year's gifts and said of GP's museum of science: "Then came the largest gift in amount, which, I know, disappointed many of the alumni, who had other views connected with the university,--the gift of George Peabody, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars--Dr. George Peabody, I should have said. He has given us one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and has placed it in the hands of the trustees; but the scientific use of it is under the control of the university. He has given [this amount] for the foundation of a museum and professorship, which should investigate and teach not only the highest of the actual existing, but the highest possible physical sciences, making a fitting crown to the museum of comparative zoology." Ref.: (Harvard commencement dinner): Boston Daily Advertiser, July 18, 1867, p. 2, c. 2-5.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 5-Harvard's Baccalaureate Sermon. GP was praised in Harvard's baccalaureate sermon: "In men of charity our country has been fortunate. There is one name which our University and our country will always honor and respect. I refer to our greatest benefactor, George Peabody. This man, in advanced age, looks back upon a life spent in charitable works. He sees the trees of benevolence he has planted bloom around him. He hears his father say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' Such men live on.....When men like George Peabody die, their light shines on as brightly as ever, and we never realize that they are not with us." Ref.: (Harvard baccalaureate sermon): Harvard Univ.-a, pp. 32-33. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Hassam, Childe (1859-1935), American artist whose painting The Ledges was part of a special "Exhibits of Contemporary American Art," 1911, Peabody Gallery of Art, PIB. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Havana, Cuba. The four Confederate agents seeking aid and arms from England and France had reached Havana, Cuba, and boarded the British mail ship Trent from which they were illegally removed Sept. 8, 1861. For the effect on GP of the Trent Affair, See: Trent Affair.
Haverhill, Mass. GP's father Thomas Peabody (1762-1811) was born in Andover, Mass., served in the American Revolution, and moved to Haverhill, Mass., where he met and married in 1789 (when he was age 27) Judith (née Dodge) Peabody (1770-1830), then age 19. Their first two children, David Peabody (1790-1841) and Achsah Spofford Peabody (1791-1821), were born in Haverhill, Mass. Thomas Peabody, farmer and sometime cordwainer (leather worker), then moved with his family to Danvers, Mass., whose water, good for tanning, made it a leather center. The third born of their eight children, GP, was born in the South Parish, Danvers, Mass., Feb. 18, 1795.
Havre-de-Grace, Md. On GP's second U.S. visit, May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, he went by train from Philadelphia (Oct. 24, 1866) with a stop at Havre-de-Grace, Md., where some PIB trustees came aboard to escort him to Baltimore for the Oct. 25 PIB opening and dedication and attendant events. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Hawaii. See: Bishop, Charles Reed.
PCofVU's First Dean
Hawley, Willis David (1938-). 1-PCofVU's First Administrator. Willis David Hawley was PCofVU's first dean from Oct. 15, 1980, to 1989. He came to Vanderbilt Univ. Aug. 1980 to teach political science and to direct the Center for Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt's interdisciplinary Institute for Public Policy. Born in San Francisco, he earned his teaching credentials along with the B.A., M.A., and Ph. D. degrees in political science from the Univ. of California, Berkeley. He taught political science at Yale Univ. (1969-72) and co-directed Yale's training of secondary school teachers. He taught political science at Duke Univ. (1972-80) and directed its Center for Education Policy. He was on leave from Duke (1977-78) to help plan the cabinet-level U.S. Dept. of Education under Pres. Jimmy Carter. Ref.: Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Hawley, W.D. 2-Subsequent Administrators. PCofVU's first Dean Hawley was succeeded by PCofVU's second Dean James William Pellegrino (1947-, dean during 1992-Aug. 1998), who was succeeded by PCofVU third Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (1956-) from Aug. 1998. W.D. Hawley was subsequently dean, Univ. of Md. College of Ed., College Park (1993-98) and lives in Annapolis, Md. Where he serves as director of the federally funded National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. For his influence on PCofVU and for details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, See: PCofVU, history of.
Hawthorne, Charles (Webster) (1872-1930), was an artist born in Lodi, Ill., who established the Cape Cod School of Art, Provincetown, Mass. (1899), and whose painting Fisher Boys was part of a special "Exhibits of Contemporary American Art," 1911, Peabody Gallery of Art, PIB. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-64), was the famed author of The Scarlet Letter. GP's sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell's (1799-1879) husband, lawyer Jeremiah Russell (d. 1860), sent GP a copy of the Salem, Mass. Register, June 11, 1849, containing an article, p. 2, c. 1, about Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had left his job as surveyor at the Salem Custom House and was replaced by Captain Allen Putnam. Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with GP, was one of 29 great Americans elected to the Hall of Fame of NY Univ., 1900. Ref.: copy of Salem, Mass. Register, June 11, 1849, in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See Hall of Fame, NYU.
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard (1822-93), was a PEF trustees for 15 years, succeeding trustee Samuel Watson of Tenn. R.B. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio; graduated from Kenyon College (1842), graduated from Harvard Univ. Dale Law School (1845), where second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1828-1903) was a classmate; served in the Civil War, and was the 19th U.S. president during 1877-81. Ref.: Curry-b, pp. 76, 91, 103-104, 138. Boatner, p. 389. See: Conkin, Peabody College, index. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
Headstart. Project Headstart, a U.S. national preschool enrichment program was inspired by educational experiment in Nashville, 1965, by GPCFT Early Childhood Education Prof. Susan Gray (1913-92). See: Gray, Susan.
GP’s Portrait by G.P.A. Healy
Healy, George Peter Alexander (1813-94). 1-Painted GP's Portrait. Boston-born artist George Peter Alexander Healy painted a full length portrait of GP in late April 1854 (GP was then age 59). Shortly before, while he was still a struggling artist in Paris, he was contacted by GP's friend and sometime agent, Vt.-born London resident bookseller Henry Stevens (1819-86). Stevens, then visiting Paris and acting as GP's agent, contracted Healy to paint GP's portrait for $1,000. The portrait was intended for the trustees of GP's first Peabody Institute Library in South Danvers, Mass. (founded in 1852; South Danvers was renamed Peabody, Mass., April 13, 1868). Healy ordered an elaborate frame and secured an engraving artist who copied the portrait on a plate from which copies could be made. He also painted a bust from the full-length portrait. Ref.: Healy. Va. Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., p. 43.
Healy, G.P.A. 2-GP Aided the Portrait Painter. Healy mentioned to GP his desire to try his fortune in the U.S. GP gave him letters of introduction to friends in Chicago. GP also acted as Healy's agent in collecting a $3,000 debt of two years' standing for a Healy portrait owned by U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear (1800-60). Healy wrote to GP on July 23, 1854: "Everything has prospered with me since the success of your picture." Ref.: George P.A. Healy, Paris, to Henry Stevens, March 29, 1854; George P.A. Healy, Paris, to GP, April 7, 1854; June 14 and 19, 1854; July 23, 1854; Aug. 5, 21, and 27, 1854; George P.A. Healy, Chicago, to GP, Nov. 9, 1857; and July 22, 1858, all in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Healy, G.P.A. 3-Healy's GP Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. Healy's portrait of GP is in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., with reproductions in at least two books. Healy's portrait of GP is mentioned but does not appear in De Mare, p. 206. Ref.: (Prints of Healy's GP portrait): Burk, facing p. 80. Kenin, p. 94. De Mare, p. 206.
Healy, G.P.A. 4-Career. At age 17 Healy set up a studio in Boston, encouraged by British-born artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872), then doing portraits in Boston. Healy opened a studio in Paris and traveled to and worked in London, Rome, and the U.S. His best known portraits are of U.S. Minister to France Lewis Cass (1782-1866); a seated and reflective U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln in 1864; and other famous persons. Ref.: Grove Dictionary of Art Online (seen Feb. 9, 2000): http://www.groveart.com
Healy, G.P.A 5-Others Who Painted GP's Portrait. Other known portraits of GP were painted by (in alphabetical order): a-British painter Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908); b-Conway, Mass.-born Chester Harding (1792-1866); c-James Reid Lambdin (1807-89); d-Philadelphia-born photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), whose life-size photo of GP was painted over by artist Aed Arnoult, said to be Queen Victoria's portrait painter, to resemble an oil painting; and e-London-born Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875). See: artists named. Engravers-artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Peabody, George, Portraits of. Schuler, Hans (for his bust of GP in N.Y.U. Hall of Fame). Story, William Wetmore (for his seated GP statue in London, a copy of which is in Baltimore).
Heard, Alexander (1917-), was VU chancellor (1963-82) who with VU's only Pres. Emmett B. Fields (1923-) held talks with GPCFT's sixth Pres. John Dunworth (1924-), leading to the PCofVU merger, July 1, 1979. Retiring from VU in 1982, he was chairman of the Ford Foundation board for 16 years, was director of Time, Inc., and lives in retirement in Nashville. See: PCofVU, history of. Persons named. Conkin, Peabody College index.
Heath, William. The Panic of 1857's effects on GP, his illness, his age (63), and his wanting to put his philanthropies in order made him write as follows to a William Heath of Boston, who applied for a position with him: "The influence of the panic year upon my feelings have been such as to greatly modify my ambitious views and I have fully determined not only to keep snug during the terms of my present copartnership but if my life is spared to its end to then leave business entirely and shall most likely pass any remaining years that may be allotted me by Providence in my native land." Ref.: GP to William Heath, Boston, Dec. 9, 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Heidelberg, Univ. of. GP's nephew, Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), attended the German universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Breslau in 1863-65. At his uncle GP's expense he prepared for a career as the first U.S. paleontology professor at Yale Univ. and the second such professor in the world. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles.
GP & Queen Victoria
Helps, Arthur (1813-75). 1-Queen Victoria's Advisor. As clerk of Queen Victoria's Privy Council, Arthur Helps acted as intermediary between the Queen and GP in their exchange of letters just before GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869. Arthur Helps was a British essayist and historian, educated at Eton and Cambridge, was private secretary to Lord Monteagle (Thomas Spring-Rice, first Baron Monteagle of Brandon in Kerry, 1790-1866, Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 1835), clerk of the Privy Council (1860-75), and was created a K.C.B. (1872). Helps wrote the multi-volume The Conquerors of the New World (London: Pickering, 1842-52), Spanish Conquest in America (London: J.W. Parker, 1855-61), and other works.
Helps, Arthur. 2-GP Planned Last U.S. Visit. In May 1869, in his 75th year, having recovered from his last severe illness, GP determined not to delay his intended U.S. visit which he feared might be his last. Wanting to look into the operation of his institutes, add to them, and double his gift for southern education (PEF), he wrote Baltimore friend John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), May 22, that he intended to sail on the Scotia for NYC, adding "I fear if I postpone this visit until next year it will be too late." PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) also expressed concern about GP's health in a May 20 letter to PEF trustee Hamilton Fish (1808-98), then U.S. Secty. of State: "Recent advices from Mr. Peabody make me very apprehensive that he is more ill than we had anticipated." Ref.: GP, London, to John Pendleton Kennedy, May 22, 1869, Kennedy Papers, PIB. Ref.: Robert Charles Winthrop, Brookline, Mass., to Hamilton Fish, May 20, 1869, "Correspondence of Hamilton Fish," LX, Nos. 7930 and 7931, Library of Congress Ms.
Helps, Arthur. 3-Helps Visited GP. One delicate matter troubled GP in regard to a U.S. visit that might be his last. It involved Queen Victoria. GP let Arthur Helps know that he wished to see him. Arthur Helps reported GP's concern in a note to the Queen.
Helps, Arthur. 4-Helps Reported to the Queen: "Before Mr. Peabody left England he expressed a wish to see Mr. Helps. Mr. Helps accordingly went to see him. He found him very unwell, and that he had rather suddenly determined to go to America, to settle certain affairs there, and then, in about a year's time, to return to England." Helps continued: "The object of the interview which was, of course, brought out with some hesitation, and at some length was practically to this effect (Helps explained)."
Helps, Arthur. 5-Helps Reported to the Queen Cont'd.: "Mr. Peabody would find it very uncomfortable to him, and it would put him in an awkward position, to be asked, as he knew he should be asked perpetually, whether he had an interview with the Queen. He also thought and feared much that when he should reply in the negative, it might occasion some unpleasant remark, and might in some minds, diminish the affectionate respect with which your Majesty is regarded in the United States."
Helps, Arthur. 6-Helps Reported to the Queen Cont'd.: "He then suggested that a letter from Your Majesty might be useful." Helps enclosed with his report to the Queen a draft of a letter which the Queen, if she decided to write GP, might use as a guide. This correspondence was reviewed by the Queen's advisor Gen. Charles Grey (1804-70), who suggested a few changes. Ref.: General Charles Grey to Queen Victoria, June 20, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/31, Windsor Castle, England.
Helps, Arthur. 7-Queen Victoria to GP. Queen Victoria's letter dated June 20, 1869, reached GP in Salem, Mass. It read: "Windsor Castle, June 20, 1869. The Queen is very sorry that Mr. Peabody's sudden departure has made it impossible for her to see him before he left England, and she is concerned to hear that he is gone in bad health." Her letter continued: "She now writes him a line to express her hope that he may return to this country quite recovered, and that she may then have the opportunity, of which she has now been deprived, of seeing him and offering him her personal thanks for all he has done for the people. Queen Victoria." Ref (Queen Victoria's June 20, 1869, letter): Arthur Helps, Privy Council Office, to H.M. Queen Victoria, June 19, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/30; and Arthur Helps draft letter from Queen Victoria to GP, June 20, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/30, both Windsor Castle, England.
Helps, Arthur. 8-At GP's Westminster Abbey Funeral Service. The New York Times printed Queen Victoria's letter to GP and added: "Queen Victoria has paid our great countryman a delicate and graceful compliment. Mr. Peabody left England unexpectedly, his departure known only to a few friends. His feeble health became known to the Queen through London newspapers. With her goodness of heart which Americans never fail to appreciate she sent him a personal letter." GP made his last visit to the U.S. (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869) and returned to London where he died Nov. 4, 1869. Among those at his funeral service in Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869, were Arthur Helps and Gen. Charles Grey, representing Queen Victoria. See: Death and funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin.
Henry, Joseph (1797-1878), first director of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., was the first lecturer in the PIB Lecture Series in 1866. See: PIB Library.
Henry, William Wirt (1831-1900), was a PEF trustee. He was born in Red Rock, Va., graduated from the Univ. of Va., practiced law, was elected to the Va. legislature four times, was an historical researcher, president of the American Historical Association and the Va. Historical Society, and is best known for his Life, Correspondence, and Speeches of Patrick Henry (3 vols., 1890-91).
Her Majesty's Theatre, London. Musicians from Her Majesty's Theatre, London, gave a concert at GP's July 4, 1851, U.S.-British friendship banquet at exclusive Willis's Rooms, London. Most of the 800 guests were connected with the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, the first world's fair. The Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852) was the guest of honor. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Herald (New York Herald). Founder and editor James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872) was born in Keith, Scotland; came to the U.S. in 1819, was Washington, D.C., correspondent of the NYC Enquirer, assistant editor of the NYC Courier and Enquirer (1829-32), and founder and editor of the New York Herald (1835-72), a U.S. newspaper known for its sensationalism. For Bennett's criticism of GP in the New York Herald during GP's Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, with sources, See: Bennett, James Gordon. Corcoran, William Wilson. Morgan, Junius Spencer. Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Hibbs, Henry Clossen (1882-1949), architect, was chosen by first Pres. Bruce R. Payne (1874-1937) to design the GPCFT campus next to Vanderbilt Univ., after Thomas Jefferson's architectural plan for the Univ. of Va. Hibbs, born in Camden, N.J., was educated at the Univ. of Penn, worked in Philadelphia and NYC, came to Nashville as head of NYC’s architectural firm of Ludlow and Peabody, and designed, besides GPCFT, such other landmark Nashville buildings as Fisk Univ. Library, Meharry Medical College, and Scarritt College. Ref.: Hoobler, pp. 422-423. "Architect Helped Build City’s Colleges," Tennessean (Nashville), Sept. 25, 1999, p. lB. See: Payne, Bruce Ryburn.
Peabody Normal College, Nashville
Hicks, Edward D. III (1831-94). 1-Univ. of Nashville Trustee. Before his 1911 retirement as Peabody Normal College president, former Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912) told how he helped first PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) establish the Peabody Normal College on the campus of the Univ. of Nashville: "...I was with Dr. Sears, the first General Agent of [the] Peabody Board in 1875 [PEF], and he said to me, 'If you will furnish the house I will establish a normal college in Nashville. I am satisfied it is the best place in the South.' This was within twenty minutes of my inauguration as Governor of the State."
Hicks, E.D., III. 2-Tenn. Gov. J.D. Porter Cont'd. "I said to him, 'Meet me here tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock and I will inform you whether I can secure the building for you. I am very anxious to see the school established. Before that hour I interviewed Judge William F. Cooper [1820-1909], Edwin H. Ewing [1809-1902], Edward D. Hicks, III, and other members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville and obtained from them consent to establish the college in buildings of the University, and when Dr. Sears called I was able to offer him the most eligible building and the best location of any point in the City of Nashville. He accepted the offer, and in the winter following, the school was organized and entered upon a career of the very greatest success." See: PCofVU. PEF. Persons Named.
GP's Commercial-Banking Career
Hidy, Muriel Emmie (1906-85). 1-Economic Historian. Muriel Emmie (née Waganhouse) Hidy was assoc. prof. of economics at Wheaton College, Norton, Mass. Her 1939 Ph.D. dissertation in economics at Radcliffe College, woman's division of Harvard Univ., was published with a new preface as George Peabody, Merchant and Financier, 1829-1854 (New York: Arno Press, 1978). The 25 crucial years she covered of GP's commercial career was based on his papers at the Essex Institute (now Peabody Essex Museum), Salem, Mass., and on related papers in other depositories. She aided her husband's research (he was history prof. at Wheaton College) for his 1935 Harvard Univ. doctoral dissertation, published with additions: Ralph W. Hidy (1905-77), The House of Baring in American Trade and Finance, English Merchant Bankers at Work, 1763-1861. Harvard Studies in Business History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949). Ref (M.E. Hidy) Ref.: Wheaton College Library faculty archives, Norton, Mass. (Her obits.): Belmont (Mass.) Citizen, Oct. 24, 1985; Belmont (Mass.) Herald, Oct. 26, 1985. Ref (Ralph W. Hidy): Hidy, R.W.-a, pp. 53-56. Hidy, R.W.-b, 131-145. See: Peabody, George, Biographies.
Hidy, M.E. 2-Economic Historian Cont'd. Trained in economic history, having helped research her husband's related and larger scoped work, M.E. Hidy intended to follow her dissertation with a never completed GP biography. Thoroughly knowledgeable about GP's business career, M.E. Hidy's key insights about GP's business career are given below. Ref (Muriel Emmie Hidy's writings on or mentioning GP): Hidy, M.E.-a, pp. 1-6; Hidy, M.E.-b, p. 1-19. Hidy, M.E.-c. Ref (Writings on or mentioning GP by joint authors R.W. Hidy and M.E. Hidy): Hidy, R.W. and M.E. Hidy.
GP as Dry Goods Importer
Hidy, M.E. 3-On GP's Business Career: "The real start of Peabody's career was as an importer of dry goods to Baltimore, but he entered into several side speculations. He sold some goods to other American cities as well as to China and to South America. As purchaser for his firm, Peabody, Riggs & Co., [he] lived in England. There he secured the short term credits so important in financing American trade and, while handling the financial end of his own house, gradually undertook the same functions for others." Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 361.
Hidy, M.E. 4-On GP from Merchant to Merchant Banker: "The prosperous early thirties were followed by the difficulties of the years from 1836 to 1843 and Peabody, Riggs & Co., after years of success, declined. In addition to the cyclical changes of the period, there were other factors which played a part in Peabody's leaving the dry goods business. The relative decline of the Baltimore market, the growth of American manufactures, the frequent and unsettling changes of the tariff, the improvements in transportation, which not only favored New York but also dictated smaller stocks and more rapid turnover, all changed the trade. Profits were not those which Peabody had enjoyed earlier and he therefore turned to his new interest." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 361-362.
GP as Merchant Banker
Hidy, M.E. 5-On GP from Merchant to Merchant Banker Cont'd.: "Peabody had the attributes necessary for merchant banking and in the years between 1837 to 1843 [he] gradually laid the foundations of a [banking] house. He had experience, capital and credit acquired in his earlier business. To these resources were added the gains from successful speculation in American securities during the period of lack of confidence in American credit [i.e., after the Panic of 1837 nine states, including Md., temporarily stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad]. By trade and speculation Peabody had acquired the capital on which to build a house serving American traders and financiers." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 6-On GP 's Business Partnerships: "In the course of his career Peabody entered into several close business relations with other men. The partnership was a very common form of organization; it provided for the pooling of capital and a diversity of abilities. In the case of an international banker, it provided significant contacts in another country. Peabody, resident in England when a dry good merchant, had [as U.S.] partner, Samuel Riggs [d. 1853].... As a merchant banker in England Peabody needed a representative in the United States. Between 1844 and 1847 this object was achieved through a secret partnership with two rich and experienced business men, William S. Wetmore [1802-62, Vt.-born NYC merchant], and John Cryder." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-363.
Hidy, M.E. 7-On GP 's Business Partnerships Cont'd: "Another device to achieve the linking of mutual interests was the joint account, and for a time Peabody operated an exchange account with a New Orleans firm, Robb & Hoge.... Later Peabody allowed various firms to open credits for others on his house on the basis of sharing risks and commissions. After 1851...he preferred to do...business on a commission basis. Houses in the United States with the right to grant credits on him had to assume all the risks, as they did in exchange accounts, but in return Peabody shared with them his commissions.... The partnership with Wetmore & Cryder gave Peabody an important contact in China, Wetmore & Co., which he fostered...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-363.
GP Selling Md.'s Bonds Abroad
Hidy, M.E. 8-On GP's Sale of U.S. Bonds Abroad: "In the years which followed [1839-42] he was an active dealer in depreciated American securities and through his knowledge, confidence, methods and the size of his operations was very successful during the period of liquidation. Peabody claimed that in American securities he was the most important dealer.... "In the 1830's he had served as the agent for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in marketing Maryland bonds. In 1848 [after the nine defaulting states resumed retroactive interest payments on their bonds sold abroad], when some confidence was reinstated in American securities in England and a market could be developed on the continent, Peabody played his part in marketing the Mexican War loan. Later, he sold other bonds on joint account with parties in the United States, including state securities such as Virginia bonds and later railroad bonds. Finally, in 1853 his firm marketed alone an issue of Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company bonds on the English market." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-364.
Hidy, M.E. 9-On GP's Sale of U.S. Bonds Abroad Cont'd.: "It was natural that Peabody, interested in American credit, should play a part in reinstating confidence during the period of default after 1841. He continued to perform the function of informing his English friends about American securities and his American associates about the English market. "Granting credits to other merchants did not prevent Peabody from entering directly into mercantile pursuits.... The most spectacular of his operations were in grain and iron. During the Irish crop failures Peabody and his partners, Wetmore and Cryder, undertook large exportations of Indian corn from the American market and the difficulties which arose indicated some of the problems of a businessman in an age with no Atlantic cable and comparatively poor transportation facilities...." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 10-On GP Buying British Iron for U.S. Railroads: "In the 1850s the trade which offered the greatest possibility of profit to Peabody was the exportation of British iron for American railroads. His joint account operations with a New York house, Chouteau, Merle & Sanford, and an American merchant in London, C.[urtis] M.[iranda] Lampson [1806-85, Vt.-born fur trader who became rich and a British citizen], illustrates well the flexibility of a joint account. The New York house sold iron, C. M. Lampson purchased it, Peabody acted as banker and the three shared profits...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 365.
GP’s Social Life
Hidy, M.E. 11-On GP's Social Life: "Peabody's personal social life contributed to his advancement. He had a vigorous personality, and, in spite of a humble origin, apparently found little difficulty in moving in prominent circles. An ability to attract firm friends among his business contemporaries gave him many useful connections....He benefited by the confidence which as a young man he had awakened in Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. Later his amiability brought him close association with Wetmore, Cryder, Sherman and Lampson. Corcoran [William Wilson Corcoran, 1798-1888], the friend of the American government, was attracted to Peabody by their mutual interest in the Riggs family, but letters indicate that a warm friendship cemented their business relations...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 355-356.
Hidy, M.E. 12-On GP's Social Life Cont'd.: "A comfortable picture of Peabody could be painted [in] his bachelor apartment in London in the forties. E.[zra] J.[enks] Coates, the tall Bostonian, would be relaxed on the couch and Richard Bell, the energetic Englishman, would be arguing the Maine boundary question with the patriotic American, Peabody [over rump steak, ale, or sherry]. Or on another occasion [May 18, 1843] the two bachelors, Peabody and Coates, would be seen entertaining 'all the respectable Americans in London...about 40.' Such contacts contributed...to Peabody's enjoyment...[and] to his knowledge of men and affairs. Intimate letters from the friends of his youth in America added to his understanding of events in the United States and even the local gossip...aided him in formulating his own credit rating of men in America." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 355-356.
Hidy, M.E. 13-On GP's Entertaining U.S. Visitors: "For one who wished to make his firm in England a center of American news and business, a ready personality was an asset. However spontaneous were Peabody's gifts of American apples, Boston crackers, a dish of hominy or some other delicacy from the United States, the business results might follow. When a prominent American visited England in the eighteen fifties, he was likely to have a letter of introduction and Peabody saw that he was well received. A box at the opera with the lavish corsage for the lady, or some other pleasant attention, had a mellowing effect. Peabody had the reputation of entertaining every American who arrived with a letter of credit. ...In July, 1855 [he] remarked that he had entertained eighty Americans for a dinner and thirty-five at the opera within a week." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 357-358.
GP’s U.S-British Friendship Dinners
Hidy, M.E. 14-On GP's U.S-British Friendship Dinners: "Peabody combined his delight in large entertainments with his interest in forwarding amicable relations between Americans and Englishmen. In the fifties he became known for his lavish dinners given in honor of various notable persons, such as the American minister. It was during the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that he gave the first of his July 4th dinners which were to be a feature of London life in the decade before the Civil War." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 15-On GP's U.S-British Friendship Dinners Cont'd.: "There had been several irritations to mar the tranquillity of the relations between the two English speaking peoples and the date selected for a big dinner appeared hardly one on which to stimulate the happiest memories. But George Peabody invited the aged Duke of Wellington as guest of honor and prominent social and business leaders perforce accepted his invitation. Among the guests were Thomas Baring, J.P. Horsley Palmer [d. 1858] and Peabody's old partner, Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. That the occasion caught the public fancy is indicated by the large and friendly newspaper reports on the occasion.... The London Times even mentioned the dinner in its brief review of the business for the year 1851. This and later banquets were a great success. Whatever their effect on international relations, they appear to have been social triumphs and to have given Peabody much publicity." Ref.: Ibid.
GP's Philanthropy
Hidy, M.E. 16-On the Impact of GP's Philanthropy: "When the American exhibitors [to the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, the first world's fair] needed funds because Congress had failed to provide aid, Peabody advanced them £3,000 [$15,000]. It took him so many years to collect the sum owed that it was often mentioned in the list of his contributions.... It was Peabody's philanthropy that definitely established his international reputation. Not only did he give generously but he also established funds during his life time, which at that period was unique enough to puzzle the London lawyers who were drawing up the papers for a trust fund." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 17-On the Impact of GP's Philanthropy Cont'd.: "It was his charity that brought the banker praise from such diverse men as W.E. Gladstone [1809-98, PM], Victor Hugo [1802-85, French writer], Louis Blanc [1811-82] and many prominent Americans of the time.... Even before his most important work days were over Peabody had given generously enough to catch the public fancy.... When Peabody visited the United States in 1856, after an absence of 20 years, Danvers [Mass., his birthplace] gave a celebration in his honor. The New York Herald [whose editor James Gordon Bennett was often critical of GP] carried five and a half columns of a report telegraphed from Massachusetts at considerable cost. The front page carried banner headlines such as few bankers have enjoyed in moments of triumph." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 18-"'national' man in a foreign country." Having read glowing newspaper reports of GP's successful U.S.-British friendship dinners, business friend W. W. Corcoran wrote praising GP in 1853 for having made himself a "'national' man in a foreign country." Besides U.S.-British friendship dinners, Corcoran was thinking of GP's years of helpful service to visiting Americans and of his emerging philanthropy (notably of GP's first Peabody Institute Library, announced in June 1852, in South Danvers, renamed Peabody, Mass., on April 13, 1868). See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Hidy, M.E. 19-Pride in George Peabody & Co. M.E. Hidy emphasized GP's pride in his London-based banking firm, reflected in his speech to 1,500 friends and townspeople, at the Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration, South Danvers, Mass., after nearly 20 years' absence as a banker in London dealing with American trade and securities: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." Ref.: Ibid., p. 360. See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
Hidy, Ralph W. (1905-77), history prof., Wheaton College, Norton, Mass., wrote The House of Baring in American Trade and Finance, English Merchant Bankers at Work, 1763-1861, Harvard Studies in Business History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949), which included material about GP as U.S. merchant banker in London. Ref.: Wheaton College Library faculty archives, Norton, Mass. See: Hidy, Muriel Emmie (above).
Hill, Frederick. See:: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics-18-32.
GPCFT's Pres. H.H. Hill
Hill, Henry Harrington (1894-1987). 1-GPCFT's Third President. Henry Harrington Hill was GPCFT's third president during 1945-60, for 16 years, and was interim president, 1962-63. Born in Statesville, N.C., he was educated by his father, a professor; attended Davidson College, N.C.; received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the Univ. of Virginia, and the Ph.D. degree from Columbia Univ. (1930). Before his Ph.D. degree, he had been a teacher, principal, and school superintendent in Ark., and returned to Ark. as state high school supervisor for a year. He was then education professor, Univ. of Ky., and its first education dean. He was school superintendent, Lexington, Ky.; assistant school superintendent in St. Louis, Mo.; and school superintendent, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1942-45). Ref.: "Henry Hill at Peabody-a." "Henry Harrington Hill-b."
Hill, H.H. 2-Enhanced GPCFT's Reputation. His sixteen years as GPCFT president were a period of post-World War II higher education growth and change hastened by the GI Bill. Under H.H. Hill, GPCFT enhanced its national and international prominence. He was adept at securing foundation funds to hire outstanding faculty, secured trustee permission in 1953 to admit 13 black educators as students, a year before the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation ruling, and encouraged a GPCFT-managed $7 million U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Korea teacher education project. Ref.: Ibid. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, See: PCofVU, history of.
Hill, Ruth Henderson (1902-90), was Print Dept. Librarian, Essex Institute (now Peabody Essex Museum), Salem, Mass. She also wrote George Peabody, "The Great Benefactor," 1795-1869 (Peabody, Mass.: Peabody Institute, 1953).
GP Praised by Philadelphia Convention of Rabbis
Hirsch, Samuel (1815-89). After GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, in Philadelphia, Nov. 5, 1869, at a national convention of Jewish religious leaders (rabbis), the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hirsch, Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Knesseth Israel (1866-88) and chairman of the convention, spoke of GP's life, philanthropy, and death. The convention unanimously passed a resolution of esteem for GP. Born in Thalfang, Prussia, Germany, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hirsch was educated at the Universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig (Ph.D.); was rabbi in Dessau, Germany (1838-41); was forced to resign for his liberal views; wrote for the next two years (1842-43); was appointed chief rabbi of Luxembourg by the King of Holland (1843-66); wrote advocating Reform Judaism; was rabbi Reform Congregation, Knesseth Israel, Philadelphia, Pa. (1866-88); presided over the rabbinical conference, Philadelphia, 1869, where Reform Judaism principles were formulated; and was the father of Emil G. Hirsch (1852-1923), leader of U.S. Reformed Judaism. Ref.: "Hirsch, Samuel," Vol. 5, p. 379. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Historical Society of Penn., Phila., has the papers of James Buchanan (1791-1868), 15th U.S. Pres. during 1857-61; and some GP papers. Buchanan was U.S. Minister to Britain during 1853-56. At GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British Friendship Dinner, as was his custom, he toasted first the Queen and then the U.S. President. Buchanan's London Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), a super patriot, refused to stand, walked out in protest, and soon after accused GP in the press of toadying to the British. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Historical Society of Phila. GP gave $20 to the Historical Society of Phila. publication fund in Jan. 1857.
Hoar, George Frisbie (1826-1904), was a PEF trustee who succeeded Judge John Lowell (b.1824) as trustee. G.F. Hoar was born in Concord, Mass., the grandson of a Revolutionary War officer, and the son of a lawyer and Congressman from Mass. His mother was the daughter of Roger Sherman (1721-93), a signer of the Declaration of independence. G.F. Hoar graduated from Harvard College (1846) and Harvard Law School (1849), was a lawyer in Worcester, Mass, served in the Mass. House of Representatives (1852-57) and in the Mass. Senate; served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1869-77) and the U.S. Senate (1877-1904). He also served as President, American Antiquarian Society; Regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1880); and trustee of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ. Ref.: Curry-b, p. 117.
Hobbs, Alfred C. (1812-91), was a U.S. locksmith whose unpickable locks were displayed at the U.S. pavilion, Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). GP's $15,000 loan to the U.S. exhibitors (repaid by the U.S. Congress three years later) enabled the U.S. pavilion to be decorated so that U.S. art and products were seen to best advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Hobbs, Nicholas (1915-83), was GPCFT professor of psychology (from 1951); chairman, GPCFT's Division of Human Development (1951-65); cofounder and director, GPCFT's John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development (1965-70); Vanderbilt Univ. Provost (1967-75); Vanderbilt prof. of psychology (1975-80); and Vanderbilt Prof. Emeritus (since 1980). He was president, Am. Psychological Assn. (1966) and enlarged special education for disabilities programs at both institutions.
Hoe, Richard March (1812-86), developed a better printing press shown at the U.S. pavilion, Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). GP's $15,000 loan to the U.S. exhibitors (repaid by the U.S. Congress three years later) enabled the U.S. pavilion to be decorated so that U.S. art and industry products were seen to best advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Hoffman, David (1784-1854), a prominent Baltimore-born lawyer, professor, and historian attended St. John's College, Md.; helped found and was a professor, Univ. of Md. Law School; was politically active; a legal scholar of note; and land agent for Calif. leader John Charles Frémont (1813-90). While in London during 1847-53, David Hoffman wrote two letters (one undated letter, another on Nov. 4, 1850), to ask GP 's financial help in an escape plan to free imprisoned Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth (1802-94). Ref.: Bloomfield. "Hoffman, David." See: Kossuth, Lajos.
Holbrook, Josiah (1788-1854), was an educator who first organized in 1826 in Millbury, Mass., the lyceum (named after Aristotle's 4th century B.C. school), adult education lectures in town halls, libraries, and elsewhere. By 1835 there were 3,000 town lyceums. Peabody Institute Libraries had lecture halls and lecture funds for lyceum speakers. For Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) as lyceum speaker at the PIB, Jan. 2, 4, 9, 11, 1872, See: Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Holland, Sir Henry (1788-1873), was one of Queen Victoria's physicians whom GP sometimes consulted. Sir Henry Holland was one of the 300 guests who attended the Lord Mayor of London's banquet honoring GP, July 10, 1862. That afternoon GP was the first American to accept the Freedom of the City of London. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
GP &Oliver Wendell Holmes
Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-94). 1-"George Peabody" Poem. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a physician-turned-poet, was born in Cambridge, Mass. He was the father of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935). Poet O.W. Holmes attended the July 14-16, 1869, dedication of the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass. GP was then present, age 74, infirm, on his last U.S. visit, with a few months to live (died Nov. 4, 1869, in London). On July 16, 1869, after an ailing GP spoke briefly and haltingly, O.W. Holmes was introduced with a hint that he might have composed a poem for the occasion. O.W. Holmes read his prepared poem to an audience that included former Mass. Govs. Clifford Claflin and Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-74), U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74), Essex County statesman Alfred A. Abbott (1820-84), recent past U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), GP's two nephews George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) and Robert Singleton Peabody (b.1834), and others:
"George Peabody"
by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Bankrupt--our Pockets inside out!
Empty of words to speak his praises!
Worcester and Webster up the spout
Dead broke of laudatory phrases!
But why with flowery speeches tease,
With vain superlatives distress him?
Has language better words than these--
THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM.
A simple prayer--but words more sweet
By human lips were never uttered,
Since Adam left the country seat
Where angel wings around him fluttered.
The old look on with tear-dimmed eyes,
The children cluster to caress him,
And every voice unbidden cries,
THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM.
Holmes, O.W. 2-GP's infirmity. Holmes described GP's weakened appearance in a letter to historian-statesman John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), as "...the Dives who is going to Abraham's bosom and I fear before a great while...." Holmes first became known for his poem, "Old Ironsides" (Boston Advertiser, 1830), which prevented the break up of the famous frigate Constitution. He is also remembered for his essay, "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" (Atlantic Monthly, 1857, published separately 1858) and for his poem, "The Deacon's Masterpiece" (The One Horse Shay, 1858). Ref.: (Peabody Institute dedication): Holmes, II, p. 220. New York Times, July 20, 1869, p. 4, c. 7. Tapley-a, pp. 169-171. Tapley-b, pp. 45-46. Peabody Press (Peabody, Mass.), July 21, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-5. Ref.: (GP's infirmity): Holmes, Boston, to Motley, Rome, July 18, 1869, quoted in Morse, pp. 180-181.
Holton High School, Danvers, Mass. GP gave a $2,000 fund for best scholar medals to Holton High School, Danvers, Mass., 1867; and a $2,600 fund for the same purpose to Peabody High School, Peabody, Mass., 1854-67. See: Peabody, George, Philanthropy.
Homer, Winslow (1836-1910), famous U.S. landscape and marine painter (Crack the Whip, The Maine Coast), was age 20 in his native Boston when he worked on the lithographs in Danvers, Mass., Proceedings at the Reception and Dinner in Honor of George Peabody, Esq., of London, by the Citizens of the Old Town of Danvers, October 9, 1856. To Which is appended an Historical Sketch of the Peabody Institute, with the Exercises at the Laying of the Corner-stone and at the Dedication (Boston: H.W. Dutton & Son, 1856). His initials appear on the illustrations facing pp. 21, 89. Some Winslow Homer paintings are owned by the PIB Gallery of Art. See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration. PIB Gallery of Art.
Peabody Homes of London
Homes for London's working poor. 1-First Mention of GP's Intended Gift to London. On Feb. 7, 1857, GP was in Baltimore with John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) and William Edwards Mayhew (1781-1860) to draft his Feb. 12, 1857 letter founding the PIB. He also mentioned to them his intent to make a gift to London. GP's first thought for his London gift was a network of drinking fountains, which he discussed and then discarded with long time business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) after GP's return to London in late Aug. 1857. GP next discussed the possibility of aiding the charitable Ragged School Union with a visiting friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), during Aug. 1858-March 1859. For full account, See: Peabody Homes of London.
Homes for London's working poor. 2-Lord Shaftesbury Suggested Low Cost Housing. The suggestion for model homes for London's working poor came from social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl, 1801-85). In early Feb. 1859 Shaftesbury told GP's friend and intermediary Bishop McIlvaine that the London poor's greatest need, even more than schools, was low cost housing. GP's gift to London was delayed by the Civil War and by U.S.-British frictionable incidents over the Civil War, particularly the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair. On March 12, 1862, GP created the Peabody Donation Fund, London, which built the Peabody Homes of London and to which GP gave a total of $2.5 million For full account, See: Peabody Homes of London. Persons named. Trent Affair.
Honorary degrees, GP's. See: 1-Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). (below). 2-Harvard Univ. (July 17, 1867). 3-Oxford Univ. (June 26, 1867).
GP’s Honors
Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). 1-Md.'s Resolutions of Praise (March 7, 1848). Md.'s $8 million bond sale abroad, sold in part by GP in London during Feb. 1837-40s, raised foreign capital to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the B&O RR. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature passed unanimously resolutions of praise for GP's sale of its bonds abroad. GP accomplished this sale despite the financial Panic of 1837, the depression which followed, and stoppage of interest payments on their bonds by Md. and eight other states. Md.'s resolutions of praise, sent to GP by Md.'s governor, thanked him for upholding Md.'s credit abroad, for assuring foreign investors that Md. would resume interest payment retroactively, and for declining the $60,000 commission due him while Md. was in financial difficulty. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
Honors, GP's. 2-Clubs, London, GP's (1848-50). GP was denied membership in the Reform Club in 1844 when Americans in London were disdained because nine states repudiated interest payments on their bonds. He was admitted into the Parthenon Club in 1848, the City of London Club in 1850, and the Athenaeum Club, March 12, 1862. See: Clubs, London, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 3-Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore (1851). The Md. Institute of Baltimore made GP an honorary member in 1851. Reading of its effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, GP sent its president $1,000 on Oct. 31, 1851. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Honors, GP's. 4-South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration (Oct. 9, 1856). The South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration was an all day occasion at his birthplace (renamed Peabody, Mass., on April 13, 1868). The visit marked his first return to the U.S. in nearly twenty years since leaving for London, Feb. 1837. Speeches by dignitaries included former Harvard president and past U.S. Minister to Britain Edward Everett (1794-1865), who praised GP for his successful career as London banker, for promoting U.S.-British friendship, and for founding his first Peabody Institute Library, South Danvers, l852, to which he gave a total of $217,600. See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.
Honors, GP's. 5-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit (March-April, 1857). During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, he was made a Chamber of Commerce member in New Orleans, La. (March 19-23, 1857); stayed with Ind. Gov. Ashbel P. Willard (1820-60) in Indianapolis (c. April 7, 1857); and received resolutions of praise from Cincinnati, Ohio, merchants (April 10, 1857). See: Augusta, Ga.
Honors, GP's. 6-Clothworkers' Co. of London Membership (July 2, 1862). The ancient guild of The Clothworkers' Co. of London granted GP honorary membership, the first of several honors following publication of GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund to build and manage low rent housing for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). See: The Clothworkers' Co. of London.
Honors, GP's. 7-Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862). The Freedom of the City of London was granted to GP in London's Guildhall. GP was the first U.S. citizen so honored. Later U.S. recipients were U.S. Grant, June 15, 1877; Theodore Roosevelt, May 31, 1910; John J. Pershing, July 18, 1919; and Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 12, 1945. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
Honors, GP's. 8-Fishmongers' Co. of London (April 18, 1866). The ancient guild of Fishmonger's Co. of London granted GP honorary membership. See: Fishmongers' Co. of London.
Honors, GP's. 9-Pres. Andrew Johnson Called on GP (Feb. 9, 1867). U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) and his Secty. Col. William George Moore (1829-93) called on GP at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., soon after announcement of GP's Feb. 7, 1867, letter founding the PEF, to which he gave a total of $2 million. Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand and said that he called as a private citizen to thank GP for aiding public education in the South and that he considered it a national gift. Pres. Johnson was advised to avoid impeachment by a complete change of cabinet, including GP as U.S. Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this action. See: Johnson, Andrew. PEF. Presidents, U.S., and GP. For names of the eight persons suggested in the proposed Pres. Andrew Johnson Cabinet reshuffle, See: Andrew, John Albion.
Honors, GP's. 10-Queen Victoria's Letter and Miniature Portrait (March 28, 1866). Queen Victoria wrote to GP, March 28, 1866, to thank him for his second gift to the Peabody Homes of London. She also had a miniature portrait of herself painted by British artist F.A.C. Tilt (fl. 1866-68), enameled on porcelain, set in a gold frame, made especially for GP (estimated cost, $70,000), which was presented to him, March 1867, Washington, D.C., by the British ambassador to the U.S. See: Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 11-U.S. Congressional Resolutions of Thanks and a Gold Medal (March 5, 8, 9, 14-16, 1867). U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74) introduced (March 5) joint congressional resolutions of thanks and ordered a gold medal for GP's Feb. 7, 1867, PEF ($2 million total) as a national gift (PEF's intent: to advance public education in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va.). The resolutions were debated, challenged, defended, and passed in the Senate, 36 yeas, 2 nays (March 8); debated, challenged, defended, an amendment to strike out the gold medal defeated, and passed in the House (March 9); announced and enrolled in the Senate (March 15); and signed by Pres. Andrew Johnson (March 16). See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Sumner, Charles.
Honors, GP's. 12-GP Greeted at the White House (April 25, 1867). GP called on Pres. Andrew Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House on April 25, 1867. Ref.: Ibid. See: White House, Washington, D.C.
Honors, GP's. 13-Oxford Univ. Hon. LL.D. Degree (June 26, 1867). Oxford Univ. granted GP an honorary LL.D. degree. See: Oxford Univ.
Honors, GP's. 14-Harvard Univ. Hon. LL.D. Degree (July 17, 1867). Harvard Univ. granted GP an honorary LL.D. degree. See: Harvard Univ.
Honors, GP's. 15-Pope Pius IX Audience (Feb. 19-28, 1868). Pope Pius IX granted an audience to GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94). GP and Winthrop then visited Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76), through whom GP gave a $19,300 gift to the Vatican's charitable San Spirito Hospital in Rome. See: Pope Pius IX. San Spirito Hospital in Rome. Winthrop, Robert Charles.
Honors, GP's. 16-Audience with Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie (about March 16, 1868). In Paris Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie granted GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop an audience. See: Eugénie, Empress. Napoleon III.
Honors, GP's. 17-GP's Birthplace Renamed Peabody, Mass. (April 13, 1868). GP's birthplace, 19 miles from Boston, a village originally named Brooksby (1626), then called Salem Village, then Danvers (1752-1855), then South Danvers (1855-68), was renamed Peabody, Mass. See: Peabody, Mass.
Honors, GP's. 18-GP's Seated Statue in London Unveiled (July 23, 1869). A seated statue of GP, created by Salem, Mass.-born sculptor William Wetmore Story (1819-95), paid for by public contributions, was unveiled July 23, 1869, on Threadneedle St., near the Royal Exchange, in London's inner city, with speeches by the Prince of Wales (1841-1910, Queen Victoria's eldest son, later King Edward VII during 1901-10) and U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77). London has monuments to four Americans: GP, 1869; Abraham Lincoln, 1920; George Washington, 1921; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1948. See: Statues of GP. Persons named.
Honors, GP's. 19-Queen Victoria's Second Letter of Thanks to GP (June 20, 1869). Queen Victoria wrote her second letter of thanks to GP, who replied on July 19, 1869. See: Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 20-Resolutions of Praise at White Sulphur Spring, W.Va. (July 23-Aug. 30, 1869). Resolutions of praise drafted by former Va. Gov. H.A. Wise (1806-76) and others were read to GP before a gathering at the "Old White" Hotel, White Sulphur Spring, W.Va. GP dined with and walked arm in arm with former Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-70). A Peabody Ball was held in his honor and historic photos were taken of Lee, GP, ex-Civil War generals, and others. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. Corcoran, William Wilson. Others named.
Honors, GP's. 21-GP, Very Ill, Invited to Rest at Windsor Castle (late Oct. 1869). Learning of his return to London, not knowing how near death he was, Queen Victoria invited GP to rest at Windsor Castle, but he died on Nov. 4, 1869. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 22-HMS Monarch Offered as Funeral Ship (Nov. 10, 1869). On Nov. 9, 1869, speaking at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, PM W.E. Gladstone (1809-98), mentioning GP's death, said about the U.S.-British clash over the Alabama Claims controversy (U.S. anger over British-built Confederate ships which cost U.S. lives and treasure): "My Lord Mayor, with the country of Mr. Peabody we are not likely to quarrel" [loud cheers]. The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) at W.E. Gladstone's 2:00 P.M. Cabinet meeting, HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, was offered as the funeral ship to return GP's remains for burial in his hometown (sources indicate that Queen Victoria was the first to suggest returning GP's remains on a royal vessel). See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 23-U.S. Govt. Sent USS Plymouth to Accompany HMS Monarch (Nov. 12-15, 1869). Britain's decision to return GP's remains for burial in Mass. on HMS Monarch led U.S. officials to send USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to accompany HMS Monarch to the U.S. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 24-Proposal for GP Statue in NYC's Central Park Failed (Nov. 20, 23, 1869). Merchants met at the NYC Stock Exchange, Nov. 20, 1869, formed an association, and collected funds for a statue of GP in NYC's Central Park. Opponents spoke against the idea and walked out. NYC banker J.H. Bloodgood made another attempt on Nov. 23, 1869, formed an association, collected funds, and published a subscription list, but also failed. The reason later given was that mounting international funeral honors for GP offended some patriotic believers in republican simplicity. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Bloodgood, J.H.
Honors, GP's. 25-Westminster Abbey Funeral Service and Temporary Burial (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). A funeral service for GP was held at Westminster Abbey, London, Nov. 12, 1869, attended by high officials. GP's coffin lay in state in the Abbey for 30 days, Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869. A nine-stone marker was placed permanently where his body rested. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 26-GP's Remains Received at Portland, Me. (Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870). U.S. Pres. Grant and U.S. Navy Secty. George Maxwell Robeson (1829-97) ordered Adm. David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70) to head a flotilla of receiving ships which met HMS Monarch, bearing GP's remains, and the USS Plymouth, Jan. 25, 1870, at Portland Harbor. After a wrangle about protocol, Maine's legislature and government officials attended en masse the solemn transfer of GP's remains from the Monarch to Portland City Hall, somberly decorated, where GP's remains lay in state until Feb. 1, 1870, when the coffin was moved by funeral train to Peabody, Mass. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 27-Remains Lay in State, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1-8, 1870). GP's remains lay in state for a week at the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 28-Funeral Service & Eulogy, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Final funeral service at South Congregational Church with the eulogy by philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop was attended by 1-Prince Arthur (William Patrick Albert, Queen Victoria's son) and his retinue, 2-the British Minister to the U.S., 3-New England dignitaries, 4-past and current Mass. governors, 5-mayors of nearby towns, 6-Harvard Univ. Pres. Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926), and others. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 29-Final Burial, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Some 200 sleigh coaches that cold stormy day accompanied GP's remains for final burial at the Peabody family plot, Anemone Ave., lot 51, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., ending an unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 30-GP Statue, Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives (unsuccessful, 1885-96). An unsuccessful attempt was made to place a GP statue in Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives, where each state has statues of two great citizens. The proposal was first made in a conference of Va. Superintendents of Education, recorded in Va. Superintendent of Public Instruction 1885 annual report. Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry's (1825-1903) stirring endorsement to Va.'s General Assembly in 1895 led Va. state Sen. William Lovenstein (1840-96) to propose and the Va. Senate to ask the Va. governor to write other southern governors about securing funds for a GP statue. The S.C. and Tenn. legislatures and governor did the same in 1896, but all efforts failed. See: Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives. Persons named. Manarin, pp. 225-226. "To Honor Peabody," Richmond Dispatch (Va.), Feb. 2, 1896, p. 12, c. 1
Honors, GP's. 31-Copy of GP's London Seated Statue Erected, PIB (April 7, 1890). A copy of GP's seated statue in London by U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story, unveiled July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, was placed in front of the PIB, paid for by Robert Garrett (1847-96). See: Statues of GP. Garrett, Robert.
Honors, GP's. 32-GP Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1895). A GP Centennial Celebration was held Monday, Feb. 18, 1895, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., with speeches by Francis Henry Appleton (1847-1939, Mass. House of Rep. member), Mass. Lt. Gov. Roger Wolcott (1847-1901), and Harvard Prof. Francis Greenwood Peabody (1847-1936), whose speech someone else read (he was ill). Also read aloud was a cablegram from Queen Victoria, then age 76; and a message by Johns Hopkins Univ. Pres. Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908). See: GP Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1895).
Honors, GP's. 33-GP Elected to NYU Hall of Fame (1900). GP was chosen one of 29 most famous Americans from over 1,000 names submitted by the public for inclusion in the University Heights campus Colonnade overlooking the Hudson River. See: Hall of Fame of NYU.
Honors, GP's. 34-"Apotheosis of America" (1904-08). Italian-born U.S. naturalized artist Louis Amateis designed two bronze doors for the west entrance, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., whose transom panel tableau titled "Apotheosis of America" featured images of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, GP, Johns Hopkins, and Horace Mann, symbolizing U.S. intellectual development. See: Amateis, Louis.
Honors, GP's. 35-GP Bust Unveiled in NYU Hall of Fame (May 12, 1926). Sculptor Hans Schuler's (1874-1952) bust of GP was unveiled May 12, 1926, at NYU's Hall of Fame, to which GP was elected in 1900. The unveiling address was by GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne (1874-1937). See: Hall of Fame of NYU.
Honors, GP's. 36-GP U.S. Postage Stamp (1941). Tennesseans in 1941 proposed, unsuccessfully, a commemorative GP U.S. postage stamp. See: U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.
Honors, GP's. 37-GP U.S. Postage Stamp (1993). Mass. citizens in 1993 proposed, unsuccessfully, a commemorative George Peabody U.S. postage stamp for the bicentennial of his birth (Feb. 12, 1795-1995). See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 38-GP Bicentennial (1995). For the 200th anniversary of his birth a traveling GP Bicentennial Exhibition of photos, letters, and artifacts was shown in London, Baltimore, Peabody, and Danvers, Mass. See: George Peabody Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Honors, GP's. 39-GP Bicentennial (1995). Yale Univ.'s Peabody Museum of Natural History displayed GP's correspondence with nephews whose education he paid for and careers he made possible, including Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Ibid. Marsh, Othniel Charles.
Honors, GP's. 40-GP Bicentennial (1995). In Nashville, Tenn. (March 25, 1995), PCofVU students, faculty, friends held a "Day of Service" cleaning, painting, refurbishing the Edgehill community near the Peabody College part of the Vanderbilt Univ. campus. See: George Peabody Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Honors, GP's. 41-GP Bicentennial (1995). London's Westminster Abbey held a special "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869" (Nov. 16, 1995), with distinguished guests and Peabody Homes of London residents as participants. GP's Abbey marker, where his remains rested 30 days, was refurbished for the GP Bicentennial Celebrations. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 42-GP Bicentennial (1995). The Peabody Historical Society, Peabody, Mass., held a bicentennial reception and dinner with speaker (Sept. 30, 1995). See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 43-GP Bicentennial (1995). At the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass, lectures were held on GP's life and influence during March-May 1995. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 44-U.S. Postage Cancellation Postmark (1999).. Although attempts to secure a GP U.S. postage stamp were unsuccessful in Md. In 1941 and in Mass. In 1993 for the 1995 bicentennial, a GP U.S. postage pictorial cancellation stamp was achieved in 1999 by U.S. Army retired Chief Warrant Officer Edward F. Nevins, a Peabody, Mass. Native. and a GP booster, The cancellation mark consisted of GP's name spelled out and his motto "Education-a Debt Due from Present to Future Generations," in capital letters, circling an outline of GP's face in old age, together with his birth and death years. GP cancellation marked envelopes seen by the authors included one dated November 4, 1999, Lexington, Ky. 40506, and one dated Jan. 4, 2000, North Plainfield, N.J., 07060 (CWO E.F. Nevins's city of residence). See:: Nevins, Edward F. U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.
Hooker, James Clinton, was a former U.S. Legation in Rome Secty. who, on Feb. 24 or 25, 1868, introduced GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94, J.C. Hooker was married to R.C. Winthrop's niece) to Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, 1792-1878, Pope during 1846-78). See: Pope Pius IX. White, Andrew Dickson. Winthrop, Robert Charles.
Hope, Sir James (1808-81), was the Commander in Chief at Portsmouth harbor, England, during the Dec. 11, 1869, ceremonies placing GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch. Ref.: "Sir James Hope (1808-81)," Vol. IX, pp. 1212-1214. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin.
GP's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns (1795-1873). 1-Career. Johns Hopkins was the wealthy Baltimore Quaker merchant influenced in part by GP to endow the Johns Hopkins Univ., Johns Hopkins Medical School, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, 1876. Of English lineage and originally Anglican, his forebear Gerald Hopkins, influenced by George Fox (1624-91), became a Quaker and married a planter's daughter named Margaret Johns. Johns was thus the given first name of both Gerald Hopkins' son and later of his great grandson. Ref.: Mitchell, IX, pp. 213-214.
Hopkins, Johns. 2-Career Cont'd. Johns Hopkins was born in 1795 (as was GP) on a tobacco estate using slave labor between Baltimore and Annapolis. In 1807 the local Quakers, convinced that slavery was wrong, freed their slaves. Johns Hopkins, age 12, was taken from the South River School to work on the farm. At age 17 (about the time GP went with his paternal uncle John Peabody to open a store in Georgetown, D.C.), Johns Hopkins' uncle took him to Baltimore to work in his wholesale grocery firm. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 3-Career Cont'd. Young Johns Hopkins was given full responsibility while his uncle attended a yearly Quaker meeting in Ohio, an absence occasioned by difficulties in the War of 1812. Backed financially by this uncle, Johns Hopkins went into business as a wholesale grocer and brought three younger brothers as salesmen into the Hopkins Brothers firm which managed large Baltimore warehouses. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 4-Career Cont'd. Johns Hopkins' wealth increased when he invested in and became a B&O RR director (1847) and finance committee chairman (1855). Although in love with a cousin, he bowed to his uncle's prohibition of marriage to a first cousin, remained a bachelor, but gave her a home of her own. Ref.: Ibid.
B&O RR Pres. John Work Garrett's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 5-GP's Influence on Hopkins (J.W. Garrett). B&O RR Pres. John Work Garrett's (1820-84) account, the prime source for GP's influence on Johns Hopkins' philanthropy, is in his published speech to the Young Men's Christian Association, Baltimore, on its thirtieth anniversary, Jan. 30, 1883. A supporter of the YMCA, Garrett told how he obtained a gift of $10,000 for the YMCA from Johns Hopkins. He then reminisced about Johns Hopkins' life and told of the meeting he had arranged between GP and Hopkins. Garrett's account follows.
Hopkins, Johns. 6-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "Mr. Hopkins had on many occasions introduced the subject of the disposition of his estate, and conferred with me as to the best course to [take].... His plans...continued indefinite until during a visit of Geo. Peabody to Baltimore. When a guest at my house I stated to him [GP] Mr. Hopkins' uncertainties and difficulties, and asked if I should invited Mr. Hopkins to dine with him, so that he might give his experience and views.... Mr. Peabody replied that he never gave advice but would, if Mr. Hopkins wished, gladly confer with him." Ref.: Garrett, J.W., pp. 9-10 (copies in the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library and the Garrett Papers, Library of Congress Ms.); also quoted in Baltimore Sun, Jan. 31, 1883, p. 1, c. 4; and mentioned in "Johns Hopkins, Bachelor Father to a Great University," Baltimore Sun, Dec. 23, 1973.
Hopkins, Johns. 7-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "I called upon Mr. Hopkins and invited him to dine that evening, narrating the conversation between Mr. Peabody and myself. He accepted the invitation cordially. When my family left the table about 8 o'clock, I introduced the subject, and the conference continued until an hour past midnight." Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 8-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "The conversation was remarkable. Mr. Peabody, after observing that he would only give his own experience, without deigning any advice, began by saying (Garrett quoted GP as saying): 'Mr. Hopkins, we both commenced our commercial life in Baltimore, and we knew each other well. I,' said Mr. Peabody, 'left Baltimore for London, and from the commencement of my busy life, I must state that I was extremely fond of money, and very happy in acquiring it. I labored, struggled and economized continuously, and increased my store, and I have been proud of my achievements. Leaving Baltimore, after a successful career in a relatively limited sphere, I began in London, the seat of the greatest intellectual forces connected with commerce, and there I succeeded wonderfully, and, in competition with houses that had been wealthy, prosperous and famous for generations, I carved my way to opulence.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 9-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP): "'It is due to you, Mr. Hopkins, to say, remembering you so well, that you are the only man I have met in all my experience more thoroughly anxious to make money and more determined to succeed than myself; and you have enjoyed the pleasure of success, too.... I had the satisfaction, as you have had, of feeling that success is the test of merit, and I was happy in the view that I was, in this sense at least, very meritorious. You also have enjoyed a great share of success and of commercial power and honor.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 10-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP) '"But, Mr. Hopkins, though my progress was for a long period satisfactory and gratifying, yet, when age came upon me, and when aches and pains made me realize that I was not immortal, I felt, after taking care of my relatives, great anxiety to place the millions I had accumulated, so as to accomplish the greatest good for humanity. I looked about me and formed the conclusion that there were men who were just as anxious to work with integrity and faithfulness for the comfort, consolation and advancement of the suffering and the struggling poor as I had been to gather fortune.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 11-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP): "'After careful consideration, I called a number of my friends in whom I had confidence, to meet me, and I proposed that they should act as my trustees, and I organized my first scheme of benevolence. The trust was accepted, and I then, for the first time, felt there was a higher pleasure and a greater happiness than accumulating money, and that was derived from giving it for good and humane purposes; and so, sir, I have gone on, and from that day realized with increasing enjoyment the pleasure of arranging for the greatest practicable good for those who would need my means to aid their well-being, progress and happiness.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Evangelist D.L. Moody's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 12-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.L. Moody). When U.S. evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-99) attended the 25th anniversary of the founding of Johns Hopkins Univ. (founded 1876; 25th anniversary in 1901), he told of hearing of the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation from John Work Garrett's son. Moody's account: "I was a guest of John Garrett once and he told me that his father used to entertain Peabody and Johns Hopkins. Peabody went to England, and Hopkins stayed in Baltimore. They both became immensely wealthy. Garrett tried to get Hopkins to make a will, but he wouldn't. Finally, Garrett invited them both to dinner, and afterward asked Peabody which he enjoyed most, the making of money or giving it away." Ref.: (Dwight L. Moody): Curry-b, pp. 17-18. Also quoted in Dabney, I, p. 103. Baltimore Sun, May 24, 1935. MacCracken, p. 180. Williams, H.A.
Hopkins, Johns. 13-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.L. Moody Cont'd.): "Hopkins cocked up his ears, and then Peabody told him that he had a struggle at first, and it lasted until he went into his remodeled London houses and saw the little children so happy. 'Then,' said Peabody, 'I began to find out it was pleasanter to give money away than it was to make it.' Forty-eight hours later Hopkins was making out his will, founding the university and the hospital." Ref.: Ibid.
Johns Hopkins Univ. Pres. D.C. Gilman's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 14-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.C. Gilman). Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), Johns Hopkins Univ.'s first president during 1876-1901, is another source for the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation. Gilman wrote: "When George Peabody, near the end of his life, came to Baltimore, the place of his former residence, he was invited to dine by Mr. John W. Garrett, and Mr. Hopkins was invited to meet him. It is my impression that they were alone at the table. The substance of Mr. Peabody's remarks has thus been given by the host [D.C. Gilman's account then closely follows John Work Garrett's earlier and original document]." Ref.: (D.C. Gilman): Gilman-b, pp. 10-12.
Hopkins, Johns. 15-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.C. Gilman Cont'd.). After relating this GP-Johns Hopkins conversation, much as John Work Garrett originally recorded it, D.C. Gilman added: "The story is current that a sagacious friend said to [Johns Hopkins], 'There are two things which are sure to live--a university, for there will always be the youth to train; and a hospital, for there will always be the suffering to relieve.'" Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Date of GP-Johns Hopkins Meeting?
Hopkins, Johns. 16-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? No date of the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation is given by Garrett or Moody or Gilman. During GP's second U.S. visit since settling in London in Feb. 1837 (May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867), he was in Baltimore four times. 1-He first arrived in Baltimore Oct. 24, 1866, spoke at the dedication of the PIB on Oct. 25, greeted 20,000 Baltimore school children who marched by the PIB on Oct. 26, shook hands with some 3,000 Baltimoreans on Oct. 27, attended Baltimore's First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, Oct. 28, wrote letters from Garrett's home on Oct. 30, and left Baltimore on Oct. 31 to visit relatives in Zanesville, Ohio. See: Visits to the U.S., GP's.
Hopkins, Johns. 17-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? Cont'd. 2-GP's second Baltimore visit, on returning from Zanesville, was Nov. 12 and 13, 1866, a relatively quieter period when he stayed at Garrett's home. Also, Garrett's statement that Hopkins "informed me on the following day that he had determined to commence making his will" and the introduction into the Md. Assembly of bills to incorporate the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Univ. in Jan. 1867, lend some weight but not certitude to Nov. 12 or 13 as the date of meeting. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 18-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? Cont'd. 3-GP was in Baltimore for the third time on Feb. 3, 1867, where philanthropic adviser Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) joined him, both leaving for Washington, D.C., to found the PEF and confer with its trustees, Feb. 4-7, 1867, a busy time. 4-GP's fourth stay at Garrett's home near Baltimore was on April 24-26, saying good-bye to many friends before his May 1, 1867, NYC departure for England. Ref.: Ibid.
Dr. Joseph Parrish's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns. 19-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins. A Dr. Joseph Parrish (1818-91), President of the Medical Society of N.J. in 1885, is mentioned by author Alan M. Chesney as influencing Johns Hopkins. Chesney cited Parrish's obituary, whose author wrote: "On his way to Washington, on a public errand, Dr. Parrish was met one morning at Baltimore, by Mr. Garrett (then president of the B. & O. R.R.) with whom he was well acquainted. Mr. Garrett accosting him with earnestness exclaimed in haste--'you must not leave town today. I have promised to drive you out and introduce you to Mr. Johns Hopkins as soon as possible. At 4 p.m. my carriage will come for you.'" Ref.: Chesney, I, p. 6.
Hopkins, Johns. 20-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd.: "Assuming that Mr. Hopkins' motive for meeting him (with which Mr. Garrett was utterly unacquainted) would justify the concession, Doctor Parrish remained and was introduced as proposed. He was received privately in Mr. Hopkins' library, who said--'I am not going to live much longer. I have millions of money, which I desire to devote to the welfare of mankind, but am totally at a loss to formulate any rational plan for so doing. I want you to advise me and tell me what to do with it.' It was in vain for the Doctor to modestly protest his unfitness for such a purpose. Mr. Hopkins replied: 'You can and must do it for me. I am helpless. Take the subject home with you, cogitate upon it, and let me hear from you soon.'" Ref.: (Dr. Joseph Parrish's obituary): English, pp. 243-254.
Hopkins, Johns. 21-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd.: "To the unaffected earnestness of Mr. Hopkins Dr. Parrish felt obliged to succumb. He promised to comply; and in a short time delivered to him in writing what proved to be the embryonic creation of the Johns Hopkins University." In his history of The Johns Hopkins Univ. author John C. French dated the above Parrish-Hopkins meeting in 1873, the year Johns Hopkins died. Ref.: Ibid.
Dr. Patrick Macaulay's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns. 22-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins. Author John C. French described another possible influence on Johns Hopkins, a Patrick Macaulay, M.D., a graduate of the Univ. of Penn., an eminent Baltimore physician, active in civic affairs, and a stockholder and fellow director, with Johns Hopkins, of the B&O RR. Macaulay and Hopkins also had nearby summer homes. A library of books came into Johns Hopkins' possession, many of them medical books, and some of these with Dr. Patrick Macaulay's nameplate. In 1824, Dr. Macaulay published a pamphlet, Medical Improvement, describing his plan for medical education which was far ahead of its time. Dr. Macaulay urged that a hospital be part of a medical school because bedside teaching was "indispensable to the attainment of a proper medical education." Ref.: French-b, pp. 562-566.
Hopkins, Johns. 23-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd. In March 1873 Johns Hopkins instructed the trustees of the Johns Hopkins Univ.: "In all your arrangements in relation to this hospital you will bear constantly in mind that it is my wish and purpose that the institution should ultimately form a part of the medical school of that university for which I have made ample provision by my will." Author French concluded that Dr. Macaulay's clinical teaching idea (medical student treating a patient under a supervising physician) "...may have influenced the thoughts of Mr. Johns Hopkins when laying his plans for his great endowment." Ref.: French-a, pp. 10-12.
Hopkins, Johns. 24-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd. In sum, GP, documented as one of several persons who influenced Johns Hopkins, stands honorably in the shadow of the Johns Hopkins Univ., the first U.S. graduate university, and its hospital and medical school. Ref.: (GP and other influences on Johns Hopkins): Andrews, p. 595. Jacob, pp. 13-17. Johns Hopkins Hullabaloo, pp. 9-11. Ryan, p. 16. Scharf-a, p. 231.
PIB-Johns Hopkins Univ. Merger
Hopkins, Johns. 25-PIB Library, Part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. PIB Library financial difficulties led to a suggestion in May 1966 that the Enoch Pratt Free Library administer the PIB Library. Mass.-born Enoch Pratt (1808-96) moved to Baltimore (1831), where he became wealthy as a wholesale iron merchant and in other enterprises. He was a PIB trustee and treasurer, intimately involved in day-by-day library affairs. Knowing that the PIB's specialized reference collection was primarily for researchers, he saw the need for a Baltimore tax-supported public library available to all. See: PIB Conservatory of Music. PIB Reference Library. Pratt, Enoch.
Hopkins, Johns. 26-PIB Library, Part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Cont'd. Encouraged and aided by PIB Provost Nathaniel Holmes Morison (1815-90), Pratt gave $1,145,000 to found the Enoch Pratt Free Library (1882). For sixteen years (July 2, 1966, to July 1, 1982), the PIB Library was part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, supported by the City of Baltimore. In the summer of 1982 the trustees of the Enoch Pratt, the PIB Library, and the Johns Hopkins Univ. agreed to transfer administration of the PIB Library to the Johns Hopkins Univ. library system. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 27-PIB Library, Part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. From July 1, 1982, Enoch Pratt Librarian Evelyn née Linthicum Hart (1923-85) skillfully supervised the merger of the PIB Library's 250,000 volumes and seven staff members into the Peabody Dept. of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Earlier, in similar financial difficulty, the PIB Conservatory of Music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. in the summer of 1977. Thus, in an interesting turnabout, GP's PIB, having inspired the founder of the Johns Hopkins Univ. in 1867, was in turn a century later financially salvaged by affiliation with Johns Hopkins Univ. The PIB reference library, Conservatory of Music, art collection, and lectures, as constituent units of Johns Hopkins Univ., still serve Baltimore, the U.S., and the world. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (Mrs. Alexander Lardner, 1819-1905). 1-Broken Engagement. There are few documents on the broken engagement between GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. No letters between them have been found. Business friends William B. Bend, NYC, and William Brown (1784-1864) of Liverpool (then visiting NYC) congratulated GP on his engagement. A business friend's wife, Mrs. W. Hyde of NYC, wrote to GP to express sorrow at the broken engagement. The obituaries of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin and Alexander Lardner (1808-48), the man she married, tell little more than basic facts about their lives.
Hoppin, Esther E. 2-Broken Engagement Cont'd. What is known is that GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin became engaged in London in late 1838 and that the engagement was broken about Jan. 1839. Esther Elizabeth Hoppin was born June 4, 1819, into a Providence, R.I., family prominent since the American Revolution. Members of the Hoppin family were eminent in business and political affairs. The family had a strain of artistic and literary talent. Esther Elizabeth is believed to have been a pupil of John Kingsbury (1801-74), who conducted the first high school in R.I. for young women. Ref.: (Hoppin family): Coles (comp.), p. 7.
Hoppin, Esther E. 3-Broken Engagement Cont'd. A few years before her trip to London, probably in 1835, Esther Hoppin visited Philadelphia and met Alexander Lardner. She at 16 and he at 27 formed a friendship and an infatuation. But Esther was still in school. He had yet to establish himself in a career. They parted, perhaps with the hope but no definite promise of future marriage. She returned to Providence, finished school, and shortly after went to England for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838).
Hoppin, Esther E. 4-Broken Engagement Cont'd. Esther was said to have been the most beautiful girl in Providence. Her portrait by famed English-born U.S. artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872), painted just after her marriage in 1840 and now in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library, shows her in all her glory: classic features framed by lovely auburn hair, a face at once charming and enigmatic.
Hoppin, Esther E. 5-Broken Engagement Cont'd. Where and how she and GP met in London is not known. GP, the proverbial bachelor, fell in love with Esther Hoppin. He was 42 and established. She was unusually mature at 19. A difference of 24 years would ordinarily have loomed large. But he was in the prime of life, a successful merchant turned banker, ambitious, with fine prospects for the future. It was not uncommon for men with money to marry much younger women. Friends considered them a good match and encouraged the romance. Ref.: (Thomas Sully's portrait of Esther Elizabeth [Hoppin] Lardner): Biddle and Field, p. 205. Sully, p. 68.
Wm. B. Bend on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 6-Wm. B. Bend on the Engagement. News of the engagement and forthcoming marriage spread fast and far among GP's friends and business associates in London, NYC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Many a joke must have been made at GP's expense. Longtime intimate friend and fellow merchant William B. Bend wrote teasingly from NYC, Oct. 4, 1838, to GP in London: "I am very busy or I would write a gossipy letter to you. There is a report in circulation here that you are going to be married. Is the story true, and if it is, who is to be the happy fair? Mr. Stell [merchant friend] I understand professes to know all about the affair. I hope it is really to take place. You will be too old if you put it off much longer." Ref.: William B. Bend, NYC, to GP, Oct. 4, 1838, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Wm. Brown on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 7-Wm. Brown on the Engagement. Another longtime business friend William Brown of Liverpool, England, in NYC on business, learned that GP was engaged to be married. He added a word of congratulations in his Jan. 2, 1839, business letter to GP. William Brown, the son of Alexander Brown of Alexander Brown & Sons of Baltimore, was a philanthropic benefactor to his native city of Liverpool, England, and was honored by a knighthood. Ref.: William Brown, NYC, to GP, Jan. 2, 1839, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Boase-a, Vol. 3, p. 37.
Search for GP’s Family History
Hoppin, Esther E. 8-Search for Family History. The prospect of marriage made GP want to know more about his family background. He asked younger cousin Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814) to learn what he could of their forebears through Joseph Peabody (1757-1844) of Salem, Mass. Cousin Adolphus was the son of GP's paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827) with whom GP at age 17 had left Newburyport, Mass., May 4, 1812, on the brig Fame, and opened a store in Georgetown, D.C., May 15, 1812. After Adolphus' father's death, GP paid for his cousin's education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., during 1827-29. Adolphus also worked for Peabody, Riggs & Co., in NYC from the summer of 1837. Joseph Peabody, family patriarch in Salem, had owned 83 clipper ships engaged in Far Eastern trade. See: Peabody, Adolphus W.
Hoppin, Esther E. 9-Queen Boadicia Origin of Peabody. The family history notes Joseph Peabody had from London's Heraldry Office indicated that their family name originated in 61 A.D. from Queen Boadicia, whose husband reigned in Icena, Britain, and was vassal to Roman Emperor Nero. When Queen Boadicia's husband died and left half his wealth to Nero, Nero seized all of it. When Queen Boadicia objected, Nero had her whipped. Queen Boadicia and a kinsman named Boadie led an unsuccessful revolt against Rome, she ending her life with poison, while Boadie fled to Wales.
Hoppin, Esther E. 10-Queen Boadicia Origin of Peabody Cont'd. Boadie in the Cambrian tongue meant "man" or "great man," while Pea meant 'hill" or 'mountain." By this account Peabodie meant "mountain man" or "great man of the mountain." The coat of arms for the Peabodys, Adolphus related, was given by King Arthur shortly after the battle on the River Douglas. Ref.: Adolphus W. Peabody, Baltimore, to GP, London, Jan. 14, 1838 [note: possibly 1839], Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Pope, ed., p. viii (Note: rejecting the Queen Boadicia origin of "Peabody," Pope's 1909 genealogical study held that when English surnames were crystallized in the 14th century, "Paybody" referred to trustworthy men who paid servants, creditors, and employees of barons, manufacturers, or public officials; i.e., they were selected by character and ability as paymasters or paying-tellers).
Peabody Coat of Arm
Hoppin, Esther E. 11-Peabody Coat of Arms. Relating all this to GP by letter on Jan. 14, 1838, Adolphus William Peabody added: "So with all these numbers and folios. If you are curious thereabout the next time you go over, you can see if it be a recorded derivation of our patronymic or not.... You have the garb, crest, and scroll etc. (enclosed). [Joseph] says, I have heard my mother say a great many things in this way. She mostly had her information from our paternal grandmother. Sophronia [Adolphus' sister] can tell you as much as you can well listen of a long day." Pope stated that the Latin motto of the Peabody coat of arms, Murus aereus conscientia sana, meant literally "A sound conscience is a wall of bronze." Since the Romans thought of bronze as a hard metal, a better translation is, "A sound conscience is a solid wall of defense." Ref.: Ibid. Ref.: (Peabody coat of arms and Latin inscription): London-a, College of Heralds, quoted in Endicott, pp. 1-3. Wilson, P.W., pp. 7-8, 93-94.
Hoppin, Esther E. 12-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Role. The engagement was broken sometime before Jan. 11, 1839. What happened must be surmised from three letters which touch on its termination. The first is from Mrs. W. Hyde, NYC, believed to be the wife of one of GP's business associates and evidently Elizabeth Hoppin's confidante and chosen intermediary.
Mrs. Hyde's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 13-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Letter. Mrs. W. Hyde wrote to GP on Jan. 11 (no year given but 1839 by context): "Dear Sir: Miss Hoppin feels your kindness in wishing her to retain the muff and fur, at the same time propriety will not allow her to accept of your kind proposal. Custom has made it imperative that after an engagement is broken that all presents will be returned even to the value of a pin." Ref.: Mrs. W. Hyde, NYC, to GP, London, Jan. 11 (probably 1839), Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 14-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Letter Cont'd.: "No one can regret more than myself the circumstances which makes the muff & fur mine. I shall keep them and value them highly for the giver's sake and accept my best thanks not only for this munificent present but for others and the parcel of silk today. You are too kind to me. I shall make a beautiful chain of the satin and give it [in] your name as a memento to my grandchildren. I hope on my return you will visit us whenever you feel inclined for a quiet cry. We shall always be happy to see you. You must take a bachelor's dinner with Mr. Hyde even in my absence. Yours very Sincerely, Mrs. W. Hyde." Ref.: Ibid.
Wm. B. Bend's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 15-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter. William B. Bend, NYC, who had written GP a teasing letter Oct. 4, 1838, about the engagement, congratulated GP again, Feb. 10, 1839, on his forthcoming marriage. Eight days later he received GP's Jan. 26, 1839, letter telling of the broken engagement. Keenly touched, Bend apologized for his recent teasing letters, stating that he had not known of the disappointment. He wrote sympathetically to GP, Feb. 18, 1839:
Hoppin, Esther E. 16-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter Cont'd.: "My dear Peabody, I have this morning received your favour of the 26th ulto and with my wife, grieve sincerely and deeply over its melancholy intelligence. Having myself experienced a misfortune, somewhat similar to that which has fallen you, and remember most distinctly now, though twenty years have since elapsed, the agony which I endured, I feel the more called on and the more adequate to sympathize with you, than I otherwise should do. Then in the true spirit of friendship do I offer to you my heartfelt condolence." Ref.: William B. Bend, NYC, to GP, London, Feb. 10 and 18, 1839, both in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 17-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter Cont'd.: "I share in the anguish of your feelings, at the blighting of hopes so fondly cherished, at the crushing of expectations, so warmly, so sanguinely indulged in.... The pangs of despised love, though poignant must be resisted. The balmy effects of time, and the natural elasticity and recuperative energy of the human character, will afford you great relief, and I hope to see you here in the Summer quite yourself again." Ref.: Ibid.
T. Macaulay's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 18-Broken Engagement, Macaulay's Letter. The third and last known letter on the broken engagement, from NYC business friend T. Macaulay, March 7, 1839, was less sympathetic, praised GP for acting correctly in the affair, and intimated that some indiscretion came from Esther Hoppin. Macaulay wrote: "While upon the subject of family affairs I have learned of matters connected with yourself, and as I should sincerely rejoice in any thing which would contribute to your happiness, did not fail to make myself acquainted with what had transpired since I left England--and I am fully convinced that you have acted as became your character for honorable and manly feeling in so delicate an affair--for although we may err in judgment we must never sacrifice these sentiments of delicacy and propriety upon which our happiness in such matters must rest. I should have expected it from you and I feel gratified that you have acted accordingly." Ref.: T. Macaulay, NYC, to GP, London, March 7, 1839, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 19-Married Alexander Lardner. After the engagement to GP Esther Elizabeth Hoppin returned to the U.S. In Providence, R.I., she again met Alexander Lardner. The budding romance of three years past returned. She realized her engagement to GP was a mistake. Whether she asked GP by letter or through an intermediary to release her from the engagement is not known. She returned his gifts, perhaps through Mrs. W. Hyde of NYC as intermediary. She married Alexander Lardner Oct. 2, 1840, in Providence, R.I. They moved to Philadelphia, where Lardner was a cashier in the Bank of the U.S. They had two children. Alexander Lardner died in 1848, age 40. Ref.: (Alexander Lardner's obituaries in Philadelphia newspapers): Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7. Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4. North American and United States Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7. Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7.
Hoppin, Esther E. 20-Cryder Wrote of Lardner's Death. GP's close NYC business friend John Cryder, knowing of the broken engagement, learning of Lardner's death, and knowing GP would be keenly interested, wrote to GP, Jan. 27, 1848: "Poor Lardner died in Phila. a few days since leaving his young & interesting widow with two children & about $20,000. He was an excellent man & his death is much lamented." Ref.: John Cryder to GP, Jan. 27, 1848, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 21-Broken Engagement Mentioned Amid GP's Funeral Publicity. Esther Elizabeth (Hoppin) Lardner died in 1905, outliving GP by 35 years and her husband by 57 years. In the vast publicity at GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London and his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral, bare facts of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth." The Gen. Cass referred to was Lewis Cass (1782-1866), who was U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42. Ref.: (Esther Elizabeth [Hoppin] Lardner's obituary): Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2. Ref.: (Engagement accounts after GP's death): Providence Journal (R.I.), Dec. 22, 1869, p. 2, c. 3. Newark Daily Advertiser (N.J.), Jan. 27, 1870, p. 2, c. 2 and 5. New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Dec. 28, 1869. Hanaford, pp. 53-54.
Mr. Humphreys' Daughter's Account of GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 22-J.L.M. Curry's Account. In his GP biography and PEF history, J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903), second PEF administrator (during 1881-85, 1888-1903) printed a letter he received (no date given) from the daughter of a Mr. Humphreys. She wrote that when GP arrived during a U.S. visit (no date given but possibly May 1, 1866, in NYC), her father, a commercial friend of GP of long standing, went to see GP and congratulated him on his amazing philanthropy. GP, then an old man, said quietly, "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Hoppin, Esther E. 23-Curry Quoting Mr. Humphreys' Daughter Cont'd. : "These expressions made to my father, and as far as I am aware, to him alone, referred to an incident which had, in its day and among the circle of Mr. Peabody's friends, its certain halo of romance. Mr. Peabody's own touching reference to it can, after the lapse of so many years, be recorded without indiscretion, as showing his own reading of an important page in his life's history." For Humphreys' daughter's full account, with sources, See: Humphreys, Mr. (below).
Hoppin, Esther E. 24-Mr. Humphreys' Daughter. GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," may or may not refer to his broken engagement about Jan. 1839 to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. If so, this alleged remark is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Humphreys, Mr. (below). Lardner, Alexander. Sully, Thomas. Other persons named.
Horowitz, Vladimir (1903-89), was a Russian-born pianist who performed at the PIB Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, under its third Director Otto Randolph Ortmann (1889-1979). During Ortmann's tenure as third PIB Conservatory of Music director (1924-41), he also invited to perform and lecture Polish born pianist Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) and Russian cellist Gregor Piatigiorsky (1903-76). See: Ortmann, Otto Randolph. PIB Conservatory of Music.
Hospital, City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. GP gave $165 to this hospital during 1850-55 and perhaps more but it is not recorded. Ref.: Parker, F. "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," Ed. D., GPCFT, 1956, p. 1085.
Hospital, Mental, London. GP gave $100 to this hospital in 1864 and perhaps more but it is not recorded. Ref.: Ibid.
Hospital, San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy. For details of GP's Feb. 19-28, 1868, visit to Rome, Italy, with Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), their audience with Pope Pius IX, and GP's $19,300 gift to Rome's San Spirito Hospital via Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76), and sources, See: San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.
House of Rep., U.S. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Housing for London's working poor. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Housing, Ministry of. George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe (1918-), second Earl of Jellicoe, was Joint Parliamentary Secty., Ministry of Housing, British government, when he gave the major address on GP on July 11, 1962, celebrating the centenary of the Peabody Donation Fund (1862-1962). See: Peabody Homes of London.
Author E. P. Hoyt’s Insights on GP
Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. 1-Insights on GP. Author Edwin P. Hoyt wondered why some families achieved great commercial wealth in his books: The House of Morgan (1966), The Guggenheims and the American Dream (1967), and The Vanderbilts and Their Fortunes (1962). His book, The Peabody Influence: How a Great New England Family Helped to Build America (1968), continued his search for "clues to the pattern of monetary success in a capitalistic society" (from his Introduction). Hoyt's six chapters and over 60 pages on GP are not closely footnoted, contain some minor factual errors, are apparently based largely on press clippings on GP's death and funeral, and yet suggest some insights into GP's life, motivations, and place in U.S. history. Some insights follow below, with comments. Ref.: Hoyt, pp. vii-xiii.
Hoyt, E.P. 2-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? In his Introduction to The Peabody InfluenceHoyt asked: "Why would Peabody behave in one way [about riches] and the Morgans in another? And as this problem bedeviled me, I began studying the fortunes of the Morgans and the fortunes of [GP] with a more interested eye." Hoyt continued: "Peabody turned his wealth over to the man he chose [as partner: Junius Spencer Morgan, 1813-90].... What Peabody had built in his British-American banking enterprise was incalculable in terms of money alone. Yet he walked away from it and left the field to Junius S. Morgan." Ref.: Ibid.
Hoyt, E.P. 3-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? Cont'd.: "Furthermore, George Peabody is one of the few millionaires to have left his money to the people of the United States and Britain, in charities, for good works--and one must say ruefully that this is part of the reason he is virtually unknown a hundred years after his death (1869) when he died one of the richest of all Americans. We recognize the name, in Peabody Institutes, Peabody Museums, Peabody Funds; but aside from the few who are benefited by or operate these charities and institutions, Americans know little of the man who founded them, and most Englishmen know very little about his benefactions to their country, although he refused high honors from Queen Victoria herself, and the British gratefully erected a statue of him in that inner sanctum of London known as The City, where Peabody operated for so long as a banker." Ref.: Ibid.
Hoyt, E.P. 4-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? (Comment). Hoyt's thought may have some merit: that GP's fame faded because of his widely distributed charitable institutes in the U.S. and England and because he withdrew his name from George Peabody & Co. on retirement. J.S. Morgan's inherited wealth and partnership in the greatly respected George Peabody & Co. banking firm were phenomenally enlarged by his more famous son, John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913). Also, had GP, like Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), whom he influenced, focused on one philanthropy, his name like that of Johns Hopkins, might have been better known. But GP was born poor, succeeded beyond his early imagining, and without a male heir was not interested in establishing a dynasty.
Hoyt, E.P. 5-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? (Comment) Cont'd. GP did what in his Puritan conscience he early set out to do: repay Providence for good fortune and hard work by establishing institutes in towns and cities where he lived, worked, and prospered. He also early paid for the education of many relatives and at death left them a large family inheritance. Old and ill and having done his commercial and philanthropic best, on retirement he withdrew his name from a firm he could no longer influence. Before Morgan, Guggenheim, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Ford, and others, GP may have done something better than found a banking dynasty. He founded a philanthropic tradition in the U.S. and gave us a motto, the heart beat of his philanthropy: "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
Hoyt, E.P. 6-GP & the Civil War. (Hoyt): "Immediately Peabody aligned himself with the Union--not an easy decision, since he had his loyalties in Baltimore and southern allegiances from the cotton brokerage days, and since the sentiment in England was very strongly pro-Confederate. But...the Union was the United States and the United States would be a union. He bought even more heavily [of]...United States government bonds and northern railroad securities.... He had been away so long--twenty-four years in 1861--that he...played no role in London as agent [for North or South]. He did not help the Confederates...to raise support and money, but neither did he use his important position in a political way on behalf of the Union." [Comment: after GP's death, political leader Thurlow Weed (1797-1882) and Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), both Pres. Lincoln's emissaries to keep England neutral in the Civil War, made public in the press that GP helped them in Nov. 1861 to meet British leaders]. Ref.: Hoyt, p. 132. See: Civil War and GP. Persons named.
Hoyt, E.P. 7-Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. (Hoyt): "Often, too, George Peabody combined his philanthropy in public and private ways: Yale University was to have $100,000 for [the] establishment of a museum to promote the natural sciences--and one of the trustees was O.C. Marsh [1831-99], who would be Yale's premier professor of paleontology, and who was also George Peabody's nephew." [Comment: GP gave $150,000 each to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ., Oct. 8, 1866; and to the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Univ., Oct. 22, 1866. GP paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's complete education through the doctoral level at German universities and paid for Marsh's science library, and mineral rock collection]. Ref.: Hoyt, p. 134.
Hoyt, E.P. 8-Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Cont'd. Hoyt's implication was correct--that GP's gift to Yale helped to make Marsh the first paleontology professor in the U.S. and the second such professor in the world. In retrospect, Marsh's successful science career more than justified GP's investment in his nephew's education. Charles Darwin (1809-82) himself acknowledged that Marsh's fossil finds provided the best proof of Darwinian evolution. Marsh proved the origin of the horse in North America. His fossil finds are the basis of most of what is known about dinosaurs today. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Hoyt, E.P. 9-Peabody Homes of London, 1862. (Hoyt): "Having decided to donate his money [to London], Peabody sought the best method of doing so. He considered a large gift to Lord Shaftesbury's Ragged School Union--an attempt to bring education to the poor. With great public spirit and presence of mind, Lord Shaftesbury dissuaded Peabody from this course. He described to the American millionaire in grimy and bawdy detail the manner in which London's poor lived. He spoke of the crowding of whole families into single rooms or shacks, the sickness and the wretchedness of people who froze in winter, roasted in summer, who had no medical attention, not enough food, and no privacy. From his own experience, Lord Shaftesbury had come to the conclusion that nothing could be done for the London poor in the way of education until something had been done to relieve the tribulations of their daily lives." Ref.: Hoyt, pp. 134-135.
Hoyt, E.P. 10-Peabody Homes of London, 1862, Cont'd. (Hoyt): "So the trustees of the Peabody fund in London were advised that the donor would like to have them consider using the money to build housing for the poor. The concept was revolutionary. When complete--the work took half a dozen years--the Peabody housing project was one of the new wonders of the civilized world." Ref.: Ibid. See: Peabody Homes of London. Shaftesbury, Lord.
Howe Mather & Co. was a dry goods firm in Hartford, Conn. When Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) became a partner the firm became Mather Morgan & Co. Morgan left in 1851 to become a partner in J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Co. of Boston, and then was GP's partner in George Peabody & Co., London (1854-64), the London firm continuing as J.S. Morgan & Co. and under other names to the present. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Hughes, John Joseph (1797-1864), Roman Catholic Archbishop of NYC, was one of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's emissaries to keep France neutral in the Civil War. Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), another such Lincoln emissary to keep Britain neutral (Nov. 1861-early 1862), was helped by GP in London to meet British officials. See: Weed, Thurlow.
Victor Hugo's GP Eulogy
Hugo, Victor-Marie (1802-85). 1-Eulogy on George Peabody. Victor-Marie Hugo was the famed French writer and novelist (Les Miserables) who wrote the following GP eulogy which read in part: "America has reason to be proud of this great citizen of the world, and great brother of all men,--George Peabody. Peabody [was a man who suffered] in all sufferings, a...man who [felt] the cold, the hunger, and thirst of the poor. Having a place near Rothschild, he found means to change it for one near Vincent de Paul. "May Peabody return to you, blessed by us! Our world envies yours.... The free American flag can never display enough stars above his coffin." Victor Hugo. Ref.: (First Hugo quote): London Times, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 6, c. 1-2. Hanaford, pp. 240-241.
Hugo, Victor-Marie 2-Eulogy on GP Cont'd.: "...Like Jesus Christ, he had a wound in the side, this wound was the misery of others. It was not blood that flowed from this wound: it was gold which now came from a heart.... It was on the face of [such] men that we can see the smile of God." Ref.: (Second Hugo quote): Kenin and Wintle, p. 590. For French political writer Louis Blanc's GP eulogy, See: Blanc, Louis.
Hugo, Victor-Marie 3-Eulogy on GP Cont'd.: Recent GP biographer Robert Van Riper reported that Victor Hugo wrote his GP eulogy from England's Channel Islands where he lived since 1851 in exile to protest the autocracy of French Emperor Napoleon III. Ref.: Van Riper, p. 232-233.
GP's First British Honor
Humphery, Sir John (d. 1863). 1-The Clothworkers' Co., London, July 2, 1862. Sir John Humphery was an alderman of the City of London who, at the Clothworkers' Hall, London, on July 2, 1862, seconded the motion, made by Alderman Sir John Musgrove (1793-1881), "that the Freedom and Livery of the Company be presented to George Peabody, Esq." The motion was carried unanimously. See: The Clothworkers' Co., London.
Humphery, Sir John. 2-First of GP's British Honors. GP, accompanied by longtime business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), was present at the colorful ceremony. The Master of the Company, Josiah Wilson (c.1793-1862), then referred to eminent men on whom the same honor had been earlier bestowed: Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) and Queen Victoria's husband Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61). Ref.: Ibid.
Humphery, Sir John. 3-Other British Honors Followed. This honor followed GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund to build model apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million, 1862-69). Britons had been surprised and grateful for this gift. This, GP's first British honor following that gift, came eight days before GP was made a Freeman of the City of London on July 10, 1862. Other honors followed. See: Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). Fishmongers' Co. London, Freedom of the City of London.
Humphreys (full name and other facts not known), Mr. 1-Letter from Humphreys' Daughter about Broken Engagement. The undated letter J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903) received from a Mr. Humphreys' daughter about the GP-Esther Elizabeth Hoppin broken engagement, given in part in Esther Elizabeth Hoppin entry (above), follows in full below. Her letter related that when GP arrived on a U.S. visit (believed to be NYC, May 1, 1866), her father congratulated GP on his philanthropy. GP replied that after suffering a disappointment long ago, he made up his mind to do good things for his fellow men through philanthropy. Curry began: "A lady of rare intelligence and refinement, in a recent letter, kindly furnished me some interesting contemporary reminiscences." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (above).
Humphreys. 2-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter (quoted by Curry): "'Mr. Peabody was a welcome guest at my father's house, near Liverpool. I believe they had business relations in Baltimore before my father's marriage. To me Mr. Peabody was a benevolent fairy in a high black-satin stock. I did not understand why I, a child of eight years, should be endowed with a valuable sable muff, nor why, on a later holiday visit to London, the same little girl was taken to see the notabilities in Hyde Park by Mr. Peabody, in his cabriolet, with tiger in top boots standing behind.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 3-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter Cont'd.: "'His visit to the United States, after the successful inauguration of his London charities (acknowledged by a gift from Queen Victoria of her portrait), was an ovation. My father called to see his old friend immediately on arrival, congratulating him on the carrying out of his benevolent plans and on their gratifying acknowledgment by the British Government. In all the confusion of open trunks in a small room (Mr. Peabody never condescended to a valet, nor allowed himself personal luxuries), the old man replied quietly [she quoted GP as saying], "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that decision to my best ability." Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 4-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter Cont'd.: "'We were all invited to be present at the opening of the case containing her Majesty's likeness, at the house of Mr. Samuel Wetmore [1812-85]. The British Consul was among the favored few, and edified the company by kneeling before the picture, as if in actual presence of his royal mistress. 'The precision of business habits and a long old bachelor hood, combined with constitutional shyness, caused Mr. Peabody, at times, to appear to disadvantage, but geniality prevailed over awkwardness, and years imparted dignity. Later, the old gentleman became autocratic, one might say. He had himself accomplished so much, could already see such magnificent results, derived from his far-sighted philanthropy, that he felt expressed wishes on his part should become instantaneous facts--his small due from those around him. Nevertheless, the ruthless serenity with which their guest countermanded luncheon and advanced the dinner hour to meet business exigencies, carried dismay to the hearts of the most devoted hostesses. I do not suppose Mr. Peabody ever thought of giving trouble, and certainly no one ever thought of remonstrating.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 5-Was it E.E. Hoppin or Another? GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," may have referred to his engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905), broken by her about Jan. 1839. If so, this alleged remark is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid. See: Bell, Richard. Bend, William B. Bend. Carson, Elizabeth. Lardner, Alexander. Rieman, Mrs. Charles. Sully, Thomas. Romance and GP.
Hungarian Revolution. In 1850 GP was asked for funds to help the escape of jailed Hungarian revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth (1802-94). See: Kossuth, Lajos.
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-95), British biologist and supporter of Darwinian evolution theory. For GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh's (1831-99) visit to Huxley, Darwin, and other scientists during his 1863-65 study at German universities and for Huxley's U.S. visit to Marsh at Yale in Aug. 1876, See: Marsh, Othniel Charles.
Hyde, Mrs. W., was believed to be wife of GP's NYC business friend. She was an intermediary in the broken engagement between GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (above).
I
Illness, GP. See: Sickness, GP.
Illustrations and photos of GP (1795-1869). See: Peabody, George, Illustrations.
Indianapolis, Ind. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Indianapolis, Ind., April 7, 1857, and stayed with Ind. Gov. Ashbel P. Willard (1820-60). For details and sources of GP's March-April 1857 travel itinerary, See: Augusta, Ga.
Influence, Philanthropic, of GP. See: Peabody, George, Philanthropic Influence of.
Ingersoll, Ernest (1852-1946), anthropologist who wrote about the importance of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ., founded by GP on Oct. 8, 1866, $150,000 gift. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
GP’s U.S.-British Friendship Dinners
Ingersoll, Joseph Reed (1786-1868). 1-GP's Oct. 12, 1852, Dinner for Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll of Penn. was U.S. Minister to Britain from Aug. 21, 1852, to Aug. 23, 1853. GP's Oct. 12, 1852, U.S.-British friendship dinner introduced Minister Ingersoll and his niece Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75) to U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. The dinner also honored departing U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinner earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks. He wrote to GP (June 16, 1852): "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Ingersoll, J.R. 2-GP's May 18, 1853, Dinner. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for Minister J.R. Ingersoll and Miss Wilcocks. The dinner, held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames, had 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans). One guest, Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62), later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-62, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. Ref.: Ibid.
Ingersoll, J.R. 3-Hint of Romance. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of GP's Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Ingersoll, J.R. 4-Hint of Romance Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper hinted at a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, had no matrimonial intentions, as he explained in a letter to intimate Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888): "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
Innes, George (1824-94), American artist. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Inventors and GP. See: Goodrich, Charles. Starr, John W. Field, Cyrus West. Morse, Samuel Finlay Breese.
GP in Ireland
Ireland. 1-First Visit, 1827-28. GP's first mention of visiting rural Ireland was in his April 16, 1828, letter to his youngest sister Sophronia Phelps Peabody (b.1809). He wrote of the poverty he saw in rural Ireland during his first nine-month commercial buying trip to Europe (Nov. 1827 to August 1828). He wrote : "As soon as you leave this city [Dublin] the inhabitants of the smaller towns and villages are in the most deplorable state of Poverty and wretchedness. It was not unusual, on leaving a public house in a country town, to be [surrounded] by 20 or 30 beggars at a time, which always excited in my mind feelings of congratulations, that I lived in a country where such things are unknown, but where industry and economy never fail to procure the comforts of life." See: Dublin, Ireland. Visits to Europe by GP.
Ireland. 2-Fishing for Salmon, 1865. Seeking relief from gout attacks, GP, during June-Aug. 1865, rented a lake on the Standish O'Grady estate, County Limerick, Ireland, where he fished for salmon. The owner at the time is believed to be a descendent, Paget Standish (1835-77), 4th Viscount. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Ireland. 3-Castle Connell near Limerick. In 1867 GP rented the Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, on the Shannon River where he liked to fish. He invited for a visit his British friend MP John Bright (1811-99), born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, the son of a Quaker cotton manufacturer. As MP he represented Durham (from 1843), Manchester (from 1847), and Birmingham (from 1858); was anti-slavery and pro-Union during the U.S. Civil War; and was president of the Board of Trade in PM William E. Gladstone's (1809-98) cabinet (1868). See: Bright, John.
Ireland. 4-Fishing, Castle Connell near Limerick Cont'd. John Bright recorded this visit in his diary on June 4, 1867: "Call from Mr. Peabody, on proposed visit to him at Castle Connell on the Shannon. Agreed to go there on Saturday next, nothing unforeseen preventing. A fine looking man and happy in the review of his great generosity in the bestowal of his great wealth." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 5-Fishing, Castle Connell near Limerick Cont'd. John Bright was again GP's guest for a week at Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, in July 1868. Bright described his visit and wrote of GP in his diary: "Went to Ireland on a visit to Mr. P at Castle-Connell on the Shannon. Spent more than a week with him pleasantly. Weather intensely hot; river low; fishing very bad. "Mr. Peabody is a remarkable man. He is 74 years old, large and has been powerful of frame. He has made an enormous fortune, which he is giving for good objects--chiefly for education in America and for useful purposes in London. He has had almost no schooling and has not read books, but has had much experience, and is deeply versed in questions of commerce and banking. He is a man of strong will, and can decide questions for himself. He has been very kind to me, and my visit to him has been very pleasant." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 6-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick. A July 1998 Peabody Trust, London, Grapevine newsletter (circulated among Peabody Trust staff), reported a little known GP gift in Ireland. The Grapevine lead story is headlined "Irish trip reveals Peabody surprise." A photo shows a smiling visitor, Sheila Eburah, standing near a tall thick stone post anchoring a stone-based metal railing in front of the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland. The stone post has carved on it: "THIS RAILING IS THE GIFT OF GEORGE PEABODY ESQ." Ref.: "Irish trip reveals Peabody Surprise," Grapevine (July? 1998), p. 1 (Public Relations Dept., Peabody Trust, London).
Ireland. 7-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd. The article stated: "Sheila Eburah was visiting Castleconnell in Ireland when she was surprised to see the generosity of George Peabody had stretched to the Emerald Isle." "On the pillars to the gateway of the Catholic church where she was attending a wedding, it read 'Donated by George Peabody.' Intrigued, Sheila delved into a local history book and discovered that GP had been staying nearby while on a fishing trip." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 8-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd.: "It [the local history book] said he met Father Hennessy, with whom he was on friendly terms, who asked him what he thought of the new church. 'Yes, a fine building, I must say,' replied Mr Peabody. 'Do you want to give me something towards it?' asked the Father." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 9-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd. "'It is not consistent with my views to assist a Roman Catholic church in any way: in fact I would give something to keep people out of it.'" "'Well, Mr Peabody, I want to put up a good, strong railing to keep the Protestants out. Will you help me?' asked Father Hennessy.'" "Taken aback, the millionaire was silent for a moment and then replied with a smile, 'You must have it.'" "Sheila said she thought the story showed George Peabody's sense of humour." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 10-Why Unusual? This report of GP's gift to the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland, is unusual. His founding letters always contained an injunction that his institute library or museum or other gift would never be used for divisive sectarian or political purposes. There was a critical reaction to this injunction once, in the $70,000 Memorial Church he built (1866-68) in his mother's memory in her birthplace, Georgetown, Mass., at his sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels' (1799-1879) suggestion. The story in brief follows.
Ireland. 11-Poet Objected to GP's Gift Restriction. GP's sister, who lived in Georgetown, and some 85 parishioners differed over doctrine with their pastor, formed a separate congregation (Jan. 17, 1864) and lacked funds to build another church. At sister Judith's suggestion GP had a site selected, broke ground (June 19, 1866), the cornerstone laid (Sept. 19, 1866), and the Memorial Church dedicated (Jan. 8, 1868). Poet John Greenleaf Whittier's (1807-92) specially written poem was read along with GP's Oct. 18, 1867, letter from London containing his stipulation that the church "exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purposes." See: Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass. Whittier, John Greenleaf.
Ireland. 12-Poet Whittier Objected. Learning of and objecting to GP's restriction, Whittier wrote to the Boston Daily Evening Transcript editor that his "Memorial Hymn" poem was written to praise a son and daughter's tribute to their mother. But he had since learned with surprise and sorrow of GP's restrictions. A NYC Independent article entitled "A Marred Memorial" stated that the poem would never have been written nor the poet's name lent to the occasion had Whittier known of this restriction. GP's well intentioned $70,000 Memorial Church gift to honor his mother was among his lesser known and less appreciated gifts. Ref.: Ibid.
Irving, Washington (1783-1859), was the author of "Rip Van Winkle" and "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." He was one of the hundred or so prominent New Yorkers to offer GP a public dinner on arrival (Sept. 15, 1856), his first return in nearly 20 years (since 1837). GP courteously declined, explaining that he had promised to be thus greeted first at Danvers, his hometown (renamed Peabody, Mass, April 13, 1868). See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Irwin, George Carter, was a Baltimore stockbroker who in 1911 gave his art collection to the PIB Gallery of Art and whose sisters established an Irwin Fund used by the Peabody Gallery of Art to purchase paintings by such distinguished American artists as Winslow Homer (1836-1910), George Innes (1824-94), Childe Hassam (1859-1935), and Jonas Lie (1880-1940). See: PIB, Art.
Italy. GP's second European buying trip (April 1830 to Aug. 15, 1831, some 15 months) was made with an unknown American friend. They went by carriage and with frequent change of horses covered some 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy, and Switzerland. GP was in Florence, Italy, in early March 1863 to sit for a bust being made of him at U.S sculptor Hiram Powers' (1805-73) Florence studio. During Feb. 19-28, 1868, GP visited Rome, Italy, with Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) where they had an audience with Pope Pius IX, and GP gave a $19,300 gift to Rome's San Spirito Hospital via Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76). Following the Rome, Italy, visit, GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, and soon after to Paris, France, where he was received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). For GP's second European buying trip (1830-31), See: Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniel (sister). For GP's Feb. 1868 visit to Italy and France, with sources, see San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy. Eugénie, Empress. See also Florence, Italy. Otley, Charles Bethell. Powers, Hiram.
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Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845), U.S. general and seventh U.S. president (1829-37), was trustee for over 50 years (1792-1845) of Davidson Academy (1785-1806), Nashville, and its successor institutions: Cumberland College (1806-26) and the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75). Ref.: Dillingham, p. 12. Crabb-b, reprinted in Windrow, ed., p. 29. See institutions named. Grundy, Felix. Conkin, Peabody College, index. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
Jackson, Henry Rootes (1820-98), was elected as PEF trustee during 1875-88, succeeding William Alexander Graham (1804-75). Born in Athens, Ga., and a Yale College graduate, Jackson was a lawyer (1840); served in the Mexican War; was judge of Ga.'s Superior Court (1848-53); was chargé d'affaires, then Minister to Vienna (1853-58); Confederate general in the Civil War; and Minister to Mexico, 1885-86. Ref.: Boatner, pp. 430-431. See Graham, William Alexander.
Jackson, John (1811-85), was the Rt. Hon. & Rt. Rev. Bishop of London who, taking as his text Hebrews 6:11, gave the sermon on the meaning of GP's life and influence, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869, at Westminster Abbey, London, to the largest Abbey Sunday congregation to that time. See Death & Funeral, GP's.
Jackson's Oxford Journal. See Oxford Univ.
Jacquemart, Jules-Ferdinand (1837-80), was an artist-engraver who made an etching of the Congressional gold medal the U.S. Congress awarded GP (March 5, 9, 14, 16, 1867) for GP's PEF ($2 million gift for public education in the South). This etching appeared in Joseph Flourimund Loubat, Medallic History of the U. S. 1776-1876 (New York: Loubat, 1880). II, plate 78. See Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Engravers-Artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations.
JUL (Example of VU's Primacy)
Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. 1-Former Joint University Library (JUL). The former JUL was renamed in 1984 to honor VU's former Chancellor (during 1963-82) Alexander Heard (1917-). As the JUL it served and was administered by the three adjoining institutions—VU, GPCFT, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers--during Sept. 1941-July 1, 1979. Since the PCofVU 1979 merger VU owned, financed, and renamed it.
Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. 2-Example of VU's Primacy. Author Alice Cobb's following account of the JUL's origin hints at VU's vaunting sense of primacy under VU Chancellor (during 1893-39) James Hampton Kirkland (1859-1939) and since. Asked in the late 1920s to build a needed library in Nashville, the Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board (GEB) officials said yes if the library was jointly controlled by VU, Peabody, and Scarritt. According to Cobb, an impasse occasioned by Kirkland's insistence that VU control the library was overcome at a meeting of school heads in Nashville in 1932. Scarritt's Pres. Jesse Lee Cuninggim (1870-1950), moved that the new YMCA School's Pres. W.D. Weatherford, Sr. (1875-1970) form "a plan for a joint project that would meet the approval of the[GEB] board… Chancellor Kirkland could hardly object…and in any case he was out numbered." The JUL was administered during 1941-79 by representatives from VU, GPCFT, the YMCA School (which closed in 1936), and Scarritt (which in the early 1980s became Scarritt-Bennett [Methodist Adult Education] Center). After the GPofVU merger (July 1, 1979), VU became financially responsible for the JUL and renamed it the Jean and Alexander Heard Library in 1984. Ref.: Cobb, pp. 55-57. See PCofVU, history of. persons named. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Jeanes Foundation, Anna T. (1908-1937). See: PEF.
Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826), was featured, along with GP, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Johns Hopkins, and Horace Mann in artist Louis Amateis's (1855-1913) "Apotheoses if America" tableau atop two bronze doors intended for the west entrance of the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. See: Amateis, Louis.
Jellicoe, George Patrick John Rushworth (1918-), second Earl of Jellicoe, was Joint Parliamentary Secty., Ministry of Housing, British government, when he gave the major address on GP (July 11, 1962), celebrating the centenary of the Peabody Donation Fund (1862-1962), See Peabody Homes of London.
Jenkins, Henry T. (b.1815), was employed in Peabody, Riggs & Co., summer 1837, on the promise of a later partnership. On Jan. 1, 1840, he and another employee of the firm, Augustus W. Peabody, GP's first cousin, son of paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1828), were given one-sixteenth share of profits, without having to contribute any capital. Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 93.
Jewett, Ezekiel (1791-1877). 1-Fossil Hunter's Influence on O.C. Marsh. Ezekiel Jewett (called Colonel) was a local engineer and fossil hunter living near Lockport, N.Y., where GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99) grew up with his father and stepmother. Jewett befriended the boy and explained about fossils which they hunted together about 1841 in the nearby recently excavated and fossil-rich Erie Canal. This experience with Jewett sparked Marsh's later passion for paleontology. For details of Jewett's career and influence on young Marsh, see Othniel Charles Marsh. Science: GP's Contributions to Science and Science Education.
Jewett, Ezekiel. 2- Making of Paleontologist O.C. Marsh. Otherwise, O.C. Marsh had an erratic schooling and drifted aimlessly until about age 20. GP paid for this nephew's education at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College (B.A., 1860); Yale's graduate Sheffield School of Science (M.A., 1862); and German universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Breslau (Ph.D.). GP paid for Marsh's scientific library and fossil collection, thus enabling Marsh to become the first U.S. paleontology professor at Yale, the second such professor in the world, a chief supporter of the Darwinian theory of evolution, and a chief discoverer of almost all that is known of North American dinosaurs. Marsh, in turn, influenced GP's founding of the Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale universities and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. Ref Ibid.
GP’s Maternal Relations
Jewett, Jeremiah (1757-1836), was born in Rowley (later renamed Georgetown), Mass. He was a physician who married GP's maternal aunt (his mother Judith [née Dodge] Peabody's [1770-1830] sister), Temperance Dodge (1772-1872?). Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Temperance Jewett lived in Barnstead, N.H. GP visited them there in the winter of 1810, after visiting his maternal grandparents Judith (née Spofford) Dodge (1749-1828) and her husband Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824) at Post Mills Village, Thetford, Vt. In 1866 GP gave $5,000 for a Peabody Library, Thetford, Vt., in memory of his maternal grandparents. See persons and towns mentioned.
Jewett, Temperance (née Dodge) (1772-1872?), was GP's maternal aunt, sister of his mother Judith (née Dodge) Peabody (1770-1830). Temperance Dodge married Jeremiah Jewett (see immediately above).
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md. For GP's influence on Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) in founding the Johns Hopkins Univ., medical school, and hospital, with sources, see Hopkins, Johns.
John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn. 1-Mental Retardation Research. The John. F. Kennedy Center was cofounded in 1965 by Nicholas Hobbs(1915-83), GPCFT psychology professor (from 1951); chairman, GPCFT's Division of Human Development (1951-65); director, John F. Kennedy Center (1965-70); Vanderbilt Univ. Provost (1967-75); Vanderbilt psychology professor (1975-80); and Vanderbilt Prof. Emeritus (1980). He was president, Am. Psychological Assn. (1966) and enlarged special education for disabilities programs at both institutions. See Nicholas Hobbs. Ref.: Tennessean (Nashville), Aug. 22 and 23, 2000, both pp. 1A-2A.
John F. Kennedy Center, PCofVU. 2-Mental Retardation Research Cont'd. GPCFT psychology professor Susan Gray (), was cofounder. Her research in early childhood education needs led in part to the national early childhood Head Start movement of the early 1960s. Startup funds for the John F. Kennedy Center came from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation (in memory of U.S. Pres. J.F. Kennedy's retarded younger sister), the National Institutes of Health, and GPCFT. By the late 1990s, the Kennedy Center, one of 14 U.S. mental retardation research centers supported by the federal government, was ranked among the top U.S. special education programs. Ref.: Ibid.
John F. Kennedy Center, PCofVU. 3-35-Year Legacy. The Kennedy Center initially focused on research in behavior, special education, and psychology. In the 1980s, under federal government urging, it developed a strong biomedical research component. In 2000 the Center, funded by about $11 million in federal grants, had about 90 affiliated Vanderbilt Univ. researchers. Ref.: Ibid. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
GP & Pres. Andrew Johnson
Johnson, Andrew (1808-75). 1-Pres. Johnson Called on GP. On Feb. 9, 1867, after public news of GP's PEF founding letter (Feb. 7, 1867, $2 million total gift), Pres. Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. president during 1865-69), his secretary, Col. William George Moore (1829-93), and three others, called at GP's Washington, D.C., Willard's Hotel rooms. Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand (GP was 72 and often ill) and said he thought he would find GP alone (GP had guests), that he called as a private citizen to thank GP for his PEF gift to aid public education in the South, that the gift would do much to unite the country, that he was glad a man like GP represented the U.S. in England. He invited GP to visit him in the White House. See Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Johnson, Andrew. 2-GP's Response. GP thanked Pres. Johnson, said that this meeting was one of the greatest honors of his life, that he knew the president's political course would be in the country's best interest, that England from the Queen downward felt only goodwill toward the U.S., that he thought in a few years the country would rise above its divisions to become happier and more powerful. Ref.: Ibid.
Johnson, Andrew. 3-GP Visited White House. To avoid impeachment, Pres. Johnson's political advisor, Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), advised a complete change of cabinet, with GP as Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this course. On April 25, 1867, before his May 1, 1867, return to London, GP called on Pres. Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House. They spoke of the work of the PEF. With GP at the White House were B&O RR Pres. Robert Work Garrett (1820-84) and Samuel Wetmore's (1813?-85) 16-year-old son. GP told Pres. Johnson of young Wetmore's interest in being admitted to West Point and Pres. Johnson said he would do what he could for the young man. Ref.: Ibid. For the eight names proposed in the suggested Pres. Andrew Johnson Cabinet reshuffle, see Andrew, John Albion.
Johnson, David Bancroft (1856-1929), founder and first president of Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C., whose Peabody Building is named after GP. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Named Institutions, Firms, Buildings, Ships, Other Facilities, Music, & Poems Named for GP. P.,G.: ...Named for GP. 23-Peabody Building, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C.
GP & Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson
Johnson, Reverdy (1796-1876). 1-Career. GP's long-time friend in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson, was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in Annapolis, was a Baltimore criminal defense lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49, D-Md.), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), U.S. arbitrator in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) disputes in 1853-54, was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68, D-Md.), and succeeded Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) as arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy (1871-72). He was partially blind during the last half of his life.
Johnson, Reverdy. 2-Contacts with GP. Reverdy Johnson's contacts with GP, explained below, were 1-in London in 1854 when GP asked Johnson to plan with other Baltimoreans GP's intended gift to Baltimore; and 2-in 1867 when Johnson defended GP's Union loyalty in the Civil War during the U.S. Senate debate over the Congressional resolutions of praise and gold medal for GP for his $2 million (total) PEF to promote public education in the former 11 Confederate states plus W.Va. For Reverdy Johnson as U.S. arbiter in 1853-54 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850), with sources, see Nathan G. Upham. For Reverdy Johnson's connection with the PIB, See: PIB. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Johnson, Reverdy. 3-Reverdy Johnson and the PIB. In 1854 Reverdy Johnson was in London with James Watson Webb (1802-84), editor of the NYC Courier and Enquirer during 1827-61. GP called on Johnson and Webb to ask their advice about an educational institution he planned to establish in Baltimore. Returning to Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. Ref.: (GP asked Webb and Johnson's help on Baltimore gift): London Anglo-American Times, Oct. 2, 1869. See: PIB.
Johnson, Reverdy. 4-PIB Largely Kennedy's Plan. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on the British Museum in London and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million. It was originally conceived of as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. Ref.: Ibid.
Johnson, Reverdy. 5-Defended GP in the U.S. Senate. On March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R.-Mass.) introduced resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for establishing the PEF (total gift $2 million). GP had established the PEF to promote public education, teacher institutes, and teacher training normal schools in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty. Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R-Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa) asked why the resolutions could not first go to an investigating committee to determine the worthiness of the gift (some Senate members wrongly charged GP as pro-Confederate). Sen. Reverdy Johnson then defended GP as staunchly Union, stating that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817 and had later contacts with him in London. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 6-Defended GP in the U.S. Senate Cont'd. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "To amend the resolution to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and abetted." Harding's amendment failed. The U.S. House passed the resolutions March 14, 1867. They were announced and enrolled in the U.S. Senate March 15 and were signed by Pres. Andrew Johnson on March 16, 1867. During GP’s May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit, he attended the wedding of Reverdy Johnson’s daughter (c. April 24, 1867). Ref.: Ibid. (wedding): Baltimore Gazette, April 25, 1867, p. 1, c. 5. See: persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 7-GP Saw Gold Medal Christmas Day 1868. NYC silversmiths and jewelers Starr and Marcus finished the gold medal in May 1868. It was sent to the U.S. Dept. of State, was seen by Pres. Johnson's cabinet on May 26, 1868, and was exhibited in the U.S. Capitol Building. GP in London informed (Sept. 18, 1868) U.S. Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) that the gold medal would be kept safely in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., adding: "Knowing the uncertainty of life, particularly at my advanced age, and feeling a great desire of seeing this most valued token my countrymen have been pleased to bestow upon me, I beg...that the medal, with its accompanying documents, may be sent to me here, through our Legation." GP saw the gold medal for the first time in London on Christmas Day 1868. He opened the package before gathered friends who admired the delicate workmanship. GP, with a few months to live, made his last trip to the U.S., June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, returned to London gravely ill, and died there on Nov. 4, 1869. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 8-Last Meeting, Brighton, England, 1868. In Nov. 1868 GP was in Brighton, England, with Reverdy Johnson, then U.S. Minister to Britain (1868-69), and longtime friend and MP Sir James Emerson Tennent. Reverdy Johnson had special responsibility to negotiate the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty to settle the Alabama Claims (U.S. indemnity demands for British-built ships, including the Alabama, sold to Confederate emissaries, which sunk federal ships and cost Union lives and treasure). Ref.: (For GP's Sept. 1868 visit to Tennent in Ireland): Albion (NYC), Sept. 19, 1868, p. 452, c. 1. See: Alabama Claims.
Johnson, Reverdy. 9-Public Dinner at Brighton, Nov. 21, 1868. A public dinner was held Nov. 21, 1868, to honor Reverdy Johnson, GP, and Tennent, but GP was too ill to attend. At the dinner Reverdy Johnson spoke of his efforts to reconcile the Alabama Claims. He also complimented GP's past efforts to promote British-U.S. friendship. On Nov 22, 1868, GP and Reverdy Johnson attended Christ Church in Brighton. The Rev. Robert Ainslie's sermon was largely about the two distinguished visitors. Reverdy Johnson was praised for promoting peace. GP was favorably compared to British reformer John Howard (1726-90). It was GP's last meeting with Reverdy Johnson and also with Sir Emerson Tennent who died March 6, 1869. Ref.: (Reverdy Johnson's speech in Brighton): Brighton Guardian (England), Nov. 18, 1868, p. 5, c. 6; and Nov. 25, 1868, p. 7. Brighton Herald (England), Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5; and Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3. Ref.: (Rev. Ainslie's sermon): Ainslie. Ref (Sir James Emerson Tennent's obituary): London Times, March 12, 1869 (born April 7, 1791). See: persons named.
GP Elected to N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame
Johnson, Robert Underwood (1853-1937). 1-Director, N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame. Robert Underwood Johnson was director of the N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame (1919-37). In June 1925 he urged GP's grand nephew George Russell Peabody to help raise funds for a bust of GP, elected in 1900 as one of 29 of the most famous Americans. In 1901 a bronze tablet, unveiled in GP's allotted space, contained this selection from GP's Feb. 7, 1867, letter founding the $2 million PEF: "Looking forward beyond my stay on earth I see our country becoming richer and more powerful. But to make her prosperity more than superficial, her moral and intellectual development should keep pace with her material growth."
Johnson, R.U. 2-Funds for a GP Bust. The help of another GP grand nephew, Murray Peabody Brush (b.1872), was also enlisted to raise funds for the GP bust. Trustees of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ., helped raise $300. The GP bust by sculptor Hans Schuler (1874-1951) was unveiled May 12, 1926, at the University Heights N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame colonnade.
Johnson, R.U. 3-Career. Robert Underwood Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Earlham College, Ind., was a writer and editor of Century Magazine (1873-1913), helped achieve passage of the International Copyright Law of 1891, was secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, U.S. Ambassador to Italy (from 1920), and director of the N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame (1919-37). See: Hall of Fame of N.Y.U. MacCracken, Henry Mitchell.
Johnstone, George, was a Peabody Homes of London tenant who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Joint University Library. See: Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Seventh PIB Librarian
Jones, Frank Nicholas (1906-). 1-Seventh PIB Librarian. Frank Nicholas Jones was the seventh PIB Librarian during 1956-66, for 10 years. He was born in Reading, Penn., and earned degrees from Harvard College and Columbia Univ. School of Library Service. He had been assistant librarian of the NYC Bar Association Library; librarian in Newburyport, Mass. (where GP had worked in older brother David Peabody's dry goods store); was deputy supervisor of Boston Public Library Reference Division; had served in the U.S. Army in Europe; was administrative assistant at Harvard College Library; and came to the PIB Library after being librarian at Ohio Univ. in Athens. Ref.: Jones, F.N.-a. Jones, F.N.-b, p. 7. "New Library Director [F.N. Jones]," Baltimore Sun, June 17, 1957.
Jones, F.N. 2-PIB Library Financial Difficulties, 1963-64. The PIB Library had financial difficulties during 1963-64, while plans were afoot to enlarge the reference section of the Johns Hopkins Univ.'s Milton S. Eisenhower Library. There was talk of a PIB-Johns Hopkins library merger. A Sun article, Nov. 12, 1963, reported some Baltimoreans' objections to merger as contrary to GP's original intent. Others accepted the idea to help solve the PIB Library's financial troubles and to keep the PIB reference collection intact, even if not in its original home. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 3-Aided by Enoch Pratt, 1966-82; Johns Hopkins Since. The PIB Library did become part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library for 16 years, from July 2, 1966, to July 1, 1982, supported by the City of Baltimore. But city budget cuts in the late 1970s and early 1980s forced an end to of the PIB-Enoch Pratt connection. Since the summer of 1982 the PIB Library's 250,000 volumes and staff members have been the Peabody Library department of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Many thought the final merger appropriate, since GP had influenced his fellow Baltimore business acquaintance Johns Hopkins to found the university, medical school, and hospital which bear his name. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 4-Alleged GP Romance. In F.N. Jones's pamphlet, George Peabody and the Peabody Institute (Baltimore: Peabody Institute Library, 1965), he wrote that in 1958 a Mrs. Charles Rieman gave the PIB Library an undated manuscript by Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist John Wilson Leakin (1857-1922), "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections." That manuscript is the source for the following story of an alleged romance in GP's life. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 5-Alleged GP Romance Cont'd. According to the J.W. Leakin manuscript, sometime during GP's 22 years in Baltimore (1815-37) he proposed marriage to Elizabeth Knox, daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. Her father advised against the marriage, preferring his daughter to marry a banker. Elizabeth Knox married George Carson, a Baltimore bank teller, who died after the birth of the couple's fourth child. In the Carson family tradition, when GP returned to Baltimore for a visit in 1857, he again proposed to the widow Carson, then supporting herself by managing a boarding home. She declined, saying that people would believe she had married GP solely for his money. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Jones, F.N. 6-Alleged GP Romance Cont'd. A PIB Art Gallery catalog listed an 1840 portrait of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson, describing her as the "Lady to whom G. Peabody twice offered his hand." Author Jones's pamphlet identified Mrs. Charles Rieman who deposited the J.W. Leakin manuscript as the former Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899. Note: James Wilson Leakin's gift enabled the Preparatory Dept. of the PIB Conservatory of Music to move into its own building, Leakin Hall, in 1927. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named. Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Persons named. PIB, Music. Romance and GP.
Jones, John Edward (1806-62), was an Irish-born sculptor who made a bust of GP in 1856 and attended GP's July 4, 1856, dinner for more than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, near London. Also present were U.S. Minister to Britain George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864) who spoke and U.S. inventor Samuel F.B Morse (1791-1872) who responded to a toast to [his invention] "The Telegraph." J.E. Jones, born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of painter Edward Jones (c1775-1862), was first trained as an engineer and built bridges. About 1840 he turned to sculpturing, achieved success in portrait busts, and had his works exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1844 to his death. He sculpted a bust of Queen Victoria in 1854. Ref.: Strickland, pp. 557-559. See: Dallas, George Mifflin. Dinners, GP's, London.
GP’s Selling Md.'s Bonds Abroad
Jones, Samuel, Jr. (1800-74). 1-Md. Agents. Under the Md. Act of 1835, Samuel Jones, Jr., was one of three commissioners appointed by the Md. Assembly to sell abroad its $8 million in bonds for internal improvements. Jones, who resigned early to become a state senator, backed GP to replace him. Despite some opposition, GP was appointed commissioner. GP and the other two commissioners, John Buchanan (1772-1844) and Thomas Emory, tried unsuccessfully to sell the bonds in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The other two agents returned to the U.S. by Oct. 8, 1837. See: Maryland's $8 Million Bond Issue Sold Abroad, and GP.
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 2-Career. Samuel Jones, Jr., began in his father's Baltimore firm, Talbot Jones & Co.; was a director of several banks; was B&O RR acting director; member of the Baltimore City Council; state senator; and left to head the New Orleans Saving Institution. Ref.: Howard, G.W., pp. 464-466
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 3-GP as Md. Agent. On this, his fifth business trip to Europe, GP remained in London for the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: Sept. 1856 to Aug. 1857; May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867; and June 8-Sept. 29, 1869. The Panic of 1837 and an economic depression that followed for a few years hindered GP's sale of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. portion of Md.'s $8 million in bonds. Worse still, the depression induced Md. and eight other states to halt their bond interest payments in part or whole. GP finally approached his major competitor, Baring Brothers, Britain's large banking firm. He sold them the bonds cheaply for exclusive resale. Not wanting to burden economically depressed Md., GP never applied for and ultimately declined the $60,000 commission due him. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 4-GP as Md. Agent Cont'd. By the time Md. had recovered economically and resumed its bond interest payments (1847), GP had withdrawn his capital from Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48) and was for a few years in transition from merchandise dealer to broker-banker in U.S. securities. The Md. governor's annual report of 1847 to the legislative Assembly singled out GP "who never claimed or received one dollar of the $60,000 commission due him...whilst the State was struggling with her pecuniary difficulties." On March 7, 1848, both houses of Md.'s Assembly passed a unanimous resolution of praise to GP, sent to him in London, with Gov. Philip Francis Thomas' (1810-90) comment: "To you, Sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." GP's earlier letters assuring European purchasers that the state would resume interest payments, and retroactively, along with Md.'s resolution of praise, were widely printed. It thus took ten years for GP's difficulties in selling Md. bonds to be fully appreciated. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. House Debate on Reception for GP's Remains
Jones, Thomas Laurens (1819-87). 1-U.S. Navy Reception for GP's Remains. Thomas Laurens Jones was a U.S. House member (D-Ky.) who on Dec. 15, 1869, introduced U.S. House Resolution No. 96 which praised the late GP and asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a naval reception to receive his remains at the U.S. receiving port "in a manner commensurate with the...dignity of a great people." The British HMS Monarch, with GP's remains aboard, and USS Plymouth as U.S. escort vessel, were awaiting the end of storms at Spithead near Portsmouth, England, to return GP's remains for burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Jones, T.L 2-The resolution, debated on Dec. 21, 1869, was passed that day in the House but amid charge and rebuttal that GP had been pro-Confederate and anti-Union. House Resolution No. 96 was passed in the Senate (Dec. 23, 1869) and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. It read in part: "Whereas, in the death of George Peabody...our country and the world have sustained [great] loss.... "And whereas the Queen of Great Britain, the authorities of London, and the Emperor of France have made extraordinary provision for the transfer of his remains to his native land; therefore, " It is resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America Congress, "That the President of the United States...in a manner commensurate with the...dignity of a great people... order as many ships as were convenient to meet at sea the European convoy conducting George Peabody's remains home." Ref.: Ibid.
Josephson, Matthew (1899-1978), was the author of The Robber Barons (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1934 and 1962). On p. 60 he repeated the charge that GP was a Confederate sympathizer in the Civil War, a charge made first without evidence by John Bigelow (1817-1911), U.S. Consul General in Paris in 1862; repeated by Samuel Bowles (1826-78), editor of the Springfield (Mass.) Daily Republican, Oct. 27, 1866; uncritically repeated in Gustavus Myers' (1872-1942) History of the Great American Fortunes; in Carl Sandburg's (1878-1967) Pulitzer prize-winning Abraham Lincoln, 1939; and in Leland DeWitt Baldwin's, Stream of American History. See: Civil War and GP. Felt, Charles Wilson. Garrison, William Lloyd. Myers, Gustavson. Sandburg, Carl. Weed, Thurlow. Other names listed.
JP Morgan Chase. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics-18-32.
K
Kahn, Roseann, wrote "A History of the Peabody Institute Library, Baltimore, Maryland, 1857-1916" (Master's thesis, Catholic University of America, 1953), published as ACRL Microcard Series No. 16 (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press for the Association of College and Reference Libraries, 1954).
Kamehameha I (1758-1819), Warrior Chief of Hawaii. See: Bishop, Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Paki.
GP & U.S. Arctic Research
Kane, Elisha Kent (1820-57). 1-Arctic Search for Sir John Franklin. GP gave $10,000 (March 4, 1852) for scientific equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition to find lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). This expedition enabled U.S. Navy Commander Elisha Kent Kane, M.D., to initiate U.S. Arctic exploration. He had been medical officer on the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition (1850-52) and commanded the Second Expedition (1853-55), using two ships donated by NYC merchant Henry Grinnell (1799-1874). Born in Philadelphia, Kane had a medical degree from the Univ. of Penn. (1842). Kane, seeking adventure, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and saw service in the Mexican War. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Kane, E.K. 2-International Search. During 1845-1850s there was an international call to find lost Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew. Lady Jane Franklin (1792-1875) appealed to Pres. Zachary Taylor and to the U.S. Congress for help to "snatch the lost navigators from a dreary grave." She added £3,000 (then about $15,000) to the British government's £20,000 reward (then about $100,000) to find Sir John Franklin. Her appeal influenced NYC merchant Henry Grinnell (head of Grinnell, Minturn & Co.) to offer two ships. Elisha Kent Kane's offer to serve on any U.S.-sponsored search won U.S. Congressional and U.S. Naval approval. But the 1850-52 First U.S. Grinnell Expedition did not find the lost explorer. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 3-GP's Previous Aid to U.S.-British Relations. GP's interest in helping the search for Sir John Franklin began in 1852. He had attracted minor international attention in the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first world's fair, held in the new Crystal Palace, London. The U.S. Congress approved U.S. participation but did not appropriate funds to display U.S. industrial and cultural products. The U.S. Minister to Britain, U.S. exhibitors, and U.S. residents in London were embarrassed. London's satirical Punch poked fun at the U.S. "We could not help...being struck by the glaring contrast between large pretension and little performance...by America." GP's timely $15,000 loan to the exhibitors enabled some 6.7 million visitors to see U.S. industry and art to best advantage. Pressed by its appointed commissioner, the U.S. Congress, three years later, repaid GP's loan. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Kane, E.K. 4-GP's U.S.-British Friendship Dinners. GP had also promoted British-U.S. friendship through jointly attended dinners, often held on July 4, American Independence Day, in which GP toasted first the Queen and then the U.S. President. Also, in 1852 he was readying his first major gift of a Peabody Institute library to his hometown of South Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), Mass. Moved by Lady Franklin's appeal, knowing of Henry Grinnell's renewed offer of two ships, GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment on March 4, 1852, enabled U.S. Navy Secty. John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) to coordinate the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Kennedy, a Baltimorean, first knew GP as a fellow soldier in the War of 1812. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Kane, E.K. 5-U.S. Navy Secty. J.P. Kennedy. Dining with Dr. Kane in mid-Nov. 1852, Kennedy wrote in his journal: "Pleasant little party at dinner with Dr. Kane of the Arctic Expedition and Lt. Gillis of the Astronomical Dept..... Kane had brought his drawings--a rich portfolio of Polar scenes--to show us. I have given him permission to go again, at the request of Lady Franklin on the new expedition recently set on foot by Mr. Henry Grinnell and Mr. Peabody." See: Gillis, James Melvin. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 6-New Search Underway. Kennedy gave Dr. Kane naval command of the Advance, ten naval volunteers, and made the purpose of the expedition a scientific and geographical one. Business friend William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62) transferred GP's $10,000 gift to Kane. Kane, needing additional funds for instruments and equipment, published GP's letter of gift; lectured to raise funds; got aid and endorsements from the Smithsonian Institution, the Geographical Society of N.Y., and the American Philosophical Society. Kane also rushed into print his account of the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition before leaving NYC on the Advance on May 30, 1853, for Smith Sound in the Arctic. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 7-Kane Did Not Find Sir John Franklin. The Advance became frozen in the Arctic. On May 24, 1855, Kane and his men were forced to abandon their ship. They trekked 1,300 miles in 84 days during which one-third of the crew perished. Kane and the rest of his crew were saved by a passing Danish vessel. Kane wrote to GP of his ill-fated voyage. To spread the news rapidly GP had the correspondence published in newspapers. To Lady Franklin GP wrote: "Having been instrumental in promoting Docr. Kane's expedition in search for your late lamented husband...I have...felt much anxiety for their safety & it is therefore a great relief to my mind that Docr. Kane and so large a portion of the brave men [with] him safely arrived in their own country." Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 8-Kane's Arctic Influence. Two later explorers found conclusive proof that Sir John Franklin had died on June 11, 1847. All of his crew also perished. Kane spent the last year of his life writing an account of the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. His book sold 145,000 copies in its first three years and was probably the most read of all early books on the Arctic. Kane initiated Arctic exploration by the U.S. government. His influence was to remove some of its terror in the public mind. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 9-Kane's Arctic Influence Cont'd. Kane's Arctic exploration influenced the later more successful U.S. Arctic explorations, particularly of Adm. Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920). Of Kane's discoveries, his most objective critic wrote: "Kane's expedition was rich in results. [His] expedition discovered and indicated approximately the boundaries of Kane's Basin and the southern part of Kennedy Kanal. Further the expedition discovered and mapped the coast of Inglefield Land, Humboldt Glacier, and the southern part of Washington Land, and Kane extended the Greenland coast from about 78° 20' Northwest to about 80° 30' N. latitude." Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 10-Peabody Bay, off Greenland. In gratitude for GP's financial help, Kane named Peabody Bay, off Greenland, for him. In his report to the U.S. Navy Secty., Kane wrote: "The large bay which separates it (Washington Land) from the coast of Greenland and the Glacier I have described bears on my chart the name of our liberal country-man and contributor to the expense of the expedition, Mr. George Peabody." GP's aid put him honorably in the shadow of Elisha Kent Kane's Arctic exploration. GP's motivation in aiding the search for Sir John Franklin was, like his $15,000 loan to U.S. exhibitors at the 1851 first world's fair, and his dozens of Anglo-U.S. friendship dinners, to promote British-U.S. friendship. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 11-White House Desk. Of incidental interest to GP's $10,000 gift to the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition, 1853-55, is the following story. HMS Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in the search for Sir John Franklin. A Capt. Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and sent as a present to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found the desk in a storeroom in 1961 and had it refurbished for Pres. Kennedy's use. Famous photos show Pres. John F. Kennedy's young son, John Kennedy (1960-99) playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Ibid.
Kearsarge, USS, a Union ship, rushed to intercept the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama, in Cherbourg harbor, France, where it had stopped for repairs. On June 19, 1864, the Kearsarge sank the Alabama, which had cost Union lives and treasure and for which an international court awarded the U.S. $15.5 million reparations paid by Britain. GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London occurred amid U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims. To ease these angers, British and U.S. officials cooperated in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Alabama Claims.
Keep, Nathan Cooley (1801-75), Dr., was a Boston physician whom GP consulted several times during his May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, second U.S. visit. Dr. Keep is listed as physician and dentist, Boylston St., Boston, who was admitted into the Mass. Medical Society in 1830. Ref.: Mass. Medical Society. See: also Putnam, Dr. Charles Gideon.
Keighler, William H. (1804-85), was president of the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore, who solicited funds from GP in London Sept. 1, 1851, and to whom GP donated $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school, Oct. 31, 1851. Ref.: (W.H. Keighler’s death notice): Baltimore Sun, Jan. 10, 1885, p. 2. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Keller, Harrison (b.1888), was a music consultant called by the PIB Conservatory of Music trustees to evaluate its music programs after the resignation in late 1957 of Conservatory Dir. Reginald Stewart (1900-84). Stewart had assembled the Conservatory's largest and most illustrious faculty. Consultant Harrison Keller's advice was to keep admission standards high. See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Kelso, William Henry (1812-79), was a U.S. House member (NY-R) who spoke at the Dec. 21, 1869, debate on U.S. House Resolution No. 96 which asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a naval reception for GP's remains at the U.S. receiving port. Rep. Kelso began the debate by saying that the resolution should go to the Appropriations Committee. The House declined this proposal. The resolution, with some objection, was passed in the House that day, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
R. Kenin’s Insights on GP in London
Kenin, Richard (1947-). 1-GP Insights. U.S.-born Richard Kenin earned a doctorate degree at Oxford Univ. and was picture editor of Time Life Books. His book, Return to Albion: Americans in England 1760-1940 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979), examined Americans who lived and worked in England during the period covered. Chap. 4, titled "The Lords of Change Alley: George Peabody and 'Co.,'" 18 pp., while not footnoted, is perceptive about GP's 32 years in London, GP's character, motives, and importance. Kenin described Morley's Hotel at 4 Trafalgar Square, in London's West End, as a "fashionable place," a "mecca for Americans," with a crowded bar, good food, and many private dining rooms, where GP often dined with the Vt.-born and London-based successful rare book dealer Henry Stevens (1819-86). Ref.: Kenin, pp. 93, 95.
Kenin, Richard. 2-On GP and Books "When Peabody bought books from Stevens, it was not for his own shelves (Peabody never read anything more serious than a newspaper); rather it was for one of the numerous libraries...he... endow[ed]. Peabody regarded books as just another of nature's commodities. Frequently he would ask Stevens, 'How are books today?' as one might query the price of hogs." On GP's simplicity, Kenin wrote: "George Peabody was not a witty man. He was formal to the point of stiffness.... He carried his afternoon meal to work in a small metal lunchbox; and when not entertaining publicly, he preferred to dine in inexpensive chop houses.... In the world of finance, where integrity and reliability were the keystones to a man's reputation, Peabody was a rock of respectability. He lived alone, and he lived exclusively for his work...." Ref.: Ibid.
Kenin, Richard. 3-On GP's $15,000 Loan, U.S. Exhibitors, 1851, London: "Having...pulled his compatriots' fat out of the fire, Peabody celebrated the success of the American exhibition by hosting a great banquet at the London Coffee House, where Americans...gathered since the days of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Stevens supervised the decorations and later produced a...volume commemorating the occasion.... The dinner attracted much favorable comment in the press. It was a marvelous public relations event, just the thing to attract popular attention, for Peabody never spent or gave money away quietly." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 96-97.
Kenin, Richard. 4-After Wellington as Guest of Honor : "On the morning of July 5, 1851, George Peabody's name was in the mouths of half the kingdom. Peabody's Fourth of July dinners became an annual event on the London social calendar. Invitations became a highly prized commodity, and as his business grew so, too, did the length of his guest list. Ref.: Ibid. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Kenin, Richard. 5-On How GP Saved Himself in the Panic of 1857: "Peabody extended...overtures to...private banks, asking temporary assistance until the crisis abated.... His competitors swooped down, offering short-term loans only on condition that Peabody [give] up his banking business...and return to America.... Here was an ideal chance to destroy a firm which was disliked as much for its success as it was respected for its integrity." Kenin wrote how GP saved himself: "In desperation Peabody turned to Thomson Hankey, Jr. [1805-93], Governor of the Bank of England, whom he had cultivated since the early 1830s. In an action that was unprecedented, the bank [lent] £1 million to George Peabody and Co..... With the Bank of England behind him, Peabody had no trouble in securing ample credits.... When the Panic of 1857 passed and the American economy began to recover...Peabody and Morgan...[became as]...wealthy as Croesus." Ref.: Kenin, pp. 98-99. For GP and the Panic of 1857, See: Moran, Benjamin. Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Kenin, Richard. 6-On GP's Apartments for London's Working Poor ($2.5 million housing gift): "What Peabody created, and what still survives today, was no less than the first large housing agency in Britain, operating completely independently of government on a noncommercial basis.... Parliament...between 1868 and 1890 [passed] a number of bills...to deal with the problems of substandard [urban housing]. Peabody's work was a catalyst which spurred government action toward the creation of a national housing policy. This in itself was a major political achievement." Ref.: Kenin, p. 101. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Kenin, Richard. 7-On GP's Honors (after his London housing gift): "The public response to Peabody's gift to London was swift. The Court of Common Council of the Corporation of the City of London granted Peabody the freedom of the City and commissioned a portrait of him to hang in the Guildhall..., the first American to be so honored. The Lord Mayor of London held a great banquet in Peabody's honor at the Mansion House, and he was admitted as a Freeman of the ancient livery companies of Fishmongers and Clothworkers." "The Queen," Kenin noted, "enquired...[if] he would accept the honor of a baronetcy or perhaps the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. [These] would have required him to surrender his citizenship and declare allegiance to the Crown of Britain, which he could not bring himself to do.... What sort of gift [would] he accept [?] Peabody replied that all he desired was a portrait miniature of the Queen, together with a personal note in her own hand." Ref.: Kenin, p. 102.
Kenin, Richard. 8-On the PEF: "In America, Peabody's beneficence...was extensive. But it was in the aftermath of the Civil War, when he gave $2 million to restore Southern education...that his reputation as the founder of modern educational philanthropy was established. A chorus of praise was raised across the nation. Harvard...granted Peabody an honorary doctorate of civil law. The U.S. Congress...commissioned the New York silversmiths Starr and Marcus to design the most elaborate gold medal ever created in America.... It was a moving testimony.…" Ref.: Ibid., pp. 102-103.
Kenin, Richard. 9-On GP's Philanthropic Motive (GP's May 18, 1831, letter to nephew asking to attend college): "Deprived as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society in which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those that come under my care as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me." GP paid for the schooling of his younger brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, and their children (his great nieces and great nephews). Ref.: (GP's May 18, 1831, letter): Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass., quoted in Schuchert and LeVene, p. 21. Ref.: Kenin, pp. 103-104. See: Peabody, George (1815-32, GP's nephew).
Kenin, Richard. 10-On GP's Fame at Death: "Peabody was more than just a man of the stock exchange and the banks. He had become a national possession--even pubs were named after him.... The Dean and Chapter of Westminster offered space in the Abbey for [his] burial--the highest honor that can be conferred on any British subject, here offered for the first time to an American." Kenin quoted the New York Times London reporter's description of the Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey GP funeral service: "My trans-Atlantic heart beat...quicker at the thought of clergy and nobility, Prime Minister and people, of this great realm gathered to lay [GP] among sleeping Kings and statesmen. The crowd outside was, if possible, more interesting than that within. The gaunt, famished London poor were gathered in thousands to testify their respect for the foreigner who has done more than any Englishman for their class, and whose last will contains an additional bequest to them of £150,000." Unfortunately Kenin shed no light on why GP's fame faded, why he is now so little remembered. Ref.: (Westminster Abbey): New York Times, Nov. 26, 1869, p. 2, c. 3. Ref.: Kenin, pp. 104-105.
Kennedy Center, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn. See: Hobbs, Nicholas. John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn.
Kennedy, Jacqueline (1929-1994), later Jacqueline Onassis. The first lady found in storage and had brought to the White House for Pres. John F. Kennedy's use the desk made from the timbers of the Resolute, connected with the search for the 19th century lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), with which GP was also connected. Famed photos show the Kennedy's small son John playing under that desk. See: Franklin, Sir John. Kane, Elisha Kent.
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-63). See: Ibid. Kennedy, Jacqueline.
GP & Baltimorean J.P. Kennedy
Kennedy, John Pendleton (1795-1870). 1-Contact with GP. Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy had contact with GP for 55 years. Born the same year (1795), they first met in the War of 1812 when both were 18-year-old soldiers in the military district of Washington, D.C. In 1853-55 Kennedy, as U.S. Navy Secty., placed under U.S. Navy command two privately donated ships and used GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment in the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). During 1854-57 at GP's request Kennedy planned the PIB to which GP gave a total of $1.4 million. GP also confided to Kennedy (Feb. 7, 1857) his intended gift to the City of London, to which he gave a total of $2.5 million for low cost model housing for London's working poor (1862-69). They had many meetings and talks in London and the U.S. almost to the end of their lives. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison, also intimately involved in the origin of the PIB. PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 2-First Meeting. J.P. Kennedy was born in Baltimore, the son of a prosperous merchant. He graduated from Baltimore College (1812) and fought in the War of 1812 battles of Bladensburg and North Point. Fifty years later Kennedy recorded in his journal his first sight of fellow soldier GP: "My remembrance of him oddly enough now brings him to view in the character of a rather ambitious and showy, well-dressed and trig young soldier...--an apparition strangely incongruous with that peaceful aspect and solid gravity we are accustomed to...." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, "Sketch of George Peabody," LXXIII, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 3-War of 1812 Soldier GP, then age 18, served 11 days (July 15-26, 1813) as a private in Capt. George Peter's (1779-1861) company, at Fort Warburton, Md. He also served three days (Oct. 5-7, 1814) in Capt. Joseph T. Pike's Co., Col. Merrill's Regiment, while visiting in Newburyport, Mass. Forty five years later in Washington, D.C. (Feb. 14-23, 1857), learning he was eligible, he applied for and received, as a memento (not for profit), a War of 1812 veteran's land bounty See: Persons named. War of 1812. Winder, William Henry.
Kennedy, J.P. 4-Fellow Soldier Elisha Riggs, Sr. GP also met fellow soldier and older established merchant Elisha Riggs. [Sr.] (1779-1853), then age 34, who took him as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29). Background: In May 1812, GP, age 17, had arrived in Georgetown, D.C., from economically depressed Newburyport, Mass., with paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826). Management of the dry goods store they opened May 15, 1812, in Georgetown, D.C., soon fell on young GP. He kept store and for a time was a house-to-house pack peddler in the area. In Riggs's family records, GP began as Riggs's office boy. But young GP was able to put up enough capital to become junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), a wholesale dry goods importing firm which moved to Baltimore in 1815. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Kennedy, J.P. 5-Lawyer-Statesman. Kennedy, a Baltimore lawyer, was elected to the Md. House of Delegates (1820-22), filled a Md. vacancy in the U.S. House of Representatives (1838), was reelected (1840-44), during which terms he influenced the Congress to vote $30,000 to test Samuel F.B. Morse's (1791-1872) telegraph. He was again elected to the Md. House of Delegates, where he was its Speaker in 1846. Appointed U.S. Navy Secty. under Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) during 1852-54, Kennedy encouraged Commodore Matthew C. Perry's (1794-1858) trip to open trade with Japan. He also gave U.S. Navy backing to the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's (1853-55) search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, to which GP gave $10,000 for scientific equipment. Ref.: Bohner.
Kennedy, J.P. 6-Novelist. J.P. Kennedy was also an important novelist whose descriptions of early American culture broke new ground and challenged English and European literature, which had hitherto dominated the U.S. Kennedy's Swallow Barn (1832) consisted of sketches of Va. plantation life after the American Revolution. Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson (1835) was a novel of the Battle of King's Mountain, S.C. (Oct. 7, 1780) when U.S. backwoodsmen defeated a British and Tory force. His Rob of the Bowl (1838) is still highly regarded. His Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt (Philadelphia, 1848) described the famed Md. writer and jurist who was U.S. Atty. Gen. during 1817-29. A literary pioneer and a politician, Kennedy was an influential member of the Whig party and an early supporter of its successor Republican Party. He was pro-Union, a Lincoln supporter in the Civil War, and favored an industrialized U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 7-Helped Edgar Allen Poe. Kennedy also helped struggling writer Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49). In June 1833, just after Kennedy had published Swallow Barn, he was one of three judges for the Baltimore Saturday Visitor's writing contest. Kennedy and the other two judges awarded the $50 short story prize to Edgar Allen Poe for his "MS Found in a Bottle," one of six stories Poe had submitted. Kennedy called on Poe, found him sick and hungry, helped sell some of Poe's stories, gave him food and shelter, and recommended Poe for writing and teaching jobs. Poe later told Kennedy: "Without the timely kindness you once evinced towards me, I should not at this moment be among the living." Poe told others, "Mr. Kennedy has been...a true friend to me--he was the first true friend I ever had--I am indebted to him for life itself." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 194-197.
Kennedy, J.P. 8-Helped Edgar Allen Poe Cont'd. After Poe's death on Oct. 7, 1849, Kennedy recorded in his journal, "I found him [1833] in a state of starvation. I gave him clothing, free access to my table and the use of a horse...-- in fact brought him up from the very verge of despair. I then got him employment...in one department of the editorship of the Southern Literary Messenger at Richmond [Va.]. His talents made that periodical quite brilliant....But he was irregular, eccentric, and querulous.... He always remembered my kindness with gratitude.... He is gone. A bright but unsteady light has been awfully quenched."
Kennedy, J.P. 9-Helped Edgar Allen Poe Cont'd. In 1867, 18 years after Poe's death, when Kennedy was asked to verify a photo of Poe, he wrote to the inquirer: "I was very intimate with Poe during the period of his residence in this city and followed...his unhappy career with great interest after he left us.... His [life] was debauched by the most groveling appetites and exalted by the richest conception of genius.... Our country has produced no poet or prose writer superior to him.... This photograph is very good, though it does not belong to his best days." (Poe is now regarded as a literary genius; Kennedy, his mentor, is largely forgotten). Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 10-Lady Franklin's Appeal. The late 1840s and early '50s saw several international searches for British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, lost on his second Arctic exploration, with two ships and 137 seamen, never seen again after May 18, 1845. Lady Jane Franklin (1792-1875) appealed to U.S. Pres. Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 12th U.S. president during 1849-50, and the U.S. Congress to search for her lost husband and the other seamen. Her appeal led to the first U.S. Grinnell Expedition (1851-52), which failed to find Sir John Franklin. See: Kane, Elisha Kent. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 11-Grinnell's Offer of Ships. Also touched by Lady Franklin's appeal and wanting to help, GP learned that U.S. Sen. from N.Y. Hamilton Fish (1809-93) had presented a memorial to Congress from NYC shipping merchant Henry Grinnell (1799-1874) asking for U.S. Navy support for a Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 12-GP's Financial Offer. GP also heard that the U.S. Congress had been asked for funds but had delayed making appropriations. On March 4, 1852, GP offered through NYC business associate William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62) $10,000 to aid the search. Wetmore wrote to William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), another GP business associate in Washington, D.C., to verify Congress's intent through Sen. Hamilton Fish. With Grinnell's offer of ships and GP's financial offer, U.S. Navy Secty. J.P. Kennedy authorized 10 U.S. naval volunteers and placed Grinnell's two ships, the 144-ton Advance and the 91-ton Rescue, under the command of U.S. Navy Capt. Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57), M.D., who had been the U.S. Naval medical officer on the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition, 1850-52. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 13-U.S. Navy Secty. Kennedy. Kane publicized GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment, which helped secure aid from the Smithsonian Institution, the Geographical Society of N.Y., and the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Dining with Dr. Kane, Kennedy wrote in his journal (Dec. 5, 1852): "Pleasant little party at dinner with Dr. Kane of the Arctic Expedition and Lt. Gillis of the Astronomical Dept. [James Melvin Gillis, 1811-65]... Kane had brought his drawings--a rich portfolio of Polar scenes--to show us. I have given him permission to go again, at the request of Lady Franklin on the new expedition recently set on foot by Mr. Henry Grinnell and Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, VIIg (June 1, 1852 to July 17, 1852), entry Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 1852, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 14-Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Kane rushed into print his account of the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition before leaving NYC on the Advance on May 30, 1853, for Smith Sound in the Arctic. The Advance became frozen in the Arctic. On May 24, 1855, Kane and his men abandoned ship, trekked 1,300 miles in 84 days during which one-third of the crew perished, and the remainder were saved by a passing Danish vessel. Kane wrote to GP of his ill-fated voyage. To spread the news quickly, GP had the correspondence published in newspapers. Ref.: London Times, Oct. 26, 1855, p. 7, c. 5; London Morning Post, Oct. 26, 1855.
Kennedy, J.P. 15-Initiated U.S. Arctic Exploration. To Lady Franklin, GP wrote: "Having been instrumental in promoting Docr. Kane's expedition in search for your late lamented husband...I have...felt much anxiety for their safety & it is therefore a great relief to my mind that Docr. Kane and so large a portion of the brave men [with] him safely arrived in their own country." Later explorers found conclusive proof that Sir John Franklin had died, June 11, 1847, and that all of his crew had perished. Kane's book on the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition was the most read of all early books on the Arctic, helped remove the Arctic terror in the public mind, and led to the more successful U.S. Arctic exploration by Adm. Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920). Ref.: GP to Lady Franklin, Oct. 27, 1855, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Kennedy, J.P. 16-Peabody Bay off Greenland. Kane's most objective critic wrote: "Kane's expedition was rich in results. [His] expedition discovered and indicated approximately the boundaries of Kane's Basin and the southern part of Kennedy Kanal [named after U.S. Naval Secty. J.P. Kennedy]." Kane, who also named Peabody Bay off Greenland in appreciation for GP's financial help, wrote: "The large bay which separates it (Washington Land) from the coast of Greenland and the Glacier I have described bears on my chart the name of our liberal country-man and contributor to the expense of the expedition, Mr. George Peabody." Ref.: Kane-c, p. 8; New York Daily Times, Oct. 12, 1855, p. 1, c. 1.
Kennedy, J.P. 17-White House Desk. Of related interest is that in the search for Sir John Franklin, the British ship HMS Resolute was abandoned in the Arctic ice. A Capt. Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and presented it to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found that desk in a storeroom in 1961, and had it placed in the Oval Office for Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) use. Famous photos showed Pres. Kennedy's young son John Kennedy (1960-99) playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Wilson, P.W., p. 50.
Kennedy, J.P. 18-PIB Origins. GP early determined to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he had lived and worked. He founded his first Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), June 16, 1852, to which he gave a total of $217,000 (1852-69). With that first gift he sent his philanthropic motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." In 1854, seeking a plan for an educational gift for Baltimore, where he had worked for 22 years (1815-37), he conferred with Baltimore lawyer and statesman Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), arriving in London as U.S. arbiter in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. GP urged Johnson to confer with other Baltimore leaders about an educational institution for Baltimore. Back in Baltimore Reverdy Johnson talked to John Pendleton Kennedy and William Edwards Mayhew. See: Charles James Madison Eaton. PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 19-PIB Plan Needed. J.P. Kennedy recorded in his journal (Dec. 8, 1854): "This morning Reverdy Johnson called. He has just returned from London. He wanted to tell me [that] Mr. Peabody desires to found some great charitable establishment for the benefit of the City of Baltimore. Thinks a school or a large and useful foundation may be the best. He wishes Reverdy Johnson and myself and Mr. Mayhew to digest some plan to which he says he will contribute $100,000 or $150,000 if necessary, and will afterwards bequeath some three or four hundred thousand more. He wants an advertisement to be made for a plan of organization and buildings, which will be published in the United States and in England. Johnson wants me to prepare something to be sent out to Mr. P. by the next steamer. I promise to do it." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, VII (July 1, 1854-July 31, 1855), entry Dec. 8, 1854, pp. 197-199 ff, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 20-PIB Plan Needed Cont'd. Kennedy again recorded in his journal (Dec. 19, 1854): "I saw Mayhew yesterday and he showed me Peabody's letter from London, which requests him (Mayhew) together with Reverdy Johnson and myself to devise a plan for a large beneficent establishment for the City of Baltimore, which Mr. Peabody is anxious to institute--and to communicate with him on the subject. I tell Mayhew I will endeavor to plan something on a munificent scale which may serve to educate a large number of students in the most useful arts & sciences." Ref.: Ibid., entry Dec. 19, 1854.
Kennedy, J.P. 21-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy's five-part PIB, based partly on London's British Museum, to which GP gave a total of $1.4 million (1857-69), consisted of 1-a specialized reference library, 2-music conservatory, 3-art gallery, 4-lecture hall and fund, and 5-annual prizes to Baltimore's best public school scholars--all to be administered jointly by PIB trustees and Md. Historical Society trustees, with the Society housed in the PIB building. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 22-Kennedy's Plan Cont'd. Baltimore, with over 200,000 population, was a thriving port city; a commercial, industrial, and shipbuilding center; but was culturally inferior to NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia. Baltimore was then the only major U.S. city without a noteworthy univ. or art gallery or music school or public library. News of a GP-endowed and Kennedy-conceived PIB cultural center attracted favorable press attention and public appreciation. But Civil War divisions soon split the trustees into hostile camps, Confederate vs. Union, hampered site selection, delayed building plans, and almost ruined the grand conception. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 23-GP's June 13, 1856, London Dinner. J.P. Kennedy visited London and attended GP's June 13, 1856, dinner to introduce incoming U.S. Minister to Britain George Mifflin Dallas (1772-1864). Kennedy and GP likely spoke of PIB plans but Kennedy's journal entry does not mention it. Kennedy recorded, June 13, 1856: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3.... We got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." Kennedy's later journal entries read: "June 17. Visit Peabody etc.,--see the papers [GP's office received major U.S. newspapers and journals for U.S. visitors' use]. June 19. Peabody takes us to the Royal Opera house. July 19. Then to Old Broad and see Peabody who lectures me for not having come to his Fourth of July dinner." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Kennedy, J.P. 24-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. GP was then planning a U.S. visit to see family and friends, and particularly to found the PIB. During this eleven month U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug, 19, 1857), his first in nearly 20 years (1837-56), J.P. Kennedy worked closely with GP to prepare the Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter, which received much acclaim. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 25-Kennedy on GP in Baltimore, 1857. Kennedy's journal entries: "Monday, Jany 26 [1857]: ...I learned that Mr. Geo. Peabody who left London in September and has been spending his time in the North has arrived today in this city. He has been anxiously looked for some days, and preparations are made here to give him a most hospitable reception." "Tuesday, Jany 27: I call and see Peabody at Barnums [hotel]. The Historical Society have determined to give him an entertainment in their rooms on Friday night. I have subscribed 20 dollars for this purpose." Ref.: Kennedy journal, VIIj (August 1, 1855-March 14, 1857), entries as dated above, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 26-Kennedy on GP in Baltimore, 1857, Cont'd.: "Wednesday, Jany 28: I am obliged to go to the rooms of the Historical Society to accompany the committee of which I am a member to wait on Mr. Peabody. I attend them to Barnums where we sit with the Lion about an hour.... Tonight I am invited to Wm. B. McKims--a supper given to Peabody--but finding that I have taken a cold by my exposure this morning I decline going." "Thursday, Jany 29: Very disagreeable weather.... I am invited to dine tomorrow with Mr. Mayhew--a dinner to Peabody--I am obliged to decline" [has a cold]. "Friday, Jany 30: A splendid reception this evening at the Md. Hist. Society rooms. Much speaking. Latrobe takes my place, as I cannot attend." Ref.: Ibid., entries as dated above. Scharf-a, p. 552. PIB, Founders, pp. 49-50. Sun (Baltimore), Jan. 30, 1857, p. 3, c. 1; Jan. 31, 1857, p. 2, c. 5; and Feb. 2, 1857, p. 1, c. 4-5. Historical Magazine, Vol. 1 (1857), pp. 76-77. See: Md. Historical Society (for its Jan. 30, 1857, GP reception). Md. Institute (for its Feb. 2, 1857, GP reception). PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 27-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: Mr. Mayhew called to talk to me about Peabody's purpose to establish some useful public institution in Baltimore, in regard to which Peabody wrote from London some two years ago to Mayhew, asking him to confer with Reverdy Johnson and myself to suggest some scheme of this kind. Johnson never met us, and I could do nothing without having further instructions from Peabody." Ref.: Kennedy journal, VIIj (August 1, 1855-March 14, 1857), entry Feb. 5, 1857, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 28-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: I have thought over this matter heretofore and told M.[ayhew] I could submit a plan, but did not know how far it fell in with Mr. P's. notions. I tell M.[ayhew] that I will now put its general outline on paper in a letter to him, and he promises to come for this tomorrow morning when we will go and have an interview with Peabody on the subject and I can then explain my scheme more fully. I accordingly write a hasty letter embodying the outline or leading features of my plan to be submitted to Mr. P. with a personal explanation of the details to carry it into execution." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 29-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: I tell Mayhew in our interview that $100,000 offered to be given by Mr. Peabody, will not be sufficient for an effective institution, and that I think if Mr. P. wishes to do something that will be permanently useful he should make it upon a basis that will be sufficient to sustain the institution by the fund given it, as we cannot expect much aid, if any, from the population of this City, who are not much inclined to contribute to public endowments. My letter therefore presents a pretty broad and comprehensive plan which will require a large amount--certainly not less than double the amount he has proposed to give." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 30-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Friday, Feby 6: I am to dine today with Tom Swann the Mayor who entertains Peabody.... We have a large party...--over 82...a sumptuous dinner--and a great deal of talk as usual about wine...." "Saturday, Feby. 7: At 12 Mr. Mayhew calls to go with us to see Peabody who is confined to his bed by gout. We confer on the Institute. Peabody approves my plan in all particulars and wants it done speedily. Make[s] $300,000 available. Suggests immediate purchase of large lot which will permit future extension if needed. Prefers a lot with buildings already on it to draw income from them. Suggests we buy extra land nearby and sell at profit when project is complete." Ref.: Ibid., entries as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 31-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: Wants Institute building to fit the taste of the city. Do not spare expenses. He wants a most capacious lecture room and a splendid music saloon. Must provide ample and convenient accommodations for the Maryland Historical Society which is to be the...Director of the trust. His final injunction to us is to relieve him of further care, to prosecute it vigorously, and please ourselves in the plan. He asks me to prepare a clause for his (Peabody's) will giving $200,000 more to the Institute. He mentions Charles Eaton as an active coadjutor...." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 32-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: Peabody speaks of the amplitude of his means to accomplish this purpose and others, and told us that eight years ago his revenue was $300,000 a year and has been increasing ever since.... He told us in confidence that he plans to return permanently to America and would show his gratitude to the City of London for his success there, by leaving, if his fortune should admit it, £100,000 sterling [$500,000] to some useful charity there. That he did not wish to bring away all the money he had amassed in England, but to manifest his regard for the country by leaving a good portion behind to some institution, hoping by this to promote kindness and respect between the people of the two countries." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 33-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: What a noble, liberal and capacious principle of good feeling and elevated purposes actuate this man! How few like him in any country!" This Feb. 7, 1857 Kennedy journal entry contained GP's first mention (to Kennedy and Mayhew) of his still unformed but intended gift to London. That gift became the Peabody Donation Fund, March 12, 1862, now the Peabody Trust, to which he gave a total of $2.5 million (1862-69) for building model apartments for London's working poor. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 34-PIB Building Site Differences. Kennedy, as PIB trustee vice president, clashed over the building site with C.J.M. Eaton, trustee building committee chairman. Kennedy recorded (March 12, 1857): "We have got to wrangling about the object and the plan. One portion of the Board are narrow in their views and do not appreciate the object as they ought to. They would make it a kind of literary and gossiping Club house. I want a large lot and arrangement for an Institution that will be national as well as local. My impression is that for the sake of ample accommodations we should get a few acres of grounds in the suburbs--and there build on them according to our means.--I have no opinion of a Board to do any good work.--I begin to fear we shall not get on well." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 35-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. News that PIB property was being sought, Kennedy heard, had raised land costs. Lots outside Baltimore were offered free in hope that adjacent property would rise in value. Kennedy recorded (April 2, 1857): "I go to the Athenaeum rooms at 12 where I meet the Trustees of the Peabody Institute. The proposals to sell lots are reported--twenty-three offers--but all that are most desirable [are] so exorbitant they are inadvisable. We decline them all. Real property has gone up a hundred per cent since the Peabody donation. The committee are directed to continue their search in their own way." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 36-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. Kennedy wanted a large lot of 200 or more square feet for later expansion. He proposed an available city reservoir lot outside Baltimore. Eaton objected, wanting a small lot of 100 square feet in the city. Kennedy recorded (April 23, 1857): "My offering this proposition kindles great irritation in Eaton, the Chairman of the Building Committee, who treats it very rudely. He is in a most ridiculous state of petulance and nervous agitation, and makes some silly speeches today, in reply to [Mayor Thomas] Swann, who supports my resolution. He has been electioneering amongst the members of the Board and seems to have persuaded them that he can build and organize the institute upon a plan which will not require over 100 ft. lot.... After a great deal of wrangling we adjourn until tomorrow." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above. See: Charles James Madison Eaton.
Kennedy, J.P. 37-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. When GP returned to Baltimore from a southern tour, Kennedy recorded (May 12, 1857): "Peabody arrives here today. He sends for me and we have a good deal of conversation in reference to the proceedings of the Board of Trustees. The difficulties are in the selection of a site. We visit the several lots spoken of. He is greatly pleased with the lot at the corner of Mt. Vernon and Washington Place... The whole would cost upwards of $100,000." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 38-Kennedy Quoted GP as Saying: "'You know, my letter inculcates harmony of action, and I want you all to be satisfied.... They talk of making the building a monument to me. I do not want a monument. The monument will be in the usefulness of the Institute.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 39-Kennedy-Eaton Clash on Site. Kennedy wrote (May 16, 1857): "Eaton has gone to work to reverse the decision of Thursday and to my utter astonishment succeeds. He represents Mr. Peabody as discontented with our decision for the college lot--that is to say disappointed." Kennedy thought the Mt. Vernon Place lot too expensive. He deplored Eaton's talk of hiring out halls and having shops on the first floor of the PIB as "quite incompetent," "not in keeping with Peabody's wish," and a "frivolous" [view ] "of mere ostentation." Kennedy confined his doubts to his journal. Eaton, not above slander, wrote to GP that a "disappointed politician makes an irritable trustee." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 40-Early PIB Clash Told by Kennedy Biographer. “Forced by petty jealousy and snobbery to compromise,” wrote Kennedy’s biographer, Charles H. Bohner, “he [Kennedy] decided to resign but Peabody persuaded him to continue.” Bohner added: “Peabody, on his part, found that philanthropy embroiled him in the bickerings of men who grew officious when invited to spend his money.” Kennedy persisted, serving as elected PIB board of trustees president (1860 to his death in 1870), weathering two storms that threatened to end the grand PIB experiment: 1-the Panic of 1857 and 2-a near fatal clash between PIB and Md. Historical Society trustees over which would rule. Ref.: Bohner, p. 215.
Kennedy, J.P. 41-Panic of 1857. Early reports of financial difficulties worried GP, who left NYC Aug. 19, 1857, to face the Panic of 1857 in London. Pressed to pay outstanding bills and unable to collect what was owed to him by Boston's Lawrence, Stone & Co., GP borrowed £300,000 ($1.5 million) from the Bank of England, which he soon repaid, and emerged practically unscathed. Eaton and other trustees wrote GP that the PIB plans were on hold, that the trustees would not ask for money during the crisis and that a charter of incorporation had been secured on March 9, 1858. When the financial crisis eased, British-born architect practicing in Baltimore Edmund George Lind (1828-1909) planned a white marble building in grand Renaissance style, 150 feet long by 75 feet wide. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Kennedy, J.P. 42-Which Set of Trustees to Have Control? The PIB cornerstone was laid on April 16, 1859. On May 18, 1859, W.E. Mayhew wrote GP of growing apprehension about what role the Md. Historical Society would play in the PIB, about which set of trustees, PIB or Md. Historical Society, would have ultimate control. Eaton wrote GP that if the Society wished to withdraw it would be best to let them go and that GP could placate them with a contribution to their publication fund. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 43-GP's 1866-67 U.S. Visit. With the Civil War ended, GP prepared for a year's U.S. visit, May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867. While still in England he received a copy of the PIB trustees' Feb. 12, 1866, letter to the Md. Historical Society trustees. This troublesome letter asked the Md. Historical Society not to enter the PIB as outlined in GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. A Md. Historical Society committee responded with a lengthy denunciation on April 5, 1866, with a copy to GP, that recommended legal action to settle the dispute. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 44-GP's 1866-67 U.S. Visit Cont'd. GP was 71, often ill, knew he was nearing the end of life, with much still to do. He left England for the U.S. determined 1-to see relatives and friends, 2-to resolve the PIB-Md. Historical Society dispute and to dedicate and open the PIB, 3-to add to his institutes, 4-to found Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale universities, and 5-to found the PEF and make other donations. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Kennedy, J.P. 45-PIB-MHS Clash. Rethinking the controversy, GP saw that the Md. Historical Society was in the right, that it would win a legal decision, and that he had to intercede to soften this dispute. J.P. Kennedy was also distraught and wrote in his journal (June 6, 1865): "I am myself responsible for Mr. Peabody's committing the Institute to the Society but this was done at a time when the Society nobly showed some appreciation of its object...." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal entry as listed above.
Kennedy, J.P. 46-PIB-MHS Clash Cont'd. Kennedy helped draft GP's conciliatory May 8, 1866, letter to the Md. Historical Society. In this letter GP acknowledged the Society's moral and legal right of entry into the PIB. He admitted the wrong done the Society by the PIB trustees. He said that one purpose of his U.S. visit was to see the PIB safely opened and that its opening depended on the Society's forbearance and good will. Noting the insurmountable difference, he humbly asked Society members as a personal favor to him to withdraw from the original agreement. Ref.: GP, Georgetown, Mass., to Md. Historical Society, May 8, 1866, PIB Archives. PIB, Founder's Letters, pp. 40-41. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Kennedy, J.P. 47-PIB-MHS Clash Cont'd. GP's character cut through painful animosity built up over nine years. Md. Historical Society members decided at a May 24, 1866, meeting to relinquish the PIB role GP had originally assigned them. With the dispute thus muted, GP mingled with friends in Baltimore, where he was honored and fêted. He was present and spoke at the PIB dedication, Oct. 24, and at its opening, Oct. 25, 1866. He waited until Nov. 5, 1866, to thank personally Md. Historical Society members and asked to be allowed the privilege of contributing $20,000 to their publications fund. Ref.: Ibid. For GP's 1866-67 itinerary and philanthropic gifts, especially the Feb. 7, 1867, founding of the PEF, See: PEF. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. PIB. 17-GP's Influence Through the PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 48-GP's London Dinner, July 9, 1858. J.P. Kennedy, again in England, attended GP's July 9, 1858, banquet at the Crystal Palace for 50 Americans, including U.S. Minister Dallas and family, and one Englishman, London Times editor Marmaduke Blake Sampson (d.1876). The previous day, U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), often critical of GP, recorded: "Peabody was here this morning to invite the Dallases to his fête at the Crystal Palace to-morrow; but he would not take a seat when I asked him." See: Dinners, GP's, London. Moran, Benjamin.
Kennedy, J.P. 49-GP's London Dinner, July 22. 1858. On July 22, 1858, GP gave another dinner at the Star and Garter, Richmond, near London, attended by some 30 Britons and 60 Americans, including J.P. Kennedy. The guest of honor was John Young Mason (1799-1859), then U.S. Minister to France (during 1853-59) and former U.S. district judge in Va. J.P. Kennedy toasted "the City of London." New York Times editor Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820-69) toasted "the Press." Minister to France John Young Mason was born in Greenville, Va., educated at the Univ. of N.C., admitted to the bar (1819), was a judge in state and federal courts, served in the Va. Assembly, was a member of Congress (1831-37), was a U.S. judge in Va. (to 1844), was U.S. Navy Secty. (1844), and U.S. Minister to France. See: Dinners, GP's, London. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 50-GP-Kennedy Met 1865, 1868-69. GP, in Invergarry, Scotland, to recuperate from rheumatism in mid-Aug. 1865, heard that J.P. Kennedy would visit England in September. He wrote Kennedy to meet him in Liverpool, Sept. 30, 1865. They met for talks at the Queen's Hotel, Liverpool. They met again briefly on March 3, 1868, in Nice, France. Kennedy was en route to Rome, Italy. GP had just left Rome with philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), where they both had an audience with Pope Pius IX. After the brief visit with Kennedy in Nice, France, GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), son in law of GP's longtime business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), whose only child, Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis (1838-67), had recently died. Ref.: (Sept. 30, 1865): GP, Invergarry, Scotland, to John Pendleton Kennedy, Aug. 29, 1865, Kennedy Papers, PIB. For GP's visit to Rome, Italy, and Nice, France, 1868 , See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Kennedy, J.P. 51-GP-Kennedy Last Meeting, Sept. 20-21, 1869. The two friends, both ill and near death, last met on Sept. 20-21, 1869, near the end of GP's last U.S. visit (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). GP wrote his last will (Sept. 9) and in Salem, Mass. (Sept. 10) ordered a granite sarcophagus and had a tomb built. He went from Boston (Sept. 19) to the Samuel Wetmore's (1813?-85) Newport, R.I., home to speak to J.P. Kennedy then visiting from Baltimore. Kennedy's journal recorded (Sept. 20): "I had an interview with Mr. P...[for] about an hour, which was [as] long as he had strength to talk to us. He was very feeble and lay on the sofa apparently short of breath....." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, entry dated Sept. 20, 1869.
Kennedy, J.P. 52-GP-Kennedy Last Meeting, Sept. 20-21, 1869 Cont'd. GP wanted Kennedy to accompany him to Baltimore, but Kennedy was himself too ill. Kennedy's final entry (Sept. 21): "E. [Elizabeth, his wife] and I called upon him and after a short interview, took an affectionate leave, which both parties felt was probably a final one." This was Kennedy's last journal entry about GP, whom he had first known 55 years before as a brash soldier marching and drilling during the War of 1812, with a plume in his hat. Both were born in 1795; GP died Nov. 4, 1869, age 74, in London; John Pendleton Kennedy died Aug. 18, 1870, age 75, in Newport, R.I. Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, Sept. 21, 1869, pp. 372-375, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 53-Last Connection. The last sad Kennedy-GP connection on Feb. 2, 1870, had to do with Robert E. Lee's possible attendance at GP's final funeral service in Peabody, Mass., and burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (both on Feb. 8, 1870). Robert Charles Winthrop, who was to give the GP eulogy, feared that Lee's appearance might create an incident. On Feb. 2, 1870, he wrote to Corcoran and Kennedy, two prominent southerners, to caution Lee not to attend. To Kennedy he wrote, "There is apprehension here, that if Lee should come to the funeral, something unpleasant might occur, which would be as painful to us as to him. Would you contact friends to impart this to the General? Please do not mention that the suggestion came from me." See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 54-Last Connection Cont'd. But Lee, too ill to attend (he died Oct. 12, 1870), wrote his daughter (Feb. 2,1870): "I am sorry that I could not attend Mr. Peabody's funeral, but I did not feel able to undertake the journey...." Ref.: Ibid.
Kent, Charles Stanton (1914-69), was the PIB Conservatory of Music's sixth director during 1963-67 (four years). See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. GP gave Kenyon College $25,000 on Nov. 6, 1866, for a professorship of mathematics and civil engineering. See: McIlvaine, Charles Pettit. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Ketchum, Morgan & Co. Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), GP's partner in George Peabody & Co. (1854-64), had in 1834 at age 21 been a partner in Ketchum, Morgan & Co., a private bank on Wall St., NYC.
Key, Francis Scott (1779-1843), a young lawyer, was a gunner in the battery at Fort Warburton, Md., War of 1812, when GP served briefly (July 15-26, 1813) and in the same area as a private soldier. The next year while detained by the British fleet during the bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore, Francis Scott Key began composing "The Star Spangled Banner." See: War of 1812.
Key, Philip Barton (d.1859). 1-Francis Scott Key's Son. Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), was shot to death on Feb. 27, 1859, in Washington, D.C., by then U.S. Sen. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) for Key's alleged inappropriate attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles, a controversial figure, was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Key, P.B. 2- Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854. Sickles' frictionable connection with GP occurred over four years earlier at a GP-sponsored July 4, 1854, U.S.-British Friendship dinner in London. Sickles, a super patriot in a time of U.S. jingoism, was then U.S. Legation Secty. in London under U.S. Minister to Britain James Buchanan (1791-1868, 15th U.S. president during 1857-61). Objecting to GP's toast to Queen Victoria before a toast to the U.S. President, Sickles, stiff and red-gorged, remained seated and then indignantly walked out of the dining room. Sickles soon after initiated a press campaign vilifying GP as toadying to the British. Ref.: Ibid.
King, Edward Augustin (active 1840s+), Warwick St., Charing Cross, London. He acted as lawyer for) John Wellington Starr (c.1822-46), Cincinnati, Ohio-born inventor of an electric light (bulb) and secured for Starr but in his [King's] name, English Patent No.10,919 in London in 1845 for that invention. Although there is no supporting documentation among GP's papers, various articles state that GP was among those asked to finance the invention. Starr's death and burial (1846) in Birmingham, England halted exploitation of his invention, perfected in 1879 By Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931). See: Starr, John Wellington. See: Ref.: g. Internet, Starr, John Wellington.
Kingsbury, John (1801-74), was an educator said to have conducted the first R.I. high school for women, a school attended by Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (later Mrs. Alexander Lardner, 1819-1905), who was engaged to GP in London in 1838 to about Jan. 1839, an engagement she broke off. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
GPCFT-Vanderbilt Univ.
Kirkland, James Hampton (1859-1939). 1-Vanderbilt Univ. Chancellor. Vanderbilt Univ.'s Chancellor J.H. Kirkland tried unsuccessfully to absorb GPCFT before its 1914 opening and during its early years. J.H. Kirkland was born in Spartanburg, S.C., graduated from Wofford College (B.A. 1877, M.A. 1878), taught Greek and German there (1881-83), earned a Leipzig Univ., Germany, Ph.D. degree (1885), taught Latin (1886-93), and as Vanderbilt Univ. chancellor during 1893-1939 increased Vanderbilt's endowment and reputation.
Kirkland, J.H. 2-Background. To transform the Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) into GPCFT (1914-79), the PEF trustees pledged $l.5 million, contingent on matching funds In 1911 Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937), GPCFT's first president, hired faculty and directed architects building the new campus next to Vanderbilt Univ. For a few years GPCFT was better endowed than Vanderbilt. Chancellor Kirkland strongly urged a Vanderbilt-GPCFT union like that of NYC's Teachers College of Columbia Univ. See: PCofVU, history of.
Kirkland, J.H. 3-GPCFT's First Pres. Payne. GPCFT Pres. Payne welcomed academic cooperation with Vanderbilt but was adamant about administrative independence from Vanderbilt. Payne saw GPCFT's future as a regional and national teachers college with emphasis on graduate work. Payne kept GPCFT independent but cooperated academically with Vanderbilt. GPCFT historian Sherman Dorn stated that: "By the mid-1920s, Bruce Payne headed an institution with all the hallmarks of the most elite schools and departments of education in the country..... It was similar in many ways to...Teachers College in New York and the University of Chicago's school of education...." Ref.: Dorn-b. Dorn-a, pp. 2-3. Payne, M.C., Jr., pp. 4-5.
Kirkland, J.H. 4-GPCFT Independent, 1914 to July 1, 1979. Payne's grandson wrote that "Peabody was the largest graduate school in the South with the largest graduate faculty. During the 1930s more Peabody faculty were presidents of American learned societies than any other institution in the South." For a J.H. Kirkland scheme in 1900-01 involving Daniel C. Gilman for a GPCFT-Vanderbilt Univ. amalgamation, see: PCofVU, history of. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of.
Knight, Edgar Wallace (1886-1953), was a Univ. of N.C. (Chapel Hill) prof. of U.S. educational history who in several books wrote of the influence of the PEF: 1-"The Peabody Fund was a highly beneficial influence to education in the South." 2-"The Peabody Fund...was not only the earliest manifestation of a spirit of reconciliation on the part of the Northern man toward the southern states, but it was also one of the largest educational blessings which ever came from the outside to that section of the country." Ref.: Knight-a, p. 393. Knight-c, p. 555. See: Hall, Clifton Landon. PEF.
Knox, Elizabeth. For an alleged GP-Elizabeth Knox romance, see Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). Jones, Frank Nicholas. Romance and GP. For her portrait, see Ref.: g. Internet, under Peabody Art Collection, Md. State Archives.
Knox, Samuel, was the father of Elizabeth Knox (above). See Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson. Frank Nicholas Jones. Romance and GP.
Hungarian Freedom Fighter Lajos Kossuth
Kossuth, Lajos (1802-94). 1-Hungarian Freedom Fighter. Lajos (Louis) Kossuth was a Hungarian freedom fighter during the Revolution of 1848. In 1850 GP was asked to contribute funds for Kossuth's escape from jail in Turkey. Background: Crop failures in parts of Europe in 1846-48 hastened national uprisings already in progress in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy in Feb.-March 1848. These national uprisings were soon crushed. Many in Britain and the U.S. especially favored Lajos (Louis) Kossuth's seeming success in creating a Hungary independent of Hapsburg rule in March 1848. In 1849 when Russian troops intervened on the side of Austria in a Hungary-Austria conflict, Kossuth was forced to flee to Turkey, where he was arrested and jailed. In London a secret plan was formed for Kossuth's escape.
Kossuth, Lajos. 2-Funds Needed for Escape Plan. In Oct.-Nov. 1850 a David Hoffman (1784-1854, see note below) wrote GP that the escape plan required horses, carriages, and two ships at different points, costing ƒ200 (about $1,000). The plan was in readiness but ƒ80 (about $400) was lacking. Hoffman wrote that there was no one else to turn to but GP and promised not to publicize the gift if GP so desired. GP asked for the names of sponsors of this plan and was given the names of Liberal MP William [sic?] Cobden [?Richard Cobden, 1804-65] and five others. Ref.: David Hoffman to GP, undated and Nov. 4, 1850, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. [Note: the letter writer may have been David Hoffman (1784-1854), a Baltimore-born lawyer, Univ. of Md. Law professor, and land agent for Calif. impresario John Charles Frémont (1813-90), who was in London during 1847-53. Ref.:, Bloomfield, pp. 938-939.
Kossuth, Lajos. 3-Kossuth Escape Successful. GP offered ƒ50 (about $225) if the liberators were certain of success. Hoffman wrote that the escape could not be guaranteed but that GP's aid would help assure success. Kossuth did escape and made a triumphal tour in Britain and the U.S. in 1851-52. Ref.: Ibid.
Kossuth, Lajos 4-Career. Kossuth was a lawyer and a nationalist member of the Hungarian parliament. He was jailed during 1837-40, released, led the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, was finance minister and then president of the short-lived Hungarian republic. He lived in exile in England to 1865 and then in Italy where he died in 1894. Ref.: Ibid.
Kuhlman, A. Frederick (1889-1986) was the American Library Association representative sent to study Joint University Library needs in Nashville. He was its first director from 1941. See: Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
L
Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Ladies Newspaper, London. 1-First Article About GP. The first article about GP in Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times, July 26, 1851, p. 43, reported favorably on GP's first large-scale U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851, London. The Duke of Wellington as guest of honor plus over 800 guests helped make it a newsworthy dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Ladies Newspaper, London. 2-Second Article About GP. The second article about GP in Ladies Newspaper, July 31, 1869, p. 64, c. 1, reported that a bronze model of U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story's (1819-95) seated statue of GP was poured and cast in Munich, Germany, and that the statue was unveiled July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1841-1910), on Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange. The Prince eulogized GP and praised W.W. Story and U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), both of whom also spoke. See: Statues of GP. For a replica of Story's seated statue of GP erected in front of the PIB, April 7, 1890, see Garrett, Robert.
GP Portrait by James Read Lambdin
Lambdin, James Read (1807-89). 1-Painted GP's Portrait. Artist James Read Lambdin painted a portrait of GP in 1857. GP sat for this portrait partly in Baltimore and partly in Philadelphia (Jan. 10-18, 1857) during his year-long U.S. visit, Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857. Lambdin's portrait of GP (the original is in the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore) is mentioned in the article "Baltimore's 150th Birthday," Maryland History Notes, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Nov. 1947), pp. 1-2 (the PIB Art Catalog also listed a copy of Lambdin's 1857 portrait of GP in its possession). See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Lambdin, J.R. 2-GP Portrait by C. Harding. The article also has a print on p. 1 of a GP portrait by U.S. artist Chester Harding (1792-1866), in oil on canvas, 30" x 25," in an oval frame. Under the print of Harding's GP portrait is written: "Painted during the early years of his maturity" (probably when GP was in his thirties). Harding's portrait of GP was donated to the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, by Mrs. Charles R. Weld (née Frances Eaton), died March 13, 1947, believed descendant of Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93), one of the original PIB trustees. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lambdin, J.R. 3-GP Indifferent to Art. In Philadelphia with GP when he sat for his portrait by artist James Read Lambdin (Jan. 10-18, 1857) were his niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835; GP was paying for her finishing school education in Philadelphia) and Baltimore friend Charles James Madison Eaton. Lambdin, who was also director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, gave them a tour of the art gallery. GP preferred to sit on a bench and wait for their return. Lambdin later recorded GP as saying: "I do not feel much interested in such matters. You may be surprised when I tell you that, although I have lived for twenty years within pistol shot of the Royal Academy and the National Gallery in London, I have never been within their walls." Ref.: Ibid.
Lambdin, J.R. 4-GP Indifferent to Art Cont'd. Lambdin, who had urged the art gallery tour, hoping that GP might make a gift to it, later recorded: "Such was the personal appreciation by this good man of those arts, the value of which he has since acknowledged by his princely gifts to the institution bearing his name. I need not say that after this confession the subject nearest to my heart was left unmentioned." Ref.:Ibid.
GP’s Business Friend Curtis M. Lampson
Lampson, Curtis Miranda (1806-85). 1-Longtime Business Friend. Curtis Miranda Lampson, London-based merchant-banker, was GP's longtime intimate friend and business associate for over 30 years. He was born in Newhaven, Vt., was a London resident after 1830, was successful in the fur trade, had English-born children, became a naturalized British subject (May 14, 1849), was head of C.M. Lampson & Co., London; and was created a baronet (Nov. 16, 1866) for his work as a director (since 1856) and later vice chairman of the Atlantic Cable Co. (GP was also a director). Ref.: Mitman, Vol. 10, p. 566. Lampson's third great grand niece and family archivist is Patricia Walker, e-mail (June 2005): prairiebird@myfamily.com (and/or) lampwalk@yahoo.com
Lampson, C.M. 2-Junius S. Morgan as GP's Partner. In 1854, seeking a partner for George Peabody & Co. (GP was then near age 60 and frequently ill), GP considered Lampson, 11 years younger than himself. But wanting an American partner, GP chose instead Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose son John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) began his international banking career as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
GP’s Gift to London
Lampson, C.M. 3-Gift Idea for the London Poor? Returning to London from a year's U.S. visit, GP, in 1857, conferred with Lampson about a gift to London. They discussed and soon discarded the idea of a network of purified water fountains in London. In the winter of 1857-58, GP discussed his intended London gift with visiting friend Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), Episcopal Bishop of Ohio. They talked of aiding and expanding England's Ragged School Union, private charitable schools for the poorest children. Tax supported public schools were not then fully developed in England. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Lampson, C.M. 4-Lord Shaftesbury Suggested Low-Cost Housing. At GP's request Bishop McIlvaine conferred with social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85), head of the Ragged School Union. Shaftesbury said that the London poor's greater need, more than schooling for their children, was affordable housing. This suggestion led to GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund whose trustees built and managed model apartments for London's working poor (GP's total gift was $2.5 million). Lampson was one of the original trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund. Ref. Ibid. (Note: For GP's Aug. 3, 1864, letter to Lampson regarding a controversy with U.S. sculptor Hiram Powers [1805-73] about a bust of GP, see Powers, Hiram).
GP’s Last Illness & Death
Lampson, C.M. 5-GP's Death and Funeral. It was to Lampson's London home, 80 Eaton Sq., that a gravely ill GP went (Oct. 9, 1869) after his last U.S. visit. GP died there Nov. 4, 1869. It fell to Lampson to notify GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), who embarked for England to return GP's remains for burial in Salem, Mass. But letters to London newspaper editors for public honors for GP, Alabama Claims angers, and a confluence of other forces turned GP's funeral into an unprecedented 96-day transatlantic affair marked by pomp, ceremony, and publicity at each stage. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Lampson, C.M. 6-Amid U.S.-British Civil War Angers. GP died at the height of U.S.-British angers over the Trent Affair (Nov. 8, 1861, U.S. illegal seizure and removal of four Confederate agents from a British ship) and the Alabama Claims (U.S. demand for reparations for British-built Confederate ships which cost U.S. lives and treasure). GP had long promoted U.S.-British friendship. His philanthropy had benefited both countries. To ease angers and animosities, and in genuine admiration for GP's philanthropy, British political leaders first, then U.S. political leaders, deliberately outdid themselves in unusual funeral honors. See: Alabama Claims. Death and Funeral, GP's. Trent Affair.
GP’s Funeral Events in England
Lampson, C.M. 7-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief. A Westminster Abbey funeral service and 30 days temporary Abbey burial on Britain's most hallowed ground (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). British cabinet decision on Nov. 10, 1869, to return GP's remains for burial in the U.S. on HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, repainted slate gray above the water line, with a somberly outfitted mortuary chapel. Transfer by carriage from Westminster Abbey to Waterloo Station and a special funeral train to Portsmouth, England (Dec. 11, 1869). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 8-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. Ceremonial placing of GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch (Dec. 11, 1869). Awaiting the arrival of U.S. escort vessel, the corvette USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France (Dec. 6, 1869). Awaiting the end of storms at Spithead near Portsmouth for the transatlantic voyage (Dec. 21, 1869). Transatlantic crossing of HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth from Spithead, past Ushant, France, to Madeira island off Portugal, to Bermuda, and north to Portland, Me. (Dec. 21, 1869-Jan. 25, 1870). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 9-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. The U.S. Navy's decision (Jan. 14, 1870) to place Adm. David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70) in command of a U.S. Navy flotilla to meet the Monarch in Portland harbor, Me. (Jan. 25, 1870). The Monarch captain's request, on behalf of Queen Victoria, for GP's remains to stay aboard for two days as a last show of respect (Jan. 27-28, 1870). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 10-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. British-to-U.S. handing over ceremonies, Portland, Me. (Jan. 29, 1870). Lying in state at Portland City Hall (Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 1870). Special funeral train from Portland, Me., to Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1, 1870). Lying in state at the Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1-8, 1870). Funeral service and eulogy by Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) at South Congregational Church, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Ref.:Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 11-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. Final burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). GP's last will of Sept. 9, 1869, named Sir Curtis Lampson and Charles Reed (1819-81) as his British executors, to each of whom he left $25,000 (£5,000). Ref.: Ibid. Ref.: Boase-c, Vol. XI, pp. 473-474. Mitman, Vol. 10, p. 566. Wills, GP's. See: persons named.
Lampson, George (1833-99),was the brother of Henry Lampson, both sons of Lampson, Sir Curtis Miranda (1806-85, above).
Lampson, Henry, brother of George Lampson (1833-99), both sons of Lampson, Sir Curtis (1806-85, above).
Lampson, Lady, was Jane Walter Sibley (1810-91) of Sutton, Mass., who married Curtis Miranda Lampson in NYC on Nov. 30, 1827. Mrs. Curtis Miranda Lampson is mentioned in U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's (1820-86) journal entry (Nov. 12, 1869) as attending GP's funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Secty. Moran wrote: "The Prime Minister of England and the United States Minister stood near the head participating in the ceremony, while Mrs. Motley, Lady Lampson, Mrs. Morgan, and other American ladies were grouped at the foot." See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin. Lampson, Curtis Miranda. Ref.: g. Internet, under Lampson, Lady (which listed Sibley as her last (maiden) name and her death date).
Lampson, C. M. & Co., London, was the name of Curtis Miranda Lampson's investment firm. See: Lampson, Curtis Miranda (above).
Lancashire, England. To negotiate the sale of U.S. cotton in Lancashire, England, GP made the first of his five commercial trips abroad, 1827-37. He left NYC on the packet ship Florida Nov. 1, 1827, was greatly seasick, and returned to NYC Aug. 1828, a trip of nine months. Ref.: GP, NYC, to sister Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh, Nov. 1, 1827, Peabody Papers, Yale Univ. Ref.: GP, Liverpool, to Riggs, Peabody & Co., Nov. 26, 1827, Peabody Papers, Boston Public Library Rare Book Room Ms. Collection. For poverty GP saw in Ireland, See: Little, Sophronia Phelps (née Peabody) (GP's youngest sister). Visits to Europe by GP.
Lancaster Academy. John Waters Proctor (1791-1874), GP's playmate and classmate in the same Danvers, Mass., District School, four years older than GP and from a better off family, attended Lancaster Academy. See: Proctor, John Waters.
Lane, Fitz Hugh (1804-65), marine artist. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.). 64-Collections.
GP & U.S. Pres. Buchanan's Niece
Lane, Harriet (1830-1903). 1-U.S. Pres. Buchanan's Niece. Harriet Lane was the niece of bachelor Pres. James Buchanan (1791-1868, 15th U.S. president during 1857-61). Buchanan was born near Mercersberg, Penn., was a lawyer, served in the Penn. legislature for two terms (from 1814), was U.S. Congressman (1821-31), U.S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), and U.S. Senator (1834-45). He became Harriet Lane's guardian in 1840, when she was age 11, on the death of her mother, his sister. He sent his niece to a private school, completed by two years at the Visitation Convent, Georgetown, D.C., school, and had her visit the White House when he was U.S. Secty. of State (1845-49). See: Buchanan, James.
Lane, Harriet. 2-Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854. At age 23, Harriet Lane accompanied her uncle to London where he was U.S. Minister to Britain (1853-56). She was his hostess at London social functions where she knew and was friendly with GP. She charmed British society, including Queen Victoria who gave her the rank of ambassador's wife. Harriet Lane was not involved when Buchanan's jingoistic U.S. Legation in London Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) created an incident at GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Lane, Harriet. 3-Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854 Cont'd. Super patriot Sickles refused to stand when GP toasted the Queen before toasting the U.S. President. Sickles, who sat in red-gorged anger while all others stood, then stalked out to show his disapproval. In a letters-to-the-editor campaign he accused GP of "toadying" to the British and maligned GP's patriotism. GP and some dinner attendees publicly refuted Sickles' charges. Buchanan, who spoke at the dinner, did not publicly censure Sickles, but was glad when his troublesome secretary returned to the U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Lane, Harriet. 4-Cordial to GP, Jan. 1857. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, he was in Washington, D.C., Jan. 1857, but avoided Pres. Buchanan. Of this Washington, D.C., visit, GP wrote to his friend Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72): "Buchanan's friends are particularly attentive to me, but I refuse any interferences to bring us together without a direct explanation from him. I met Miss Lane who treated me with great cordiality." See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Lane, Harriet. 5-Cordial to GP, Jan. 1857 Cont'd. About avoiding Pres. Buchanan, GP's partner Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) wrote GP from London on March 13, 1857: "Your course respecting Mr. Buchanan strikes me as just the thing. It is for you to receive him if either is to be received, but any reconciliation now would look like truckling to a man because he happens to be in power." Ref.: Ibid.
Lane, Harriet. 6-Married Baltimorean H.E. Johnston. Harriet Lane, a gracious White House hostess, was politically astute, invited artists and politicians to White House dinners, and was a helpful advisor to Pres. Buchanan. Popular, with many suitors, she married Baltimorean Henry Elliott Johnston (1790?-1868), variously described as businessman, banker, lawyer; saw the death of her uncle, her two sons, and her husband; left her art collection to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and endowed for sick children the Harriet Lane Outpatient Clinic, Johns Hopkins Univ. Ref.: Boatner, pp. 470-471. Ref.: g. Internet, "Lane, Harriet," http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/115.html (Henry Elliott Johnston): Klein.
Sidney Lanier: Poet, Flutist, Lecturer in Baltimore
Lanier, Sidney (Clopton) (1842-81). 1-Southern Poet. In 1873 Asger Hamerik (1843-1923), PIB Academy (later Conservatory) of Music director from July 11, 1871, to 1898, for 27 years, hired poet-musician Sidney Lanier as first flutist in the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Lanier, then a 31-year-old law clerk, had left his birthplace, Macon, Ga., to seek a music career in NYC. He stopped in Baltimore to visit his flutist friend Henry Wysham, through whom he met Asger Hamerik. Impressed when Lanier played his own flute compositions, Hamerik hired Lanier as first flutist. Relatively recently honored as a fine Southern poet, Lanier lived in Baltimore near the PIB for eight years and used its research library. He eeked out a poor living in Baltimore, teaching music privately, lecturing on music and English literature at the PIB and at Johns Hopkins Univ. (1879). He died in 1881 at age 39 of tuberculosis contracted when he was a Civil War prisoner. See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Lanier, Sidney. 2-Career. Showing early intelligent interest in his mother's piano playing, Sidney began studying piano with his mother at age five. With little instruction he later played the organ, violin, guitar, banjo, and flute, at which he excelled. He graduated from Oglethorpe Univ. (1860-63), near the then Ga. capital of Milledgeville just before the Civil War, enlisted, was captured, was held in several military prisons including Point Lookout, Va., where he contracted tuberculosis (of which he died at age 39). He married in 1867, had children, worked in his father's law office, taught school at Prattville, Ala., spent significant time in Baltimore, and unsuccessfully sought to cure TB attacks in Texas, N.C. (Asheville, Tryon, Lynn). Ref.: "Sidney Clopton Lanier," 1 p. seen on the Internet May 20, 2000: http://users.erols.com/kfraser/lanier.htm
Lanier, Sidney. 3-At the PIB. Of Lanier's flute playing Asger Hamerik wrote: "His art was not only the art of art, but an art above art." A later critic wrote: "In [Lanier's] hands the flute was transformed into a voice that set heavenly harmonies into vibration." Most of his poetry, a novel, and other writings on poetry and music published during his lifetime drew only minor attention. Later, his works drew major attention. He has been honored as the Poet of the South and was elected to the N.Y. Univ. Hall of fame with his bust unveiled on Oct. 3, 1946. A Sidney Lanier Club, formed in Tryon, N.C., 1890, was renamed the Lanier Library Association, 1955. In Baltimore he was an indefatigable user of the PIB Library where, Vanderbilt Univ.'s English Prof. Edwin Mims (1872-1959) wrote: "One of [his] keenest pleasures…was to discover…a full record of the Lanier family in England," members of whom were sponsored by four consecutive English kings for their skill in poetry and music. Ref.: Lanier Library. Project Gutenberg Etext #1224, Sidney Lanier by Edwin Mims, dated Feb. 1998, seen May 24, 2000: ftp://sailor.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext98/lanrb10.txt
GP’s Broken Engagement
Lardner, Alexander (1808-48). 1-Married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. Alexander Lardner, a Philadelphian, married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905), to whom GP was engaged in 1838-39. Shortly before her trip to London for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838) Esther Hoppin visited Philadelphia where she met Alexander Lardner. Their friendship ripened into love, but they parted, she to finish school in Providence, R.I., and to visit London for the coronation. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
Lardner, Alexander. 2-GP-Hoppin Broken Engagement. In London GP met and fell in love with Esther Hoppin. She was 19, GP was 42. They were engaged. Esther, back in the U.S., again saw Alexander Lardner in Providence, R.I. The budding love of three years past returned. She realized her engagement to GP was a mistake, asked GP by letter to release her from the engagement, and returned his gifts of furs and jewelry. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 3-Philadelphia Bank Cashier. Esther Elizabeth Hoppin married Alexander Lardner Oct. 2, 1840, in Providence, R.I. They moved to Philadelphia, where Lardner was a cashier in the Bank of the U.S. They had two children. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 4-"his death is much lamented." When Alexander Lardner died in 1848, age 40, GP's close NYC business friend John Cryder wrote to GP, Jan. 27, 1848: "Poor Lardner died in Phila. a few days since leaving his young & interesting widow with two children & about $20,000. He was an excellent man & his death is much lamented." Esther Elizabeth (née Hoppin) Lardner died in 1905, outliving GP by 35 years and her husband Alexander Lardner by 57 years. Her portrait by Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in the Frick Art Reference Library, NYC, shows her in all her loveliness. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 5-Remembered Romance. During the vast publicity at GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death and 96-day transatlantic funeral, the story of GP's broken engagement with Esther Hoppin appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth" (Gen. Lewis Cass [1782-1866], U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42). Ref.: Ibid. See: Cass, Lewis.
Lardner, Alexander. 6-Disappointed Love Affair? In his history of the PEF and biography of GP, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903), second PEF administrator (during 1881-85, 1888-1903), quoted from an undated letter he received from the daughter of a Mr. Humphreys. She wrote that when GP arrived during a U.S. visit (no date given but likely May 1, 1866, in NYC), her father, a commercial friend of long standing, went to see GP and congratulated him on his amazing philanthropy. GP, then probably age 71, allegedly said quietly, "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Lardner, Alexander. 7-"important page in his life history." Humphreys' daughter added in her letter to J.L.M. Curry: "These expressions made to my father, and so far as I am aware, to him alone, referred to an incident which has had its day and among the circle of Mr. Peabody's friends, its halo of romance. Mr. Peabody's own touching reference to it can, after the lapse of so many years, be recorded without indiscrimination, as showing his own reading of an important page in his life history." Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 8-Philanthropic Motive? If GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," referred to his broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, Humphreys' daughter's letter is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
Larsen, Henrietta M., was the author of Guide to Business History. Of Gustavus Myers' (1872-1942) History of the Great American Fortunes, critical of GP as an anti-Union and pro-Confederate financier, Larsen wrote: "Marxian in its thought framework and not concerned with a careful analysis of the men's business administration." Ref.: Larsen.
Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval (1803-91), was born in Philadelphia, became a lawyer (1825), was a B&O RR lawyer (1828-91), founded the Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts, and also founded and was president of the Md. Historical Society (1847). He spoke in praise of GP at the Md. Historical Society reception for GP on Jan. 30, 1857. John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe was the son of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1806-78), chief engineer of the B&O RR, and the grandson of Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (1764-1820), English-born first professional architect in the U.S. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Laubat, Joseph Flourimund's Medallic History of the United States, 1776-1876 (New York: J.W. Boulton, 1878), Vol. 1, pp. 421-426, described the U.S. Congressional gold medal voted to GP, March 5-15, 1867, made by Starr and Marcus, NYC silversmiths and jewelers, displayed in Washington, D.C., May 26, 1868, seen by GP in London, Dec. 25, 1868, and sent for permanent keeping to the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. Laubat, Vol. II, plate 78, has etching of this medal by artist Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart (1837-80). Ref.: Laubat. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
GP & Abbott Lawrence
Lawrence, Abbott (1792-1855). 1-U.S. Minister to Britain. Abbott Lawrence, U.S. Minister to Britain during 1849-52, had important contacts with GP in London. Abbott Lawrence was born in Groton, Mass., and became a textile manufacturer and statesman. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him); was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40), served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842), and gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). It was during the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the world's first fair, that Abbott Lawrence, in the third of his four years as U.S. Minister, had close contact with GP. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Lawrence (1818-97), was one of the deputation from the Fishmongers', London, who called on GP, April 18, 1866, to offer him honorary membership. Others in the deputation were Walter Charles Venning (d. 1897), Prime Warden; William Flexman Vowler (d. Feb. 7, 1877); and George Moore (1806-76). GP gratefully accepted, explaining that he was leaving April 21, 1866, for a visit to the U.S. The membership scroll in a gold box worth 100 guineas (about $525), were mailed to him in the U.S., making him the 41st honorary member and the first U.S. citizen to be admitted to the Fishmongers' Co., whose ancient charter had been endorsed by 23 British monarchs. The membership scroll and box are among his honors in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Fishmongers' Co. Persons named.Great Exhibition of 1851, London
Lawrence, Abbott. 2-Great Exhibition of 1851, London, Origin. The first world's fair, 1851, London, catapulted GP, in a small way, and others to fame. The idea occurred to Henry Cole (1808-82), Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art) member, successful children’s book author, editor of several journals, assistant keeper of the Records Office, and British Post Office reorganizer. He attended the Paris Exposition, 1849, which showed only French industrial products. Later in London (June 29, 1849) talking to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria’s husband and president (1848) of the Society of Art, Henry Cole found royal support for a first world's fair. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Lawrence, Abbott. 3-Early Plans. Backed by Prince Albert, a Royal Commission was appointed (Jan. 3, 1850), approval sought from manufacturers in Britain and other countries, funds raised, Hyde Park chosen as the site, and 245 building designs received and rejected. About to choose their own design, the Building Committee received from Joseph Paxton (1801-65), the Duke of Devonshire's superintendent of gardens at Chatsworth, a hastily submitted sketch. Paxton's large, strikingly handsome crystal-like glass structure supported by barrel-like iron transepts, a sketch of which appeared in the Illustrated London News, July 6, 1850, won public favor and Royal Commission approval. Nine months later the majestic Crystal Palace arose on 20 acres of Hyde Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Exhibitors’ Lack of Funds
Lawrence, Abbott. 4-Crisis: Lack of Funds. U.S. participation was federally approved and largely state managed by hundreds of committee members. But when the U.S. Navy frigate St. Lawrence, with U.S. exhibits aboard, reached Southampton, England, early March 1851, a lack of money brought on a crisis. No one had thought to appropriate funds to ship the crated exhibits from Southampton to London's Crystal Palace, to uncrate them, or to decorate the large (40,000-square foot) U.S. exhibit space. The crated U.S. exhibits lay scattered like rubble. It was a chaotic laissez faire muddle. U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), without funds, the U.S. exhibitors, and the U.S. residents in London were all embarrassed. British ridicule appeared in the satirical Punch. Ref.: Ibid.
GP's Loan to U.S. Exhibitors
Lawrence, Abbott. 5-GP's Loan. "The whole affair looked like a disgraceful failure," a New York Times writer later recorded. "At this juncture Mr. Geo. Peabody, of whom not one exhibitor in twenty had ever heard, and who was personally unknown to every member of the [U.S. exhibitors], offered through a polite note addressed to Mr. Lawrence to advance £3,000 [$15,000] on the personal responsibility of Mr. [U.S. Commissioner Edward W.] Riddle and his secretary, Mr. [Nathaniel Shattwell] Dodge [1810-74]. This loan, afterward [three years later re]paid by Congress, relieved the Commission of its difficulties, and enabled our countrymen to achieve their first success in industrial competition with the artisans and manufacturers of Europe." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 6-GP's Loan to U.S. Exhibitors Cont'd. Partly through GP's loan over six million visitors to the first world's fair (May 1-Oct. 11, 1851, 144 days) saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Albert C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 7-GP Proposal of July 4, 1851, Dinner. With the Great Exhibition of 1851 open in London, and amid jocular, often serious, international rivalries, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which might appeal to Americans, but not to disdainful British. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s U.S.-British Friendship Dinners
Lawrence, Abbott. 8-Will British Society Attend? GP had on a small scale hosted U.S.-British friendship dinners before 1851. His motive in the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Anti-U.S. quips in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. GP and his friends wondered if British society would attend? Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 9-"fashionables are tired of balls." GP sounded out his friends, especially U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. On June 26, 1851, he found a wary reaction to the idea. In a private and confidential letter he warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 10-Duke of Wellington as Guest of Honor. Prospects looked dim. Wanting to build on the Great Exhibition spirit of goodwill, GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. Ref.: Ibid. See: Wellington, …Duke of.
Lawrence, Abbott. 11-July 4, 1851, Dinner, Ball, and the Duke. The Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 12-July 4, 1851, Dinner, Ball, and the Duke Cont'd. Present were members of Parliament, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace; and other English nobility. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 13-"See the Conquering Hero Comes." An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 14-July 4, 1851, Dinner Praised. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper printed a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 15-"a most felicitous conception" U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 16-"I congratulate you." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: (Abbott Lawrence praise), Abbott Lawrence to GP, July 5, 1851, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 17-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner for Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. Commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his l5 years in London had erased sectional and political difference, and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27 dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. Also, he had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies distributed to U.S. and British officials. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Abbott. 18-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851, London. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 19-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbia was played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Lawrence, Abbott. 20-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Speeches. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 21-"I clasp your hand." To the departing U.S. exhibitors Minister Lawrence said: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers!]." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 22-Bulwer-Lytton Cont'd.: "The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Lawrence, Abbott. 23-GP: "May these unions still continue." GP, ending the festivities, stood. When the cheers subsided, he said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 24-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 25-C.B. Haddock on Good Effect of GP's Dinner. Later, Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock (1796-1861) wrote in a New Hampshire newspaper: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 26-C.B. Haddock on Good Effect of GP's Dinner Cont'd. Haddock continued: "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) was afterward known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid. See: America's Cup (1851). Persons named.
GP’s Social & Philanthropic Emergence
Lawrence, Abbott. 27-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens (1819-86) to compile and print in book form the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Barnet, Vt.-born Henry Stevens was a Yale College graduate (1841), Harvard Law School graduate, and from July 1845 a London resident rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 28-Dinner Proceedings Book to Pres. Fillmore. By Nov. 25, 1851, Stevens had 50 copies of the dinner proceedings book printed and bound in cloth and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 29-Pres. Fillmore Acknowledged Dinner Proceedings Book. Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." For details with sources of the Oct. 27, 1851, Proceedings book, its distribution, and acknowledgments, See: Dinners, GP's, London. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 30-Dinner Proceedings Book to British Leaders. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." See:: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Abbott. 31-Dinner Proceedings Book Praised in Boston. U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 32-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts. Praise of GP in Baltimore newspapers may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. He read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry. GP sent $1,000 for a chemistry school to Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler (1804-85) in his Oct. 31, 1851 letter, labeling the gift "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 33-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts Cont'd. This still little known gift began GP's educational philanthropy. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library, accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." For GP's contact with Md. Institute Pres. W.H. Keighler, See:: Dinners, GP's, London. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 34-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts Cont'd. To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman," GP answered: "However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 35-GP's Emergence: Social & Philanthropic. Thus, during Abbott Lawrence's years as U.S. Minister to Britain, GP emerged as a significant promoter of U.S.-British friendship. He told only a few intimates of his early determination to found an educational institution in each city where he lived and worked. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. GP emerged socially in the 1850s. In the 1860s he became the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 36-Death, Boston, 1855. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP paid his last public tribute to Abbott Lawrence the next year, on Oct. 9, 1856, speaking at a reception for him in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. Some 1,500 guests gathered to honor him on his first return visit to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). See:: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.
GP’s Last Tribute to A. Lawrence
Lawrence, Abbott. 37-GP's Last Tribute to A. Lawrence. Turning to Edward Everett (1794-1865), seated nearby (Everett had been U.S. Minister to Britain during 1841-45), GP said: "To no one can I turn more confidently for cooperation than to you, Sir, who filled with credit the office of United States Minister of England." Then, referring to Abbott Lawrence who had succeeded Edward Everett as U.S. Minister to Britain, GP reminisced: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 38-Descendants. Abbott Lawrence was the grandfather of American poet and critic Amy Lowell (1874-1925), astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916), and Harvard Univ.'s 24th president during 1909-33 Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856-1943). Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 39-Abbott Lawrence Evaluated. One source thus evaluated him: "Abbott Lawrence, a driving, forceful dynamo of a man, was likewise a railroad baron whose wealth and connections enabled him to get elected to Congress; his Cotton Whig interests, his friendship with men such as Daniel Webster, helped him to rise still higher in the political hierarchy.... Yet for all that plumage and wealth, what is truly noteworthy about him is that Abbott Lawrence was a self-made man, a boy from the Massachusetts countryside who rose to distinction through the force of ambition and power." Ref.: Heymann, p. 159. See: Dinners, GP's, London. U.S. Ministers to Britain.
Lawrence, Lawrence (1818-97), was one of the deputation from the Fishmongers' Co.,, London, who called on GP, April 18, 1866, to offer him honorary membership. Others in the deputation were Walter Charles Venning (d. 1897), Prime Warden; William Flexman Vowler (d. Feb. 7, 1877); and George Moore (1806-76). GP gratefully accepted, explaining that he was leaving April 21, 1866, for a visit to the U.S. The membership scroll in a gold box worth 100 guineas (about $525), were mailed to him in the U.S., making him the 41st honorary member and the first U.S. citizen to be admitted to the Fishmongers' Co., whose ancient charter had been endorsed by 23 British monarchs. The membership scroll and box are among his honors in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Fishmongers' Co. Persons named.
Lawrence, Stone & Co., of Boston. In the Panic of 1857, when firms anxiously called in their debts, George Peabody & Co. of London was unable to collect from Lawrence, Stone & Co. of Boston, which owed a large sum. To save his own firm GP applied for and was granted a large loan from the Bank of England which he soon repaid. See: Panic of 1857.
Lawrence, Timothy Bigelow (1826-69). 1-Secretary to his Father, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), destined to be GP's philanthropic adviser and PEF trustee president (1866-94), sent GP a copy of his speech given at Harvard Univ. Winthrop's letter to Timothy Bigelow Lawrence, secretary to his father, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), was passed on to GP. It read: "Mr. Peabody was absent from London, I believe, when I was there in 1847; at any rate I did not have the pleasure of meeting him. I venture however to send him through you a copy of my late address at Cambridge. His late liberality at Danvers proves that he is mindful of the cause of good learning in his native State." Ref.: Timothy Bigelow Lawrence to GP, Sept. 14, 1852, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Lawrence, T. B. 2-Career. Timothy Bigelow Lawrence was Secty. of Legation, London, under U.S. Minister to Britain Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868) during 1852-53; London Attaché under Minister James Buchanan (1791-1868) during 1853-56; and Consul General at Florence, Italy (1857). Ref.: Wallace and Gillespie, eds., I, p. 5, footnote 1. See: Winthrop, Robert Charles.
GP’s Public Relations
Lawrence, William (1850-1941). 1-PEF Trustee. William Lawrence was a PEF trustee, born in Boston, graduated from Harvard College (1871) and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass. (1875), where he was also a professor and dean (1884-93). He was university preacher at Harvard Univ. (1888-91) and was elected American Episcopal Bishop of Mass. (1893-1926). Ref.: Curry-b.
Lawrence, William. 2-On GP's Sense of Public Relations. William Lawrence described the public relations value of GP's banquets for the PEF trustees and their wives (1926): "There was in Mr. Peabody a touch of egotism and a satisfaction in publicity which worked to the advantage of this fund; by the selection of men of national fame as trustees he called the attention of the whole country to the educational needs of the South and the common interests of North and South in building up a united Nation." Ref.: Lawrence, pp. 268-269, quoted in Taylor, p. 25.
Lawrence, William. 3-On GP's Sense of Public Relations Cont'd.: "The trustees brought their wives to the annual meeting in New York, and in the evening met at the most sumptuous [banquet] that the hostelry of those days, the Fifth Avenue Hotel, could provide; the report of which and of what they had to eat and drink was headlined in the press of the South and the North. This annual event took place upon the suggestion of Mr. Peabody and at the expense of the fund; and in its social influence and publicity was well worth the cost." Ref.: Ibid. For another account of PEF trustee meetings, See: Farragut, David Glasgow. PEF.
GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Lawton, Alexander Robert (1818-96). 1-Met GP, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Robert Alexander Lawton was a S.C.-born Confederate general who by chance met, talked to, and was photographed with GP (Aug. 12), then visiting the mineral springs health spa at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were key southern and northern political, military, and educational leaders. GP, ill and three months from death, was there to rest and recuperate. He and Robert E. Lee talked, dined, walked arm in arm, were publicly applauded, and photographed with other prominent guests. Informal talks of later educational consequence took place on southern public education needs. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Lawton, A.R. 2-Career. A.R. Lawton attended West Point Military Academy (1839), resigned (1840), graduated from Harvard Law School (1842), practiced law in Savannah, Ga., was active in the Ga. militia, was a railroad president, and was in the Ga. legislature as a leading advocate of secession. After the Civil War he was active in Democratic politics and his law practice, was president of the American Bar Assn. (1882), and served as Pres. Cleveland's Minister to Austria (1887-89). Ref.: Boatner, p. 473. For details, names of prominent participant leaders, and sources, including historic W.Va. photos taken between Aug. 15-19, 1869, See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Confederate generals. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named. Visits to the U.S. by GP. White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Baltimore Lady to Whom GP Twice Proposed Marriage
Leakin, James Wilson (1857-1922) was a Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist whose undated manuscript, "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections" was given to the PIB Library in 1958 by Mrs. Charles Rieman (formerly Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899). In that manuscript J.W. Leakin's Oct. 17 1902, letter to Henrietta Cowman on their Knox ancestry told of a romance between GP and Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson (1799-1880), daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. For details see Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox).
Lee, Mildred Childe (1846-1904), was the daughter of Robert E. Lee. See: Lee, Robert E. (below).
End of 5 of 14. Continued on 6 of 14. Send corrections, questions to: bfparker@frontiernet.net
5 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below 5 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Harding, Abner Clark (1807-74). 1 to Lee, Mildred Çhilde (1846-1904).
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
GP's Union Loyalty Questioned
Harding, Abner Clark (1807-74). 1-Cast Doubt on GP's Union Loyalty. Abner Clark Harding was the U.S. House of Rep. member (R-Ill.) who on Mar. 9, 1867, cast doubt on GP's Union loyalty in the Civil War. This action occurred after Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R-Mass.) introduced his joint Congressional resolutions: "Resolved: that both Houses of Congress present thanks to George Peabody of Massachusetts, for his gift for education for the South and Southeastern states.... Resolved: that the President of the United States have a gold medal struck to be given, along with these resolutions, to Mr. Peabody in the name of the people of the United States," March 5, 1867. See: Grimes, James Wilson (above). Congressional Gold Medal and Resolution of Praise to GP.
Harding, A.C. 2-Congressional Resolution and Gold Medal for GP. Sen. Sumner and Sen. Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876, D-Md.) defended GP. The Senate voted 36 yeas, 2 nays (by Senators J. W. Grimes and T.W. Tipton), with 15 senators absent; passage in the U.S. House was on March 14, 1867. Pres. Andrew Johnson signed the Resolutions March 16, 1867. GP's Congressional Resolution and Gold Medal are displayed in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. Ref.: (On Rep. A.C. Harding), Boatner, p. 375.
GP’s Portrait by Chester Harding
Harding, Chester (1792-1866). 1-Portrait Painter. Under U.S. artist Chester Harding's portrait of GP, printed in "Baltimore's 150th Birthday," Maryland History Notes, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Nov. 1947), p. 1, is printed, "Painted during the early years of his maturity," probably in GP's early thirties. Chester Harding visited Baltimore in 1828 and again in 1830-31, when the painting may have been made. GP gave the oil painting on canvas, 30" x 25," in an oval frame, to Mrs. George Nathaniel Eaton (née Susan Brimmer Mayhew, 1824-86) of Baltimore on his last U.S. visit (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). She was the daughter of Baltimore merchant William Edwards Mayhew (1781-1860) and the wife of George Nathaniel Eaton (1811-74), the latter one of 16 original PEF trustees, who was the brother of Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93), original PIB trustee. A daughter of the George N. Eatons, Mrs. Charles R. Weld (née Frances Eaton, died March 13, 1947) donated this portrait to the Md. Historical Society, Baltimore. See: Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named.
Harding, Chester. 2-Career. Chester Harding was born in Conway, Mass., fought in the War of 1812, was a cabinet maker, sign painter, and largely a self-taught artist although he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Design. He painted portraits in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Boston; visited England in 1823 and 1843 and had three years of artistic and social success in London; and became a fashionable painter in Boston. His best known portraits are of Daniel Webster (1782-1852, one in the NYC Bar Association, another in the Cincinnati Art Museum), John Randolph of Roanoke (1773-1843, the Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C.), U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835), Henry Clay (1777-1852), and Washington Allston (1779-1843). Chester Harding died in Boston. Ref.: Grove Dictionary of Art Online (seen Feb. 9, 2000): http://www.groveart.com
Harding, Chester. 3-Others Who Painted GP's Portrait. Other known portraits of GP were painted by (in alphabetical order): a- British painter Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908); b-Boston-born George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-94); c-James Reid Lambdin (1807-89); d-Philadelphia-born photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), whose life-size photo of GP was said to have been painted over by Queen Victoria's portrait painter, Jules Arnoult, to resemble an oil painting; and e-London-born Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875). See: artists named. Engravers-artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Peabody, George, Portraits of. Schuler, Hans (for his bust of GP in N.Y.U. Hall of Fame). Story, William Wetmore (for his seated GP statue in London, a copy of which is in Baltimore).
Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., is where GP was buried Feb. 8, 1870. See Death and Funeral, GP's.
Harris, Gwinn (1780-1837). 1-GP Sought His Support to be Md. Fiscal Agent Abroad. Gwinn Harris is listed as a member of the Md. Governor's Council during 1835-37. GP wrote to him on Jan. 12, 1837, seeking and likely gaining Harris's support in his (GP's) successful effort to succeed Samuel Jones, Jr. (1800-74) as one of the three commissioners appointed to negotiate Md.'s eight million dollar bond sale abroad to promote internal improvements. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad (1837-47) and GP.
Harris, Gwinn. 2-Biographical Sketch. Little is known of Gwinn Harris. While not listed as a member of the Md. General Assembly, he is mentioned in "Joseph Harris of Ellenborough," Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 31 (1936), pp. 333-337, as Gwinn Harris of Charles County, one of thirteen children of Colonel Thomas Harris and Ann Gwinn, born April 27, 1780, [p. 334]. The Md. Archives lists Harris as deceased in 1837. The Southern Maryland Studies Center, Charles County Community College, Md., has an index entitled "Tombstone Inscriptions in Cemeteries in Charles County Maryland-Name Index," which indicates that his tombstone in Harris Cemetery, Mt. Tizrah, Rt. 257, Tompkinsville, Md., lists his birth date as April 27, 1780, and death date as Aug. 12, 1837.
GP & the Md. Historical Society
Harris, James Morrison (1817-98). 1-Praised GP, Jan. 30, 1857. James Morrison Harris was a member of the Md. Historical Society who praised GP at the society's reception for GP in Baltimore, Jan. 30, 1857, marking GP's first return visit to the U.S. from London in nearly 20 years. J.M. Harris said: "Mr. Peabody is a liberal friend of our Society. He donated some of our most valuable books and aided us in the erection of this building [Athenaeum Bldg. on Saratoga and St. Paul Sts., Baltimore]. I express for the people of Maryland thanks to him for sustaining our credit abroad during our darkest hour. I was in London twelve years ago and know personally of Mr. Peabody's hospitality. I saw with my own eyes the credit of our state assailed and then saved by our friend." See: Md. Historical Society.
Harris, James Morrison (1817-98). 2-Career. Born and educated in private schools in Baltimore, J.M. Harris entered Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. (1833) but left before graduation because of an eye infection. He worked in a Baltimore bank, cofounded the Mercantile Library of Baltimore, studied law under Baltimore lawyer David Stewart, and was admitted to the bar (1843). Failing health led him to travel abroad in England, France, Germany and Italy (about 1845). He served as Md.’s representative in the U.S. Congress (March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1861), stood strongly against Md.’s secession in the Civil War, and was active in educational and religious work, and spoke at the fiftieth anniversary of the Md. Historical Society (March 12, 1894). Ref.: Harris-a, p. 18. Harris-b, pp. 645-646. U.S. Govt.-f, p. 1139.
Harris, William Torrey (1835-1909), educational administrator and philosopher, was born in Conn. and educated at Yale College. He was public school superintendent, St. Louis, Mo., where with Susan Blow (1843-1916) he founded the first permanent public school kindergarten; was the fourth U.S. Commissioner of Education (1889-1906); and introduced the Hegelian philosophy into the U.S. He wrote as follows on the influence of the PEF: "It would appear to the student of education in the Southern States that the practical wisdom in the administration of the Peabody Fund, and the fruitful results that have followed it, could not be surpassed in the history of endowments." Ref.: quoted in Curry-a, p. 230. See: PEF.
Harrison, John Jacob (1822-88), Rev., is the Royal Navy Chaplain who participated in the Dec. 11, 1869, transfer of GP's remains from the funeral train at Portsmouth harbor, England, to the HMS Monarch. He was born in Yorkshire, educated at Shrewsbury School (graduated 1840 as John James Harrison) and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Univ. (B.A., 1844; M.A., 1849); was ordained in York as deacon (1844) and Anglican priest (1845); and was Royal Navy Chaplain (1846-77), during which he served aboard HMS Royal Adelaide, won three medals, and was Chaplain of Haslar Hospital, the Royal Navy's hospital near Portsmouth, England. His obituary is in The Guardian, March 21, 1888. Ref.: "Harrison, J.J." See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Harrogate, England. For occasional rest and relaxation GP went to Brighton, a seaside resort, or the Sulphur and iron-rich mineral springs in Harrogate, in Yorkshire's old West Riding, North of England.
PIB-Johns Hopkins Libraries Merger
Hart, Evelyn (née Linthicum) (1923-85). 1-Integrated PIB-Johns Hopkins Libraries. Evelyn Hart, familiarly called Lynn Hart, was the librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library who, from July 1, 1982, supervised the merger of the PIB Library as part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library system. Background: GP's philanthropic example influenced Baltimoreans Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) to found Johns Hopkins Univ., Hospital, and Medical School (1876); and Enoch Pratt (1808-96) to found Enoch Pratt Free [public] Library (1882). In the mid 1960s the PIB Reference Library, in financial crisis, became part of the tax-supported Enoch Pratt Free Library (July 2, 1966-July 1, 1982, 16 years). When Baltimore's finances became strained, the PIB Reference Library became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library system from July 1, 1982. Some saw poetic justice in GP's gift to Baltimore being aided and sustained by institutes created by two Baltimoreans he had influenced. See: Persons named. PIB Reference Library.
Hart, Evelyn. 2-Career. Born in Baltimore, she graduated from Goucher College and earned a master's degree in library science from Catholic Univ. of America. She was school liaison librarian at Enoch Pratt Free Library (1942-50), was head circulation librarian at Goucher College (1950-58), returned to Enoch Pratt Free Library as head of book selection (1965-76), and then headed the PIB Library of Enoch Pratt Free Library (1976-82) when, from July 1, 1982, she skillfully supervised the integration of the PIB Reference Library's 250,000 volumes and seven staff members into the Peabody Library department of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Ref.: Ibid.
Hart, Joseph Kinmount (1876-1949). See: PCofVU. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Harvard Astronomical Observatory. GP's thoughts about a gift to Harvard Univ. were: first to add to its astronomical observatory, then to found a school of design (probably art or architecture), and finally the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Oct. 8, 1866, $150,000. The Peabody Museum idea came partly through the influence of his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), whose education, paid for by GP, enabled Marsh to become the first professor of paleontology at Yale Univ. and the second such professor in the world. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Harvard school of design (art or architecture). GP's second thought in regard to a gift to Harvard Univ., a school of design, probably art or architecture, had been suggested to him by former Harvard Univ. Pres. Edward Everett (1794-1865) Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Honorary Degrees
Harvard Univ., Honorary Degree to GP (July 17, 1867). 1-Oxford, June 26, 1867. Of the two honorary degrees GP received in 1867, he was present for the Doctor of Laws degree from Oxford Univ. on June 26, 1867. When his name was called, Oxford undergraduates and others applauded, waved their caps, and beat the arms of their chairs with the flat of their hands. Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, recorded: "The lion of the day was beyond doubt, Mr. Peabody." Ref.: (Oxford degree): Jackson's Oxford Journal, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 4-6. Oxford Chronicle and Berks and Bucks Gazette, June 29, 1867, p. 5, c. 1-2.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 2-Harvard, July 17, 1867. Harvard Univ. conferred the honorary Doctor of Laws degree on GP, July 17, 1867, in absentia (he was then in London). Harvard's honorary degree followed by nine months GP's gift (Oct. 8, 1866) of $150,000 to found the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard Univ. Some at Harvard would have preferred GP's gift to go to the liberal arts rather than for science. There were then disturbing theological doubts about the theory of evolution proposed in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species (1859). The debate over evolution had swept England and Europe earlier but was delayed in the U.S. by the Civil War. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 3-Harvard Selling Degree? At the time of GP's gift to Harvard, evolution was being denounced from U.S. pulpits. This controversy may or may not have been behind the charge made against GP in the Worcester Daily Spy, July 26, 1867, that Harvard was "selling its degree": "[Harvard] college is flourishing.....It made one man a doctor...whose prescriptions, pellets or what not, to the tune of $150,000, will make up for Dr. Walker's diversion of his money to Amherst and elsewhere. I mean George Peabody, now a doctor of laws. I don't know about this. If it is not selling titles of honor what is it?" Ref.: (Harvard degree): Worcester (Mass.) Daily Spy, July 26, 1867, p. 2, c. 6. (Note: Harvard's Pres. James Walker, 1794-1874).
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 4-Doubt and Praise. At the 1867 commencement dinner Harvard's president ran through the year's gifts and said of GP's museum of science: "Then came the largest gift in amount, which, I know, disappointed many of the alumni, who had other views connected with the university,--the gift of George Peabody, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars--Dr. George Peabody, I should have said. He has given us one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and has placed it in the hands of the trustees; but the scientific use of it is under the control of the university. He has given [this amount] for the foundation of a museum and professorship, which should investigate and teach not only the highest of the actual existing, but the highest possible physical sciences, making a fitting crown to the museum of comparative zoology." Ref.: (Harvard commencement dinner): Boston Daily Advertiser, July 18, 1867, p. 2, c. 2-5.
Harvard Univ., Hon. Degree to GP. 5-Harvard's Baccalaureate Sermon. GP was praised in Harvard's baccalaureate sermon: "In men of charity our country has been fortunate. There is one name which our University and our country will always honor and respect. I refer to our greatest benefactor, George Peabody. This man, in advanced age, looks back upon a life spent in charitable works. He sees the trees of benevolence he has planted bloom around him. He hears his father say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' Such men live on.....When men like George Peabody die, their light shines on as brightly as ever, and we never realize that they are not with us." Ref.: (Harvard baccalaureate sermon): Harvard Univ.-a, pp. 32-33. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Hassam, Childe (1859-1935), American artist whose painting The Ledges was part of a special "Exhibits of Contemporary American Art," 1911, Peabody Gallery of Art, PIB. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Havana, Cuba. The four Confederate agents seeking aid and arms from England and France had reached Havana, Cuba, and boarded the British mail ship Trent from which they were illegally removed Sept. 8, 1861. For the effect on GP of the Trent Affair, See: Trent Affair.
Haverhill, Mass. GP's father Thomas Peabody (1762-1811) was born in Andover, Mass., served in the American Revolution, and moved to Haverhill, Mass., where he met and married in 1789 (when he was age 27) Judith (née Dodge) Peabody (1770-1830), then age 19. Their first two children, David Peabody (1790-1841) and Achsah Spofford Peabody (1791-1821), were born in Haverhill, Mass. Thomas Peabody, farmer and sometime cordwainer (leather worker), then moved with his family to Danvers, Mass., whose water, good for tanning, made it a leather center. The third born of their eight children, GP, was born in the South Parish, Danvers, Mass., Feb. 18, 1795.
Havre-de-Grace, Md. On GP's second U.S. visit, May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, he went by train from Philadelphia (Oct. 24, 1866) with a stop at Havre-de-Grace, Md., where some PIB trustees came aboard to escort him to Baltimore for the Oct. 25 PIB opening and dedication and attendant events. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Hawaii. See: Bishop, Charles Reed.
PCofVU's First Dean
Hawley, Willis David (1938-). 1-PCofVU's First Administrator. Willis David Hawley was PCofVU's first dean from Oct. 15, 1980, to 1989. He came to Vanderbilt Univ. Aug. 1980 to teach political science and to direct the Center for Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt's interdisciplinary Institute for Public Policy. Born in San Francisco, he earned his teaching credentials along with the B.A., M.A., and Ph. D. degrees in political science from the Univ. of California, Berkeley. He taught political science at Yale Univ. (1969-72) and co-directed Yale's training of secondary school teachers. He taught political science at Duke Univ. (1972-80) and directed its Center for Education Policy. He was on leave from Duke (1977-78) to help plan the cabinet-level U.S. Dept. of Education under Pres. Jimmy Carter. Ref.: Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Hawley, W.D. 2-Subsequent Administrators. PCofVU's first Dean Hawley was succeeded by PCofVU's second Dean James William Pellegrino (1947-, dean during 1992-Aug. 1998), who was succeeded by PCofVU third Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (1956-) from Aug. 1998. W.D. Hawley was subsequently dean, Univ. of Md. College of Ed., College Park (1993-98) and lives in Annapolis, Md. Where he serves as director of the federally funded National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching. For his influence on PCofVU and for details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, See: PCofVU, history of.
Hawthorne, Charles (Webster) (1872-1930), was an artist born in Lodi, Ill., who established the Cape Cod School of Art, Provincetown, Mass. (1899), and whose painting Fisher Boys was part of a special "Exhibits of Contemporary American Art," 1911, Peabody Gallery of Art, PIB. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-64), was the famed author of The Scarlet Letter. GP's sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell's (1799-1879) husband, lawyer Jeremiah Russell (d. 1860), sent GP a copy of the Salem, Mass. Register, June 11, 1849, containing an article, p. 2, c. 1, about Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had left his job as surveyor at the Salem Custom House and was replaced by Captain Allen Putnam. Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with GP, was one of 29 great Americans elected to the Hall of Fame of NY Univ., 1900. Ref.: copy of Salem, Mass. Register, June 11, 1849, in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See Hall of Fame, NYU.
Hayes, Rutherford Birchard (1822-93), was a PEF trustees for 15 years, succeeding trustee Samuel Watson of Tenn. R.B. Hayes was born in Delaware, Ohio; graduated from Kenyon College (1842), graduated from Harvard Univ. Dale Law School (1845), where second PEF administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1828-1903) was a classmate; served in the Civil War, and was the 19th U.S. president during 1877-81. Ref.: Curry-b, pp. 76, 91, 103-104, 138. Boatner, p. 389. See: Conkin, Peabody College, index. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
Headstart. Project Headstart, a U.S. national preschool enrichment program was inspired by educational experiment in Nashville, 1965, by GPCFT Early Childhood Education Prof. Susan Gray (1913-92). See: Gray, Susan.
GP’s Portrait by G.P.A. Healy
Healy, George Peter Alexander (1813-94). 1-Painted GP's Portrait. Boston-born artist George Peter Alexander Healy painted a full length portrait of GP in late April 1854 (GP was then age 59). Shortly before, while he was still a struggling artist in Paris, he was contacted by GP's friend and sometime agent, Vt.-born London resident bookseller Henry Stevens (1819-86). Stevens, then visiting Paris and acting as GP's agent, contracted Healy to paint GP's portrait for $1,000. The portrait was intended for the trustees of GP's first Peabody Institute Library in South Danvers, Mass. (founded in 1852; South Danvers was renamed Peabody, Mass., April 13, 1868). Healy ordered an elaborate frame and secured an engraving artist who copied the portrait on a plate from which copies could be made. He also painted a bust from the full-length portrait. Ref.: Healy. Va. Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Va., p. 43.
Healy, G.P.A. 2-GP Aided the Portrait Painter. Healy mentioned to GP his desire to try his fortune in the U.S. GP gave him letters of introduction to friends in Chicago. GP also acted as Healy's agent in collecting a $3,000 debt of two years' standing for a Healy portrait owned by U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear (1800-60). Healy wrote to GP on July 23, 1854: "Everything has prospered with me since the success of your picture." Ref.: George P.A. Healy, Paris, to Henry Stevens, March 29, 1854; George P.A. Healy, Paris, to GP, April 7, 1854; June 14 and 19, 1854; July 23, 1854; Aug. 5, 21, and 27, 1854; George P.A. Healy, Chicago, to GP, Nov. 9, 1857; and July 22, 1858, all in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Healy, G.P.A. 3-Healy's GP Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. Healy's portrait of GP is in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., with reproductions in at least two books. Healy's portrait of GP is mentioned but does not appear in De Mare, p. 206. Ref.: (Prints of Healy's GP portrait): Burk, facing p. 80. Kenin, p. 94. De Mare, p. 206.
Healy, G.P.A. 4-Career. At age 17 Healy set up a studio in Boston, encouraged by British-born artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872), then doing portraits in Boston. Healy opened a studio in Paris and traveled to and worked in London, Rome, and the U.S. His best known portraits are of U.S. Minister to France Lewis Cass (1782-1866); a seated and reflective U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln in 1864; and other famous persons. Ref.: Grove Dictionary of Art Online (seen Feb. 9, 2000): http://www.groveart.com
Healy, G.P.A 5-Others Who Painted GP's Portrait. Other known portraits of GP were painted by (in alphabetical order): a-British painter Lowes Cato Dickinson (1819-1908); b-Conway, Mass.-born Chester Harding (1792-1866); c-James Reid Lambdin (1807-89); d-Philadelphia-born photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901), whose life-size photo of GP was painted over by artist Aed Arnoult, said to be Queen Victoria's portrait painter, to resemble an oil painting; and e-London-born Henry William Pickersgill (1782-1875). See: artists named. Engravers-artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Peabody, George, Portraits of. Schuler, Hans (for his bust of GP in N.Y.U. Hall of Fame). Story, William Wetmore (for his seated GP statue in London, a copy of which is in Baltimore).
Heard, Alexander (1917-), was VU chancellor (1963-82) who with VU's only Pres. Emmett B. Fields (1923-) held talks with GPCFT's sixth Pres. John Dunworth (1924-), leading to the PCofVU merger, July 1, 1979. Retiring from VU in 1982, he was chairman of the Ford Foundation board for 16 years, was director of Time, Inc., and lives in retirement in Nashville. See: PCofVU, history of. Persons named. Conkin, Peabody College index.
Heath, William. The Panic of 1857's effects on GP, his illness, his age (63), and his wanting to put his philanthropies in order made him write as follows to a William Heath of Boston, who applied for a position with him: "The influence of the panic year upon my feelings have been such as to greatly modify my ambitious views and I have fully determined not only to keep snug during the terms of my present copartnership but if my life is spared to its end to then leave business entirely and shall most likely pass any remaining years that may be allotted me by Providence in my native land." Ref.: GP to William Heath, Boston, Dec. 9, 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Heidelberg, Univ. of. GP's nephew, Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), attended the German universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Breslau in 1863-65. At his uncle GP's expense he prepared for a career as the first U.S. paleontology professor at Yale Univ. and the second such professor in the world. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles.
GP & Queen Victoria
Helps, Arthur (1813-75). 1-Queen Victoria's Advisor. As clerk of Queen Victoria's Privy Council, Arthur Helps acted as intermediary between the Queen and GP in their exchange of letters just before GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869. Arthur Helps was a British essayist and historian, educated at Eton and Cambridge, was private secretary to Lord Monteagle (Thomas Spring-Rice, first Baron Monteagle of Brandon in Kerry, 1790-1866, Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 1835), clerk of the Privy Council (1860-75), and was created a K.C.B. (1872). Helps wrote the multi-volume The Conquerors of the New World (London: Pickering, 1842-52), Spanish Conquest in America (London: J.W. Parker, 1855-61), and other works.
Helps, Arthur. 2-GP Planned Last U.S. Visit. In May 1869, in his 75th year, having recovered from his last severe illness, GP determined not to delay his intended U.S. visit which he feared might be his last. Wanting to look into the operation of his institutes, add to them, and double his gift for southern education (PEF), he wrote Baltimore friend John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), May 22, that he intended to sail on the Scotia for NYC, adding "I fear if I postpone this visit until next year it will be too late." PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) also expressed concern about GP's health in a May 20 letter to PEF trustee Hamilton Fish (1808-98), then U.S. Secty. of State: "Recent advices from Mr. Peabody make me very apprehensive that he is more ill than we had anticipated." Ref.: GP, London, to John Pendleton Kennedy, May 22, 1869, Kennedy Papers, PIB. Ref.: Robert Charles Winthrop, Brookline, Mass., to Hamilton Fish, May 20, 1869, "Correspondence of Hamilton Fish," LX, Nos. 7930 and 7931, Library of Congress Ms.
Helps, Arthur. 3-Helps Visited GP. One delicate matter troubled GP in regard to a U.S. visit that might be his last. It involved Queen Victoria. GP let Arthur Helps know that he wished to see him. Arthur Helps reported GP's concern in a note to the Queen.
Helps, Arthur. 4-Helps Reported to the Queen: "Before Mr. Peabody left England he expressed a wish to see Mr. Helps. Mr. Helps accordingly went to see him. He found him very unwell, and that he had rather suddenly determined to go to America, to settle certain affairs there, and then, in about a year's time, to return to England." Helps continued: "The object of the interview which was, of course, brought out with some hesitation, and at some length was practically to this effect (Helps explained)."
Helps, Arthur. 5-Helps Reported to the Queen Cont'd.: "Mr. Peabody would find it very uncomfortable to him, and it would put him in an awkward position, to be asked, as he knew he should be asked perpetually, whether he had an interview with the Queen. He also thought and feared much that when he should reply in the negative, it might occasion some unpleasant remark, and might in some minds, diminish the affectionate respect with which your Majesty is regarded in the United States."
Helps, Arthur. 6-Helps Reported to the Queen Cont'd.: "He then suggested that a letter from Your Majesty might be useful." Helps enclosed with his report to the Queen a draft of a letter which the Queen, if she decided to write GP, might use as a guide. This correspondence was reviewed by the Queen's advisor Gen. Charles Grey (1804-70), who suggested a few changes. Ref.: General Charles Grey to Queen Victoria, June 20, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/31, Windsor Castle, England.
Helps, Arthur. 7-Queen Victoria to GP. Queen Victoria's letter dated June 20, 1869, reached GP in Salem, Mass. It read: "Windsor Castle, June 20, 1869. The Queen is very sorry that Mr. Peabody's sudden departure has made it impossible for her to see him before he left England, and she is concerned to hear that he is gone in bad health." Her letter continued: "She now writes him a line to express her hope that he may return to this country quite recovered, and that she may then have the opportunity, of which she has now been deprived, of seeing him and offering him her personal thanks for all he has done for the people. Queen Victoria." Ref (Queen Victoria's June 20, 1869, letter): Arthur Helps, Privy Council Office, to H.M. Queen Victoria, June 19, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/30; and Arthur Helps draft letter from Queen Victoria to GP, June 20, 1869, Royal Archives, L.18/30, both Windsor Castle, England.
Helps, Arthur. 8-At GP's Westminster Abbey Funeral Service. The New York Times printed Queen Victoria's letter to GP and added: "Queen Victoria has paid our great countryman a delicate and graceful compliment. Mr. Peabody left England unexpectedly, his departure known only to a few friends. His feeble health became known to the Queen through London newspapers. With her goodness of heart which Americans never fail to appreciate she sent him a personal letter." GP made his last visit to the U.S. (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869) and returned to London where he died Nov. 4, 1869. Among those at his funeral service in Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869, were Arthur Helps and Gen. Charles Grey, representing Queen Victoria. See: Death and funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin.
Henry, Joseph (1797-1878), first director of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., was the first lecturer in the PIB Lecture Series in 1866. See: PIB Library.
Henry, William Wirt (1831-1900), was a PEF trustee. He was born in Red Rock, Va., graduated from the Univ. of Va., practiced law, was elected to the Va. legislature four times, was an historical researcher, president of the American Historical Association and the Va. Historical Society, and is best known for his Life, Correspondence, and Speeches of Patrick Henry (3 vols., 1890-91).
Her Majesty's Theatre, London. Musicians from Her Majesty's Theatre, London, gave a concert at GP's July 4, 1851, U.S.-British friendship banquet at exclusive Willis's Rooms, London. Most of the 800 guests were connected with the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, the first world's fair. The Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852) was the guest of honor. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Herald (New York Herald). Founder and editor James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872) was born in Keith, Scotland; came to the U.S. in 1819, was Washington, D.C., correspondent of the NYC Enquirer, assistant editor of the NYC Courier and Enquirer (1829-32), and founder and editor of the New York Herald (1835-72), a U.S. newspaper known for its sensationalism. For Bennett's criticism of GP in the New York Herald during GP's Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, with sources, See: Bennett, James Gordon. Corcoran, William Wilson. Morgan, Junius Spencer. Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Hibbs, Henry Clossen (1882-1949), architect, was chosen by first Pres. Bruce R. Payne (1874-1937) to design the GPCFT campus next to Vanderbilt Univ., after Thomas Jefferson's architectural plan for the Univ. of Va. Hibbs, born in Camden, N.J., was educated at the Univ. of Penn, worked in Philadelphia and NYC, came to Nashville as head of NYC’s architectural firm of Ludlow and Peabody, and designed, besides GPCFT, such other landmark Nashville buildings as Fisk Univ. Library, Meharry Medical College, and Scarritt College. Ref.: Hoobler, pp. 422-423. "Architect Helped Build City’s Colleges," Tennessean (Nashville), Sept. 25, 1999, p. lB. See: Payne, Bruce Ryburn.
Peabody Normal College, Nashville
Hicks, Edward D. III (1831-94). 1-Univ. of Nashville Trustee. Before his 1911 retirement as Peabody Normal College president, former Tenn. Gov. James Davis Porter (1828-1912) told how he helped first PEF administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) establish the Peabody Normal College on the campus of the Univ. of Nashville: "...I was with Dr. Sears, the first General Agent of [the] Peabody Board in 1875 [PEF], and he said to me, 'If you will furnish the house I will establish a normal college in Nashville. I am satisfied it is the best place in the South.' This was within twenty minutes of my inauguration as Governor of the State."
Hicks, E.D., III. 2-Tenn. Gov. J.D. Porter Cont'd. "I said to him, 'Meet me here tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock and I will inform you whether I can secure the building for you. I am very anxious to see the school established. Before that hour I interviewed Judge William F. Cooper [1820-1909], Edwin H. Ewing [1809-1902], Edward D. Hicks, III, and other members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Nashville and obtained from them consent to establish the college in buildings of the University, and when Dr. Sears called I was able to offer him the most eligible building and the best location of any point in the City of Nashville. He accepted the offer, and in the winter following, the school was organized and entered upon a career of the very greatest success." See: PCofVU. PEF. Persons Named.
GP's Commercial-Banking Career
Hidy, Muriel Emmie (1906-85). 1-Economic Historian. Muriel Emmie (née Waganhouse) Hidy was assoc. prof. of economics at Wheaton College, Norton, Mass. Her 1939 Ph.D. dissertation in economics at Radcliffe College, woman's division of Harvard Univ., was published with a new preface as George Peabody, Merchant and Financier, 1829-1854 (New York: Arno Press, 1978). The 25 crucial years she covered of GP's commercial career was based on his papers at the Essex Institute (now Peabody Essex Museum), Salem, Mass., and on related papers in other depositories. She aided her husband's research (he was history prof. at Wheaton College) for his 1935 Harvard Univ. doctoral dissertation, published with additions: Ralph W. Hidy (1905-77), The House of Baring in American Trade and Finance, English Merchant Bankers at Work, 1763-1861. Harvard Studies in Business History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949). Ref (M.E. Hidy) Ref.: Wheaton College Library faculty archives, Norton, Mass. (Her obits.): Belmont (Mass.) Citizen, Oct. 24, 1985; Belmont (Mass.) Herald, Oct. 26, 1985. Ref (Ralph W. Hidy): Hidy, R.W.-a, pp. 53-56. Hidy, R.W.-b, 131-145. See: Peabody, George, Biographies.
Hidy, M.E. 2-Economic Historian Cont'd. Trained in economic history, having helped research her husband's related and larger scoped work, M.E. Hidy intended to follow her dissertation with a never completed GP biography. Thoroughly knowledgeable about GP's business career, M.E. Hidy's key insights about GP's business career are given below. Ref (Muriel Emmie Hidy's writings on or mentioning GP): Hidy, M.E.-a, pp. 1-6; Hidy, M.E.-b, p. 1-19. Hidy, M.E.-c. Ref (Writings on or mentioning GP by joint authors R.W. Hidy and M.E. Hidy): Hidy, R.W. and M.E. Hidy.
GP as Dry Goods Importer
Hidy, M.E. 3-On GP's Business Career: "The real start of Peabody's career was as an importer of dry goods to Baltimore, but he entered into several side speculations. He sold some goods to other American cities as well as to China and to South America. As purchaser for his firm, Peabody, Riggs & Co., [he] lived in England. There he secured the short term credits so important in financing American trade and, while handling the financial end of his own house, gradually undertook the same functions for others." Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 361.
Hidy, M.E. 4-On GP from Merchant to Merchant Banker: "The prosperous early thirties were followed by the difficulties of the years from 1836 to 1843 and Peabody, Riggs & Co., after years of success, declined. In addition to the cyclical changes of the period, there were other factors which played a part in Peabody's leaving the dry goods business. The relative decline of the Baltimore market, the growth of American manufactures, the frequent and unsettling changes of the tariff, the improvements in transportation, which not only favored New York but also dictated smaller stocks and more rapid turnover, all changed the trade. Profits were not those which Peabody had enjoyed earlier and he therefore turned to his new interest." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 361-362.
GP as Merchant Banker
Hidy, M.E. 5-On GP from Merchant to Merchant Banker Cont'd.: "Peabody had the attributes necessary for merchant banking and in the years between 1837 to 1843 [he] gradually laid the foundations of a [banking] house. He had experience, capital and credit acquired in his earlier business. To these resources were added the gains from successful speculation in American securities during the period of lack of confidence in American credit [i.e., after the Panic of 1837 nine states, including Md., temporarily stopped interest payments on their bonds sold abroad]. By trade and speculation Peabody had acquired the capital on which to build a house serving American traders and financiers." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 6-On GP 's Business Partnerships: "In the course of his career Peabody entered into several close business relations with other men. The partnership was a very common form of organization; it provided for the pooling of capital and a diversity of abilities. In the case of an international banker, it provided significant contacts in another country. Peabody, resident in England when a dry good merchant, had [as U.S.] partner, Samuel Riggs [d. 1853].... As a merchant banker in England Peabody needed a representative in the United States. Between 1844 and 1847 this object was achieved through a secret partnership with two rich and experienced business men, William S. Wetmore [1802-62, Vt.-born NYC merchant], and John Cryder." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-363.
Hidy, M.E. 7-On GP 's Business Partnerships Cont'd: "Another device to achieve the linking of mutual interests was the joint account, and for a time Peabody operated an exchange account with a New Orleans firm, Robb & Hoge.... Later Peabody allowed various firms to open credits for others on his house on the basis of sharing risks and commissions. After 1851...he preferred to do...business on a commission basis. Houses in the United States with the right to grant credits on him had to assume all the risks, as they did in exchange accounts, but in return Peabody shared with them his commissions.... The partnership with Wetmore & Cryder gave Peabody an important contact in China, Wetmore & Co., which he fostered...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-363.
GP Selling Md.'s Bonds Abroad
Hidy, M.E. 8-On GP's Sale of U.S. Bonds Abroad: "In the years which followed [1839-42] he was an active dealer in depreciated American securities and through his knowledge, confidence, methods and the size of his operations was very successful during the period of liquidation. Peabody claimed that in American securities he was the most important dealer.... "In the 1830's he had served as the agent for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company in marketing Maryland bonds. In 1848 [after the nine defaulting states resumed retroactive interest payments on their bonds sold abroad], when some confidence was reinstated in American securities in England and a market could be developed on the continent, Peabody played his part in marketing the Mexican War loan. Later, he sold other bonds on joint account with parties in the United States, including state securities such as Virginia bonds and later railroad bonds. Finally, in 1853 his firm marketed alone an issue of Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company bonds on the English market." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 362-364.
Hidy, M.E. 9-On GP's Sale of U.S. Bonds Abroad Cont'd.: "It was natural that Peabody, interested in American credit, should play a part in reinstating confidence during the period of default after 1841. He continued to perform the function of informing his English friends about American securities and his American associates about the English market. "Granting credits to other merchants did not prevent Peabody from entering directly into mercantile pursuits.... The most spectacular of his operations were in grain and iron. During the Irish crop failures Peabody and his partners, Wetmore and Cryder, undertook large exportations of Indian corn from the American market and the difficulties which arose indicated some of the problems of a businessman in an age with no Atlantic cable and comparatively poor transportation facilities...." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 10-On GP Buying British Iron for U.S. Railroads: "In the 1850s the trade which offered the greatest possibility of profit to Peabody was the exportation of British iron for American railroads. His joint account operations with a New York house, Chouteau, Merle & Sanford, and an American merchant in London, C.[urtis] M.[iranda] Lampson [1806-85, Vt.-born fur trader who became rich and a British citizen], illustrates well the flexibility of a joint account. The New York house sold iron, C. M. Lampson purchased it, Peabody acted as banker and the three shared profits...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 365.
GP’s Social Life
Hidy, M.E. 11-On GP's Social Life: "Peabody's personal social life contributed to his advancement. He had a vigorous personality, and, in spite of a humble origin, apparently found little difficulty in moving in prominent circles. An ability to attract firm friends among his business contemporaries gave him many useful connections....He benefited by the confidence which as a young man he had awakened in Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. Later his amiability brought him close association with Wetmore, Cryder, Sherman and Lampson. Corcoran [William Wilson Corcoran, 1798-1888], the friend of the American government, was attracted to Peabody by their mutual interest in the Riggs family, but letters indicate that a warm friendship cemented their business relations...." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 355-356.
Hidy, M.E. 12-On GP's Social Life Cont'd.: "A comfortable picture of Peabody could be painted [in] his bachelor apartment in London in the forties. E.[zra] J.[enks] Coates, the tall Bostonian, would be relaxed on the couch and Richard Bell, the energetic Englishman, would be arguing the Maine boundary question with the patriotic American, Peabody [over rump steak, ale, or sherry]. Or on another occasion [May 18, 1843] the two bachelors, Peabody and Coates, would be seen entertaining 'all the respectable Americans in London...about 40.' Such contacts contributed...to Peabody's enjoyment...[and] to his knowledge of men and affairs. Intimate letters from the friends of his youth in America added to his understanding of events in the United States and even the local gossip...aided him in formulating his own credit rating of men in America." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 355-356.
Hidy, M.E. 13-On GP's Entertaining U.S. Visitors: "For one who wished to make his firm in England a center of American news and business, a ready personality was an asset. However spontaneous were Peabody's gifts of American apples, Boston crackers, a dish of hominy or some other delicacy from the United States, the business results might follow. When a prominent American visited England in the eighteen fifties, he was likely to have a letter of introduction and Peabody saw that he was well received. A box at the opera with the lavish corsage for the lady, or some other pleasant attention, had a mellowing effect. Peabody had the reputation of entertaining every American who arrived with a letter of credit. ...In July, 1855 [he] remarked that he had entertained eighty Americans for a dinner and thirty-five at the opera within a week." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 357-358.
GP’s U.S-British Friendship Dinners
Hidy, M.E. 14-On GP's U.S-British Friendship Dinners: "Peabody combined his delight in large entertainments with his interest in forwarding amicable relations between Americans and Englishmen. In the fifties he became known for his lavish dinners given in honor of various notable persons, such as the American minister. It was during the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851 that he gave the first of his July 4th dinners which were to be a feature of London life in the decade before the Civil War." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 15-On GP's U.S-British Friendship Dinners Cont'd.: "There had been several irritations to mar the tranquillity of the relations between the two English speaking peoples and the date selected for a big dinner appeared hardly one on which to stimulate the happiest memories. But George Peabody invited the aged Duke of Wellington as guest of honor and prominent social and business leaders perforce accepted his invitation. Among the guests were Thomas Baring, J.P. Horsley Palmer [d. 1858] and Peabody's old partner, Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. That the occasion caught the public fancy is indicated by the large and friendly newspaper reports on the occasion.... The London Times even mentioned the dinner in its brief review of the business for the year 1851. This and later banquets were a great success. Whatever their effect on international relations, they appear to have been social triumphs and to have given Peabody much publicity." Ref.: Ibid.
GP's Philanthropy
Hidy, M.E. 16-On the Impact of GP's Philanthropy: "When the American exhibitors [to the Great Exhibition of 1851, London, the first world's fair] needed funds because Congress had failed to provide aid, Peabody advanced them £3,000 [$15,000]. It took him so many years to collect the sum owed that it was often mentioned in the list of his contributions.... It was Peabody's philanthropy that definitely established his international reputation. Not only did he give generously but he also established funds during his life time, which at that period was unique enough to puzzle the London lawyers who were drawing up the papers for a trust fund." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 17-On the Impact of GP's Philanthropy Cont'd.: "It was his charity that brought the banker praise from such diverse men as W.E. Gladstone [1809-98, PM], Victor Hugo [1802-85, French writer], Louis Blanc [1811-82] and many prominent Americans of the time.... Even before his most important work days were over Peabody had given generously enough to catch the public fancy.... When Peabody visited the United States in 1856, after an absence of 20 years, Danvers [Mass., his birthplace] gave a celebration in his honor. The New York Herald [whose editor James Gordon Bennett was often critical of GP] carried five and a half columns of a report telegraphed from Massachusetts at considerable cost. The front page carried banner headlines such as few bankers have enjoyed in moments of triumph." Ref.: Ibid.
Hidy, M.E. 18-"'national' man in a foreign country." Having read glowing newspaper reports of GP's successful U.S.-British friendship dinners, business friend W. W. Corcoran wrote praising GP in 1853 for having made himself a "'national' man in a foreign country." Besides U.S.-British friendship dinners, Corcoran was thinking of GP's years of helpful service to visiting Americans and of his emerging philanthropy (notably of GP's first Peabody Institute Library, announced in June 1852, in South Danvers, renamed Peabody, Mass., on April 13, 1868). See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Hidy, M.E. 19-Pride in George Peabody & Co. M.E. Hidy emphasized GP's pride in his London-based banking firm, reflected in his speech to 1,500 friends and townspeople, at the Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration, South Danvers, Mass., after nearly 20 years' absence as a banker in London dealing with American trade and securities: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish...a house in a great metropolis of England.... I have endeavored...to make it an American house; to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my American friends visiting England." Ref.: Ibid., p. 360. See: South Danvers, Mass., GP Celebration, Oct. 9, 1856.
Hidy, Ralph W. (1905-77), history prof., Wheaton College, Norton, Mass., wrote The House of Baring in American Trade and Finance, English Merchant Bankers at Work, 1763-1861, Harvard Studies in Business History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1949), which included material about GP as U.S. merchant banker in London. Ref.: Wheaton College Library faculty archives, Norton, Mass. See: Hidy, Muriel Emmie (above).
Hill, Frederick. See:: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics-18-32.
GPCFT's Pres. H.H. Hill
Hill, Henry Harrington (1894-1987). 1-GPCFT's Third President. Henry Harrington Hill was GPCFT's third president during 1945-60, for 16 years, and was interim president, 1962-63. Born in Statesville, N.C., he was educated by his father, a professor; attended Davidson College, N.C.; received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the Univ. of Virginia, and the Ph.D. degree from Columbia Univ. (1930). Before his Ph.D. degree, he had been a teacher, principal, and school superintendent in Ark., and returned to Ark. as state high school supervisor for a year. He was then education professor, Univ. of Ky., and its first education dean. He was school superintendent, Lexington, Ky.; assistant school superintendent in St. Louis, Mo.; and school superintendent, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1942-45). Ref.: "Henry Hill at Peabody-a." "Henry Harrington Hill-b."
Hill, H.H. 2-Enhanced GPCFT's Reputation. His sixteen years as GPCFT president were a period of post-World War II higher education growth and change hastened by the GI Bill. Under H.H. Hill, GPCFT enhanced its national and international prominence. He was adept at securing foundation funds to hire outstanding faculty, secured trustee permission in 1953 to admit 13 black educators as students, a year before the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation ruling, and encouraged a GPCFT-managed $7 million U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Korea teacher education project. Ref.: Ibid. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, See: PCofVU, history of.
Hill, Ruth Henderson (1902-90), was Print Dept. Librarian, Essex Institute (now Peabody Essex Museum), Salem, Mass. She also wrote George Peabody, "The Great Benefactor," 1795-1869 (Peabody, Mass.: Peabody Institute, 1953).
GP Praised by Philadelphia Convention of Rabbis
Hirsch, Samuel (1815-89). After GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, in Philadelphia, Nov. 5, 1869, at a national convention of Jewish religious leaders (rabbis), the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hirsch, Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Knesseth Israel (1866-88) and chairman of the convention, spoke of GP's life, philanthropy, and death. The convention unanimously passed a resolution of esteem for GP. Born in Thalfang, Prussia, Germany, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hirsch was educated at the Universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig (Ph.D.); was rabbi in Dessau, Germany (1838-41); was forced to resign for his liberal views; wrote for the next two years (1842-43); was appointed chief rabbi of Luxembourg by the King of Holland (1843-66); wrote advocating Reform Judaism; was rabbi Reform Congregation, Knesseth Israel, Philadelphia, Pa. (1866-88); presided over the rabbinical conference, Philadelphia, 1869, where Reform Judaism principles were formulated; and was the father of Emil G. Hirsch (1852-1923), leader of U.S. Reformed Judaism. Ref.: "Hirsch, Samuel," Vol. 5, p. 379. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Historical Society of Penn., Phila., has the papers of James Buchanan (1791-1868), 15th U.S. Pres. during 1857-61; and some GP papers. Buchanan was U.S. Minister to Britain during 1853-56. At GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British Friendship Dinner, as was his custom, he toasted first the Queen and then the U.S. President. Buchanan's London Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), a super patriot, refused to stand, walked out in protest, and soon after accused GP in the press of toadying to the British. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Historical Society of Phila. GP gave $20 to the Historical Society of Phila. publication fund in Jan. 1857.
Hoar, George Frisbie (1826-1904), was a PEF trustee who succeeded Judge John Lowell (b.1824) as trustee. G.F. Hoar was born in Concord, Mass., the grandson of a Revolutionary War officer, and the son of a lawyer and Congressman from Mass. His mother was the daughter of Roger Sherman (1721-93), a signer of the Declaration of independence. G.F. Hoar graduated from Harvard College (1846) and Harvard Law School (1849), was a lawyer in Worcester, Mass, served in the Mass. House of Representatives (1852-57) and in the Mass. Senate; served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1869-77) and the U.S. Senate (1877-1904). He also served as President, American Antiquarian Society; Regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1880); and trustee of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ. Ref.: Curry-b, p. 117.
Hobbs, Alfred C. (1812-91), was a U.S. locksmith whose unpickable locks were displayed at the U.S. pavilion, Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). GP's $15,000 loan to the U.S. exhibitors (repaid by the U.S. Congress three years later) enabled the U.S. pavilion to be decorated so that U.S. art and products were seen to best advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Hobbs, Nicholas (1915-83), was GPCFT professor of psychology (from 1951); chairman, GPCFT's Division of Human Development (1951-65); cofounder and director, GPCFT's John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development (1965-70); Vanderbilt Univ. Provost (1967-75); Vanderbilt prof. of psychology (1975-80); and Vanderbilt Prof. Emeritus (since 1980). He was president, Am. Psychological Assn. (1966) and enlarged special education for disabilities programs at both institutions.
Hoe, Richard March (1812-86), developed a better printing press shown at the U.S. pavilion, Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair). GP's $15,000 loan to the U.S. exhibitors (repaid by the U.S. Congress three years later) enabled the U.S. pavilion to be decorated so that U.S. art and industry products were seen to best advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Hoffman, David (1784-1854), a prominent Baltimore-born lawyer, professor, and historian attended St. John's College, Md.; helped found and was a professor, Univ. of Md. Law School; was politically active; a legal scholar of note; and land agent for Calif. leader John Charles Frémont (1813-90). While in London during 1847-53, David Hoffman wrote two letters (one undated letter, another on Nov. 4, 1850), to ask GP 's financial help in an escape plan to free imprisoned Hungarian freedom fighter Lajos Kossuth (1802-94). Ref.: Bloomfield. "Hoffman, David." See: Kossuth, Lajos.
Holbrook, Josiah (1788-1854), was an educator who first organized in 1826 in Millbury, Mass., the lyceum (named after Aristotle's 4th century B.C. school), adult education lectures in town halls, libraries, and elsewhere. By 1835 there were 3,000 town lyceums. Peabody Institute Libraries had lecture halls and lecture funds for lyceum speakers. For Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) as lyceum speaker at the PIB, Jan. 2, 4, 9, 11, 1872, See: Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Holland, Sir Henry (1788-1873), was one of Queen Victoria's physicians whom GP sometimes consulted. Sir Henry Holland was one of the 300 guests who attended the Lord Mayor of London's banquet honoring GP, July 10, 1862. That afternoon GP was the first American to accept the Freedom of the City of London. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
GP &Oliver Wendell Holmes
Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-94). 1-"George Peabody" Poem. Oliver Wendell Holmes, a physician-turned-poet, was born in Cambridge, Mass. He was the father of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935). Poet O.W. Holmes attended the July 14-16, 1869, dedication of the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass. GP was then present, age 74, infirm, on his last U.S. visit, with a few months to live (died Nov. 4, 1869, in London). On July 16, 1869, after an ailing GP spoke briefly and haltingly, O.W. Holmes was introduced with a hint that he might have composed a poem for the occasion. O.W. Holmes read his prepared poem to an audience that included former Mass. Govs. Clifford Claflin and Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), Boston Mayor Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff (1810-74), U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74), Essex County statesman Alfred A. Abbott (1820-84), recent past U.S. Minister to Britain Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), GP's two nephews George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) and Robert Singleton Peabody (b.1834), and others:
"George Peabody"
by Oliver Wendell Holmes
Bankrupt--our Pockets inside out!
Empty of words to speak his praises!
Worcester and Webster up the spout
Dead broke of laudatory phrases!
But why with flowery speeches tease,
With vain superlatives distress him?
Has language better words than these--
THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM.
A simple prayer--but words more sweet
By human lips were never uttered,
Since Adam left the country seat
Where angel wings around him fluttered.
The old look on with tear-dimmed eyes,
The children cluster to caress him,
And every voice unbidden cries,
THE FRIEND OF ALL HIS RACE, GOD BLESS HIM.
Holmes, O.W. 2-GP's infirmity. Holmes described GP's weakened appearance in a letter to historian-statesman John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), as "...the Dives who is going to Abraham's bosom and I fear before a great while...." Holmes first became known for his poem, "Old Ironsides" (Boston Advertiser, 1830), which prevented the break up of the famous frigate Constitution. He is also remembered for his essay, "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" (Atlantic Monthly, 1857, published separately 1858) and for his poem, "The Deacon's Masterpiece" (The One Horse Shay, 1858). Ref.: (Peabody Institute dedication): Holmes, II, p. 220. New York Times, July 20, 1869, p. 4, c. 7. Tapley-a, pp. 169-171. Tapley-b, pp. 45-46. Peabody Press (Peabody, Mass.), July 21, 1869, p. 2, c. 2-5. Ref.: (GP's infirmity): Holmes, Boston, to Motley, Rome, July 18, 1869, quoted in Morse, pp. 180-181.
Holton High School, Danvers, Mass. GP gave a $2,000 fund for best scholar medals to Holton High School, Danvers, Mass., 1867; and a $2,600 fund for the same purpose to Peabody High School, Peabody, Mass., 1854-67. See: Peabody, George, Philanthropy.
Homer, Winslow (1836-1910), famous U.S. landscape and marine painter (Crack the Whip, The Maine Coast), was age 20 in his native Boston when he worked on the lithographs in Danvers, Mass., Proceedings at the Reception and Dinner in Honor of George Peabody, Esq., of London, by the Citizens of the Old Town of Danvers, October 9, 1856. To Which is appended an Historical Sketch of the Peabody Institute, with the Exercises at the Laying of the Corner-stone and at the Dedication (Boston: H.W. Dutton & Son, 1856). His initials appear on the illustrations facing pp. 21, 89. Some Winslow Homer paintings are owned by the PIB Gallery of Art. See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration. PIB Gallery of Art.
Peabody Homes of London
Homes for London's working poor. 1-First Mention of GP's Intended Gift to London. On Feb. 7, 1857, GP was in Baltimore with John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) and William Edwards Mayhew (1781-1860) to draft his Feb. 12, 1857 letter founding the PIB. He also mentioned to them his intent to make a gift to London. GP's first thought for his London gift was a network of drinking fountains, which he discussed and then discarded with long time business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) after GP's return to London in late Aug. 1857. GP next discussed the possibility of aiding the charitable Ragged School Union with a visiting friend, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), during Aug. 1858-March 1859. For full account, See: Peabody Homes of London.
Homes for London's working poor. 2-Lord Shaftesbury Suggested Low Cost Housing. The suggestion for model homes for London's working poor came from social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl, 1801-85). In early Feb. 1859 Shaftesbury told GP's friend and intermediary Bishop McIlvaine that the London poor's greatest need, even more than schools, was low cost housing. GP's gift to London was delayed by the Civil War and by U.S.-British frictionable incidents over the Civil War, particularly the Nov. 8, 1861, Trent Affair. On March 12, 1862, GP created the Peabody Donation Fund, London, which built the Peabody Homes of London and to which GP gave a total of $2.5 million For full account, See: Peabody Homes of London. Persons named. Trent Affair.
Honorary degrees, GP's. See: 1-Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). (below). 2-Harvard Univ. (July 17, 1867). 3-Oxford Univ. (June 26, 1867).
GP’s Honors
Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). 1-Md.'s Resolutions of Praise (March 7, 1848). Md.'s $8 million bond sale abroad, sold in part by GP in London during Feb. 1837-40s, raised foreign capital to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the B&O RR. On March 7, 1848, the Md. legislature passed unanimously resolutions of praise for GP's sale of its bonds abroad. GP accomplished this sale despite the financial Panic of 1837, the depression which followed, and stoppage of interest payments on their bonds by Md. and eight other states. Md.'s resolutions of praise, sent to GP by Md.'s governor, thanked him for upholding Md.'s credit abroad, for assuring foreign investors that Md. would resume interest payment retroactively, and for declining the $60,000 commission due him while Md. was in financial difficulty. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
Honors, GP's. 2-Clubs, London, GP's (1848-50). GP was denied membership in the Reform Club in 1844 when Americans in London were disdained because nine states repudiated interest payments on their bonds. He was admitted into the Parthenon Club in 1848, the City of London Club in 1850, and the Athenaeum Club, March 12, 1862. See: Clubs, London, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 3-Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore (1851). The Md. Institute of Baltimore made GP an honorary member in 1851. Reading of its effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry, GP sent its president $1,000 on Oct. 31, 1851. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Honors, GP's. 4-South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration (Oct. 9, 1856). The South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration was an all day occasion at his birthplace (renamed Peabody, Mass., on April 13, 1868). The visit marked his first return to the U.S. in nearly twenty years since leaving for London, Feb. 1837. Speeches by dignitaries included former Harvard president and past U.S. Minister to Britain Edward Everett (1794-1865), who praised GP for his successful career as London banker, for promoting U.S.-British friendship, and for founding his first Peabody Institute Library, South Danvers, l852, to which he gave a total of $217,600. See: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.
Honors, GP's. 5-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit (March-April, 1857). During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, he was made a Chamber of Commerce member in New Orleans, La. (March 19-23, 1857); stayed with Ind. Gov. Ashbel P. Willard (1820-60) in Indianapolis (c. April 7, 1857); and received resolutions of praise from Cincinnati, Ohio, merchants (April 10, 1857). See: Augusta, Ga.
Honors, GP's. 6-Clothworkers' Co. of London Membership (July 2, 1862). The ancient guild of The Clothworkers' Co. of London granted GP honorary membership, the first of several honors following publication of GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund to build and manage low rent housing for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). See: The Clothworkers' Co. of London.
Honors, GP's. 7-Freedom of the City of London (July 10, 1862). The Freedom of the City of London was granted to GP in London's Guildhall. GP was the first U.S. citizen so honored. Later U.S. recipients were U.S. Grant, June 15, 1877; Theodore Roosevelt, May 31, 1910; John J. Pershing, July 18, 1919; and Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 12, 1945. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
Honors, GP's. 8-Fishmongers' Co. of London (April 18, 1866). The ancient guild of Fishmonger's Co. of London granted GP honorary membership. See: Fishmongers' Co. of London.
Honors, GP's. 9-Pres. Andrew Johnson Called on GP (Feb. 9, 1867). U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) and his Secty. Col. William George Moore (1829-93) called on GP at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., soon after announcement of GP's Feb. 7, 1867, letter founding the PEF, to which he gave a total of $2 million. Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand and said that he called as a private citizen to thank GP for aiding public education in the South and that he considered it a national gift. Pres. Johnson was advised to avoid impeachment by a complete change of cabinet, including GP as U.S. Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this action. See: Johnson, Andrew. PEF. Presidents, U.S., and GP. For names of the eight persons suggested in the proposed Pres. Andrew Johnson Cabinet reshuffle, See: Andrew, John Albion.
Honors, GP's. 10-Queen Victoria's Letter and Miniature Portrait (March 28, 1866). Queen Victoria wrote to GP, March 28, 1866, to thank him for his second gift to the Peabody Homes of London. She also had a miniature portrait of herself painted by British artist F.A.C. Tilt (fl. 1866-68), enameled on porcelain, set in a gold frame, made especially for GP (estimated cost, $70,000), which was presented to him, March 1867, Washington, D.C., by the British ambassador to the U.S. See: Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 11-U.S. Congressional Resolutions of Thanks and a Gold Medal (March 5, 8, 9, 14-16, 1867). U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74) introduced (March 5) joint congressional resolutions of thanks and ordered a gold medal for GP's Feb. 7, 1867, PEF ($2 million total) as a national gift (PEF's intent: to advance public education in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va.). The resolutions were debated, challenged, defended, and passed in the Senate, 36 yeas, 2 nays (March 8); debated, challenged, defended, an amendment to strike out the gold medal defeated, and passed in the House (March 9); announced and enrolled in the Senate (March 15); and signed by Pres. Andrew Johnson (March 16). See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Sumner, Charles.
Honors, GP's. 12-GP Greeted at the White House (April 25, 1867). GP called on Pres. Andrew Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House on April 25, 1867. Ref.: Ibid. See: White House, Washington, D.C.
Honors, GP's. 13-Oxford Univ. Hon. LL.D. Degree (June 26, 1867). Oxford Univ. granted GP an honorary LL.D. degree. See: Oxford Univ.
Honors, GP's. 14-Harvard Univ. Hon. LL.D. Degree (July 17, 1867). Harvard Univ. granted GP an honorary LL.D. degree. See: Harvard Univ.
Honors, GP's. 15-Pope Pius IX Audience (Feb. 19-28, 1868). Pope Pius IX granted an audience to GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94). GP and Winthrop then visited Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76), through whom GP gave a $19,300 gift to the Vatican's charitable San Spirito Hospital in Rome. See: Pope Pius IX. San Spirito Hospital in Rome. Winthrop, Robert Charles.
Honors, GP's. 16-Audience with Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie (about March 16, 1868). In Paris Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie granted GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop an audience. See: Eugénie, Empress. Napoleon III.
Honors, GP's. 17-GP's Birthplace Renamed Peabody, Mass. (April 13, 1868). GP's birthplace, 19 miles from Boston, a village originally named Brooksby (1626), then called Salem Village, then Danvers (1752-1855), then South Danvers (1855-68), was renamed Peabody, Mass. See: Peabody, Mass.
Honors, GP's. 18-GP's Seated Statue in London Unveiled (July 23, 1869). A seated statue of GP, created by Salem, Mass.-born sculptor William Wetmore Story (1819-95), paid for by public contributions, was unveiled July 23, 1869, on Threadneedle St., near the Royal Exchange, in London's inner city, with speeches by the Prince of Wales (1841-1910, Queen Victoria's eldest son, later King Edward VII during 1901-10) and U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77). London has monuments to four Americans: GP, 1869; Abraham Lincoln, 1920; George Washington, 1921; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1948. See: Statues of GP. Persons named.
Honors, GP's. 19-Queen Victoria's Second Letter of Thanks to GP (June 20, 1869). Queen Victoria wrote her second letter of thanks to GP, who replied on July 19, 1869. See: Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 20-Resolutions of Praise at White Sulphur Spring, W.Va. (July 23-Aug. 30, 1869). Resolutions of praise drafted by former Va. Gov. H.A. Wise (1806-76) and others were read to GP before a gathering at the "Old White" Hotel, White Sulphur Spring, W.Va. GP dined with and walked arm in arm with former Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-70). A Peabody Ball was held in his honor and historic photos were taken of Lee, GP, ex-Civil War generals, and others. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. Corcoran, William Wilson. Others named.
Honors, GP's. 21-GP, Very Ill, Invited to Rest at Windsor Castle (late Oct. 1869). Learning of his return to London, not knowing how near death he was, Queen Victoria invited GP to rest at Windsor Castle, but he died on Nov. 4, 1869. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Victoria, Queen.
Honors, GP's. 22-HMS Monarch Offered as Funeral Ship (Nov. 10, 1869). On Nov. 9, 1869, speaking at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, PM W.E. Gladstone (1809-98), mentioning GP's death, said about the U.S.-British clash over the Alabama Claims controversy (U.S. anger over British-built Confederate ships which cost U.S. lives and treasure): "My Lord Mayor, with the country of Mr. Peabody we are not likely to quarrel" [loud cheers]. The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) at W.E. Gladstone's 2:00 P.M. Cabinet meeting, HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, was offered as the funeral ship to return GP's remains for burial in his hometown (sources indicate that Queen Victoria was the first to suggest returning GP's remains on a royal vessel). See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 23-U.S. Govt. Sent USS Plymouth to Accompany HMS Monarch (Nov. 12-15, 1869). Britain's decision to return GP's remains for burial in Mass. on HMS Monarch led U.S. officials to send USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to accompany HMS Monarch to the U.S. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 24-Proposal for GP Statue in NYC's Central Park Failed (Nov. 20, 23, 1869). Merchants met at the NYC Stock Exchange, Nov. 20, 1869, formed an association, and collected funds for a statue of GP in NYC's Central Park. Opponents spoke against the idea and walked out. NYC banker J.H. Bloodgood made another attempt on Nov. 23, 1869, formed an association, collected funds, and published a subscription list, but also failed. The reason later given was that mounting international funeral honors for GP offended some patriotic believers in republican simplicity. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Bloodgood, J.H.
Honors, GP's. 25-Westminster Abbey Funeral Service and Temporary Burial (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). A funeral service for GP was held at Westminster Abbey, London, Nov. 12, 1869, attended by high officials. GP's coffin lay in state in the Abbey for 30 days, Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869. A nine-stone marker was placed permanently where his body rested. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Honors, GP's. 26-GP's Remains Received at Portland, Me. (Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 1870). U.S. Pres. Grant and U.S. Navy Secty. George Maxwell Robeson (1829-97) ordered Adm. David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70) to head a flotilla of receiving ships which met HMS Monarch, bearing GP's remains, and the USS Plymouth, Jan. 25, 1870, at Portland Harbor. After a wrangle about protocol, Maine's legislature and government officials attended en masse the solemn transfer of GP's remains from the Monarch to Portland City Hall, somberly decorated, where GP's remains lay in state until Feb. 1, 1870, when the coffin was moved by funeral train to Peabody, Mass. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 27-Remains Lay in State, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1-8, 1870). GP's remains lay in state for a week at the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 28-Funeral Service & Eulogy, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Final funeral service at South Congregational Church with the eulogy by philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop was attended by 1-Prince Arthur (William Patrick Albert, Queen Victoria's son) and his retinue, 2-the British Minister to the U.S., 3-New England dignitaries, 4-past and current Mass. governors, 5-mayors of nearby towns, 6-Harvard Univ. Pres. Charles W. Eliot (1834-1926), and others. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 29-Final Burial, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Some 200 sleigh coaches that cold stormy day accompanied GP's remains for final burial at the Peabody family plot, Anemone Ave., lot 51, Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., ending an unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 30-GP Statue, Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives (unsuccessful, 1885-96). An unsuccessful attempt was made to place a GP statue in Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives, where each state has statues of two great citizens. The proposal was first made in a conference of Va. Superintendents of Education, recorded in Va. Superintendent of Public Instruction 1885 annual report. Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry's (1825-1903) stirring endorsement to Va.'s General Assembly in 1895 led Va. state Sen. William Lovenstein (1840-96) to propose and the Va. Senate to ask the Va. governor to write other southern governors about securing funds for a GP statue. The S.C. and Tenn. legislatures and governor did the same in 1896, but all efforts failed. See: Statuary Hall, U.S. House of Representatives. Persons named. Manarin, pp. 225-226. "To Honor Peabody," Richmond Dispatch (Va.), Feb. 2, 1896, p. 12, c. 1
Honors, GP's. 31-Copy of GP's London Seated Statue Erected, PIB (April 7, 1890). A copy of GP's seated statue in London by U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story, unveiled July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, was placed in front of the PIB, paid for by Robert Garrett (1847-96). See: Statues of GP. Garrett, Robert.
Honors, GP's. 32-GP Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1895). A GP Centennial Celebration was held Monday, Feb. 18, 1895, Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., with speeches by Francis Henry Appleton (1847-1939, Mass. House of Rep. member), Mass. Lt. Gov. Roger Wolcott (1847-1901), and Harvard Prof. Francis Greenwood Peabody (1847-1936), whose speech someone else read (he was ill). Also read aloud was a cablegram from Queen Victoria, then age 76; and a message by Johns Hopkins Univ. Pres. Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908). See: GP Centennial Celebration (Feb. 18, 1895).
Honors, GP's. 33-GP Elected to NYU Hall of Fame (1900). GP was chosen one of 29 most famous Americans from over 1,000 names submitted by the public for inclusion in the University Heights campus Colonnade overlooking the Hudson River. See: Hall of Fame of NYU.
Honors, GP's. 34-"Apotheosis of America" (1904-08). Italian-born U.S. naturalized artist Louis Amateis designed two bronze doors for the west entrance, U.S. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., whose transom panel tableau titled "Apotheosis of America" featured images of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, GP, Johns Hopkins, and Horace Mann, symbolizing U.S. intellectual development. See: Amateis, Louis.
Honors, GP's. 35-GP Bust Unveiled in NYU Hall of Fame (May 12, 1926). Sculptor Hans Schuler's (1874-1952) bust of GP was unveiled May 12, 1926, at NYU's Hall of Fame, to which GP was elected in 1900. The unveiling address was by GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne (1874-1937). See: Hall of Fame of NYU.
Honors, GP's. 36-GP U.S. Postage Stamp (1941). Tennesseans in 1941 proposed, unsuccessfully, a commemorative GP U.S. postage stamp. See: U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.
Honors, GP's. 37-GP U.S. Postage Stamp (1993). Mass. citizens in 1993 proposed, unsuccessfully, a commemorative George Peabody U.S. postage stamp for the bicentennial of his birth (Feb. 12, 1795-1995). See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 38-GP Bicentennial (1995). For the 200th anniversary of his birth a traveling GP Bicentennial Exhibition of photos, letters, and artifacts was shown in London, Baltimore, Peabody, and Danvers, Mass. See: George Peabody Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Honors, GP's. 39-GP Bicentennial (1995). Yale Univ.'s Peabody Museum of Natural History displayed GP's correspondence with nephews whose education he paid for and careers he made possible, including Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99). See: Ibid. Marsh, Othniel Charles.
Honors, GP's. 40-GP Bicentennial (1995). In Nashville, Tenn. (March 25, 1995), PCofVU students, faculty, friends held a "Day of Service" cleaning, painting, refurbishing the Edgehill community near the Peabody College part of the Vanderbilt Univ. campus. See: George Peabody Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Honors, GP's. 41-GP Bicentennial (1995). London's Westminster Abbey held a special "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869" (Nov. 16, 1995), with distinguished guests and Peabody Homes of London residents as participants. GP's Abbey marker, where his remains rested 30 days, was refurbished for the GP Bicentennial Celebrations. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 42-GP Bicentennial (1995). The Peabody Historical Society, Peabody, Mass., held a bicentennial reception and dinner with speaker (Sept. 30, 1995). See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 43-GP Bicentennial (1995). At the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass, lectures were held on GP's life and influence during March-May 1995. See: Ibid.
Honors, GP's. 44-U.S. Postage Cancellation Postmark (1999).. Although attempts to secure a GP U.S. postage stamp were unsuccessful in Md. In 1941 and in Mass. In 1993 for the 1995 bicentennial, a GP U.S. postage pictorial cancellation stamp was achieved in 1999 by U.S. Army retired Chief Warrant Officer Edward F. Nevins, a Peabody, Mass. Native. and a GP booster, The cancellation mark consisted of GP's name spelled out and his motto "Education-a Debt Due from Present to Future Generations," in capital letters, circling an outline of GP's face in old age, together with his birth and death years. GP cancellation marked envelopes seen by the authors included one dated November 4, 1999, Lexington, Ky. 40506, and one dated Jan. 4, 2000, North Plainfield, N.J., 07060 (CWO E.F. Nevins's city of residence). See:: Nevins, Edward F. U.S. Postage Stamp Honoring GP.
Hooker, James Clinton, was a former U.S. Legation in Rome Secty. who, on Feb. 24 or 25, 1868, introduced GP and his philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94, J.C. Hooker was married to R.C. Winthrop's niece) to Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, 1792-1878, Pope during 1846-78). See: Pope Pius IX. White, Andrew Dickson. Winthrop, Robert Charles.
Hope, Sir James (1808-81), was the Commander in Chief at Portsmouth harbor, England, during the Dec. 11, 1869, ceremonies placing GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch. Ref.: "Sir James Hope (1808-81)," Vol. IX, pp. 1212-1214. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin.
GP's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns (1795-1873). 1-Career. Johns Hopkins was the wealthy Baltimore Quaker merchant influenced in part by GP to endow the Johns Hopkins Univ., Johns Hopkins Medical School, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, 1876. Of English lineage and originally Anglican, his forebear Gerald Hopkins, influenced by George Fox (1624-91), became a Quaker and married a planter's daughter named Margaret Johns. Johns was thus the given first name of both Gerald Hopkins' son and later of his great grandson. Ref.: Mitchell, IX, pp. 213-214.
Hopkins, Johns. 2-Career Cont'd. Johns Hopkins was born in 1795 (as was GP) on a tobacco estate using slave labor between Baltimore and Annapolis. In 1807 the local Quakers, convinced that slavery was wrong, freed their slaves. Johns Hopkins, age 12, was taken from the South River School to work on the farm. At age 17 (about the time GP went with his paternal uncle John Peabody to open a store in Georgetown, D.C.), Johns Hopkins' uncle took him to Baltimore to work in his wholesale grocery firm. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 3-Career Cont'd. Young Johns Hopkins was given full responsibility while his uncle attended a yearly Quaker meeting in Ohio, an absence occasioned by difficulties in the War of 1812. Backed financially by this uncle, Johns Hopkins went into business as a wholesale grocer and brought three younger brothers as salesmen into the Hopkins Brothers firm which managed large Baltimore warehouses. Ref.: Ibid.
Motley, J.L. 26-Moran Heard from Motley on Portsmouth Transfer. (Moran): "Mr. Motley got back about 7:30 from Portsmouth.... As usual, Johnny Bull blundered in the arrangements.... Nobody knew what to do. Captain [John E.] Commerell [1829-1901, of Monarch] seemed frightened and nervous. The remains were put on board pretty much as you would embark a bale of goods, only there was no invoice.... When ready to leave for their return every official had disappeared.... The consequence was that Minister, executors, and friends got refreshments at the railway station--the viands consisting of 'cakes and ale.'" Ref.: Ibid. ULTIMATELY DISCARD THIS STYLE MODEL.
Hopkins, Johns. 4-Career Cont'd. Johns Hopkins' wealth increased when he invested in and became a B&O RR director (1847) and finance committee chairman (1855). Although in love with a cousin, he bowed to his uncle's prohibition of marriage to a first cousin, remained a bachelor, but gave her a home of her own. Ref.: Ibid.
B&O RR Pres. John Work Garrett's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 5-GP's Influence on Hopkins (J.W. Garrett). B&O RR Pres. John Work Garrett's (1820-84) account, the prime source for GP's influence on Johns Hopkins' philanthropy, is in his published speech to the Young Men's Christian Association, Baltimore, on its thirtieth anniversary, Jan. 30, 1883. A supporter of the YMCA, Garrett told how he obtained a gift of $10,000 for the YMCA from Johns Hopkins. He then reminisced about Johns Hopkins' life and told of the meeting he had arranged between GP and Hopkins. Garrett's account follows.
Hopkins, Johns. 6-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "Mr. Hopkins had on many occasions introduced the subject of the disposition of his estate, and conferred with me as to the best course to [take].... His plans...continued indefinite until during a visit of Geo. Peabody to Baltimore. When a guest at my house I stated to him [GP] Mr. Hopkins' uncertainties and difficulties, and asked if I should invited Mr. Hopkins to dine with him, so that he might give his experience and views.... Mr. Peabody replied that he never gave advice but would, if Mr. Hopkins wished, gladly confer with him." Ref.: Garrett, J.W., pp. 9-10 (copies in the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library and the Garrett Papers, Library of Congress Ms.); also quoted in Baltimore Sun, Jan. 31, 1883, p. 1, c. 4; and mentioned in "Johns Hopkins, Bachelor Father to a Great University," Baltimore Sun, Dec. 23, 1973.
Hopkins, Johns. 7-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "I called upon Mr. Hopkins and invited him to dine that evening, narrating the conversation between Mr. Peabody and myself. He accepted the invitation cordially. When my family left the table about 8 o'clock, I introduced the subject, and the conference continued until an hour past midnight." Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 8-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett's Account): "The conversation was remarkable. Mr. Peabody, after observing that he would only give his own experience, without deigning any advice, began by saying (Garrett quoted GP as saying): 'Mr. Hopkins, we both commenced our commercial life in Baltimore, and we knew each other well. I,' said Mr. Peabody, 'left Baltimore for London, and from the commencement of my busy life, I must state that I was extremely fond of money, and very happy in acquiring it. I labored, struggled and economized continuously, and increased my store, and I have been proud of my achievements. Leaving Baltimore, after a successful career in a relatively limited sphere, I began in London, the seat of the greatest intellectual forces connected with commerce, and there I succeeded wonderfully, and, in competition with houses that had been wealthy, prosperous and famous for generations, I carved my way to opulence.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 9-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP): "'It is due to you, Mr. Hopkins, to say, remembering you so well, that you are the only man I have met in all my experience more thoroughly anxious to make money and more determined to succeed than myself; and you have enjoyed the pleasure of success, too.... I had the satisfaction, as you have had, of feeling that success is the test of merit, and I was happy in the view that I was, in this sense at least, very meritorious. You also have enjoyed a great share of success and of commercial power and honor.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 10-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP) '"But, Mr. Hopkins, though my progress was for a long period satisfactory and gratifying, yet, when age came upon me, and when aches and pains made me realize that I was not immortal, I felt, after taking care of my relatives, great anxiety to place the millions I had accumulated, so as to accomplish the greatest good for humanity. I looked about me and formed the conclusion that there were men who were just as anxious to work with integrity and faithfulness for the comfort, consolation and advancement of the suffering and the struggling poor as I had been to gather fortune.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 11-GP's Influence on Hopkins (Garrett still quoting GP): "'After careful consideration, I called a number of my friends in whom I had confidence, to meet me, and I proposed that they should act as my trustees, and I organized my first scheme of benevolence. The trust was accepted, and I then, for the first time, felt there was a higher pleasure and a greater happiness than accumulating money, and that was derived from giving it for good and humane purposes; and so, sir, I have gone on, and from that day realized with increasing enjoyment the pleasure of arranging for the greatest practicable good for those who would need my means to aid their well-being, progress and happiness.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Evangelist D.L. Moody's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 12-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.L. Moody). When U.S. evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-99) attended the 25th anniversary of the founding of Johns Hopkins Univ. (founded 1876; 25th anniversary in 1901), he told of hearing of the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation from John Work Garrett's son. Moody's account: "I was a guest of John Garrett once and he told me that his father used to entertain Peabody and Johns Hopkins. Peabody went to England, and Hopkins stayed in Baltimore. They both became immensely wealthy. Garrett tried to get Hopkins to make a will, but he wouldn't. Finally, Garrett invited them both to dinner, and afterward asked Peabody which he enjoyed most, the making of money or giving it away." Ref.: (Dwight L. Moody): Curry-b, pp. 17-18. Also quoted in Dabney, I, p. 103. Baltimore Sun, May 24, 1935. MacCracken, p. 180. Williams, H.A.
Hopkins, Johns. 13-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.L. Moody Cont'd.): "Hopkins cocked up his ears, and then Peabody told him that he had a struggle at first, and it lasted until he went into his remodeled London houses and saw the little children so happy. 'Then,' said Peabody, 'I began to find out it was pleasanter to give money away than it was to make it.' Forty-eight hours later Hopkins was making out his will, founding the university and the hospital." Ref.: Ibid.
Johns Hopkins Univ. Pres. D.C. Gilman's Account
Hopkins, Johns. 14-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.C. Gilman). Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), Johns Hopkins Univ.'s first president during 1876-1901, is another source for the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation. Gilman wrote: "When George Peabody, near the end of his life, came to Baltimore, the place of his former residence, he was invited to dine by Mr. John W. Garrett, and Mr. Hopkins was invited to meet him. It is my impression that they were alone at the table. The substance of Mr. Peabody's remarks has thus been given by the host [D.C. Gilman's account then closely follows John Work Garrett's earlier and original document]." Ref.: (D.C. Gilman): Gilman-b, pp. 10-12.
Hopkins, Johns. 15-GP's Influence on Hopkins (D.C. Gilman Cont'd.). After relating this GP-Johns Hopkins conversation, much as John Work Garrett originally recorded it, D.C. Gilman added: "The story is current that a sagacious friend said to [Johns Hopkins], 'There are two things which are sure to live--a university, for there will always be the youth to train; and a hospital, for there will always be the suffering to relieve.'" Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Date of GP-Johns Hopkins Meeting?
Hopkins, Johns. 16-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? No date of the GP-Johns Hopkins conversation is given by Garrett or Moody or Gilman. During GP's second U.S. visit since settling in London in Feb. 1837 (May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867), he was in Baltimore four times. 1-He first arrived in Baltimore Oct. 24, 1866, spoke at the dedication of the PIB on Oct. 25, greeted 20,000 Baltimore school children who marched by the PIB on Oct. 26, shook hands with some 3,000 Baltimoreans on Oct. 27, attended Baltimore's First Presbyterian Church on Sunday, Oct. 28, wrote letters from Garrett's home on Oct. 30, and left Baltimore on Oct. 31 to visit relatives in Zanesville, Ohio. See: Visits to the U.S., GP's.
Hopkins, Johns. 17-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? Cont'd. 2-GP's second Baltimore visit, on returning from Zanesville, was Nov. 12 and 13, 1866, a relatively quieter period when he stayed at Garrett's home. Also, Garrett's statement that Hopkins "informed me on the following day that he had determined to commence making his will" and the introduction into the Md. Assembly of bills to incorporate the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Johns Hopkins Univ. in Jan. 1867, lend some weight but not certitude to Nov. 12 or 13 as the date of meeting. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 18-Date of GP-Hopkins Meeting? Cont'd. 3-GP was in Baltimore for the third time on Feb. 3, 1867, where philanthropic adviser Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) joined him, both leaving for Washington, D.C., to found the PEF and confer with its trustees, Feb. 4-7, 1867, a busy time. 4-GP's fourth stay at Garrett's home near Baltimore was on April 24-26, saying good-bye to many friends before his May 1, 1867, NYC departure for England. Ref.: Ibid.
Dr. Joseph Parrish's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns. 19-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins. A Dr. Joseph Parrish (1818-91), President of the Medical Society of N.J. in 1885, is mentioned by author Alan M. Chesney as influencing Johns Hopkins. Chesney cited Parrish's obituary, whose author wrote: "On his way to Washington, on a public errand, Dr. Parrish was met one morning at Baltimore, by Mr. Garrett (then president of the B. & O. R.R.) with whom he was well acquainted. Mr. Garrett accosting him with earnestness exclaimed in haste--'you must not leave town today. I have promised to drive you out and introduce you to Mr. Johns Hopkins as soon as possible. At 4 p.m. my carriage will come for you.'" Ref.: Chesney, I, p. 6.
Hopkins, Johns. 20-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd.: "Assuming that Mr. Hopkins' motive for meeting him (with which Mr. Garrett was utterly unacquainted) would justify the concession, Doctor Parrish remained and was introduced as proposed. He was received privately in Mr. Hopkins' library, who said--'I am not going to live much longer. I have millions of money, which I desire to devote to the welfare of mankind, but am totally at a loss to formulate any rational plan for so doing. I want you to advise me and tell me what to do with it.' It was in vain for the Doctor to modestly protest his unfitness for such a purpose. Mr. Hopkins replied: 'You can and must do it for me. I am helpless. Take the subject home with you, cogitate upon it, and let me hear from you soon.'" Ref.: (Dr. Joseph Parrish's obituary): English, pp. 243-254.
Hopkins, Johns. 21-J. Parrish's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd.: "To the unaffected earnestness of Mr. Hopkins Dr. Parrish felt obliged to succumb. He promised to comply; and in a short time delivered to him in writing what proved to be the embryonic creation of the Johns Hopkins University." In his history of The Johns Hopkins Univ. author John C. French dated the above Parrish-Hopkins meeting in 1873, the year Johns Hopkins died. Ref.: Ibid.
Dr. Patrick Macaulay's Influence on Johns Hopkins
Hopkins, Johns. 22-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins. Author John C. French described another possible influence on Johns Hopkins, a Patrick Macaulay, M.D., a graduate of the Univ. of Penn., an eminent Baltimore physician, active in civic affairs, and a stockholder and fellow director, with Johns Hopkins, of the B&O RR. Macaulay and Hopkins also had nearby summer homes. A library of books came into Johns Hopkins' possession, many of them medical books, and some of these with Dr. Patrick Macaulay's nameplate. In 1824, Dr. Macaulay published a pamphlet, Medical Improvement, describing his plan for medical education which was far ahead of its time. Dr. Macaulay urged that a hospital be part of a medical school because bedside teaching was "indispensable to the attainment of a proper medical education." Ref.: French-b, pp. 562-566.
Hopkins, Johns. 23-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd. In March 1873 Johns Hopkins instructed the trustees of the Johns Hopkins Univ.: "In all your arrangements in relation to this hospital you will bear constantly in mind that it is my wish and purpose that the institution should ultimately form a part of the medical school of that university for which I have made ample provision by my will." Author French concluded that Dr. Macaulay's clinical teaching idea (medical student treating a patient under a supervising physician) "...may have influenced the thoughts of Mr. Johns Hopkins when laying his plans for his great endowment." Ref.: French-a, pp. 10-12.
Hopkins, Johns. 24-P. Macaulay's Influences on Johns Hopkins Cont'd. In sum, GP, documented as one of several persons who influenced Johns Hopkins, stands honorably in the shadow of the Johns Hopkins Univ., the first U.S. graduate university, and its hospital and medical school. Ref.: (GP and other influences on Johns Hopkins): Andrews, p. 595. Jacob, pp. 13-17. Johns Hopkins Hullabaloo, pp. 9-11. Ryan, p. 16. Scharf-a, p. 231.
PIB-Johns Hopkins Univ. Merger
Hopkins, Johns. 25-PIB Library, Part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. PIB Library financial difficulties led to a suggestion in May 1966 that the Enoch Pratt Free Library administer the PIB Library. Mass.-born Enoch Pratt (1808-96) moved to Baltimore (1831), where he became wealthy as a wholesale iron merchant and in other enterprises. He was a PIB trustee and treasurer, intimately involved in day-by-day library affairs. Knowing that the PIB's specialized reference collection was primarily for researchers, he saw the need for a Baltimore tax-supported public library available to all. See: PIB Conservatory of Music. PIB Reference Library. Pratt, Enoch.
Hopkins, Johns. 26-PIB Library, Part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Cont'd. Encouraged and aided by PIB Provost Nathaniel Holmes Morison (1815-90), Pratt gave $1,145,000 to found the Enoch Pratt Free Library (1882). For sixteen years (July 2, 1966, to July 1, 1982), the PIB Library was part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, supported by the City of Baltimore. In the summer of 1982 the trustees of the Enoch Pratt, the PIB Library, and the Johns Hopkins Univ. agreed to transfer administration of the PIB Library to the Johns Hopkins Univ. library system. Ref.: Ibid.
Hopkins, Johns. 27-PIB Library, Part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. From July 1, 1982, Enoch Pratt Librarian Evelyn née Linthicum Hart (1923-85) skillfully supervised the merger of the PIB Library's 250,000 volumes and seven staff members into the Peabody Dept. of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Earlier, in similar financial difficulty, the PIB Conservatory of Music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ. in the summer of 1977. Thus, in an interesting turnabout, GP's PIB, having inspired the founder of the Johns Hopkins Univ. in 1867, was in turn a century later financially salvaged by affiliation with Johns Hopkins Univ. The PIB reference library, Conservatory of Music, art collection, and lectures, as constituent units of Johns Hopkins Univ., still serve Baltimore, the U.S., and the world. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (Mrs. Alexander Lardner, 1819-1905). 1-Broken Engagement. There are few documents on the broken engagement between GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. No letters between them have been found. Business friends William B. Bend, NYC, and William Brown (1784-1864) of Liverpool (then visiting NYC) congratulated GP on his engagement. A business friend's wife, Mrs. W. Hyde of NYC, wrote to GP to express sorrow at the broken engagement. The obituaries of Esther Elizabeth Hoppin and Alexander Lardner (1808-48), the man she married, tell little more than basic facts about their lives.
Hoppin, Esther E. 2-Broken Engagement Cont'd. What is known is that GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin became engaged in London in late 1838 and that the engagement was broken about Jan. 1839. Esther Elizabeth Hoppin was born June 4, 1819, into a Providence, R.I., family prominent since the American Revolution. Members of the Hoppin family were eminent in business and political affairs. The family had a strain of artistic and literary talent. Esther Elizabeth is believed to have been a pupil of John Kingsbury (1801-74), who conducted the first high school in R.I. for young women. Ref.: (Hoppin family): Coles (comp.), p. 7.
Hoppin, Esther E. 3-Broken Engagement Cont'd. A few years before her trip to London, probably in 1835, Esther Hoppin visited Philadelphia and met Alexander Lardner. She at 16 and he at 27 formed a friendship and an infatuation. But Esther was still in school. He had yet to establish himself in a career. They parted, perhaps with the hope but no definite promise of future marriage. She returned to Providence, finished school, and shortly after went to England for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838).
Hoppin, Esther E. 4-Broken Engagement Cont'd. Esther was said to have been the most beautiful girl in Providence. Her portrait by famed English-born U.S. artist Thomas Sully (1783-1872), painted just after her marriage in 1840 and now in NYC's Frick Art Reference Library, shows her in all her glory: classic features framed by lovely auburn hair, a face at once charming and enigmatic.
Hoppin, Esther E. 5-Broken Engagement Cont'd. Where and how she and GP met in London is not known. GP, the proverbial bachelor, fell in love with Esther Hoppin. He was 42 and established. She was unusually mature at 19. A difference of 24 years would ordinarily have loomed large. But he was in the prime of life, a successful merchant turned banker, ambitious, with fine prospects for the future. It was not uncommon for men with money to marry much younger women. Friends considered them a good match and encouraged the romance. Ref.: (Thomas Sully's portrait of Esther Elizabeth [Hoppin] Lardner): Biddle and Field, p. 205. Sully, p. 68.
Wm. B. Bend on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 6-Wm. B. Bend on the Engagement. News of the engagement and forthcoming marriage spread fast and far among GP's friends and business associates in London, NYC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Many a joke must have been made at GP's expense. Longtime intimate friend and fellow merchant William B. Bend wrote teasingly from NYC, Oct. 4, 1838, to GP in London: "I am very busy or I would write a gossipy letter to you. There is a report in circulation here that you are going to be married. Is the story true, and if it is, who is to be the happy fair? Mr. Stell [merchant friend] I understand professes to know all about the affair. I hope it is really to take place. You will be too old if you put it off much longer." Ref.: William B. Bend, NYC, to GP, Oct. 4, 1838, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Wm. Brown on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 7-Wm. Brown on the Engagement. Another longtime business friend William Brown of Liverpool, England, in NYC on business, learned that GP was engaged to be married. He added a word of congratulations in his Jan. 2, 1839, business letter to GP. William Brown, the son of Alexander Brown of Alexander Brown & Sons of Baltimore, was a philanthropic benefactor to his native city of Liverpool, England, and was honored by a knighthood. Ref.: William Brown, NYC, to GP, Jan. 2, 1839, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Boase-a, Vol. 3, p. 37.
Search for GP’s Family History
Hoppin, Esther E. 8-Search for Family History. The prospect of marriage made GP want to know more about his family background. He asked younger cousin Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814) to learn what he could of their forebears through Joseph Peabody (1757-1844) of Salem, Mass. Cousin Adolphus was the son of GP's paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827) with whom GP at age 17 had left Newburyport, Mass., May 4, 1812, on the brig Fame, and opened a store in Georgetown, D.C., May 15, 1812. After Adolphus' father's death, GP paid for his cousin's education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., during 1827-29. Adolphus also worked for Peabody, Riggs & Co., in NYC from the summer of 1837. Joseph Peabody, family patriarch in Salem, had owned 83 clipper ships engaged in Far Eastern trade. See: Peabody, Adolphus W.
Hoppin, Esther E. 9-Queen Boadicia Origin of Peabody. The family history notes Joseph Peabody had from London's Heraldry Office indicated that their family name originated in 61 A.D. from Queen Boadicia, whose husband reigned in Icena, Britain, and was vassal to Roman Emperor Nero. When Queen Boadicia's husband died and left half his wealth to Nero, Nero seized all of it. When Queen Boadicia objected, Nero had her whipped. Queen Boadicia and a kinsman named Boadie led an unsuccessful revolt against Rome, she ending her life with poison, while Boadie fled to Wales.
Hoppin, Esther E. 10-Queen Boadicia Origin of Peabody Cont'd. Boadie in the Cambrian tongue meant "man" or "great man," while Pea meant 'hill" or 'mountain." By this account Peabodie meant "mountain man" or "great man of the mountain." The coat of arms for the Peabodys, Adolphus related, was given by King Arthur shortly after the battle on the River Douglas. Ref.: Adolphus W. Peabody, Baltimore, to GP, London, Jan. 14, 1838 [note: possibly 1839], Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Pope, ed., p. viii (Note: rejecting the Queen Boadicia origin of "Peabody," Pope's 1909 genealogical study held that when English surnames were crystallized in the 14th century, "Paybody" referred to trustworthy men who paid servants, creditors, and employees of barons, manufacturers, or public officials; i.e., they were selected by character and ability as paymasters or paying-tellers).
Peabody Coat of Arm
Hoppin, Esther E. 11-Peabody Coat of Arms. Relating all this to GP by letter on Jan. 14, 1838, Adolphus William Peabody added: "So with all these numbers and folios. If you are curious thereabout the next time you go over, you can see if it be a recorded derivation of our patronymic or not.... You have the garb, crest, and scroll etc. (enclosed). [Joseph] says, I have heard my mother say a great many things in this way. She mostly had her information from our paternal grandmother. Sophronia [Adolphus' sister] can tell you as much as you can well listen of a long day." Pope stated that the Latin motto of the Peabody coat of arms, Murus aereus conscientia sana, meant literally "A sound conscience is a wall of bronze." Since the Romans thought of bronze as a hard metal, a better translation is, "A sound conscience is a solid wall of defense." Ref.: Ibid. Ref.: (Peabody coat of arms and Latin inscription): London-a, College of Heralds, quoted in Endicott, pp. 1-3. Wilson, P.W., pp. 7-8, 93-94.
Hoppin, Esther E. 12-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Role. The engagement was broken sometime before Jan. 11, 1839. What happened must be surmised from three letters which touch on its termination. The first is from Mrs. W. Hyde, NYC, believed to be the wife of one of GP's business associates and evidently Elizabeth Hoppin's confidante and chosen intermediary.
Mrs. Hyde's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 13-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Letter. Mrs. W. Hyde wrote to GP on Jan. 11 (no year given but 1839 by context): "Dear Sir: Miss Hoppin feels your kindness in wishing her to retain the muff and fur, at the same time propriety will not allow her to accept of your kind proposal. Custom has made it imperative that after an engagement is broken that all presents will be returned even to the value of a pin." Ref.: Mrs. W. Hyde, NYC, to GP, London, Jan. 11 (probably 1839), Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 14-Broken Engagement, Mrs. Hyde's Letter Cont'd.: "No one can regret more than myself the circumstances which makes the muff & fur mine. I shall keep them and value them highly for the giver's sake and accept my best thanks not only for this munificent present but for others and the parcel of silk today. You are too kind to me. I shall make a beautiful chain of the satin and give it [in] your name as a memento to my grandchildren. I hope on my return you will visit us whenever you feel inclined for a quiet cry. We shall always be happy to see you. You must take a bachelor's dinner with Mr. Hyde even in my absence. Yours very Sincerely, Mrs. W. Hyde." Ref.: Ibid.
Wm. B. Bend's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 15-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter. William B. Bend, NYC, who had written GP a teasing letter Oct. 4, 1838, about the engagement, congratulated GP again, Feb. 10, 1839, on his forthcoming marriage. Eight days later he received GP's Jan. 26, 1839, letter telling of the broken engagement. Keenly touched, Bend apologized for his recent teasing letters, stating that he had not known of the disappointment. He wrote sympathetically to GP, Feb. 18, 1839:
Hoppin, Esther E. 16-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter Cont'd.: "My dear Peabody, I have this morning received your favour of the 26th ulto and with my wife, grieve sincerely and deeply over its melancholy intelligence. Having myself experienced a misfortune, somewhat similar to that which has fallen you, and remember most distinctly now, though twenty years have since elapsed, the agony which I endured, I feel the more called on and the more adequate to sympathize with you, than I otherwise should do. Then in the true spirit of friendship do I offer to you my heartfelt condolence." Ref.: William B. Bend, NYC, to GP, London, Feb. 10 and 18, 1839, both in Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 17-Broken Engagement, Bend's Letter Cont'd.: "I share in the anguish of your feelings, at the blighting of hopes so fondly cherished, at the crushing of expectations, so warmly, so sanguinely indulged in.... The pangs of despised love, though poignant must be resisted. The balmy effects of time, and the natural elasticity and recuperative energy of the human character, will afford you great relief, and I hope to see you here in the Summer quite yourself again." Ref.: Ibid.
T. Macaulay's Letter on GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 18-Broken Engagement, Macaulay's Letter. The third and last known letter on the broken engagement, from NYC business friend T. Macaulay, March 7, 1839, was less sympathetic, praised GP for acting correctly in the affair, and intimated that some indiscretion came from Esther Hoppin. Macaulay wrote: "While upon the subject of family affairs I have learned of matters connected with yourself, and as I should sincerely rejoice in any thing which would contribute to your happiness, did not fail to make myself acquainted with what had transpired since I left England--and I am fully convinced that you have acted as became your character for honorable and manly feeling in so delicate an affair--for although we may err in judgment we must never sacrifice these sentiments of delicacy and propriety upon which our happiness in such matters must rest. I should have expected it from you and I feel gratified that you have acted accordingly." Ref.: T. Macaulay, NYC, to GP, London, March 7, 1839, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 19-Married Alexander Lardner. After the engagement to GP Esther Elizabeth Hoppin returned to the U.S. In Providence, R.I., she again met Alexander Lardner. The budding romance of three years past returned. She realized her engagement to GP was a mistake. Whether she asked GP by letter or through an intermediary to release her from the engagement is not known. She returned his gifts, perhaps through Mrs. W. Hyde of NYC as intermediary. She married Alexander Lardner Oct. 2, 1840, in Providence, R.I. They moved to Philadelphia, where Lardner was a cashier in the Bank of the U.S. They had two children. Alexander Lardner died in 1848, age 40. Ref.: (Alexander Lardner's obituaries in Philadelphia newspapers): Dollar Newspaper, Jan. 19, 1848, p. 3, c. 7. Public Ledger, Jan. 15, 1848, p. 2, c. 4. North American and United States Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7. Pennsylvania Inquirer and National Gazette, Jan. 20, 1848, p. 2, c. 7.
Hoppin, Esther E. 20-Cryder Wrote of Lardner's Death. GP's close NYC business friend John Cryder, knowing of the broken engagement, learning of Lardner's death, and knowing GP would be keenly interested, wrote to GP, Jan. 27, 1848: "Poor Lardner died in Phila. a few days since leaving his young & interesting widow with two children & about $20,000. He was an excellent man & his death is much lamented." Ref.: John Cryder to GP, Jan. 27, 1848, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Hoppin, Esther E. 21-Broken Engagement Mentioned Amid GP's Funeral Publicity. Esther Elizabeth (Hoppin) Lardner died in 1905, outliving GP by 35 years and her husband by 57 years. In the vast publicity at GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London and his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral, bare facts of GP's broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth." The Gen. Cass referred to was Lewis Cass (1782-1866), who was U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42. Ref.: (Esther Elizabeth [Hoppin] Lardner's obituary): Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 13, 1905, p. 7, c. 2. Ref.: (Engagement accounts after GP's death): Providence Journal (R.I.), Dec. 22, 1869, p. 2, c. 3. Newark Daily Advertiser (N.J.), Jan. 27, 1870, p. 2, c. 2 and 5. New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, Dec. 28, 1869. Hanaford, pp. 53-54.
Mr. Humphreys' Daughter's Account of GP’s Broken Engagement
Hoppin, Esther E. 22-J.L.M. Curry's Account. In his GP biography and PEF history, J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903), second PEF administrator (during 1881-85, 1888-1903) printed a letter he received (no date given) from the daughter of a Mr. Humphreys. She wrote that when GP arrived during a U.S. visit (no date given but possibly May 1, 1866, in NYC), her father, a commercial friend of GP of long standing, went to see GP and congratulated him on his amazing philanthropy. GP, then an old man, said quietly, "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Hoppin, Esther E. 23-Curry Quoting Mr. Humphreys' Daughter Cont'd. : "These expressions made to my father, and as far as I am aware, to him alone, referred to an incident which had, in its day and among the circle of Mr. Peabody's friends, its certain halo of romance. Mr. Peabody's own touching reference to it can, after the lapse of so many years, be recorded without indiscretion, as showing his own reading of an important page in his life's history." For Humphreys' daughter's full account, with sources, See: Humphreys, Mr. (below).
Hoppin, Esther E. 24-Mr. Humphreys' Daughter. GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," may or may not refer to his broken engagement about Jan. 1839 to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. If so, this alleged remark is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Humphreys, Mr. (below). Lardner, Alexander. Sully, Thomas. Other persons named.
Horowitz, Vladimir (1903-89), was a Russian-born pianist who performed at the PIB Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, under its third Director Otto Randolph Ortmann (1889-1979). During Ortmann's tenure as third PIB Conservatory of Music director (1924-41), he also invited to perform and lecture Polish born pianist Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982) and Russian cellist Gregor Piatigiorsky (1903-76). See: Ortmann, Otto Randolph. PIB Conservatory of Music.
Hospital, City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. GP gave $165 to this hospital during 1850-55 and perhaps more but it is not recorded. Ref.: Parker, F. "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," Ed. D., GPCFT, 1956, p. 1085.
Hospital, Mental, London. GP gave $100 to this hospital in 1864 and perhaps more but it is not recorded. Ref.: Ibid.
Hospital, San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy. For details of GP's Feb. 19-28, 1868, visit to Rome, Italy, with Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), their audience with Pope Pius IX, and GP's $19,300 gift to Rome's San Spirito Hospital via Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76), and sources, See: San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy.
House of Rep., U.S. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Housing for London's working poor. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Housing, Ministry of. George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe (1918-), second Earl of Jellicoe, was Joint Parliamentary Secty., Ministry of Housing, British government, when he gave the major address on GP on July 11, 1962, celebrating the centenary of the Peabody Donation Fund (1862-1962). See: Peabody Homes of London.
Author E. P. Hoyt’s Insights on GP
Hoyt, Edwin Palmer. 1-Insights on GP. Author Edwin P. Hoyt wondered why some families achieved great commercial wealth in his books: The House of Morgan (1966), The Guggenheims and the American Dream (1967), and The Vanderbilts and Their Fortunes (1962). His book, The Peabody Influence: How a Great New England Family Helped to Build America (1968), continued his search for "clues to the pattern of monetary success in a capitalistic society" (from his Introduction). Hoyt's six chapters and over 60 pages on GP are not closely footnoted, contain some minor factual errors, are apparently based largely on press clippings on GP's death and funeral, and yet suggest some insights into GP's life, motivations, and place in U.S. history. Some insights follow below, with comments. Ref.: Hoyt, pp. vii-xiii.
Hoyt, E.P. 2-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? In his Introduction to The Peabody InfluenceHoyt asked: "Why would Peabody behave in one way [about riches] and the Morgans in another? And as this problem bedeviled me, I began studying the fortunes of the Morgans and the fortunes of [GP] with a more interested eye." Hoyt continued: "Peabody turned his wealth over to the man he chose [as partner: Junius Spencer Morgan, 1813-90].... What Peabody had built in his British-American banking enterprise was incalculable in terms of money alone. Yet he walked away from it and left the field to Junius S. Morgan." Ref.: Ibid.
Hoyt, E.P. 3-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? Cont'd.: "Furthermore, George Peabody is one of the few millionaires to have left his money to the people of the United States and Britain, in charities, for good works--and one must say ruefully that this is part of the reason he is virtually unknown a hundred years after his death (1869) when he died one of the richest of all Americans. We recognize the name, in Peabody Institutes, Peabody Museums, Peabody Funds; but aside from the few who are benefited by or operate these charities and institutions, Americans know little of the man who founded them, and most Englishmen know very little about his benefactions to their country, although he refused high honors from Queen Victoria herself, and the British gratefully erected a statue of him in that inner sanctum of London known as The City, where Peabody operated for so long as a banker." Ref.: Ibid.
Hoyt, E.P. 4-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? (Comment). Hoyt's thought may have some merit: that GP's fame faded because of his widely distributed charitable institutes in the U.S. and England and because he withdrew his name from George Peabody & Co. on retirement. J.S. Morgan's inherited wealth and partnership in the greatly respected George Peabody & Co. banking firm were phenomenally enlarged by his more famous son, John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913). Also, had GP, like Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), whom he influenced, focused on one philanthropy, his name like that of Johns Hopkins, might have been better known. But GP was born poor, succeeded beyond his early imagining, and without a male heir was not interested in establishing a dynasty.
Hoyt, E.P. 5-Morgans Prospered; GP Forgotten. Why? (Comment) Cont'd. GP did what in his Puritan conscience he early set out to do: repay Providence for good fortune and hard work by establishing institutes in towns and cities where he lived, worked, and prospered. He also early paid for the education of many relatives and at death left them a large family inheritance. Old and ill and having done his commercial and philanthropic best, on retirement he withdrew his name from a firm he could no longer influence. Before Morgan, Guggenheim, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Ford, and others, GP may have done something better than found a banking dynasty. He founded a philanthropic tradition in the U.S. and gave us a motto, the heart beat of his philanthropy: "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
Hoyt, E.P. 6-GP & the Civil War. (Hoyt): "Immediately Peabody aligned himself with the Union--not an easy decision, since he had his loyalties in Baltimore and southern allegiances from the cotton brokerage days, and since the sentiment in England was very strongly pro-Confederate. But...the Union was the United States and the United States would be a union. He bought even more heavily [of]...United States government bonds and northern railroad securities.... He had been away so long--twenty-four years in 1861--that he...played no role in London as agent [for North or South]. He did not help the Confederates...to raise support and money, but neither did he use his important position in a political way on behalf of the Union." [Comment: after GP's death, political leader Thurlow Weed (1797-1882) and Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), both Pres. Lincoln's emissaries to keep England neutral in the Civil War, made public in the press that GP helped them in Nov. 1861 to meet British leaders]. Ref.: Hoyt, p. 132. See: Civil War and GP. Persons named.
Hoyt, E.P. 7-Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. (Hoyt): "Often, too, George Peabody combined his philanthropy in public and private ways: Yale University was to have $100,000 for [the] establishment of a museum to promote the natural sciences--and one of the trustees was O.C. Marsh [1831-99], who would be Yale's premier professor of paleontology, and who was also George Peabody's nephew." [Comment: GP gave $150,000 each to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ., Oct. 8, 1866; and to the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale Univ., Oct. 22, 1866. GP paid for nephew O.C. Marsh's complete education through the doctoral level at German universities and paid for Marsh's science library, and mineral rock collection]. Ref.: Hoyt, p. 134.
Hoyt, E.P. 8-Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Cont'd. Hoyt's implication was correct--that GP's gift to Yale helped to make Marsh the first paleontology professor in the U.S. and the second such professor in the world. In retrospect, Marsh's successful science career more than justified GP's investment in his nephew's education. Charles Darwin (1809-82) himself acknowledged that Marsh's fossil finds provided the best proof of Darwinian evolution. Marsh proved the origin of the horse in North America. His fossil finds are the basis of most of what is known about dinosaurs today. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Hoyt, E.P. 9-Peabody Homes of London, 1862. (Hoyt): "Having decided to donate his money [to London], Peabody sought the best method of doing so. He considered a large gift to Lord Shaftesbury's Ragged School Union--an attempt to bring education to the poor. With great public spirit and presence of mind, Lord Shaftesbury dissuaded Peabody from this course. He described to the American millionaire in grimy and bawdy detail the manner in which London's poor lived. He spoke of the crowding of whole families into single rooms or shacks, the sickness and the wretchedness of people who froze in winter, roasted in summer, who had no medical attention, not enough food, and no privacy. From his own experience, Lord Shaftesbury had come to the conclusion that nothing could be done for the London poor in the way of education until something had been done to relieve the tribulations of their daily lives." Ref.: Hoyt, pp. 134-135.
Hoyt, E.P. 10-Peabody Homes of London, 1862, Cont'd. (Hoyt): "So the trustees of the Peabody fund in London were advised that the donor would like to have them consider using the money to build housing for the poor. The concept was revolutionary. When complete--the work took half a dozen years--the Peabody housing project was one of the new wonders of the civilized world." Ref.: Ibid. See: Peabody Homes of London. Shaftesbury, Lord.
Howe Mather & Co. was a dry goods firm in Hartford, Conn. When Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) became a partner the firm became Mather Morgan & Co. Morgan left in 1851 to become a partner in J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Co. of Boston, and then was GP's partner in George Peabody & Co., London (1854-64), the London firm continuing as J.S. Morgan & Co. and under other names to the present. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Hughes, John Joseph (1797-1864), Roman Catholic Archbishop of NYC, was one of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's emissaries to keep France neutral in the Civil War. Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), another such Lincoln emissary to keep Britain neutral (Nov. 1861-early 1862), was helped by GP in London to meet British officials. See: Weed, Thurlow.
Victor Hugo's GP Eulogy
Hugo, Victor-Marie (1802-85). 1-Eulogy on George Peabody. Victor-Marie Hugo was the famed French writer and novelist (Les Miserables) who wrote the following GP eulogy which read in part: "America has reason to be proud of this great citizen of the world, and great brother of all men,--George Peabody. Peabody [was a man who suffered] in all sufferings, a...man who [felt] the cold, the hunger, and thirst of the poor. Having a place near Rothschild, he found means to change it for one near Vincent de Paul. "May Peabody return to you, blessed by us! Our world envies yours.... The free American flag can never display enough stars above his coffin." Victor Hugo. Ref.: (First Hugo quote): London Times, Dec. 13, 1869, p. 6, c. 1-2. Hanaford, pp. 240-241.
Hugo, Victor-Marie 2-Eulogy on GP Cont'd.: "...Like Jesus Christ, he had a wound in the side, this wound was the misery of others. It was not blood that flowed from this wound: it was gold which now came from a heart.... It was on the face of [such] men that we can see the smile of God." Ref.: (Second Hugo quote): Kenin and Wintle, p. 590. For French political writer Louis Blanc's GP eulogy, See: Blanc, Louis.
Hugo, Victor-Marie 3-Eulogy on GP Cont'd.: Recent GP biographer Robert Van Riper reported that Victor Hugo wrote his GP eulogy from England's Channel Islands where he lived since 1851 in exile to protest the autocracy of French Emperor Napoleon III. Ref.: Van Riper, p. 232-233.
GP's First British Honor
Humphery, Sir John (d. 1863). 1-The Clothworkers' Co., London, July 2, 1862. Sir John Humphery was an alderman of the City of London who, at the Clothworkers' Hall, London, on July 2, 1862, seconded the motion, made by Alderman Sir John Musgrove (1793-1881), "that the Freedom and Livery of the Company be presented to George Peabody, Esq." The motion was carried unanimously. See: The Clothworkers' Co., London.
Humphery, Sir John. 2-First of GP's British Honors. GP, accompanied by longtime business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), was present at the colorful ceremony. The Master of the Company, Josiah Wilson (c.1793-1862), then referred to eminent men on whom the same honor had been earlier bestowed: Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) and Queen Victoria's husband Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61). Ref.: Ibid.
Humphery, Sir John. 3-Other British Honors Followed. This honor followed GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund to build model apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million, 1862-69). Britons had been surprised and grateful for this gift. This, GP's first British honor following that gift, came eight days before GP was made a Freeman of the City of London on July 10, 1862. Other honors followed. See: Honors, GP's, in Life and after Death (in chronological order). Fishmongers' Co. London, Freedom of the City of London.
Humphreys (full name and other facts not known), Mr. 1-Letter from Humphreys' Daughter about Broken Engagement. The undated letter J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903) received from a Mr. Humphreys' daughter about the GP-Esther Elizabeth Hoppin broken engagement, given in part in Esther Elizabeth Hoppin entry (above), follows in full below. Her letter related that when GP arrived on a U.S. visit (believed to be NYC, May 1, 1866), her father congratulated GP on his philanthropy. GP replied that after suffering a disappointment long ago, he made up his mind to do good things for his fellow men through philanthropy. Curry began: "A lady of rare intelligence and refinement, in a recent letter, kindly furnished me some interesting contemporary reminiscences." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe. Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (above).
Humphreys. 2-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter (quoted by Curry): "'Mr. Peabody was a welcome guest at my father's house, near Liverpool. I believe they had business relations in Baltimore before my father's marriage. To me Mr. Peabody was a benevolent fairy in a high black-satin stock. I did not understand why I, a child of eight years, should be endowed with a valuable sable muff, nor why, on a later holiday visit to London, the same little girl was taken to see the notabilities in Hyde Park by Mr. Peabody, in his cabriolet, with tiger in top boots standing behind.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 3-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter Cont'd.: "'His visit to the United States, after the successful inauguration of his London charities (acknowledged by a gift from Queen Victoria of her portrait), was an ovation. My father called to see his old friend immediately on arrival, congratulating him on the carrying out of his benevolent plans and on their gratifying acknowledgment by the British Government. In all the confusion of open trunks in a small room (Mr. Peabody never condescended to a valet, nor allowed himself personal luxuries), the old man replied quietly [she quoted GP as saying], "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that decision to my best ability." Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 4-Humphreys' Daughter's Letter Cont'd.: "'We were all invited to be present at the opening of the case containing her Majesty's likeness, at the house of Mr. Samuel Wetmore [1812-85]. The British Consul was among the favored few, and edified the company by kneeling before the picture, as if in actual presence of his royal mistress. 'The precision of business habits and a long old bachelor hood, combined with constitutional shyness, caused Mr. Peabody, at times, to appear to disadvantage, but geniality prevailed over awkwardness, and years imparted dignity. Later, the old gentleman became autocratic, one might say. He had himself accomplished so much, could already see such magnificent results, derived from his far-sighted philanthropy, that he felt expressed wishes on his part should become instantaneous facts--his small due from those around him. Nevertheless, the ruthless serenity with which their guest countermanded luncheon and advanced the dinner hour to meet business exigencies, carried dismay to the hearts of the most devoted hostesses. I do not suppose Mr. Peabody ever thought of giving trouble, and certainly no one ever thought of remonstrating.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Humphreys. 5-Was it E.E. Hoppin or Another? GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," may have referred to his engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905), broken by her about Jan. 1839. If so, this alleged remark is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid. See: Bell, Richard. Bend, William B. Bend. Carson, Elizabeth. Lardner, Alexander. Rieman, Mrs. Charles. Sully, Thomas. Romance and GP.
Hungarian Revolution. In 1850 GP was asked for funds to help the escape of jailed Hungarian revolutionary leader Lajos Kossuth (1802-94). See: Kossuth, Lajos.
Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825-95), British biologist and supporter of Darwinian evolution theory. For GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh's (1831-99) visit to Huxley, Darwin, and other scientists during his 1863-65 study at German universities and for Huxley's U.S. visit to Marsh at Yale in Aug. 1876, See: Marsh, Othniel Charles.
Hyde, Mrs. W., was believed to be wife of GP's NYC business friend. She was an intermediary in the broken engagement between GP and Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth (above).
I
Illness, GP. See: Sickness, GP.
Illustrations and photos of GP (1795-1869). See: Peabody, George, Illustrations.
Indianapolis, Ind. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, his first return to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837), he visited Indianapolis, Ind., April 7, 1857, and stayed with Ind. Gov. Ashbel P. Willard (1820-60). For details and sources of GP's March-April 1857 travel itinerary, See: Augusta, Ga.
Influence, Philanthropic, of GP. See: Peabody, George, Philanthropic Influence of.
Ingersoll, Ernest (1852-1946), anthropologist who wrote about the importance of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ., founded by GP on Oct. 8, 1866, $150,000 gift. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
GP’s U.S.-British Friendship Dinners
Ingersoll, Joseph Reed (1786-1868). 1-GP's Oct. 12, 1852, Dinner for Minister Ingersoll. Joseph Reed Ingersoll of Penn. was U.S. Minister to Britain from Aug. 21, 1852, to Aug. 23, 1853. GP's Oct. 12, 1852, U.S.-British friendship dinner introduced Minister Ingersoll and his niece Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75) to U.S. residents in London and prominent Britishers. The dinner also honored departing U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855). GP's gifts of apples and tea, use of his opera box, and U.S.-British friendship dinner earned Minister Ingersoll's thanks. He wrote to GP (June 16, 1852): "I do but echo the general sentiment, in expressing to you the feelings of regard and esteem which you have inspired." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Ingersoll, J.R. 2-GP's May 18, 1853, Dinner. GP's May 18, 1853, dinner provided more contact with London society for Minister J.R. Ingersoll and Miss Wilcocks. The dinner, held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames, had 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans). One guest, Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62), later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" in 1853 by GP with Martin Van Buren (1782-62, eighth U.S. Pres., 1837-41) and "many very distinguished persons" present. The dinner and speeches received favorable transatlantic press coverage. Ref.: Ibid.
Ingersoll, J.R. 3-Hint of Romance. Although sometimes ill in the summer of 1853, GP's social entertainment included Miss Wilcocks and another lady, Elise Tiffany, daughter of GP's Baltimore friend Osmond Capron Tiffany (1794-1851). From Paris in June 1853 Elise Tiffany's brother George Tiffany asked GP by letter to help get an apartment for them in London. He added, "I just asked Elise if she had any message for you. She says, 'No, I have nothing to say to him whilst Miss Wilcocks is there.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Ingersoll, J.R. 4-Hint of Romance Cont'd. GP had gone to the opera with Miss Wilcocks and they appeared together at social functions. A London reporter for a NYC newspaper hinted at a possible romance: "Mr. Ingersoll gave his second soiree recently. Miss Wilcocks does the honors with much grace, and is greatly admired here. The world gives out that she and Mr Peabody are to form an alliance, but time will show...." GP, then age 58, had no matrimonial intentions, as he explained in a letter to intimate Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888): "I have now arrived at an age that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." Ref.: Ibid.
Innes, George (1824-94), American artist. See: PIB Gallery of Art.
Inventors and GP. See: Goodrich, Charles. Starr, John W. Field, Cyrus West. Morse, Samuel Finlay Breese.
GP in Ireland
Ireland. 1-First Visit, 1827-28. GP's first mention of visiting rural Ireland was in his April 16, 1828, letter to his youngest sister Sophronia Phelps Peabody (b.1809). He wrote of the poverty he saw in rural Ireland during his first nine-month commercial buying trip to Europe (Nov. 1827 to August 1828). He wrote : "As soon as you leave this city [Dublin] the inhabitants of the smaller towns and villages are in the most deplorable state of Poverty and wretchedness. It was not unusual, on leaving a public house in a country town, to be [surrounded] by 20 or 30 beggars at a time, which always excited in my mind feelings of congratulations, that I lived in a country where such things are unknown, but where industry and economy never fail to procure the comforts of life." See: Dublin, Ireland. Visits to Europe by GP.
Ireland. 2-Fishing for Salmon, 1865. Seeking relief from gout attacks, GP, during June-Aug. 1865, rented a lake on the Standish O'Grady estate, County Limerick, Ireland, where he fished for salmon. The owner at the time is believed to be a descendent, Paget Standish (1835-77), 4th Viscount. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Ireland. 3-Castle Connell near Limerick. In 1867 GP rented the Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, on the Shannon River where he liked to fish. He invited for a visit his British friend MP John Bright (1811-99), born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, the son of a Quaker cotton manufacturer. As MP he represented Durham (from 1843), Manchester (from 1847), and Birmingham (from 1858); was anti-slavery and pro-Union during the U.S. Civil War; and was president of the Board of Trade in PM William E. Gladstone's (1809-98) cabinet (1868). See: Bright, John.
Ireland. 4-Fishing, Castle Connell near Limerick Cont'd. John Bright recorded this visit in his diary on June 4, 1867: "Call from Mr. Peabody, on proposed visit to him at Castle Connell on the Shannon. Agreed to go there on Saturday next, nothing unforeseen preventing. A fine looking man and happy in the review of his great generosity in the bestowal of his great wealth." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 5-Fishing, Castle Connell near Limerick Cont'd. John Bright was again GP's guest for a week at Castle Connell, Limerick, Ireland, in July 1868. Bright described his visit and wrote of GP in his diary: "Went to Ireland on a visit to Mr. P at Castle-Connell on the Shannon. Spent more than a week with him pleasantly. Weather intensely hot; river low; fishing very bad. "Mr. Peabody is a remarkable man. He is 74 years old, large and has been powerful of frame. He has made an enormous fortune, which he is giving for good objects--chiefly for education in America and for useful purposes in London. He has had almost no schooling and has not read books, but has had much experience, and is deeply versed in questions of commerce and banking. He is a man of strong will, and can decide questions for himself. He has been very kind to me, and my visit to him has been very pleasant." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 6-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick. A July 1998 Peabody Trust, London, Grapevine newsletter (circulated among Peabody Trust staff), reported a little known GP gift in Ireland. The Grapevine lead story is headlined "Irish trip reveals Peabody surprise." A photo shows a smiling visitor, Sheila Eburah, standing near a tall thick stone post anchoring a stone-based metal railing in front of the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland. The stone post has carved on it: "THIS RAILING IS THE GIFT OF GEORGE PEABODY ESQ." Ref.: "Irish trip reveals Peabody Surprise," Grapevine (July? 1998), p. 1 (Public Relations Dept., Peabody Trust, London).
Ireland. 7-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd. The article stated: "Sheila Eburah was visiting Castleconnell in Ireland when she was surprised to see the generosity of George Peabody had stretched to the Emerald Isle." "On the pillars to the gateway of the Catholic church where she was attending a wedding, it read 'Donated by George Peabody.' Intrigued, Sheila delved into a local history book and discovered that GP had been staying nearby while on a fishing trip." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 8-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd.: "It [the local history book] said he met Father Hennessy, with whom he was on friendly terms, who asked him what he thought of the new church. 'Yes, a fine building, I must say,' replied Mr Peabody. 'Do you want to give me something towards it?' asked the Father." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 9-Surprise Gift, Catholic Church, Limerick Cont'd. "'It is not consistent with my views to assist a Roman Catholic church in any way: in fact I would give something to keep people out of it.'" "'Well, Mr Peabody, I want to put up a good, strong railing to keep the Protestants out. Will you help me?' asked Father Hennessy.'" "Taken aback, the millionaire was silent for a moment and then replied with a smile, 'You must have it.'" "Sheila said she thought the story showed George Peabody's sense of humour." Ref.: Ibid.
Ireland. 10-Why Unusual? This report of GP's gift to the Catholic Church, Limerick, Ireland, is unusual. His founding letters always contained an injunction that his institute library or museum or other gift would never be used for divisive sectarian or political purposes. There was a critical reaction to this injunction once, in the $70,000 Memorial Church he built (1866-68) in his mother's memory in her birthplace, Georgetown, Mass., at his sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniels' (1799-1879) suggestion. The story in brief follows.
Ireland. 11-Poet Objected to GP's Gift Restriction. GP's sister, who lived in Georgetown, and some 85 parishioners differed over doctrine with their pastor, formed a separate congregation (Jan. 17, 1864) and lacked funds to build another church. At sister Judith's suggestion GP had a site selected, broke ground (June 19, 1866), the cornerstone laid (Sept. 19, 1866), and the Memorial Church dedicated (Jan. 8, 1868). Poet John Greenleaf Whittier's (1807-92) specially written poem was read along with GP's Oct. 18, 1867, letter from London containing his stipulation that the church "exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purposes." See: Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass. Whittier, John Greenleaf.
Ireland. 12-Poet Whittier Objected. Learning of and objecting to GP's restriction, Whittier wrote to the Boston Daily Evening Transcript editor that his "Memorial Hymn" poem was written to praise a son and daughter's tribute to their mother. But he had since learned with surprise and sorrow of GP's restrictions. A NYC Independent article entitled "A Marred Memorial" stated that the poem would never have been written nor the poet's name lent to the occasion had Whittier known of this restriction. GP's well intentioned $70,000 Memorial Church gift to honor his mother was among his lesser known and less appreciated gifts. Ref.: Ibid.
Irving, Washington (1783-1859), was the author of "Rip Van Winkle" and "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." He was one of the hundred or so prominent New Yorkers to offer GP a public dinner on arrival (Sept. 15, 1856), his first return in nearly 20 years (since 1837). GP courteously declined, explaining that he had promised to be thus greeted first at Danvers, his hometown (renamed Peabody, Mass, April 13, 1868). See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Irwin, George Carter, was a Baltimore stockbroker who in 1911 gave his art collection to the PIB Gallery of Art and whose sisters established an Irwin Fund used by the Peabody Gallery of Art to purchase paintings by such distinguished American artists as Winslow Homer (1836-1910), George Innes (1824-94), Childe Hassam (1859-1935), and Jonas Lie (1880-1940). See: PIB, Art.
Italy. GP's second European buying trip (April 1830 to Aug. 15, 1831, some 15 months) was made with an unknown American friend. They went by carriage and with frequent change of horses covered some 10,000 miles in England, France, Italy, and Switzerland. GP was in Florence, Italy, in early March 1863 to sit for a bust being made of him at U.S sculptor Hiram Powers' (1805-73) Florence studio. During Feb. 19-28, 1868, GP visited Rome, Italy, with Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) where they had an audience with Pope Pius IX, and GP gave a $19,300 gift to Rome's San Spirito Hospital via Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli (1806-76). Following the Rome, Italy, visit, GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, and soon after to Paris, France, where he was received by Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 1808-73) and Empress Eugénie (1826-1920). For GP's second European buying trip (1830-31), See: Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell Daniel (sister). For GP's Feb. 1868 visit to Italy and France, with sources, see San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy. Eugénie, Empress. See also Florence, Italy. Otley, Charles Bethell. Powers, Hiram.
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Jackson, Andrew (1767-1845), U.S. general and seventh U.S. president (1829-37), was trustee for over 50 years (1792-1845) of Davidson Academy (1785-1806), Nashville, and its successor institutions: Cumberland College (1806-26) and the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75). Ref.: Dillingham, p. 12. Crabb-b, reprinted in Windrow, ed., p. 29. See institutions named. Grundy, Felix. Conkin, Peabody College, index. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
Jackson, Henry Rootes (1820-98), was elected as PEF trustee during 1875-88, succeeding William Alexander Graham (1804-75). Born in Athens, Ga., and a Yale College graduate, Jackson was a lawyer (1840); served in the Mexican War; was judge of Ga.'s Superior Court (1848-53); was chargé d'affaires, then Minister to Vienna (1853-58); Confederate general in the Civil War; and Minister to Mexico, 1885-86. Ref.: Boatner, pp. 430-431. See Graham, William Alexander.
Jackson, John (1811-85), was the Rt. Hon. & Rt. Rev. Bishop of London who, taking as his text Hebrews 6:11, gave the sermon on the meaning of GP's life and influence, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1869, at Westminster Abbey, London, to the largest Abbey Sunday congregation to that time. See Death & Funeral, GP's.
Jackson's Oxford Journal. See Oxford Univ.
Jacquemart, Jules-Ferdinand (1837-80), was an artist-engraver who made an etching of the Congressional gold medal the U.S. Congress awarded GP (March 5, 9, 14, 16, 1867) for GP's PEF ($2 million gift for public education in the South). This etching appeared in Joseph Flourimund Loubat, Medallic History of the U. S. 1776-1876 (New York: Loubat, 1880). II, plate 78. See Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Engravers-Artists. Peabody, George, Illustrations.
JUL (Example of VU's Primacy)
Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. 1-Former Joint University Library (JUL). The former JUL was renamed in 1984 to honor VU's former Chancellor (during 1963-82) Alexander Heard (1917-). As the JUL it served and was administered by the three adjoining institutions—VU, GPCFT, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers--during Sept. 1941-July 1, 1979. Since the PCofVU 1979 merger VU owned, financed, and renamed it.
Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. 2-Example of VU's Primacy. Author Alice Cobb's following account of the JUL's origin hints at VU's vaunting sense of primacy under VU Chancellor (during 1893-39) James Hampton Kirkland (1859-1939) and since. Asked in the late 1920s to build a needed library in Nashville, the Rockefeller Foundation's General Education Board (GEB) officials said yes if the library was jointly controlled by VU, Peabody, and Scarritt. According to Cobb, an impasse occasioned by Kirkland's insistence that VU control the library was overcome at a meeting of school heads in Nashville in 1932. Scarritt's Pres. Jesse Lee Cuninggim (1870-1950), moved that the new YMCA School's Pres. W.D. Weatherford, Sr. (1875-1970) form "a plan for a joint project that would meet the approval of the[GEB] board… Chancellor Kirkland could hardly object…and in any case he was out numbered." The JUL was administered during 1941-79 by representatives from VU, GPCFT, the YMCA School (which closed in 1936), and Scarritt (which in the early 1980s became Scarritt-Bennett [Methodist Adult Education] Center). After the GPofVU merger (July 1, 1979), VU became financially responsible for the JUL and renamed it the Jean and Alexander Heard Library in 1984. Ref.: Cobb, pp. 55-57. See PCofVU, history of. persons named. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Jeanes Foundation, Anna T. (1908-1937). See: PEF.
Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826), was featured, along with GP, Benjamin Franklin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Johns Hopkins, and Horace Mann in artist Louis Amateis's (1855-1913) "Apotheoses if America" tableau atop two bronze doors intended for the west entrance of the U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. See: Amateis, Louis.
Jellicoe, George Patrick John Rushworth (1918-), second Earl of Jellicoe, was Joint Parliamentary Secty., Ministry of Housing, British government, when he gave the major address on GP (July 11, 1962), celebrating the centenary of the Peabody Donation Fund (1862-1962), See Peabody Homes of London.
Jenkins, Henry T. (b.1815), was employed in Peabody, Riggs & Co., summer 1837, on the promise of a later partnership. On Jan. 1, 1840, he and another employee of the firm, Augustus W. Peabody, GP's first cousin, son of paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1828), were given one-sixteenth share of profits, without having to contribute any capital. Ref.: Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 93.
Jewett, Ezekiel (1791-1877). 1-Fossil Hunter's Influence on O.C. Marsh. Ezekiel Jewett (called Colonel) was a local engineer and fossil hunter living near Lockport, N.Y., where GP's nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99) grew up with his father and stepmother. Jewett befriended the boy and explained about fossils which they hunted together about 1841 in the nearby recently excavated and fossil-rich Erie Canal. This experience with Jewett sparked Marsh's later passion for paleontology. For details of Jewett's career and influence on young Marsh, see Othniel Charles Marsh. Science: GP's Contributions to Science and Science Education.
Jewett, Ezekiel. 2- Making of Paleontologist O.C. Marsh. Otherwise, O.C. Marsh had an erratic schooling and drifted aimlessly until about age 20. GP paid for this nephew's education at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.; Yale College (B.A., 1860); Yale's graduate Sheffield School of Science (M.A., 1862); and German universities of Berlin, Heidelberg, and Breslau (Ph.D.). GP paid for Marsh's scientific library and fossil collection, thus enabling Marsh to become the first U.S. paleontology professor at Yale, the second such professor in the world, a chief supporter of the Darwinian theory of evolution, and a chief discoverer of almost all that is known of North American dinosaurs. Marsh, in turn, influenced GP's founding of the Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale universities and what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. Ref Ibid.
GP’s Maternal Relations
Jewett, Jeremiah (1757-1836), was born in Rowley (later renamed Georgetown), Mass. He was a physician who married GP's maternal aunt (his mother Judith [née Dodge] Peabody's [1770-1830] sister), Temperance Dodge (1772-1872?). Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Temperance Jewett lived in Barnstead, N.H. GP visited them there in the winter of 1810, after visiting his maternal grandparents Judith (née Spofford) Dodge (1749-1828) and her husband Jeremiah Dodge (1744-1824) at Post Mills Village, Thetford, Vt. In 1866 GP gave $5,000 for a Peabody Library, Thetford, Vt., in memory of his maternal grandparents. See persons and towns mentioned.
Jewett, Temperance (née Dodge) (1772-1872?), was GP's maternal aunt, sister of his mother Judith (née Dodge) Peabody (1770-1830). Temperance Dodge married Jeremiah Jewett (see immediately above).
Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md. For GP's influence on Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) in founding the Johns Hopkins Univ., medical school, and hospital, with sources, see Hopkins, Johns.
John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn. 1-Mental Retardation Research. The John. F. Kennedy Center was cofounded in 1965 by Nicholas Hobbs(1915-83), GPCFT psychology professor (from 1951); chairman, GPCFT's Division of Human Development (1951-65); director, John F. Kennedy Center (1965-70); Vanderbilt Univ. Provost (1967-75); Vanderbilt psychology professor (1975-80); and Vanderbilt Prof. Emeritus (1980). He was president, Am. Psychological Assn. (1966) and enlarged special education for disabilities programs at both institutions. See Nicholas Hobbs. Ref.: Tennessean (Nashville), Aug. 22 and 23, 2000, both pp. 1A-2A.
John F. Kennedy Center, PCofVU. 2-Mental Retardation Research Cont'd. GPCFT psychology professor Susan Gray (), was cofounder. Her research in early childhood education needs led in part to the national early childhood Head Start movement of the early 1960s. Startup funds for the John F. Kennedy Center came from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation (in memory of U.S. Pres. J.F. Kennedy's retarded younger sister), the National Institutes of Health, and GPCFT. By the late 1990s, the Kennedy Center, one of 14 U.S. mental retardation research centers supported by the federal government, was ranked among the top U.S. special education programs. Ref.: Ibid.
John F. Kennedy Center, PCofVU. 3-35-Year Legacy. The Kennedy Center initially focused on research in behavior, special education, and psychology. In the 1980s, under federal government urging, it developed a strong biomedical research component. In 2000 the Center, funded by about $11 million in federal grants, had about 90 affiliated Vanderbilt Univ. researchers. Ref.: Ibid. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
GP & Pres. Andrew Johnson
Johnson, Andrew (1808-75). 1-Pres. Johnson Called on GP. On Feb. 9, 1867, after public news of GP's PEF founding letter (Feb. 7, 1867, $2 million total gift), Pres. Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. president during 1865-69), his secretary, Col. William George Moore (1829-93), and three others, called at GP's Washington, D.C., Willard's Hotel rooms. Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand (GP was 72 and often ill) and said he thought he would find GP alone (GP had guests), that he called as a private citizen to thank GP for his PEF gift to aid public education in the South, that the gift would do much to unite the country, that he was glad a man like GP represented the U.S. in England. He invited GP to visit him in the White House. See Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Johnson, Andrew. 2-GP's Response. GP thanked Pres. Johnson, said that this meeting was one of the greatest honors of his life, that he knew the president's political course would be in the country's best interest, that England from the Queen downward felt only goodwill toward the U.S., that he thought in a few years the country would rise above its divisions to become happier and more powerful. Ref.: Ibid.
Johnson, Andrew. 3-GP Visited White House. To avoid impeachment, Pres. Johnson's political advisor, Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), advised a complete change of cabinet, with GP as Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this course. On April 25, 1867, before his May 1, 1867, return to London, GP called on Pres. Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House. They spoke of the work of the PEF. With GP at the White House were B&O RR Pres. Robert Work Garrett (1820-84) and Samuel Wetmore's (1813?-85) 16-year-old son. GP told Pres. Johnson of young Wetmore's interest in being admitted to West Point and Pres. Johnson said he would do what he could for the young man. Ref.: Ibid. For the eight names proposed in the suggested Pres. Andrew Johnson Cabinet reshuffle, see Andrew, John Albion.
Johnson, David Bancroft (1856-1929), founder and first president of Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C., whose Peabody Building is named after GP. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Named Institutions, Firms, Buildings, Ships, Other Facilities, Music, & Poems Named for GP. P.,G.: ...Named for GP. 23-Peabody Building, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C.
GP & Baltimorean Reverdy Johnson
Johnson, Reverdy (1796-1876). 1-Career. GP's long-time friend in Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson, was born in Annapolis, Md., attended St. John's College in Annapolis, was a Baltimore criminal defense lawyer (from 1817, when he first knew GP), became Md. State Sen. (1821-29), U.S. Sen. (1845-49, D-Md.), U.S. Atty. Gen. (1849), U.S. arbitrator in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) disputes in 1853-54, was again U.S. Sen. (1863-68, D-Md.), and succeeded Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) as arbiter in the Alabama Claims controversy (1871-72). He was partially blind during the last half of his life.
Johnson, Reverdy. 2-Contacts with GP. Reverdy Johnson's contacts with GP, explained below, were 1-in London in 1854 when GP asked Johnson to plan with other Baltimoreans GP's intended gift to Baltimore; and 2-in 1867 when Johnson defended GP's Union loyalty in the Civil War during the U.S. Senate debate over the Congressional resolutions of praise and gold medal for GP for his $2 million (total) PEF to promote public education in the former 11 Confederate states plus W.Va. For Reverdy Johnson as U.S. arbiter in 1853-54 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850), with sources, see Nathan G. Upham. For Reverdy Johnson's connection with the PIB, See: PIB. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Johnson, Reverdy. 3-Reverdy Johnson and the PIB. In 1854 Reverdy Johnson was in London with James Watson Webb (1802-84), editor of the NYC Courier and Enquirer during 1827-61. GP called on Johnson and Webb to ask their advice about an educational institution he planned to establish in Baltimore. Returning to Baltimore, Reverdy Johnson told John Pendleton Kennedy of GP's wish for the three Baltimore leaders (Reverdy Johnson, John Pendleton Kennedy, and William Edwards Mayhew), to help him plan what came to be the PIB. Ref.: (GP asked Webb and Johnson's help on Baltimore gift): London Anglo-American Times, Oct. 2, 1869. See: PIB.
Johnson, Reverdy. 4-PIB Largely Kennedy's Plan. The PIB was largely Kennedy's plan, based partly on the British Museum in London and made possible by GP's total gift of $1.4 million. It was originally conceived of as a five-part institute: 1-specialized reference library; 2-lecture hall, lecture series, and lecture fund; 3-academy of music; 4-gallery of art; and 5-prizes for best scholars in Baltimore public schools. Kennedy helped draft GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. The PIB building, delayed by the Civil War, was dedicated on Oct. 23-24, 1866, and was opened on Oct. 26, 1866, with GP present. Ref.: Ibid.
Johnson, Reverdy. 5-Defended GP in the U.S. Senate. On March 5, 1867, U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner (1811-74, R.-Mass.) introduced resolutions of Congressional thanks and a gold medal to GP for establishing the PEF (total gift $2 million). GP had established the PEF to promote public education, teacher institutes, and teacher training normal schools in the 11 former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty. Senators Thomas Warren Tipton (1817-99, R-Neb.) and James Wilson Grimes (1816-72, R-Iowa) asked why the resolutions could not first go to an investigating committee to determine the worthiness of the gift (some Senate members wrongly charged GP as pro-Confederate). Sen. Reverdy Johnson then defended GP as staunchly Union, stating that he had been GP's lawyer in Baltimore in 1817 and had later contacts with him in London. The Senate voted 36 yeas for the resolutions, 2 nays (Senators Grimes and Tipton), with 15 Senators absent. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP. Persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 6-Defended GP in the U.S. Senate Cont'd. The resolutions were debated in the U.S. House of Representatives on Mar. 9, 1867. Rep. Abner Clark Harding (1807-74, R-Ill.) moved: "To amend the resolution to strike out the gold medal.... I am informed Mr. Peabody made profit from the rebellion which he aided and abetted." Harding's amendment failed. The U.S. House passed the resolutions March 14, 1867. They were announced and enrolled in the U.S. Senate March 15 and were signed by Pres. Andrew Johnson on March 16, 1867. During GP’s May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, U.S. visit, he attended the wedding of Reverdy Johnson’s daughter (c. April 24, 1867). Ref.: Ibid. (wedding): Baltimore Gazette, April 25, 1867, p. 1, c. 5. See: persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 7-GP Saw Gold Medal Christmas Day 1868. NYC silversmiths and jewelers Starr and Marcus finished the gold medal in May 1868. It was sent to the U.S. Dept. of State, was seen by Pres. Johnson's cabinet on May 26, 1868, and was exhibited in the U.S. Capitol Building. GP in London informed (Sept. 18, 1868) U.S. Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) that the gold medal would be kept safely in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass., adding: "Knowing the uncertainty of life, particularly at my advanced age, and feeling a great desire of seeing this most valued token my countrymen have been pleased to bestow upon me, I beg...that the medal, with its accompanying documents, may be sent to me here, through our Legation." GP saw the gold medal for the first time in London on Christmas Day 1868. He opened the package before gathered friends who admired the delicate workmanship. GP, with a few months to live, made his last trip to the U.S., June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869, returned to London gravely ill, and died there on Nov. 4, 1869. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Johnson, Reverdy. 8-Last Meeting, Brighton, England, 1868. In Nov. 1868 GP was in Brighton, England, with Reverdy Johnson, then U.S. Minister to Britain (1868-69), and longtime friend and MP Sir James Emerson Tennent. Reverdy Johnson had special responsibility to negotiate the Johnson-Clarendon Treaty to settle the Alabama Claims (U.S. indemnity demands for British-built ships, including the Alabama, sold to Confederate emissaries, which sunk federal ships and cost Union lives and treasure). Ref.: (For GP's Sept. 1868 visit to Tennent in Ireland): Albion (NYC), Sept. 19, 1868, p. 452, c. 1. See: Alabama Claims.
Johnson, Reverdy. 9-Public Dinner at Brighton, Nov. 21, 1868. A public dinner was held Nov. 21, 1868, to honor Reverdy Johnson, GP, and Tennent, but GP was too ill to attend. At the dinner Reverdy Johnson spoke of his efforts to reconcile the Alabama Claims. He also complimented GP's past efforts to promote British-U.S. friendship. On Nov 22, 1868, GP and Reverdy Johnson attended Christ Church in Brighton. The Rev. Robert Ainslie's sermon was largely about the two distinguished visitors. Reverdy Johnson was praised for promoting peace. GP was favorably compared to British reformer John Howard (1726-90). It was GP's last meeting with Reverdy Johnson and also with Sir Emerson Tennent who died March 6, 1869. Ref.: (Reverdy Johnson's speech in Brighton): Brighton Guardian (England), Nov. 18, 1868, p. 5, c. 6; and Nov. 25, 1868, p. 7. Brighton Herald (England), Nov. 21, 1868, p. 3, c. 5; and Nov. 28, 1868, p. 4, c. 2-3. Ref.: (Rev. Ainslie's sermon): Ainslie. Ref (Sir James Emerson Tennent's obituary): London Times, March 12, 1869 (born April 7, 1791). See: persons named.
GP Elected to N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame
Johnson, Robert Underwood (1853-1937). 1-Director, N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame. Robert Underwood Johnson was director of the N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame (1919-37). In June 1925 he urged GP's grand nephew George Russell Peabody to help raise funds for a bust of GP, elected in 1900 as one of 29 of the most famous Americans. In 1901 a bronze tablet, unveiled in GP's allotted space, contained this selection from GP's Feb. 7, 1867, letter founding the $2 million PEF: "Looking forward beyond my stay on earth I see our country becoming richer and more powerful. But to make her prosperity more than superficial, her moral and intellectual development should keep pace with her material growth."
Johnson, R.U. 2-Funds for a GP Bust. The help of another GP grand nephew, Murray Peabody Brush (b.1872), was also enlisted to raise funds for the GP bust. Trustees of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Univ., helped raise $300. The GP bust by sculptor Hans Schuler (1874-1951) was unveiled May 12, 1926, at the University Heights N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame colonnade.
Johnson, R.U. 3-Career. Robert Underwood Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., graduated from Earlham College, Ind., was a writer and editor of Century Magazine (1873-1913), helped achieve passage of the International Copyright Law of 1891, was secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, U.S. Ambassador to Italy (from 1920), and director of the N.Y. Univ. Hall of Fame (1919-37). See: Hall of Fame of N.Y.U. MacCracken, Henry Mitchell.
Johnstone, George, was a Peabody Homes of London tenant who participated in the "Bicentenary Service of Thanksgiving for the Life and Work of George Peabody, 1795-1869," in London's Westminster Abbey, Nov. 16, 1995. See: GP Bicentennial Celebrations (Feb. 18, 1795-1995).
Joint University Library. See: Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Seventh PIB Librarian
Jones, Frank Nicholas (1906-). 1-Seventh PIB Librarian. Frank Nicholas Jones was the seventh PIB Librarian during 1956-66, for 10 years. He was born in Reading, Penn., and earned degrees from Harvard College and Columbia Univ. School of Library Service. He had been assistant librarian of the NYC Bar Association Library; librarian in Newburyport, Mass. (where GP had worked in older brother David Peabody's dry goods store); was deputy supervisor of Boston Public Library Reference Division; had served in the U.S. Army in Europe; was administrative assistant at Harvard College Library; and came to the PIB Library after being librarian at Ohio Univ. in Athens. Ref.: Jones, F.N.-a. Jones, F.N.-b, p. 7. "New Library Director [F.N. Jones]," Baltimore Sun, June 17, 1957.
Jones, F.N. 2-PIB Library Financial Difficulties, 1963-64. The PIB Library had financial difficulties during 1963-64, while plans were afoot to enlarge the reference section of the Johns Hopkins Univ.'s Milton S. Eisenhower Library. There was talk of a PIB-Johns Hopkins library merger. A Sun article, Nov. 12, 1963, reported some Baltimoreans' objections to merger as contrary to GP's original intent. Others accepted the idea to help solve the PIB Library's financial troubles and to keep the PIB reference collection intact, even if not in its original home. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 3-Aided by Enoch Pratt, 1966-82; Johns Hopkins Since. The PIB Library did become part of the Enoch Pratt Free Library for 16 years, from July 2, 1966, to July 1, 1982, supported by the City of Baltimore. But city budget cuts in the late 1970s and early 1980s forced an end to of the PIB-Enoch Pratt connection. Since the summer of 1982 the PIB Library's 250,000 volumes and staff members have been the Peabody Library department of the Milton S. Eisenhower Special Collections Division of the Johns Hopkins Univ. Many thought the final merger appropriate, since GP had influenced his fellow Baltimore business acquaintance Johns Hopkins to found the university, medical school, and hospital which bear his name. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 4-Alleged GP Romance. In F.N. Jones's pamphlet, George Peabody and the Peabody Institute (Baltimore: Peabody Institute Library, 1965), he wrote that in 1958 a Mrs. Charles Rieman gave the PIB Library an undated manuscript by Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist John Wilson Leakin (1857-1922), "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections." That manuscript is the source for the following story of an alleged romance in GP's life. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, F.N. 5-Alleged GP Romance Cont'd. According to the J.W. Leakin manuscript, sometime during GP's 22 years in Baltimore (1815-37) he proposed marriage to Elizabeth Knox, daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. Her father advised against the marriage, preferring his daughter to marry a banker. Elizabeth Knox married George Carson, a Baltimore bank teller, who died after the birth of the couple's fourth child. In the Carson family tradition, when GP returned to Baltimore for a visit in 1857, he again proposed to the widow Carson, then supporting herself by managing a boarding home. She declined, saying that people would believe she had married GP solely for his money. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Jones, F.N. 6-Alleged GP Romance Cont'd. A PIB Art Gallery catalog listed an 1840 portrait of Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson, describing her as the "Lady to whom G. Peabody twice offered his hand." Author Jones's pamphlet identified Mrs. Charles Rieman who deposited the J.W. Leakin manuscript as the former Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899. Note: James Wilson Leakin's gift enabled the Preparatory Dept. of the PIB Conservatory of Music to move into its own building, Leakin Hall, in 1927. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named. Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth. Persons named. PIB, Music. Romance and GP.
Jones, John Edward (1806-62), was an Irish-born sculptor who made a bust of GP in 1856 and attended GP's July 4, 1856, dinner for more than 100 Americans and a few Englishmen at the Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, near London. Also present were U.S. Minister to Britain George Mifflin Dallas (1792-1864) who spoke and U.S. inventor Samuel F.B Morse (1791-1872) who responded to a toast to [his invention] "The Telegraph." J.E. Jones, born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of painter Edward Jones (c1775-1862), was first trained as an engineer and built bridges. About 1840 he turned to sculpturing, achieved success in portrait busts, and had his works exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1844 to his death. He sculpted a bust of Queen Victoria in 1854. Ref.: Strickland, pp. 557-559. See: Dallas, George Mifflin. Dinners, GP's, London.
GP’s Selling Md.'s Bonds Abroad
Jones, Samuel, Jr. (1800-74). 1-Md. Agents. Under the Md. Act of 1835, Samuel Jones, Jr., was one of three commissioners appointed by the Md. Assembly to sell abroad its $8 million in bonds for internal improvements. Jones, who resigned early to become a state senator, backed GP to replace him. Despite some opposition, GP was appointed commissioner. GP and the other two commissioners, John Buchanan (1772-1844) and Thomas Emory, tried unsuccessfully to sell the bonds in London, Paris, and Amsterdam. The other two agents returned to the U.S. by Oct. 8, 1837. See: Maryland's $8 Million Bond Issue Sold Abroad, and GP.
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 2-Career. Samuel Jones, Jr., began in his father's Baltimore firm, Talbot Jones & Co.; was a director of several banks; was B&O RR acting director; member of the Baltimore City Council; state senator; and left to head the New Orleans Saving Institution. Ref.: Howard, G.W., pp. 464-466
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 3-GP as Md. Agent. On this, his fifth business trip to Europe, GP remained in London for the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: Sept. 1856 to Aug. 1857; May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867; and June 8-Sept. 29, 1869. The Panic of 1837 and an economic depression that followed for a few years hindered GP's sale of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. portion of Md.'s $8 million in bonds. Worse still, the depression induced Md. and eight other states to halt their bond interest payments in part or whole. GP finally approached his major competitor, Baring Brothers, Britain's large banking firm. He sold them the bonds cheaply for exclusive resale. Not wanting to burden economically depressed Md., GP never applied for and ultimately declined the $60,000 commission due him. Ref.: Ibid.
Jones, Samuel, Jr. 4-GP as Md. Agent Cont'd. By the time Md. had recovered economically and resumed its bond interest payments (1847), GP had withdrawn his capital from Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48) and was for a few years in transition from merchandise dealer to broker-banker in U.S. securities. The Md. governor's annual report of 1847 to the legislative Assembly singled out GP "who never claimed or received one dollar of the $60,000 commission due him...whilst the State was struggling with her pecuniary difficulties." On March 7, 1848, both houses of Md.'s Assembly passed a unanimous resolution of praise to GP, sent to him in London, with Gov. Philip Francis Thomas' (1810-90) comment: "To you, Sir,...the thanks of the State were eminently due." GP's earlier letters assuring European purchasers that the state would resume interest payments, and retroactively, along with Md.'s resolution of praise, were widely printed. It thus took ten years for GP's difficulties in selling Md. bonds to be fully appreciated. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. House Debate on Reception for GP's Remains
Jones, Thomas Laurens (1819-87). 1-U.S. Navy Reception for GP's Remains. Thomas Laurens Jones was a U.S. House member (D-Ky.) who on Dec. 15, 1869, introduced U.S. House Resolution No. 96 which praised the late GP and asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a naval reception to receive his remains at the U.S. receiving port "in a manner commensurate with the...dignity of a great people." The British HMS Monarch, with GP's remains aboard, and USS Plymouth as U.S. escort vessel, were awaiting the end of storms at Spithead near Portsmouth, England, to return GP's remains for burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Jones, T.L 2-The resolution, debated on Dec. 21, 1869, was passed that day in the House but amid charge and rebuttal that GP had been pro-Confederate and anti-Union. House Resolution No. 96 was passed in the Senate (Dec. 23, 1869) and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. It read in part: "Whereas, in the death of George Peabody...our country and the world have sustained [great] loss.... "And whereas the Queen of Great Britain, the authorities of London, and the Emperor of France have made extraordinary provision for the transfer of his remains to his native land; therefore, " It is resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America Congress, "That the President of the United States...in a manner commensurate with the...dignity of a great people... order as many ships as were convenient to meet at sea the European convoy conducting George Peabody's remains home." Ref.: Ibid.
Josephson, Matthew (1899-1978), was the author of The Robber Barons (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1934 and 1962). On p. 60 he repeated the charge that GP was a Confederate sympathizer in the Civil War, a charge made first without evidence by John Bigelow (1817-1911), U.S. Consul General in Paris in 1862; repeated by Samuel Bowles (1826-78), editor of the Springfield (Mass.) Daily Republican, Oct. 27, 1866; uncritically repeated in Gustavus Myers' (1872-1942) History of the Great American Fortunes; in Carl Sandburg's (1878-1967) Pulitzer prize-winning Abraham Lincoln, 1939; and in Leland DeWitt Baldwin's, Stream of American History. See: Civil War and GP. Felt, Charles Wilson. Garrison, William Lloyd. Myers, Gustavson. Sandburg, Carl. Weed, Thurlow. Other names listed.
JP Morgan Chase. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Critics-18-32.
K
Kahn, Roseann, wrote "A History of the Peabody Institute Library, Baltimore, Maryland, 1857-1916" (Master's thesis, Catholic University of America, 1953), published as ACRL Microcard Series No. 16 (Rochester, New York: University of Rochester Press for the Association of College and Reference Libraries, 1954).
Kamehameha I (1758-1819), Warrior Chief of Hawaii. See: Bishop, Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Paki.
GP & U.S. Arctic Research
Kane, Elisha Kent (1820-57). 1-Arctic Search for Sir John Franklin. GP gave $10,000 (March 4, 1852) for scientific equipment for the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition to find lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). This expedition enabled U.S. Navy Commander Elisha Kent Kane, M.D., to initiate U.S. Arctic exploration. He had been medical officer on the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition (1850-52) and commanded the Second Expedition (1853-55), using two ships donated by NYC merchant Henry Grinnell (1799-1874). Born in Philadelphia, Kane had a medical degree from the Univ. of Penn. (1842). Kane, seeking adventure, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and saw service in the Mexican War. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Kane, E.K. 2-International Search. During 1845-1850s there was an international call to find lost Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew. Lady Jane Franklin (1792-1875) appealed to Pres. Zachary Taylor and to the U.S. Congress for help to "snatch the lost navigators from a dreary grave." She added £3,000 (then about $15,000) to the British government's £20,000 reward (then about $100,000) to find Sir John Franklin. Her appeal influenced NYC merchant Henry Grinnell (head of Grinnell, Minturn & Co.) to offer two ships. Elisha Kent Kane's offer to serve on any U.S.-sponsored search won U.S. Congressional and U.S. Naval approval. But the 1850-52 First U.S. Grinnell Expedition did not find the lost explorer. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 3-GP's Previous Aid to U.S.-British Relations. GP's interest in helping the search for Sir John Franklin began in 1852. He had attracted minor international attention in the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first world's fair, held in the new Crystal Palace, London. The U.S. Congress approved U.S. participation but did not appropriate funds to display U.S. industrial and cultural products. The U.S. Minister to Britain, U.S. exhibitors, and U.S. residents in London were embarrassed. London's satirical Punch poked fun at the U.S. "We could not help...being struck by the glaring contrast between large pretension and little performance...by America." GP's timely $15,000 loan to the exhibitors enabled some 6.7 million visitors to see U.S. industry and art to best advantage. Pressed by its appointed commissioner, the U.S. Congress, three years later, repaid GP's loan. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Kane, E.K. 4-GP's U.S.-British Friendship Dinners. GP had also promoted British-U.S. friendship through jointly attended dinners, often held on July 4, American Independence Day, in which GP toasted first the Queen and then the U.S. President. Also, in 1852 he was readying his first major gift of a Peabody Institute library to his hometown of South Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), Mass. Moved by Lady Franklin's appeal, knowing of Henry Grinnell's renewed offer of two ships, GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment on March 4, 1852, enabled U.S. Navy Secty. John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) to coordinate the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Kennedy, a Baltimorean, first knew GP as a fellow soldier in the War of 1812. See: Franklin, Sir John.
Kane, E.K. 5-U.S. Navy Secty. J.P. Kennedy. Dining with Dr. Kane in mid-Nov. 1852, Kennedy wrote in his journal: "Pleasant little party at dinner with Dr. Kane of the Arctic Expedition and Lt. Gillis of the Astronomical Dept..... Kane had brought his drawings--a rich portfolio of Polar scenes--to show us. I have given him permission to go again, at the request of Lady Franklin on the new expedition recently set on foot by Mr. Henry Grinnell and Mr. Peabody." See: Gillis, James Melvin. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 6-New Search Underway. Kennedy gave Dr. Kane naval command of the Advance, ten naval volunteers, and made the purpose of the expedition a scientific and geographical one. Business friend William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62) transferred GP's $10,000 gift to Kane. Kane, needing additional funds for instruments and equipment, published GP's letter of gift; lectured to raise funds; got aid and endorsements from the Smithsonian Institution, the Geographical Society of N.Y., and the American Philosophical Society. Kane also rushed into print his account of the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition before leaving NYC on the Advance on May 30, 1853, for Smith Sound in the Arctic. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 7-Kane Did Not Find Sir John Franklin. The Advance became frozen in the Arctic. On May 24, 1855, Kane and his men were forced to abandon their ship. They trekked 1,300 miles in 84 days during which one-third of the crew perished. Kane and the rest of his crew were saved by a passing Danish vessel. Kane wrote to GP of his ill-fated voyage. To spread the news rapidly GP had the correspondence published in newspapers. To Lady Franklin GP wrote: "Having been instrumental in promoting Docr. Kane's expedition in search for your late lamented husband...I have...felt much anxiety for their safety & it is therefore a great relief to my mind that Docr. Kane and so large a portion of the brave men [with] him safely arrived in their own country." Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 8-Kane's Arctic Influence. Two later explorers found conclusive proof that Sir John Franklin had died on June 11, 1847. All of his crew also perished. Kane spent the last year of his life writing an account of the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. His book sold 145,000 copies in its first three years and was probably the most read of all early books on the Arctic. Kane initiated Arctic exploration by the U.S. government. His influence was to remove some of its terror in the public mind. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 9-Kane's Arctic Influence Cont'd. Kane's Arctic exploration influenced the later more successful U.S. Arctic explorations, particularly of Adm. Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920). Of Kane's discoveries, his most objective critic wrote: "Kane's expedition was rich in results. [His] expedition discovered and indicated approximately the boundaries of Kane's Basin and the southern part of Kennedy Kanal. Further the expedition discovered and mapped the coast of Inglefield Land, Humboldt Glacier, and the southern part of Washington Land, and Kane extended the Greenland coast from about 78° 20' Northwest to about 80° 30' N. latitude." Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 10-Peabody Bay, off Greenland. In gratitude for GP's financial help, Kane named Peabody Bay, off Greenland, for him. In his report to the U.S. Navy Secty., Kane wrote: "The large bay which separates it (Washington Land) from the coast of Greenland and the Glacier I have described bears on my chart the name of our liberal country-man and contributor to the expense of the expedition, Mr. George Peabody." GP's aid put him honorably in the shadow of Elisha Kent Kane's Arctic exploration. GP's motivation in aiding the search for Sir John Franklin was, like his $15,000 loan to U.S. exhibitors at the 1851 first world's fair, and his dozens of Anglo-U.S. friendship dinners, to promote British-U.S. friendship. Ref.: Ibid.
Kane, E.K. 11-White House Desk. Of incidental interest to GP's $10,000 gift to the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition, 1853-55, is the following story. HMS Resolute was a British ship abandoned in the Arctic ice in the search for Sir John Franklin. A Capt. Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and sent as a present to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found the desk in a storeroom in 1961 and had it refurbished for Pres. Kennedy's use. Famous photos show Pres. John F. Kennedy's young son, John Kennedy (1960-99) playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Ibid.
Kearsarge, USS, a Union ship, rushed to intercept the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama, in Cherbourg harbor, France, where it had stopped for repairs. On June 19, 1864, the Kearsarge sank the Alabama, which had cost Union lives and treasure and for which an international court awarded the U.S. $15.5 million reparations paid by Britain. GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death in London occurred amid U.S.-British angers over the Alabama Claims. To ease these angers, British and U.S. officials cooperated in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Alabama Claims.
Keep, Nathan Cooley (1801-75), Dr., was a Boston physician whom GP consulted several times during his May 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867, second U.S. visit. Dr. Keep is listed as physician and dentist, Boylston St., Boston, who was admitted into the Mass. Medical Society in 1830. Ref.: Mass. Medical Society. See: also Putnam, Dr. Charles Gideon.
Keighler, William H. (1804-85), was president of the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore, who solicited funds from GP in London Sept. 1, 1851, and to whom GP donated $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school, Oct. 31, 1851. Ref.: (W.H. Keighler’s death notice): Baltimore Sun, Jan. 10, 1885, p. 2. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Keller, Harrison (b.1888), was a music consultant called by the PIB Conservatory of Music trustees to evaluate its music programs after the resignation in late 1957 of Conservatory Dir. Reginald Stewart (1900-84). Stewart had assembled the Conservatory's largest and most illustrious faculty. Consultant Harrison Keller's advice was to keep admission standards high. See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Kelso, William Henry (1812-79), was a U.S. House member (NY-R) who spoke at the Dec. 21, 1869, debate on U.S. House Resolution No. 96 which asked Pres. U.S. Grant (1822-85) to order a naval reception for GP's remains at the U.S. receiving port. Rep. Kelso began the debate by saying that the resolution should go to the Appropriations Committee. The House declined this proposal. The resolution, with some objection, was passed in the House that day, passed in the Senate on Dec. 23, 1869, and was signed into law by Pres. Grant on Jan. 10, 1870. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
R. Kenin’s Insights on GP in London
Kenin, Richard (1947-). 1-GP Insights. U.S.-born Richard Kenin earned a doctorate degree at Oxford Univ. and was picture editor of Time Life Books. His book, Return to Albion: Americans in England 1760-1940 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979), examined Americans who lived and worked in England during the period covered. Chap. 4, titled "The Lords of Change Alley: George Peabody and 'Co.,'" 18 pp., while not footnoted, is perceptive about GP's 32 years in London, GP's character, motives, and importance. Kenin described Morley's Hotel at 4 Trafalgar Square, in London's West End, as a "fashionable place," a "mecca for Americans," with a crowded bar, good food, and many private dining rooms, where GP often dined with the Vt.-born and London-based successful rare book dealer Henry Stevens (1819-86). Ref.: Kenin, pp. 93, 95.
Kenin, Richard. 2-On GP and Books "When Peabody bought books from Stevens, it was not for his own shelves (Peabody never read anything more serious than a newspaper); rather it was for one of the numerous libraries...he... endow[ed]. Peabody regarded books as just another of nature's commodities. Frequently he would ask Stevens, 'How are books today?' as one might query the price of hogs." On GP's simplicity, Kenin wrote: "George Peabody was not a witty man. He was formal to the point of stiffness.... He carried his afternoon meal to work in a small metal lunchbox; and when not entertaining publicly, he preferred to dine in inexpensive chop houses.... In the world of finance, where integrity and reliability were the keystones to a man's reputation, Peabody was a rock of respectability. He lived alone, and he lived exclusively for his work...." Ref.: Ibid.
Kenin, Richard. 3-On GP's $15,000 Loan, U.S. Exhibitors, 1851, London: "Having...pulled his compatriots' fat out of the fire, Peabody celebrated the success of the American exhibition by hosting a great banquet at the London Coffee House, where Americans...gathered since the days of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Stevens supervised the decorations and later produced a...volume commemorating the occasion.... The dinner attracted much favorable comment in the press. It was a marvelous public relations event, just the thing to attract popular attention, for Peabody never spent or gave money away quietly." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 96-97.
Kenin, Richard. 4-After Wellington as Guest of Honor : "On the morning of July 5, 1851, George Peabody's name was in the mouths of half the kingdom. Peabody's Fourth of July dinners became an annual event on the London social calendar. Invitations became a highly prized commodity, and as his business grew so, too, did the length of his guest list. Ref.: Ibid. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Kenin, Richard. 5-On How GP Saved Himself in the Panic of 1857: "Peabody extended...overtures to...private banks, asking temporary assistance until the crisis abated.... His competitors swooped down, offering short-term loans only on condition that Peabody [give] up his banking business...and return to America.... Here was an ideal chance to destroy a firm which was disliked as much for its success as it was respected for its integrity." Kenin wrote how GP saved himself: "In desperation Peabody turned to Thomson Hankey, Jr. [1805-93], Governor of the Bank of England, whom he had cultivated since the early 1830s. In an action that was unprecedented, the bank [lent] £1 million to George Peabody and Co..... With the Bank of England behind him, Peabody had no trouble in securing ample credits.... When the Panic of 1857 passed and the American economy began to recover...Peabody and Morgan...[became as]...wealthy as Croesus." Ref.: Kenin, pp. 98-99. For GP and the Panic of 1857, See: Moran, Benjamin. Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Kenin, Richard. 6-On GP's Apartments for London's Working Poor ($2.5 million housing gift): "What Peabody created, and what still survives today, was no less than the first large housing agency in Britain, operating completely independently of government on a noncommercial basis.... Parliament...between 1868 and 1890 [passed] a number of bills...to deal with the problems of substandard [urban housing]. Peabody's work was a catalyst which spurred government action toward the creation of a national housing policy. This in itself was a major political achievement." Ref.: Kenin, p. 101. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Kenin, Richard. 7-On GP's Honors (after his London housing gift): "The public response to Peabody's gift to London was swift. The Court of Common Council of the Corporation of the City of London granted Peabody the freedom of the City and commissioned a portrait of him to hang in the Guildhall..., the first American to be so honored. The Lord Mayor of London held a great banquet in Peabody's honor at the Mansion House, and he was admitted as a Freeman of the ancient livery companies of Fishmongers and Clothworkers." "The Queen," Kenin noted, "enquired...[if] he would accept the honor of a baronetcy or perhaps the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. [These] would have required him to surrender his citizenship and declare allegiance to the Crown of Britain, which he could not bring himself to do.... What sort of gift [would] he accept [?] Peabody replied that all he desired was a portrait miniature of the Queen, together with a personal note in her own hand." Ref.: Kenin, p. 102.
Kenin, Richard. 8-On the PEF: "In America, Peabody's beneficence...was extensive. But it was in the aftermath of the Civil War, when he gave $2 million to restore Southern education...that his reputation as the founder of modern educational philanthropy was established. A chorus of praise was raised across the nation. Harvard...granted Peabody an honorary doctorate of civil law. The U.S. Congress...commissioned the New York silversmiths Starr and Marcus to design the most elaborate gold medal ever created in America.... It was a moving testimony.…" Ref.: Ibid., pp. 102-103.
Kenin, Richard. 9-On GP's Philanthropic Motive (GP's May 18, 1831, letter to nephew asking to attend college): "Deprived as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society in which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those that come under my care as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me." GP paid for the schooling of his younger brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews, and their children (his great nieces and great nephews). Ref.: (GP's May 18, 1831, letter): Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass., quoted in Schuchert and LeVene, p. 21. Ref.: Kenin, pp. 103-104. See: Peabody, George (1815-32, GP's nephew).
Kenin, Richard. 10-On GP's Fame at Death: "Peabody was more than just a man of the stock exchange and the banks. He had become a national possession--even pubs were named after him.... The Dean and Chapter of Westminster offered space in the Abbey for [his] burial--the highest honor that can be conferred on any British subject, here offered for the first time to an American." Kenin quoted the New York Times London reporter's description of the Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey GP funeral service: "My trans-Atlantic heart beat...quicker at the thought of clergy and nobility, Prime Minister and people, of this great realm gathered to lay [GP] among sleeping Kings and statesmen. The crowd outside was, if possible, more interesting than that within. The gaunt, famished London poor were gathered in thousands to testify their respect for the foreigner who has done more than any Englishman for their class, and whose last will contains an additional bequest to them of £150,000." Unfortunately Kenin shed no light on why GP's fame faded, why he is now so little remembered. Ref.: (Westminster Abbey): New York Times, Nov. 26, 1869, p. 2, c. 3. Ref.: Kenin, pp. 104-105.
Kennedy Center, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn. See: Hobbs, Nicholas. John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development, PCofVU, Nashville, Tenn.
Kennedy, Jacqueline (1929-1994), later Jacqueline Onassis. The first lady found in storage and had brought to the White House for Pres. John F. Kennedy's use the desk made from the timbers of the Resolute, connected with the search for the 19th century lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), with which GP was also connected. Famed photos show the Kennedy's small son John playing under that desk. See: Franklin, Sir John. Kane, Elisha Kent.
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-63). See: Ibid. Kennedy, Jacqueline.
GP & Baltimorean J.P. Kennedy
Kennedy, John Pendleton (1795-1870). 1-Contact with GP. Baltimorean John Pendleton Kennedy had contact with GP for 55 years. Born the same year (1795), they first met in the War of 1812 when both were 18-year-old soldiers in the military district of Washington, D.C. In 1853-55 Kennedy, as U.S. Navy Secty., placed under U.S. Navy command two privately donated ships and used GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment in the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). During 1854-57 at GP's request Kennedy planned the PIB to which GP gave a total of $1.4 million. GP also confided to Kennedy (Feb. 7, 1857) his intended gift to the City of London, to which he gave a total of $2.5 million for low cost model housing for London's working poor (1862-69). They had many meetings and talks in London and the U.S. almost to the end of their lives. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison, also intimately involved in the origin of the PIB. PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 2-First Meeting. J.P. Kennedy was born in Baltimore, the son of a prosperous merchant. He graduated from Baltimore College (1812) and fought in the War of 1812 battles of Bladensburg and North Point. Fifty years later Kennedy recorded in his journal his first sight of fellow soldier GP: "My remembrance of him oddly enough now brings him to view in the character of a rather ambitious and showy, well-dressed and trig young soldier...--an apparition strangely incongruous with that peaceful aspect and solid gravity we are accustomed to...." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, "Sketch of George Peabody," LXXIII, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 3-War of 1812 Soldier GP, then age 18, served 11 days (July 15-26, 1813) as a private in Capt. George Peter's (1779-1861) company, at Fort Warburton, Md. He also served three days (Oct. 5-7, 1814) in Capt. Joseph T. Pike's Co., Col. Merrill's Regiment, while visiting in Newburyport, Mass. Forty five years later in Washington, D.C. (Feb. 14-23, 1857), learning he was eligible, he applied for and received, as a memento (not for profit), a War of 1812 veteran's land bounty See: Persons named. War of 1812. Winder, William Henry.
Kennedy, J.P. 4-Fellow Soldier Elisha Riggs, Sr. GP also met fellow soldier and older established merchant Elisha Riggs. [Sr.] (1779-1853), then age 34, who took him as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29). Background: In May 1812, GP, age 17, had arrived in Georgetown, D.C., from economically depressed Newburyport, Mass., with paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-before 1826). Management of the dry goods store they opened May 15, 1812, in Georgetown, D.C., soon fell on young GP. He kept store and for a time was a house-to-house pack peddler in the area. In Riggs's family records, GP began as Riggs's office boy. But young GP was able to put up enough capital to become junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), a wholesale dry goods importing firm which moved to Baltimore in 1815. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Kennedy, J.P. 5-Lawyer-Statesman. Kennedy, a Baltimore lawyer, was elected to the Md. House of Delegates (1820-22), filled a Md. vacancy in the U.S. House of Representatives (1838), was reelected (1840-44), during which terms he influenced the Congress to vote $30,000 to test Samuel F.B. Morse's (1791-1872) telegraph. He was again elected to the Md. House of Delegates, where he was its Speaker in 1846. Appointed U.S. Navy Secty. under Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74) during 1852-54, Kennedy encouraged Commodore Matthew C. Perry's (1794-1858) trip to open trade with Japan. He also gave U.S. Navy backing to the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition's (1853-55) search for lost British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, to which GP gave $10,000 for scientific equipment. Ref.: Bohner.
Kennedy, J.P. 6-Novelist. J.P. Kennedy was also an important novelist whose descriptions of early American culture broke new ground and challenged English and European literature, which had hitherto dominated the U.S. Kennedy's Swallow Barn (1832) consisted of sketches of Va. plantation life after the American Revolution. Kennedy's Horse-Shoe Robinson (1835) was a novel of the Battle of King's Mountain, S.C. (Oct. 7, 1780) when U.S. backwoodsmen defeated a British and Tory force. His Rob of the Bowl (1838) is still highly regarded. His Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt (Philadelphia, 1848) described the famed Md. writer and jurist who was U.S. Atty. Gen. during 1817-29. A literary pioneer and a politician, Kennedy was an influential member of the Whig party and an early supporter of its successor Republican Party. He was pro-Union, a Lincoln supporter in the Civil War, and favored an industrialized U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 7-Helped Edgar Allen Poe. Kennedy also helped struggling writer Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49). In June 1833, just after Kennedy had published Swallow Barn, he was one of three judges for the Baltimore Saturday Visitor's writing contest. Kennedy and the other two judges awarded the $50 short story prize to Edgar Allen Poe for his "MS Found in a Bottle," one of six stories Poe had submitted. Kennedy called on Poe, found him sick and hungry, helped sell some of Poe's stories, gave him food and shelter, and recommended Poe for writing and teaching jobs. Poe later told Kennedy: "Without the timely kindness you once evinced towards me, I should not at this moment be among the living." Poe told others, "Mr. Kennedy has been...a true friend to me--he was the first true friend I ever had--I am indebted to him for life itself." Ref.: Ibid., pp. 194-197.
Kennedy, J.P. 8-Helped Edgar Allen Poe Cont'd. After Poe's death on Oct. 7, 1849, Kennedy recorded in his journal, "I found him [1833] in a state of starvation. I gave him clothing, free access to my table and the use of a horse...-- in fact brought him up from the very verge of despair. I then got him employment...in one department of the editorship of the Southern Literary Messenger at Richmond [Va.]. His talents made that periodical quite brilliant....But he was irregular, eccentric, and querulous.... He always remembered my kindness with gratitude.... He is gone. A bright but unsteady light has been awfully quenched."
Kennedy, J.P. 9-Helped Edgar Allen Poe Cont'd. In 1867, 18 years after Poe's death, when Kennedy was asked to verify a photo of Poe, he wrote to the inquirer: "I was very intimate with Poe during the period of his residence in this city and followed...his unhappy career with great interest after he left us.... His [life] was debauched by the most groveling appetites and exalted by the richest conception of genius.... Our country has produced no poet or prose writer superior to him.... This photograph is very good, though it does not belong to his best days." (Poe is now regarded as a literary genius; Kennedy, his mentor, is largely forgotten). Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 10-Lady Franklin's Appeal. The late 1840s and early '50s saw several international searches for British Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, lost on his second Arctic exploration, with two ships and 137 seamen, never seen again after May 18, 1845. Lady Jane Franklin (1792-1875) appealed to U.S. Pres. Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 12th U.S. president during 1849-50, and the U.S. Congress to search for her lost husband and the other seamen. Her appeal led to the first U.S. Grinnell Expedition (1851-52), which failed to find Sir John Franklin. See: Kane, Elisha Kent. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 11-Grinnell's Offer of Ships. Also touched by Lady Franklin's appeal and wanting to help, GP learned that U.S. Sen. from N.Y. Hamilton Fish (1809-93) had presented a memorial to Congress from NYC shipping merchant Henry Grinnell (1799-1874) asking for U.S. Navy support for a Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 12-GP's Financial Offer. GP also heard that the U.S. Congress had been asked for funds but had delayed making appropriations. On March 4, 1852, GP offered through NYC business associate William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62) $10,000 to aid the search. Wetmore wrote to William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), another GP business associate in Washington, D.C., to verify Congress's intent through Sen. Hamilton Fish. With Grinnell's offer of ships and GP's financial offer, U.S. Navy Secty. J.P. Kennedy authorized 10 U.S. naval volunteers and placed Grinnell's two ships, the 144-ton Advance and the 91-ton Rescue, under the command of U.S. Navy Capt. Elisha Kent Kane (1820-57), M.D., who had been the U.S. Naval medical officer on the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition, 1850-52. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 13-U.S. Navy Secty. Kennedy. Kane publicized GP's $10,000 gift for scientific equipment, which helped secure aid from the Smithsonian Institution, the Geographical Society of N.Y., and the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Dining with Dr. Kane, Kennedy wrote in his journal (Dec. 5, 1852): "Pleasant little party at dinner with Dr. Kane of the Arctic Expedition and Lt. Gillis of the Astronomical Dept. [James Melvin Gillis, 1811-65]... Kane had brought his drawings--a rich portfolio of Polar scenes--to show us. I have given him permission to go again, at the request of Lady Franklin on the new expedition recently set on foot by Mr. Henry Grinnell and Mr. Peabody." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, VIIg (June 1, 1852 to July 17, 1852), entry Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 1852, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 14-Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition. Kane rushed into print his account of the First U.S. Grinnell Expedition before leaving NYC on the Advance on May 30, 1853, for Smith Sound in the Arctic. The Advance became frozen in the Arctic. On May 24, 1855, Kane and his men abandoned ship, trekked 1,300 miles in 84 days during which one-third of the crew perished, and the remainder were saved by a passing Danish vessel. Kane wrote to GP of his ill-fated voyage. To spread the news quickly, GP had the correspondence published in newspapers. Ref.: London Times, Oct. 26, 1855, p. 7, c. 5; London Morning Post, Oct. 26, 1855.
Kennedy, J.P. 15-Initiated U.S. Arctic Exploration. To Lady Franklin, GP wrote: "Having been instrumental in promoting Docr. Kane's expedition in search for your late lamented husband...I have...felt much anxiety for their safety & it is therefore a great relief to my mind that Docr. Kane and so large a portion of the brave men [with] him safely arrived in their own country." Later explorers found conclusive proof that Sir John Franklin had died, June 11, 1847, and that all of his crew had perished. Kane's book on the Second U.S. Grinnell Expedition was the most read of all early books on the Arctic, helped remove the Arctic terror in the public mind, and led to the more successful U.S. Arctic exploration by Adm. Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920). Ref.: GP to Lady Franklin, Oct. 27, 1855, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Kennedy, J.P. 16-Peabody Bay off Greenland. Kane's most objective critic wrote: "Kane's expedition was rich in results. [His] expedition discovered and indicated approximately the boundaries of Kane's Basin and the southern part of Kennedy Kanal [named after U.S. Naval Secty. J.P. Kennedy]." Kane, who also named Peabody Bay off Greenland in appreciation for GP's financial help, wrote: "The large bay which separates it (Washington Land) from the coast of Greenland and the Glacier I have described bears on my chart the name of our liberal country-man and contributor to the expense of the expedition, Mr. George Peabody." Ref.: Kane-c, p. 8; New York Daily Times, Oct. 12, 1855, p. 1, c. 1.
Kennedy, J.P. 17-White House Desk. Of related interest is that in the search for Sir John Franklin, the British ship HMS Resolute was abandoned in the Arctic ice. A Capt. Buddington of the U.S. whaler George Henry found and extricated the Resolute. The U.S. government purchased the damaged Resolute, repaired it, and returned it to Britain as a gift. When the Resolute was broken up, Queen Victoria had a massive desk made from its timbers and presented it to the U.S. President. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (1929-94) found that desk in a storeroom in 1961, and had it placed in the Oval Office for Pres. John F. Kennedy's (1917-63) use. Famous photos showed Pres. Kennedy's young son John Kennedy (1960-99) playing under that desk. Pres. Clinton returned the desk to the Oval Office in 1993. Ref.: Wilson, P.W., p. 50.
Kennedy, J.P. 18-PIB Origins. GP early determined to found an educational institution in towns and cities where he had lived and worked. He founded his first Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Mass. (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), June 16, 1852, to which he gave a total of $217,000 (1852-69). With that first gift he sent his philanthropic motto: "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." In 1854, seeking a plan for an educational gift for Baltimore, where he had worked for 22 years (1815-37), he conferred with Baltimore lawyer and statesman Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876), arriving in London as U.S. arbiter in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. GP urged Johnson to confer with other Baltimore leaders about an educational institution for Baltimore. Back in Baltimore Reverdy Johnson talked to John Pendleton Kennedy and William Edwards Mayhew. See: Charles James Madison Eaton. PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 19-PIB Plan Needed. J.P. Kennedy recorded in his journal (Dec. 8, 1854): "This morning Reverdy Johnson called. He has just returned from London. He wanted to tell me [that] Mr. Peabody desires to found some great charitable establishment for the benefit of the City of Baltimore. Thinks a school or a large and useful foundation may be the best. He wishes Reverdy Johnson and myself and Mr. Mayhew to digest some plan to which he says he will contribute $100,000 or $150,000 if necessary, and will afterwards bequeath some three or four hundred thousand more. He wants an advertisement to be made for a plan of organization and buildings, which will be published in the United States and in England. Johnson wants me to prepare something to be sent out to Mr. P. by the next steamer. I promise to do it." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, VII (July 1, 1854-July 31, 1855), entry Dec. 8, 1854, pp. 197-199 ff, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 20-PIB Plan Needed Cont'd. Kennedy again recorded in his journal (Dec. 19, 1854): "I saw Mayhew yesterday and he showed me Peabody's letter from London, which requests him (Mayhew) together with Reverdy Johnson and myself to devise a plan for a large beneficent establishment for the City of Baltimore, which Mr. Peabody is anxious to institute--and to communicate with him on the subject. I tell Mayhew I will endeavor to plan something on a munificent scale which may serve to educate a large number of students in the most useful arts & sciences." Ref.: Ibid., entry Dec. 19, 1854.
Kennedy, J.P. 21-Kennedy's Plan. Kennedy's five-part PIB, based partly on London's British Museum, to which GP gave a total of $1.4 million (1857-69), consisted of 1-a specialized reference library, 2-music conservatory, 3-art gallery, 4-lecture hall and fund, and 5-annual prizes to Baltimore's best public school scholars--all to be administered jointly by PIB trustees and Md. Historical Society trustees, with the Society housed in the PIB building. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 22-Kennedy's Plan Cont'd. Baltimore, with over 200,000 population, was a thriving port city; a commercial, industrial, and shipbuilding center; but was culturally inferior to NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia. Baltimore was then the only major U.S. city without a noteworthy univ. or art gallery or music school or public library. News of a GP-endowed and Kennedy-conceived PIB cultural center attracted favorable press attention and public appreciation. But Civil War divisions soon split the trustees into hostile camps, Confederate vs. Union, hampered site selection, delayed building plans, and almost ruined the grand conception. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 23-GP's June 13, 1856, London Dinner. J.P. Kennedy visited London and attended GP's June 13, 1856, dinner to introduce incoming U.S. Minister to Britain George Mifflin Dallas (1772-1864). Kennedy and GP likely spoke of PIB plans but Kennedy's journal entry does not mention it. Kennedy recorded, June 13, 1856: "A great banquet given by Mr. P., with tickets to the Concert there at 3.... We got to dinner about 7. We number nearly 130." Kennedy's later journal entries read: "June 17. Visit Peabody etc.,--see the papers [GP's office received major U.S. newspapers and journals for U.S. visitors' use]. June 19. Peabody takes us to the Royal Opera house. July 19. Then to Old Broad and see Peabody who lectures me for not having come to his Fourth of July dinner." See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Kennedy, J.P. 24-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. GP was then planning a U.S. visit to see family and friends, and particularly to found the PIB. During this eleven month U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug, 19, 1857), his first in nearly 20 years (1837-56), J.P. Kennedy worked closely with GP to prepare the Feb. 12, 1857, PIB founding letter, which received much acclaim. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 25-Kennedy on GP in Baltimore, 1857. Kennedy's journal entries: "Monday, Jany 26 [1857]: ...I learned that Mr. Geo. Peabody who left London in September and has been spending his time in the North has arrived today in this city. He has been anxiously looked for some days, and preparations are made here to give him a most hospitable reception." "Tuesday, Jany 27: I call and see Peabody at Barnums [hotel]. The Historical Society have determined to give him an entertainment in their rooms on Friday night. I have subscribed 20 dollars for this purpose." Ref.: Kennedy journal, VIIj (August 1, 1855-March 14, 1857), entries as dated above, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 26-Kennedy on GP in Baltimore, 1857, Cont'd.: "Wednesday, Jany 28: I am obliged to go to the rooms of the Historical Society to accompany the committee of which I am a member to wait on Mr. Peabody. I attend them to Barnums where we sit with the Lion about an hour.... Tonight I am invited to Wm. B. McKims--a supper given to Peabody--but finding that I have taken a cold by my exposure this morning I decline going." "Thursday, Jany 29: Very disagreeable weather.... I am invited to dine tomorrow with Mr. Mayhew--a dinner to Peabody--I am obliged to decline" [has a cold]. "Friday, Jany 30: A splendid reception this evening at the Md. Hist. Society rooms. Much speaking. Latrobe takes my place, as I cannot attend." Ref.: Ibid., entries as dated above. Scharf-a, p. 552. PIB, Founders, pp. 49-50. Sun (Baltimore), Jan. 30, 1857, p. 3, c. 1; Jan. 31, 1857, p. 2, c. 5; and Feb. 2, 1857, p. 1, c. 4-5. Historical Magazine, Vol. 1 (1857), pp. 76-77. See: Md. Historical Society (for its Jan. 30, 1857, GP reception). Md. Institute (for its Feb. 2, 1857, GP reception). PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 27-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: Mr. Mayhew called to talk to me about Peabody's purpose to establish some useful public institution in Baltimore, in regard to which Peabody wrote from London some two years ago to Mayhew, asking him to confer with Reverdy Johnson and myself to suggest some scheme of this kind. Johnson never met us, and I could do nothing without having further instructions from Peabody." Ref.: Kennedy journal, VIIj (August 1, 1855-March 14, 1857), entry Feb. 5, 1857, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 28-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: I have thought over this matter heretofore and told M.[ayhew] I could submit a plan, but did not know how far it fell in with Mr. P's. notions. I tell M.[ayhew] that I will now put its general outline on paper in a letter to him, and he promises to come for this tomorrow morning when we will go and have an interview with Peabody on the subject and I can then explain my scheme more fully. I accordingly write a hasty letter embodying the outline or leading features of my plan to be submitted to Mr. P. with a personal explanation of the details to carry it into execution." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 29-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Thursday, Feby 5 [1857]: I tell Mayhew in our interview that $100,000 offered to be given by Mr. Peabody, will not be sufficient for an effective institution, and that I think if Mr. P. wishes to do something that will be permanently useful he should make it upon a basis that will be sufficient to sustain the institution by the fund given it, as we cannot expect much aid, if any, from the population of this City, who are not much inclined to contribute to public endowments. My letter therefore presents a pretty broad and comprehensive plan which will require a large amount--certainly not less than double the amount he has proposed to give." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 30-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Friday, Feby 6: I am to dine today with Tom Swann the Mayor who entertains Peabody.... We have a large party...--over 82...a sumptuous dinner--and a great deal of talk as usual about wine...." "Saturday, Feby. 7: At 12 Mr. Mayhew calls to go with us to see Peabody who is confined to his bed by gout. We confer on the Institute. Peabody approves my plan in all particulars and wants it done speedily. Make[s] $300,000 available. Suggests immediate purchase of large lot which will permit future extension if needed. Prefers a lot with buildings already on it to draw income from them. Suggests we buy extra land nearby and sell at profit when project is complete." Ref.: Ibid., entries as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 31-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: Wants Institute building to fit the taste of the city. Do not spare expenses. He wants a most capacious lecture room and a splendid music saloon. Must provide ample and convenient accommodations for the Maryland Historical Society which is to be the...Director of the trust. His final injunction to us is to relieve him of further care, to prosecute it vigorously, and please ourselves in the plan. He asks me to prepare a clause for his (Peabody's) will giving $200,000 more to the Institute. He mentions Charles Eaton as an active coadjutor...." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 32-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: Peabody speaks of the amplitude of his means to accomplish this purpose and others, and told us that eight years ago his revenue was $300,000 a year and has been increasing ever since.... He told us in confidence that he plans to return permanently to America and would show his gratitude to the City of London for his success there, by leaving, if his fortune should admit it, £100,000 sterling [$500,000] to some useful charity there. That he did not wish to bring away all the money he had amassed in England, but to manifest his regard for the country by leaving a good portion behind to some institution, hoping by this to promote kindness and respect between the people of the two countries." Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 33-Kennedy's Journal on PIB Creation Cont'd.: "Saturday, Feby. 7: What a noble, liberal and capacious principle of good feeling and elevated purposes actuate this man! How few like him in any country!" This Feb. 7, 1857 Kennedy journal entry contained GP's first mention (to Kennedy and Mayhew) of his still unformed but intended gift to London. That gift became the Peabody Donation Fund, March 12, 1862, now the Peabody Trust, to which he gave a total of $2.5 million (1862-69) for building model apartments for London's working poor. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 34-PIB Building Site Differences. Kennedy, as PIB trustee vice president, clashed over the building site with C.J.M. Eaton, trustee building committee chairman. Kennedy recorded (March 12, 1857): "We have got to wrangling about the object and the plan. One portion of the Board are narrow in their views and do not appreciate the object as they ought to. They would make it a kind of literary and gossiping Club house. I want a large lot and arrangement for an Institution that will be national as well as local. My impression is that for the sake of ample accommodations we should get a few acres of grounds in the suburbs--and there build on them according to our means.--I have no opinion of a Board to do any good work.--I begin to fear we shall not get on well." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 35-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. News that PIB property was being sought, Kennedy heard, had raised land costs. Lots outside Baltimore were offered free in hope that adjacent property would rise in value. Kennedy recorded (April 2, 1857): "I go to the Athenaeum rooms at 12 where I meet the Trustees of the Peabody Institute. The proposals to sell lots are reported--twenty-three offers--but all that are most desirable [are] so exorbitant they are inadvisable. We decline them all. Real property has gone up a hundred per cent since the Peabody donation. The committee are directed to continue their search in their own way." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 36-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. Kennedy wanted a large lot of 200 or more square feet for later expansion. He proposed an available city reservoir lot outside Baltimore. Eaton objected, wanting a small lot of 100 square feet in the city. Kennedy recorded (April 23, 1857): "My offering this proposition kindles great irritation in Eaton, the Chairman of the Building Committee, who treats it very rudely. He is in a most ridiculous state of petulance and nervous agitation, and makes some silly speeches today, in reply to [Mayor Thomas] Swann, who supports my resolution. He has been electioneering amongst the members of the Board and seems to have persuaded them that he can build and organize the institute upon a plan which will not require over 100 ft. lot.... After a great deal of wrangling we adjourn until tomorrow." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above. See: Charles James Madison Eaton.
Kennedy, J.P. 37-PIB Building Site Differences Cont'd. When GP returned to Baltimore from a southern tour, Kennedy recorded (May 12, 1857): "Peabody arrives here today. He sends for me and we have a good deal of conversation in reference to the proceedings of the Board of Trustees. The difficulties are in the selection of a site. We visit the several lots spoken of. He is greatly pleased with the lot at the corner of Mt. Vernon and Washington Place... The whole would cost upwards of $100,000." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 38-Kennedy Quoted GP as Saying: "'You know, my letter inculcates harmony of action, and I want you all to be satisfied.... They talk of making the building a monument to me. I do not want a monument. The monument will be in the usefulness of the Institute.'" Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 39-Kennedy-Eaton Clash on Site. Kennedy wrote (May 16, 1857): "Eaton has gone to work to reverse the decision of Thursday and to my utter astonishment succeeds. He represents Mr. Peabody as discontented with our decision for the college lot--that is to say disappointed." Kennedy thought the Mt. Vernon Place lot too expensive. He deplored Eaton's talk of hiring out halls and having shops on the first floor of the PIB as "quite incompetent," "not in keeping with Peabody's wish," and a "frivolous" [view ] "of mere ostentation." Kennedy confined his doubts to his journal. Eaton, not above slander, wrote to GP that a "disappointed politician makes an irritable trustee." Ref.: Ibid., entry as dated above.
Kennedy, J.P. 40-Early PIB Clash Told by Kennedy Biographer. “Forced by petty jealousy and snobbery to compromise,” wrote Kennedy’s biographer, Charles H. Bohner, “he [Kennedy] decided to resign but Peabody persuaded him to continue.” Bohner added: “Peabody, on his part, found that philanthropy embroiled him in the bickerings of men who grew officious when invited to spend his money.” Kennedy persisted, serving as elected PIB board of trustees president (1860 to his death in 1870), weathering two storms that threatened to end the grand PIB experiment: 1-the Panic of 1857 and 2-a near fatal clash between PIB and Md. Historical Society trustees over which would rule. Ref.: Bohner, p. 215.
Kennedy, J.P. 41-Panic of 1857. Early reports of financial difficulties worried GP, who left NYC Aug. 19, 1857, to face the Panic of 1857 in London. Pressed to pay outstanding bills and unable to collect what was owed to him by Boston's Lawrence, Stone & Co., GP borrowed £300,000 ($1.5 million) from the Bank of England, which he soon repaid, and emerged practically unscathed. Eaton and other trustees wrote GP that the PIB plans were on hold, that the trustees would not ask for money during the crisis and that a charter of incorporation had been secured on March 9, 1858. When the financial crisis eased, British-born architect practicing in Baltimore Edmund George Lind (1828-1909) planned a white marble building in grand Renaissance style, 150 feet long by 75 feet wide. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Kennedy, J.P. 42-Which Set of Trustees to Have Control? The PIB cornerstone was laid on April 16, 1859. On May 18, 1859, W.E. Mayhew wrote GP of growing apprehension about what role the Md. Historical Society would play in the PIB, about which set of trustees, PIB or Md. Historical Society, would have ultimate control. Eaton wrote GP that if the Society wished to withdraw it would be best to let them go and that GP could placate them with a contribution to their publication fund. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 43-GP's 1866-67 U.S. Visit. With the Civil War ended, GP prepared for a year's U.S. visit, May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867. While still in England he received a copy of the PIB trustees' Feb. 12, 1866, letter to the Md. Historical Society trustees. This troublesome letter asked the Md. Historical Society not to enter the PIB as outlined in GP's Feb. 12, 1857, founding letter. A Md. Historical Society committee responded with a lengthy denunciation on April 5, 1866, with a copy to GP, that recommended legal action to settle the dispute. Ref.: Ibid.
Kennedy, J.P. 44-GP's 1866-67 U.S. Visit Cont'd. GP was 71, often ill, knew he was nearing the end of life, with much still to do. He left England for the U.S. determined 1-to see relatives and friends, 2-to resolve the PIB-Md. Historical Society dispute and to dedicate and open the PIB, 3-to add to his institutes, 4-to found Peabody Museums at Harvard and Yale universities, and 5-to found the PEF and make other donations. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Kennedy, J.P. 45-PIB-MHS Clash. Rethinking the controversy, GP saw that the Md. Historical Society was in the right, that it would win a legal decision, and that he had to intercede to soften this dispute. J.P. Kennedy was also distraught and wrote in his journal (June 6, 1865): "I am myself responsible for Mr. Peabody's committing the Institute to the Society but this was done at a time when the Society nobly showed some appreciation of its object...." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal entry as listed above.
Kennedy, J.P. 46-PIB-MHS Clash Cont'd. Kennedy helped draft GP's conciliatory May 8, 1866, letter to the Md. Historical Society. In this letter GP acknowledged the Society's moral and legal right of entry into the PIB. He admitted the wrong done the Society by the PIB trustees. He said that one purpose of his U.S. visit was to see the PIB safely opened and that its opening depended on the Society's forbearance and good will. Noting the insurmountable difference, he humbly asked Society members as a personal favor to him to withdraw from the original agreement. Ref.: GP, Georgetown, Mass., to Md. Historical Society, May 8, 1866, PIB Archives. PIB, Founder's Letters, pp. 40-41. See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Kennedy, J.P. 47-PIB-MHS Clash Cont'd. GP's character cut through painful animosity built up over nine years. Md. Historical Society members decided at a May 24, 1866, meeting to relinquish the PIB role GP had originally assigned them. With the dispute thus muted, GP mingled with friends in Baltimore, where he was honored and fêted. He was present and spoke at the PIB dedication, Oct. 24, and at its opening, Oct. 25, 1866. He waited until Nov. 5, 1866, to thank personally Md. Historical Society members and asked to be allowed the privilege of contributing $20,000 to their publications fund. Ref.: Ibid. For GP's 1866-67 itinerary and philanthropic gifts, especially the Feb. 7, 1867, founding of the PEF, See: PEF. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP. PIB. 17-GP's Influence Through the PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 48-GP's London Dinner, July 9, 1858. J.P. Kennedy, again in England, attended GP's July 9, 1858, banquet at the Crystal Palace for 50 Americans, including U.S. Minister Dallas and family, and one Englishman, London Times editor Marmaduke Blake Sampson (d.1876). The previous day, U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86), often critical of GP, recorded: "Peabody was here this morning to invite the Dallases to his fête at the Crystal Palace to-morrow; but he would not take a seat when I asked him." See: Dinners, GP's, London. Moran, Benjamin.
Kennedy, J.P. 49-GP's London Dinner, July 22. 1858. On July 22, 1858, GP gave another dinner at the Star and Garter, Richmond, near London, attended by some 30 Britons and 60 Americans, including J.P. Kennedy. The guest of honor was John Young Mason (1799-1859), then U.S. Minister to France (during 1853-59) and former U.S. district judge in Va. J.P. Kennedy toasted "the City of London." New York Times editor Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820-69) toasted "the Press." Minister to France John Young Mason was born in Greenville, Va., educated at the Univ. of N.C., admitted to the bar (1819), was a judge in state and federal courts, served in the Va. Assembly, was a member of Congress (1831-37), was a U.S. judge in Va. (to 1844), was U.S. Navy Secty. (1844), and U.S. Minister to France. See: Dinners, GP's, London. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 50-GP-Kennedy Met 1865, 1868-69. GP, in Invergarry, Scotland, to recuperate from rheumatism in mid-Aug. 1865, heard that J.P. Kennedy would visit England in September. He wrote Kennedy to meet him in Liverpool, Sept. 30, 1865. They met for talks at the Queen's Hotel, Liverpool. They met again briefly on March 3, 1868, in Nice, France. Kennedy was en route to Rome, Italy. GP had just left Rome with philanthropic advisor Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), where they both had an audience with Pope Pius IX. After the brief visit with Kennedy in Nice, France, GP went to Cannes, France, March 16, 1868, where he visited George Eustis (1828-72), son in law of GP's longtime business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), whose only child, Louise Morris (née Corcoran) Eustis (1838-67), had recently died. Ref.: (Sept. 30, 1865): GP, Invergarry, Scotland, to John Pendleton Kennedy, Aug. 29, 1865, Kennedy Papers, PIB. For GP's visit to Rome, Italy, and Nice, France, 1868 , See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Kennedy, J.P. 51-GP-Kennedy Last Meeting, Sept. 20-21, 1869. The two friends, both ill and near death, last met on Sept. 20-21, 1869, near the end of GP's last U.S. visit (June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). GP wrote his last will (Sept. 9) and in Salem, Mass. (Sept. 10) ordered a granite sarcophagus and had a tomb built. He went from Boston (Sept. 19) to the Samuel Wetmore's (1813?-85) Newport, R.I., home to speak to J.P. Kennedy then visiting from Baltimore. Kennedy's journal recorded (Sept. 20): "I had an interview with Mr. P...[for] about an hour, which was [as] long as he had strength to talk to us. He was very feeble and lay on the sofa apparently short of breath....." Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, entry dated Sept. 20, 1869.
Kennedy, J.P. 52-GP-Kennedy Last Meeting, Sept. 20-21, 1869 Cont'd. GP wanted Kennedy to accompany him to Baltimore, but Kennedy was himself too ill. Kennedy's final entry (Sept. 21): "E. [Elizabeth, his wife] and I called upon him and after a short interview, took an affectionate leave, which both parties felt was probably a final one." This was Kennedy's last journal entry about GP, whom he had first known 55 years before as a brash soldier marching and drilling during the War of 1812, with a plume in his hat. Both were born in 1795; GP died Nov. 4, 1869, age 74, in London; John Pendleton Kennedy died Aug. 18, 1870, age 75, in Newport, R.I. Ref.: Kennedy's Journal, Sept. 21, 1869, pp. 372-375, Kennedy Papers, PIB.
Kennedy, J.P. 53-Last Connection. The last sad Kennedy-GP connection on Feb. 2, 1870, had to do with Robert E. Lee's possible attendance at GP's final funeral service in Peabody, Mass., and burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (both on Feb. 8, 1870). Robert Charles Winthrop, who was to give the GP eulogy, feared that Lee's appearance might create an incident. On Feb. 2, 1870, he wrote to Corcoran and Kennedy, two prominent southerners, to caution Lee not to attend. To Kennedy he wrote, "There is apprehension here, that if Lee should come to the funeral, something unpleasant might occur, which would be as painful to us as to him. Would you contact friends to impart this to the General? Please do not mention that the suggestion came from me." See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Persons named.
Kennedy, J.P. 54-Last Connection Cont'd. But Lee, too ill to attend (he died Oct. 12, 1870), wrote his daughter (Feb. 2,1870): "I am sorry that I could not attend Mr. Peabody's funeral, but I did not feel able to undertake the journey...." Ref.: Ibid.
Kent, Charles Stanton (1914-69), was the PIB Conservatory of Music's sixth director during 1963-67 (four years). See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. GP gave Kenyon College $25,000 on Nov. 6, 1866, for a professorship of mathematics and civil engineering. See: McIlvaine, Charles Pettit. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Ketchum, Morgan & Co. Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), GP's partner in George Peabody & Co. (1854-64), had in 1834 at age 21 been a partner in Ketchum, Morgan & Co., a private bank on Wall St., NYC.
Key, Francis Scott (1779-1843), a young lawyer, was a gunner in the battery at Fort Warburton, Md., War of 1812, when GP served briefly (July 15-26, 1813) and in the same area as a private soldier. The next year while detained by the British fleet during the bombardment of Fort McHenry near Baltimore, Francis Scott Key began composing "The Star Spangled Banner." See: War of 1812.
Key, Philip Barton (d.1859). 1-Francis Scott Key's Son. Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), was shot to death on Feb. 27, 1859, in Washington, D.C., by then U.S. Sen. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) for Key's alleged inappropriate attentions to Sickles' wife. Sickles, a controversial figure, was acquitted of the murder charge as of unsound mind. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Key, P.B. 2- Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854. Sickles' frictionable connection with GP occurred over four years earlier at a GP-sponsored July 4, 1854, U.S.-British Friendship dinner in London. Sickles, a super patriot in a time of U.S. jingoism, was then U.S. Legation Secty. in London under U.S. Minister to Britain James Buchanan (1791-1868, 15th U.S. president during 1857-61). Objecting to GP's toast to Queen Victoria before a toast to the U.S. President, Sickles, stiff and red-gorged, remained seated and then indignantly walked out of the dining room. Sickles soon after initiated a press campaign vilifying GP as toadying to the British. Ref.: Ibid.
King, Edward Augustin (active 1840s+), Warwick St., Charing Cross, London. He acted as lawyer for) John Wellington Starr (c.1822-46), Cincinnati, Ohio-born inventor of an electric light (bulb) and secured for Starr but in his [King's] name, English Patent No.10,919 in London in 1845 for that invention. Although there is no supporting documentation among GP's papers, various articles state that GP was among those asked to finance the invention. Starr's death and burial (1846) in Birmingham, England halted exploitation of his invention, perfected in 1879 By Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931). See: Starr, John Wellington. See: Ref.: g. Internet, Starr, John Wellington.
Kingsbury, John (1801-74), was an educator said to have conducted the first R.I. high school for women, a school attended by Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (later Mrs. Alexander Lardner, 1819-1905), who was engaged to GP in London in 1838 to about Jan. 1839, an engagement she broke off. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
GPCFT-Vanderbilt Univ.
Kirkland, James Hampton (1859-1939). 1-Vanderbilt Univ. Chancellor. Vanderbilt Univ.'s Chancellor J.H. Kirkland tried unsuccessfully to absorb GPCFT before its 1914 opening and during its early years. J.H. Kirkland was born in Spartanburg, S.C., graduated from Wofford College (B.A. 1877, M.A. 1878), taught Greek and German there (1881-83), earned a Leipzig Univ., Germany, Ph.D. degree (1885), taught Latin (1886-93), and as Vanderbilt Univ. chancellor during 1893-1939 increased Vanderbilt's endowment and reputation.
Kirkland, J.H. 2-Background. To transform the Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) into GPCFT (1914-79), the PEF trustees pledged $l.5 million, contingent on matching funds In 1911 Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937), GPCFT's first president, hired faculty and directed architects building the new campus next to Vanderbilt Univ. For a few years GPCFT was better endowed than Vanderbilt. Chancellor Kirkland strongly urged a Vanderbilt-GPCFT union like that of NYC's Teachers College of Columbia Univ. See: PCofVU, history of.
Kirkland, J.H. 3-GPCFT's First Pres. Payne. GPCFT Pres. Payne welcomed academic cooperation with Vanderbilt but was adamant about administrative independence from Vanderbilt. Payne saw GPCFT's future as a regional and national teachers college with emphasis on graduate work. Payne kept GPCFT independent but cooperated academically with Vanderbilt. GPCFT historian Sherman Dorn stated that: "By the mid-1920s, Bruce Payne headed an institution with all the hallmarks of the most elite schools and departments of education in the country..... It was similar in many ways to...Teachers College in New York and the University of Chicago's school of education...." Ref.: Dorn-b. Dorn-a, pp. 2-3. Payne, M.C., Jr., pp. 4-5.
Kirkland, J.H. 4-GPCFT Independent, 1914 to July 1, 1979. Payne's grandson wrote that "Peabody was the largest graduate school in the South with the largest graduate faculty. During the 1930s more Peabody faculty were presidents of American learned societies than any other institution in the South." For a J.H. Kirkland scheme in 1900-01 involving Daniel C. Gilman for a GPCFT-Vanderbilt Univ. amalgamation, see: PCofVU, history of. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, see PCofVU, history of.
Knight, Edgar Wallace (1886-1953), was a Univ. of N.C. (Chapel Hill) prof. of U.S. educational history who in several books wrote of the influence of the PEF: 1-"The Peabody Fund was a highly beneficial influence to education in the South." 2-"The Peabody Fund...was not only the earliest manifestation of a spirit of reconciliation on the part of the Northern man toward the southern states, but it was also one of the largest educational blessings which ever came from the outside to that section of the country." Ref.: Knight-a, p. 393. Knight-c, p. 555. See: Hall, Clifton Landon. PEF.
Knox, Elizabeth. For an alleged GP-Elizabeth Knox romance, see Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox). Jones, Frank Nicholas. Romance and GP. For her portrait, see Ref.: g. Internet, under Peabody Art Collection, Md. State Archives.
Knox, Samuel, was the father of Elizabeth Knox (above). See Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson. Frank Nicholas Jones. Romance and GP.
Hungarian Freedom Fighter Lajos Kossuth
Kossuth, Lajos (1802-94). 1-Hungarian Freedom Fighter. Lajos (Louis) Kossuth was a Hungarian freedom fighter during the Revolution of 1848. In 1850 GP was asked to contribute funds for Kossuth's escape from jail in Turkey. Background: Crop failures in parts of Europe in 1846-48 hastened national uprisings already in progress in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy in Feb.-March 1848. These national uprisings were soon crushed. Many in Britain and the U.S. especially favored Lajos (Louis) Kossuth's seeming success in creating a Hungary independent of Hapsburg rule in March 1848. In 1849 when Russian troops intervened on the side of Austria in a Hungary-Austria conflict, Kossuth was forced to flee to Turkey, where he was arrested and jailed. In London a secret plan was formed for Kossuth's escape.
Kossuth, Lajos. 2-Funds Needed for Escape Plan. In Oct.-Nov. 1850 a David Hoffman (1784-1854, see note below) wrote GP that the escape plan required horses, carriages, and two ships at different points, costing ƒ200 (about $1,000). The plan was in readiness but ƒ80 (about $400) was lacking. Hoffman wrote that there was no one else to turn to but GP and promised not to publicize the gift if GP so desired. GP asked for the names of sponsors of this plan and was given the names of Liberal MP William [sic?] Cobden [?Richard Cobden, 1804-65] and five others. Ref.: David Hoffman to GP, undated and Nov. 4, 1850, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. [Note: the letter writer may have been David Hoffman (1784-1854), a Baltimore-born lawyer, Univ. of Md. Law professor, and land agent for Calif. impresario John Charles Frémont (1813-90), who was in London during 1847-53. Ref.:, Bloomfield, pp. 938-939.
Kossuth, Lajos. 3-Kossuth Escape Successful. GP offered ƒ50 (about $225) if the liberators were certain of success. Hoffman wrote that the escape could not be guaranteed but that GP's aid would help assure success. Kossuth did escape and made a triumphal tour in Britain and the U.S. in 1851-52. Ref.: Ibid.
Kossuth, Lajos 4-Career. Kossuth was a lawyer and a nationalist member of the Hungarian parliament. He was jailed during 1837-40, released, led the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, was finance minister and then president of the short-lived Hungarian republic. He lived in exile in England to 1865 and then in Italy where he died in 1894. Ref.: Ibid.
Kuhlman, A. Frederick (1889-1986) was the American Library Association representative sent to study Joint University Library needs in Nashville. He was its first director from 1941. See: Jean and Alexander Heard Library of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville. PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
L
Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Ladies Newspaper, London. 1-First Article About GP. The first article about GP in Ladies Newspaper and Pictorial Times, July 26, 1851, p. 43, reported favorably on GP's first large-scale U.S.-British July 4, 1851, friendship dinner at Willis's Rooms, London, in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851, London. The Duke of Wellington as guest of honor plus over 800 guests helped make it a newsworthy dinner. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Ladies Newspaper, London. 2-Second Article About GP. The second article about GP in Ladies Newspaper, July 31, 1869, p. 64, c. 1, reported that a bronze model of U.S. sculptor William Wetmore Story's (1819-95) seated statue of GP was poured and cast in Munich, Germany, and that the statue was unveiled July 23, 1869, by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (1841-1910), on Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange. The Prince eulogized GP and praised W.W. Story and U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), both of whom also spoke. See: Statues of GP. For a replica of Story's seated statue of GP erected in front of the PIB, April 7, 1890, see Garrett, Robert.
GP Portrait by James Read Lambdin
Lambdin, James Read (1807-89). 1-Painted GP's Portrait. Artist James Read Lambdin painted a portrait of GP in 1857. GP sat for this portrait partly in Baltimore and partly in Philadelphia (Jan. 10-18, 1857) during his year-long U.S. visit, Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857. Lambdin's portrait of GP (the original is in the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore) is mentioned in the article "Baltimore's 150th Birthday," Maryland History Notes, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Nov. 1947), pp. 1-2 (the PIB Art Catalog also listed a copy of Lambdin's 1857 portrait of GP in its possession). See: Eaton, Charles James Madison.
Lambdin, J.R. 2-GP Portrait by C. Harding. The article also has a print on p. 1 of a GP portrait by U.S. artist Chester Harding (1792-1866), in oil on canvas, 30" x 25," in an oval frame. Under the print of Harding's GP portrait is written: "Painted during the early years of his maturity" (probably when GP was in his thirties). Harding's portrait of GP was donated to the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, by Mrs. Charles R. Weld (née Frances Eaton), died March 13, 1947, believed descendant of Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93), one of the original PIB trustees. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lambdin, J.R. 3-GP Indifferent to Art. In Philadelphia with GP when he sat for his portrait by artist James Read Lambdin (Jan. 10-18, 1857) were his niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835; GP was paying for her finishing school education in Philadelphia) and Baltimore friend Charles James Madison Eaton. Lambdin, who was also director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, gave them a tour of the art gallery. GP preferred to sit on a bench and wait for their return. Lambdin later recorded GP as saying: "I do not feel much interested in such matters. You may be surprised when I tell you that, although I have lived for twenty years within pistol shot of the Royal Academy and the National Gallery in London, I have never been within their walls." Ref.: Ibid.
Lambdin, J.R. 4-GP Indifferent to Art Cont'd. Lambdin, who had urged the art gallery tour, hoping that GP might make a gift to it, later recorded: "Such was the personal appreciation by this good man of those arts, the value of which he has since acknowledged by his princely gifts to the institution bearing his name. I need not say that after this confession the subject nearest to my heart was left unmentioned." Ref.:Ibid.
GP’s Business Friend Curtis M. Lampson
Lampson, Curtis Miranda (1806-85). 1-Longtime Business Friend. Curtis Miranda Lampson, London-based merchant-banker, was GP's longtime intimate friend and business associate for over 30 years. He was born in Newhaven, Vt., was a London resident after 1830, was successful in the fur trade, had English-born children, became a naturalized British subject (May 14, 1849), was head of C.M. Lampson & Co., London; and was created a baronet (Nov. 16, 1866) for his work as a director (since 1856) and later vice chairman of the Atlantic Cable Co. (GP was also a director). Ref.: Mitman, Vol. 10, p. 566. Lampson's third great grand niece and family archivist is Patricia Walker, e-mail (June 2005): prairiebird@myfamily.com (and/or) lampwalk@yahoo.com
Lampson, C.M. 2-Junius S. Morgan as GP's Partner. In 1854, seeking a partner for George Peabody & Co. (GP was then near age 60 and frequently ill), GP considered Lampson, 11 years younger than himself. But wanting an American partner, GP chose instead Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose son John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) began his international banking career as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
GP’s Gift to London
Lampson, C.M. 3-Gift Idea for the London Poor? Returning to London from a year's U.S. visit, GP, in 1857, conferred with Lampson about a gift to London. They discussed and soon discarded the idea of a network of purified water fountains in London. In the winter of 1857-58, GP discussed his intended London gift with visiting friend Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), Episcopal Bishop of Ohio. They talked of aiding and expanding England's Ragged School Union, private charitable schools for the poorest children. Tax supported public schools were not then fully developed in England. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Lampson, C.M. 4-Lord Shaftesbury Suggested Low-Cost Housing. At GP's request Bishop McIlvaine conferred with social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85), head of the Ragged School Union. Shaftesbury said that the London poor's greater need, more than schooling for their children, was affordable housing. This suggestion led to GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund whose trustees built and managed model apartments for London's working poor (GP's total gift was $2.5 million). Lampson was one of the original trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund. Ref. Ibid. (Note: For GP's Aug. 3, 1864, letter to Lampson regarding a controversy with U.S. sculptor Hiram Powers [1805-73] about a bust of GP, see Powers, Hiram).
GP’s Last Illness & Death
Lampson, C.M. 5-GP's Death and Funeral. It was to Lampson's London home, 80 Eaton Sq., that a gravely ill GP went (Oct. 9, 1869) after his last U.S. visit. GP died there Nov. 4, 1869. It fell to Lampson to notify GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), who embarked for England to return GP's remains for burial in Salem, Mass. But letters to London newspaper editors for public honors for GP, Alabama Claims angers, and a confluence of other forces turned GP's funeral into an unprecedented 96-day transatlantic affair marked by pomp, ceremony, and publicity at each stage. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Lampson, C.M. 6-Amid U.S.-British Civil War Angers. GP died at the height of U.S.-British angers over the Trent Affair (Nov. 8, 1861, U.S. illegal seizure and removal of four Confederate agents from a British ship) and the Alabama Claims (U.S. demand for reparations for British-built Confederate ships which cost U.S. lives and treasure). GP had long promoted U.S.-British friendship. His philanthropy had benefited both countries. To ease angers and animosities, and in genuine admiration for GP's philanthropy, British political leaders first, then U.S. political leaders, deliberately outdid themselves in unusual funeral honors. See: Alabama Claims. Death and Funeral, GP's. Trent Affair.
GP’s Funeral Events in England
Lampson, C.M. 7-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief. A Westminster Abbey funeral service and 30 days temporary Abbey burial on Britain's most hallowed ground (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). British cabinet decision on Nov. 10, 1869, to return GP's remains for burial in the U.S. on HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest warship, repainted slate gray above the water line, with a somberly outfitted mortuary chapel. Transfer by carriage from Westminster Abbey to Waterloo Station and a special funeral train to Portsmouth, England (Dec. 11, 1869). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 8-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. Ceremonial placing of GP's remains aboard HMS Monarch (Dec. 11, 1869). Awaiting the arrival of U.S. escort vessel, the corvette USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France (Dec. 6, 1869). Awaiting the end of storms at Spithead near Portsmouth for the transatlantic voyage (Dec. 21, 1869). Transatlantic crossing of HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth from Spithead, past Ushant, France, to Madeira island off Portugal, to Bermuda, and north to Portland, Me. (Dec. 21, 1869-Jan. 25, 1870). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 9-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. The U.S. Navy's decision (Jan. 14, 1870) to place Adm. David Glasgow Farragut (1801-70) in command of a U.S. Navy flotilla to meet the Monarch in Portland harbor, Me. (Jan. 25, 1870). The Monarch captain's request, on behalf of Queen Victoria, for GP's remains to stay aboard for two days as a last show of respect (Jan. 27-28, 1870). Ref.: Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 10-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. British-to-U.S. handing over ceremonies, Portland, Me. (Jan. 29, 1870). Lying in state at Portland City Hall (Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 1870). Special funeral train from Portland, Me., to Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1, 1870). Lying in state at the Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 1-8, 1870). Funeral service and eulogy by Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) at South Congregational Church, Peabody, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). Ref.:Ibid.
Lampson, C.M. 11-GP's Funeral Honors in Brief Cont'd. Final burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. (Feb. 8, 1870). GP's last will of Sept. 9, 1869, named Sir Curtis Lampson and Charles Reed (1819-81) as his British executors, to each of whom he left $25,000 (£5,000). Ref.: Ibid. Ref.: Boase-c, Vol. XI, pp. 473-474. Mitman, Vol. 10, p. 566. Wills, GP's. See: persons named.
Lampson, George (1833-99),was the brother of Henry Lampson, both sons of Lampson, Sir Curtis Miranda (1806-85, above).
Lampson, Henry, brother of George Lampson (1833-99), both sons of Lampson, Sir Curtis (1806-85, above).
Lampson, Lady, was Jane Walter Sibley (1810-91) of Sutton, Mass., who married Curtis Miranda Lampson in NYC on Nov. 30, 1827. Mrs. Curtis Miranda Lampson is mentioned in U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's (1820-86) journal entry (Nov. 12, 1869) as attending GP's funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey. Secty. Moran wrote: "The Prime Minister of England and the United States Minister stood near the head participating in the ceremony, while Mrs. Motley, Lady Lampson, Mrs. Morgan, and other American ladies were grouped at the foot." See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Moran, Benjamin. Lampson, Curtis Miranda. Ref.: g. Internet, under Lampson, Lady (which listed Sibley as her last (maiden) name and her death date).
Lampson, C. M. & Co., London, was the name of Curtis Miranda Lampson's investment firm. See: Lampson, Curtis Miranda (above).
Lancashire, England. To negotiate the sale of U.S. cotton in Lancashire, England, GP made the first of his five commercial trips abroad, 1827-37. He left NYC on the packet ship Florida Nov. 1, 1827, was greatly seasick, and returned to NYC Aug. 1828, a trip of nine months. Ref.: GP, NYC, to sister Mary Gaines (née Peabody) Marsh, Nov. 1, 1827, Peabody Papers, Yale Univ. Ref.: GP, Liverpool, to Riggs, Peabody & Co., Nov. 26, 1827, Peabody Papers, Boston Public Library Rare Book Room Ms. Collection. For poverty GP saw in Ireland, See: Little, Sophronia Phelps (née Peabody) (GP's youngest sister). Visits to Europe by GP.
Lancaster Academy. John Waters Proctor (1791-1874), GP's playmate and classmate in the same Danvers, Mass., District School, four years older than GP and from a better off family, attended Lancaster Academy. See: Proctor, John Waters.
Lane, Fitz Hugh (1804-65), marine artist. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.). 64-Collections.
GP & U.S. Pres. Buchanan's Niece
Lane, Harriet (1830-1903). 1-U.S. Pres. Buchanan's Niece. Harriet Lane was the niece of bachelor Pres. James Buchanan (1791-1868, 15th U.S. president during 1857-61). Buchanan was born near Mercersberg, Penn., was a lawyer, served in the Penn. legislature for two terms (from 1814), was U.S. Congressman (1821-31), U.S. Minister to Russia (1832-33), and U.S. Senator (1834-45). He became Harriet Lane's guardian in 1840, when she was age 11, on the death of her mother, his sister. He sent his niece to a private school, completed by two years at the Visitation Convent, Georgetown, D.C., school, and had her visit the White House when he was U.S. Secty. of State (1845-49). See: Buchanan, James.
Lane, Harriet. 2-Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854. At age 23, Harriet Lane accompanied her uncle to London where he was U.S. Minister to Britain (1853-56). She was his hostess at London social functions where she knew and was friendly with GP. She charmed British society, including Queen Victoria who gave her the rank of ambassador's wife. Harriet Lane was not involved when Buchanan's jingoistic U.S. Legation in London Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914) created an incident at GP's July 4, 1854, U.S.-British friendship dinner. See: Sickles, Daniel Edgar.
Lane, Harriet. 3-Sickles Affair, July 4, 1854 Cont'd. Super patriot Sickles refused to stand when GP toasted the Queen before toasting the U.S. President. Sickles, who sat in red-gorged anger while all others stood, then stalked out to show his disapproval. In a letters-to-the-editor campaign he accused GP of "toadying" to the British and maligned GP's patriotism. GP and some dinner attendees publicly refuted Sickles' charges. Buchanan, who spoke at the dinner, did not publicly censure Sickles, but was glad when his troublesome secretary returned to the U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Lane, Harriet. 4-Cordial to GP, Jan. 1857. During GP's Sept. 15, 1856-Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit, he was in Washington, D.C., Jan. 1857, but avoided Pres. Buchanan. Of this Washington, D.C., visit, GP wrote to his friend Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72): "Buchanan's friends are particularly attentive to me, but I refuse any interferences to bring us together without a direct explanation from him. I met Miss Lane who treated me with great cordiality." See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Lane, Harriet. 5-Cordial to GP, Jan. 1857 Cont'd. About avoiding Pres. Buchanan, GP's partner Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) wrote GP from London on March 13, 1857: "Your course respecting Mr. Buchanan strikes me as just the thing. It is for you to receive him if either is to be received, but any reconciliation now would look like truckling to a man because he happens to be in power." Ref.: Ibid.
Lane, Harriet. 6-Married Baltimorean H.E. Johnston. Harriet Lane, a gracious White House hostess, was politically astute, invited artists and politicians to White House dinners, and was a helpful advisor to Pres. Buchanan. Popular, with many suitors, she married Baltimorean Henry Elliott Johnston (1790?-1868), variously described as businessman, banker, lawyer; saw the death of her uncle, her two sons, and her husband; left her art collection to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and endowed for sick children the Harriet Lane Outpatient Clinic, Johns Hopkins Univ. Ref.: Boatner, pp. 470-471. Ref.: g. Internet, "Lane, Harriet," http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/glimpse/firstladies/html/115.html (Henry Elliott Johnston): Klein.
Sidney Lanier: Poet, Flutist, Lecturer in Baltimore
Lanier, Sidney (Clopton) (1842-81). 1-Southern Poet. In 1873 Asger Hamerik (1843-1923), PIB Academy (later Conservatory) of Music director from July 11, 1871, to 1898, for 27 years, hired poet-musician Sidney Lanier as first flutist in the Peabody Symphony Orchestra. Lanier, then a 31-year-old law clerk, had left his birthplace, Macon, Ga., to seek a music career in NYC. He stopped in Baltimore to visit his flutist friend Henry Wysham, through whom he met Asger Hamerik. Impressed when Lanier played his own flute compositions, Hamerik hired Lanier as first flutist. Relatively recently honored as a fine Southern poet, Lanier lived in Baltimore near the PIB for eight years and used its research library. He eeked out a poor living in Baltimore, teaching music privately, lecturing on music and English literature at the PIB and at Johns Hopkins Univ. (1879). He died in 1881 at age 39 of tuberculosis contracted when he was a Civil War prisoner. See: PIB Conservatory of Music.
Lanier, Sidney. 2-Career. Showing early intelligent interest in his mother's piano playing, Sidney began studying piano with his mother at age five. With little instruction he later played the organ, violin, guitar, banjo, and flute, at which he excelled. He graduated from Oglethorpe Univ. (1860-63), near the then Ga. capital of Milledgeville just before the Civil War, enlisted, was captured, was held in several military prisons including Point Lookout, Va., where he contracted tuberculosis (of which he died at age 39). He married in 1867, had children, worked in his father's law office, taught school at Prattville, Ala., spent significant time in Baltimore, and unsuccessfully sought to cure TB attacks in Texas, N.C. (Asheville, Tryon, Lynn). Ref.: "Sidney Clopton Lanier," 1 p. seen on the Internet May 20, 2000: http://users.erols.com/kfraser/lanier.htm
Lanier, Sidney. 3-At the PIB. Of Lanier's flute playing Asger Hamerik wrote: "His art was not only the art of art, but an art above art." A later critic wrote: "In [Lanier's] hands the flute was transformed into a voice that set heavenly harmonies into vibration." Most of his poetry, a novel, and other writings on poetry and music published during his lifetime drew only minor attention. Later, his works drew major attention. He has been honored as the Poet of the South and was elected to the N.Y. Univ. Hall of fame with his bust unveiled on Oct. 3, 1946. A Sidney Lanier Club, formed in Tryon, N.C., 1890, was renamed the Lanier Library Association, 1955. In Baltimore he was an indefatigable user of the PIB Library where, Vanderbilt Univ.'s English Prof. Edwin Mims (1872-1959) wrote: "One of [his] keenest pleasures…was to discover…a full record of the Lanier family in England," members of whom were sponsored by four consecutive English kings for their skill in poetry and music. Ref.: Lanier Library. Project Gutenberg Etext #1224, Sidney Lanier by Edwin Mims, dated Feb. 1998, seen May 24, 2000: ftp://sailor.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext98/lanrb10.txt
GP’s Broken Engagement
Lardner, Alexander (1808-48). 1-Married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin. Alexander Lardner, a Philadelphian, married Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905), to whom GP was engaged in 1838-39. Shortly before her trip to London for Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838) Esther Hoppin visited Philadelphia where she met Alexander Lardner. Their friendship ripened into love, but they parted, she to finish school in Providence, R.I., and to visit London for the coronation. See: Hoppin, Esther Elizabeth.
Lardner, Alexander. 2-GP-Hoppin Broken Engagement. In London GP met and fell in love with Esther Hoppin. She was 19, GP was 42. They were engaged. Esther, back in the U.S., again saw Alexander Lardner in Providence, R.I. The budding love of three years past returned. She realized her engagement to GP was a mistake, asked GP by letter to release her from the engagement, and returned his gifts of furs and jewelry. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 3-Philadelphia Bank Cashier. Esther Elizabeth Hoppin married Alexander Lardner Oct. 2, 1840, in Providence, R.I. They moved to Philadelphia, where Lardner was a cashier in the Bank of the U.S. They had two children. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 4-"his death is much lamented." When Alexander Lardner died in 1848, age 40, GP's close NYC business friend John Cryder wrote to GP, Jan. 27, 1848: "Poor Lardner died in Phila. a few days since leaving his young & interesting widow with two children & about $20,000. He was an excellent man & his death is much lamented." Esther Elizabeth (née Hoppin) Lardner died in 1905, outliving GP by 35 years and her husband Alexander Lardner by 57 years. Her portrait by Thomas Sully (1783-1872) in the Frick Art Reference Library, NYC, shows her in all her loveliness. Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 5-Remembered Romance. During the vast publicity at GP's Nov. 4, 1869, death and 96-day transatlantic funeral, the story of GP's broken engagement with Esther Hoppin appeared in some newspapers. The Providence Journal (Dec. 22, 1869) printed the following from an anonymous letter writer about the broken engagement: "I well remember, when in London, twenty-eight years ago, hearing all this talked over in a chosen circle of American friends; and also, at a brilliant dinner-party given by General Cass in Versailles, it was thoroughly discussed in all its length and breadth" (Gen. Lewis Cass [1782-1866], U.S. Minister to France during 1836-42). Ref.: Ibid. See: Cass, Lewis.
Lardner, Alexander. 6-Disappointed Love Affair? In his history of the PEF and biography of GP, Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903), second PEF administrator (during 1881-85, 1888-1903), quoted from an undated letter he received from the daughter of a Mr. Humphreys. She wrote that when GP arrived during a U.S. visit (no date given but likely May 1, 1866, in NYC), her father, a commercial friend of long standing, went to see GP and congratulated him on his amazing philanthropy. GP, then probably age 71, allegedly said quietly, "Humphreys, after my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that dedication to my best ability." See: Curry, Jabez Lamar Monroe.
Lardner, Alexander. 7-"important page in his life history." Humphreys' daughter added in her letter to J.L.M. Curry: "These expressions made to my father, and so far as I am aware, to him alone, referred to an incident which has had its day and among the circle of Mr. Peabody's friends, its halo of romance. Mr. Peabody's own touching reference to it can, after the lapse of so many years, be recorded without indiscrimination, as showing his own reading of an important page in his life history." Ref.: Ibid.
Lardner, Alexander. 8-Philanthropic Motive? If GP's alleged remark to Humphreys, "my disappointment long ago," referred to his broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin, Humphreys' daughter's letter is his only known indication that the loss of Esther Hoppin was a prime motive for his philanthropy. Ref.: Ibid.
Larsen, Henrietta M., was the author of Guide to Business History. Of Gustavus Myers' (1872-1942) History of the Great American Fortunes, critical of GP as an anti-Union and pro-Confederate financier, Larsen wrote: "Marxian in its thought framework and not concerned with a careful analysis of the men's business administration." Ref.: Larsen.
Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval (1803-91), was born in Philadelphia, became a lawyer (1825), was a B&O RR lawyer (1828-91), founded the Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts, and also founded and was president of the Md. Historical Society (1847). He spoke in praise of GP at the Md. Historical Society reception for GP on Jan. 30, 1857. John Hazlehurst Boneval Latrobe was the son of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1806-78), chief engineer of the B&O RR, and the grandson of Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (1764-1820), English-born first professional architect in the U.S. See: Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, Baltimore.
Laubat, Joseph Flourimund's Medallic History of the United States, 1776-1876 (New York: J.W. Boulton, 1878), Vol. 1, pp. 421-426, described the U.S. Congressional gold medal voted to GP, March 5-15, 1867, made by Starr and Marcus, NYC silversmiths and jewelers, displayed in Washington, D.C., May 26, 1868, seen by GP in London, Dec. 25, 1868, and sent for permanent keeping to the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. Laubat, Vol. II, plate 78, has etching of this medal by artist Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart (1837-80). Ref.: Laubat. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
GP & Abbott Lawrence
Lawrence, Abbott (1792-1855). 1-U.S. Minister to Britain. Abbott Lawrence, U.S. Minister to Britain during 1849-52, had important contacts with GP in London. Abbott Lawrence was born in Groton, Mass., and became a textile manufacturer and statesman. With his brother Amos Lawrence (1786-1852), he started cotton textile mills in Lowell, Mass., and in Lawrence, Mass. (named after him); was a member of the U.S. Congress (1835-37, 1839-40), served on the Northeast Boundary Commission (1842), and gave $50,000 to found the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard Univ. (1840s). It was during the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the world's first fair, that Abbott Lawrence, in the third of his four years as U.S. Minister, had close contact with GP. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Lawrence (1818-97), was one of the deputation from the Fishmongers', London, who called on GP, April 18, 1866, to offer him honorary membership. Others in the deputation were Walter Charles Venning (d. 1897), Prime Warden; William Flexman Vowler (d. Feb. 7, 1877); and George Moore (1806-76). GP gratefully accepted, explaining that he was leaving April 21, 1866, for a visit to the U.S. The membership scroll in a gold box worth 100 guineas (about $525), were mailed to him in the U.S., making him the 41st honorary member and the first U.S. citizen to be admitted to the Fishmongers' Co., whose ancient charter had been endorsed by 23 British monarchs. The membership scroll and box are among his honors in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Fishmongers' Co. Persons named.Great Exhibition of 1851, London
Lawrence, Abbott. 2-Great Exhibition of 1851, London, Origin. The first world's fair, 1851, London, catapulted GP, in a small way, and others to fame. The idea occurred to Henry Cole (1808-82), Society of Art (later Royal Society of Art) member, successful children’s book author, editor of several journals, assistant keeper of the Records Office, and British Post Office reorganizer. He attended the Paris Exposition, 1849, which showed only French industrial products. Later in London (June 29, 1849) talking to Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), Queen Victoria’s husband and president (1848) of the Society of Art, Henry Cole found royal support for a first world's fair. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Lawrence, Abbott. 3-Early Plans. Backed by Prince Albert, a Royal Commission was appointed (Jan. 3, 1850), approval sought from manufacturers in Britain and other countries, funds raised, Hyde Park chosen as the site, and 245 building designs received and rejected. About to choose their own design, the Building Committee received from Joseph Paxton (1801-65), the Duke of Devonshire's superintendent of gardens at Chatsworth, a hastily submitted sketch. Paxton's large, strikingly handsome crystal-like glass structure supported by barrel-like iron transepts, a sketch of which appeared in the Illustrated London News, July 6, 1850, won public favor and Royal Commission approval. Nine months later the majestic Crystal Palace arose on 20 acres of Hyde Park. Ref.: Ibid.
U.S. Exhibitors’ Lack of Funds
Lawrence, Abbott. 4-Crisis: Lack of Funds. U.S. participation was federally approved and largely state managed by hundreds of committee members. But when the U.S. Navy frigate St. Lawrence, with U.S. exhibits aboard, reached Southampton, England, early March 1851, a lack of money brought on a crisis. No one had thought to appropriate funds to ship the crated exhibits from Southampton to London's Crystal Palace, to uncrate them, or to decorate the large (40,000-square foot) U.S. exhibit space. The crated U.S. exhibits lay scattered like rubble. It was a chaotic laissez faire muddle. U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), without funds, the U.S. exhibitors, and the U.S. residents in London were all embarrassed. British ridicule appeared in the satirical Punch. Ref.: Ibid.
GP's Loan to U.S. Exhibitors
Lawrence, Abbott. 5-GP's Loan. "The whole affair looked like a disgraceful failure," a New York Times writer later recorded. "At this juncture Mr. Geo. Peabody, of whom not one exhibitor in twenty had ever heard, and who was personally unknown to every member of the [U.S. exhibitors], offered through a polite note addressed to Mr. Lawrence to advance £3,000 [$15,000] on the personal responsibility of Mr. [U.S. Commissioner Edward W.] Riddle and his secretary, Mr. [Nathaniel Shattwell] Dodge [1810-74]. This loan, afterward [three years later re]paid by Congress, relieved the Commission of its difficulties, and enabled our countrymen to achieve their first success in industrial competition with the artisans and manufacturers of Europe." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 6-GP's Loan to U.S. Exhibitors Cont'd. Partly through GP's loan over six million visitors to the first world's fair (May 1-Oct. 11, 1851, 144 days) saw displayed to best advantage U.S. manufactured products and arts. The U.S. items most talked about were Albert C. Hobbs's (1812-91) unpickable lock, Samuel Colt's (1814-62) revolvers, Hiram Powers' (1805-73) statue, the Greek Slave, Cyrus Hall McCormick's (1809-84) reapers, Richard Hoe's (1812-86) printing press, and William Cranch Bond's (1789-1859) spring governor. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 7-GP Proposal of July 4, 1851, Dinner. With the Great Exhibition of 1851 open in London, and amid jocular, often serious, international rivalries, GP proposed to give a U.S.-British friendship dinner. He chose July 4, 1851, U.S. Independence Day, which might appeal to Americans, but not to disdainful British. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s U.S.-British Friendship Dinners
Lawrence, Abbott. 8-Will British Society Attend? GP had on a small scale hosted U.S.-British friendship dinners before 1851. His motive in the dinners, as in making the loan to the U.S. exhibitors, was to improve U.S.-British relations. Anti-U.S. quips in London newspapers saddened him, as did anti-British reports in U.S. newspapers. He was painfully aware of past strained relations. It had been 10 years since the U.S.-British dispute over the Maine boundary, 37 years since the War of 1812, 75 years since the American Revolution. GP and his friends wondered if British society would attend? Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 9-"fashionables are tired of balls." GP sounded out his friends, especially U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Abbott Lawrence discreetly asked the opinion of London social leaders. On June 26, 1851, he found a wary reaction to the idea. In a private and confidential letter he warned GP: "Lady Palmerston was here. She has seen the leading ladies of the town and quoted one as saying the fashionables are tired of balls. I am quite satisfied that the fashionables and aristocracy of London do not wish to attend this Ball. Lady Palmerston says she will attend. I do not under those circumstances desire to tax my friends to meet Mrs. Lawrence and myself--Your party then I think must be confined to the Americans--and those connected with America, and such of the British people as happen to be so situated as to enjoy uniting with us." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 10-Duke of Wellington as Guest of Honor. Prospects looked dim. Wanting to build on the Great Exhibition spirit of goodwill, GP thought his dinner might succeed if a distinguished British hero was guest of honor. Through friends, GP approached the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley Wellington, 1769-1852), then England's greatest living hero. The man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo reportedly huffed, "Good idea." When it was known that the 84-year-old Duke of Wellington would attend, British society followed. GP's Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner succeeded enormously. Ref.: Ibid. See: Wellington, …Duke of.
Lawrence, Abbott. 11-July 4, 1851, Dinner, Ball, and the Duke. The Friday night, July 4, 1851, dinner was held at the exclusive Willis's Rooms, sometimes called Almack's. GP hired a professional master of ceremonies, a Mr. Mitchell of Bond St. On either end of the spacious ballroom were portraits of Queen Victoria and George Washington. Flowers were tastefully arranged. English and U.S. flags were skillfully blended. More than a thousand guests came and went that evening. Eight hundred sat down to dinner. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 12-July 4, 1851, Dinner, Ball, and the Duke Cont'd. Present were members of Parliament, former Tenn. Gov. Neill Smith Brown (1810-86, then U.S. Minister to Russia); London's Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress; Thomson Hankey (1805-93), the Bank of England's junior governor; Baroness Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), the 19th century's greatest woman philanthropist; Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace; and other English nobility. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 13-"See the Conquering Hero Comes." An orchestra played and a ball followed in a spacious ballroom decorated with medallions and mirrors, lit by 500 candles in cut-glass chandeliers. At 11 p.m. as the Duke of Wellington entered, the band struck up "See the Conquering Hero Comes." GP approached the "iron duke," shook his hand, escorted him through the hall amid applause, and introduced him to U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 14-July 4, 1851, Dinner Praised. The London Times reported that His Grace had a good time and left at a late hour. The same article referred to GP as "an eminent American merchant." The Ladies Newspaper printed a large woodcut illustration of GP introducing the Duke to Abbott Lawrence. Even the aristocratic London Morning Post took favorable note of the affair. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 15-"a most felicitous conception" U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, with pride and thanks, wrote to GP: "I should be unjust...if I were not to offer my acknowledgments and heartfelt thanks for myself and our country for the more than regal entertainment you gave to me and mine, and to our countrymen generally here in London." Lawrence went on: "Your idea of bringing together the inhabitants of two of the greatest nations upon earth...was a most felicitous conception...." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 16-"I congratulate you." Lawrence concluded: "I congratulate you upon the distinguished success that has crowned your efforts.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: (Abbott Lawrence praise), Abbott Lawrence to GP, July 5, 1851, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 17-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner for Departing U.S. Exhibitors. On Oct. 6, 1851, U.S. Commissioner to the Great Exhibition Charles F. Stansbury and other exhibitors, about to return to the U.S., invited GP to be guest of honor at a farewell dinner. He gratefully declined on Oct. 11, said they had overestimated his services, added that his l5 years in London had erased sectional and political difference, and that he did what he could to further the U.S. as a whole. This invitation may have prompted his own Oct. 27 dinner to the departing exhibitors. It was grander and better received than his July 4, 1851, dinner. Also, he had the proceedings and speeches recorded, printed, and beautifully bound copies distributed to U.S. and British officials. See: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Abbott. 18-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The Oct. 27, 1851, dinner was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, where Benjamin Franklin as American ambassador had met friends to discuss American colonial affairs over food and drinks. British and U.S. flags draped life-size paintings of Queen Victoria, George Washington, and Prince Albert. Pennants and laurel wreaths decorated the long hall. At 7:00 P.M. GP took the chair, grace was said, and dinner was served to 150 U.S. and British guests, many of them connected with the just-closed Great Exhibition of 1851, London. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 19-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Cont'd. The toastmaster, a Mr. Harker, began: "Mr. Peabody drinks to you in a loving cup and bids you all a hearty welcome." A U.S.-made loving cup of English oak, inlaid with silver, inscribed "Francis Peabody of Salem to George Peabody, of London, 1851," was passed around until each guest tasted from it. After dessert, GP rose and gave the first toast to, "The Queen, God bless her." All stood as the band played God Save the Queen. His second toast was to "The President of the United States, God bless him." All rose while Hail Columbia was played. His third toast to "The health of His Royal Highness Prince Albert" brought more flourishes of music. After U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence was toasted, the band played Yankee Doodle. Ref.: Ibid. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Lawrence, Abbott. 20-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Speeches. U.S. Minister Lawrence spoke of the many ties binding the U.S. and Britain. He praised Sir Joseph Paxton, "The man...who...[planned] a building such as the world never saw before." He praised Earl Granville (Granville George Leveson-Gower, 1815-91), who had "the skill and enterprise to execute the plan." He praised Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton (William Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1801-72), British ambassador to the U.S. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 21-"I clasp your hand." To the departing U.S. exhibitors Minister Lawrence said: "We came out of the Exhibition better than was first anticipated.... You will take leave of this country...impressed with the high values of the Exhibition...in the full belief that you have received every consideration." Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton, grasping the hand of Abbott Lawrence, said: "I clasp your hand as that of a friend and claim it as that of a brother. [Cheers!]." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 22-Bulwer-Lytton Cont'd.: "The idea of this Great Exhibition...was...to collect...the mind of the whole world, so that each nation might learn and appreciate the character and intelligence of the other." "You live under a Republic," he said to the Americans, "and we under a Monarchy, but what of that? The foundations of both societies are law and religion: the purpose of both governments is liberty and order." "Hand in hand," he concluded, "we can stand together...the champions of peace between nations, of conciliation between opinions." Ref.: Ibid. See: Dinners, GP's, London.
Lawrence, Abbott. 23-GP: "May these unions still continue." GP, ending the festivities, stood. When the cheers subsided, he said: "I have lived a great many years in this country without weakening my attachment to my own land.... I have been extremely fortunate in bringing together...a number of our countrymen...and...English gentlemen [of] social and official rank.... May these unions still continue, and gather strength with the gathering years." The proceedings lasted more than four hours. Good reports of its effect reverberated in the press. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 24-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Press Reports. The New York Times gave two full columns to the dinner. Another NYC newspaper stated: "George Peabody's dinners were timed just right. For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London with a host of American and English friends, brings them together. The thing works and...elicits applause and appreciation from both the American and English press." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 25-C.B. Haddock on Good Effect of GP's Dinner. Later, Great Exhibition participant Charles B. Haddock (1796-1861) wrote in a New Hampshire newspaper: "Mr. Peabody's dinner to the departing Americans had several good effects. (1) It highlighted American achievement at the Exhibition; (2) brought George Peabody into notice; (3) raised Abbott Lawrence's esteem as United States Minister to England." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 26-C.B. Haddock on Good Effect of GP's Dinner Cont'd. Haddock continued: "It is something to have sent to the Exhibition the best plough, the best reaping machine, the best revolvers--something to have outdone the proudest naval people in the world, in fast sailing and fast steaming, in her own waters.... Moreover, it is a great pride for America to have George Peabody and Abbott Lawrence in England who represent the best of America and uphold its worth and integrity." Haddock referred to the U.S. yacht America, which won the 1851 international yacht race, defeating the English yacht Baltic in British waters. The first prize (a silver tankard) was afterward known as America's Cup. Ref.: Ibid. See: America's Cup (1851). Persons named.
GP’s Social & Philanthropic Emergence
Lawrence, Abbott. 27-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Proceedings Book. GP commissioned Henry Stevens (1819-86) to compile and print in book form the dinner menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches. Barnet, Vt.-born Henry Stevens was a Yale College graduate (1841), Harvard Law School graduate, and from July 1845 a London resident rare book dealer and bibliographer. He bought U.S. books for the British Museum and sold British books to U.S. libraries. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 28-Dinner Proceedings Book to Pres. Fillmore. By Nov. 25, 1851, Stevens had 50 copies of the dinner proceedings book printed and bound in cloth and sent copies to departing U.S. exhibitors. Through U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, GP gave a copy printed on vellum to Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74). Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 29-Pres. Fillmore Acknowledged Dinner Proceedings Book. Pres. Fillmore acknowledged receipt and wrote to Abbott Lawrence: "From all I have heard of Mr. Peabody, he is one of those 'Merchant Princes' who does equal honor to the land of his birth and the country of his adoption. This dinner must have been a most grateful treat to our American citizens and will long be remembered by the...guests...he entertained as one of the happiest days of their lives.... The banquet shows that he still recollects his native land with fond affection, and it may well be proud of him." For details with sources of the Oct. 27, 1851, Proceedings book, its distribution, and acknowledgments, See: Dinners, GP's, London. See: persons named.
Lawrence, Abbott. 30-Dinner Proceedings Book to British Leaders. U.S. Minister Lawrence also sent copies on vellum to Prince Albert, The Duke of Wellington, and Lord Granville. Lawrence wrote to GP: "I have a note from Colonel Grey [1804-70], the Secretary of Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of your beautiful volume with expressions of thanks to you for it, from his Royal Highness." See:: Corcoran, William Wilson.
Lawrence, Abbott. 31-Dinner Proceedings Book Praised in Boston. U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence's son, after sending copies to Boston dignitaries, wrote to GP that the book was "much talked of in Boston and has been greatly praised." GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909) wrote his uncle from Harvard, where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact, you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 32-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts. Praise of GP in Baltimore newspapers may have prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make him an honorary member. He read a newspaper report of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry. GP sent $1,000 for a chemistry school to Md. Institute's Pres. William H. Keighler (1804-85) in his Oct. 31, 1851 letter, labeling the gift "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 33-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts Cont'd. This still little known gift began GP's educational philanthropy. The next year, June 1852, when his hometown of Danvers, Mass., celebrated its 100th year of separation from Salem, Mass., GP, who could not attend, sent his first check to found his first Peabody Institute Library, accompanied by a motto, "Education--a debt due from present to future generations." For GP's contact with Md. Institute Pres. W.H. Keighler, See:: Dinners, GP's, London. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 34-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner Led to GP's Gifts Cont'd. To Washington, D.C., friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), who had written to GP, "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman," GP answered: "However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out, and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 35-GP's Emergence: Social & Philanthropic. Thus, during Abbott Lawrence's years as U.S. Minister to Britain, GP emerged as a significant promoter of U.S.-British friendship. He told only a few intimates of his early determination to found an educational institution in each city where he lived and worked. Public praise for his loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and praise for his two Exhibition-connected dinners furthered that determination. GP emerged socially in the 1850s. In the 1860s he became the best known philanthropist of his time. Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 36-Death, Boston, 1855. Abbott Lawrence died in Boston Aug. 18, 1855. GP paid his last public tribute to Abbott Lawrence the next year, on Oct. 9, 1856, speaking at a reception for him in his hometown of South Danvers, Mass. Some 1,500 guests gathered to honor him on his first return visit to the U.S. after nearly 20 years' absence in London (since Feb. 1837). See:: South Danvers, Mass., Oct. 9, 1856, GP Celebration.
GP’s Last Tribute to A. Lawrence
Lawrence, Abbott. 37-GP's Last Tribute to A. Lawrence. Turning to Edward Everett (1794-1865), seated nearby (Everett had been U.S. Minister to Britain during 1841-45), GP said: "To no one can I turn more confidently for cooperation than to you, Sir, who filled with credit the office of United States Minister of England." Then, referring to Abbott Lawrence who had succeeded Edward Everett as U.S. Minister to Britain, GP reminisced: "The cornerstone of the Peabody Institute [of South Danvers, renamed Peabody in 1868] was laid by Abbott Lawrence, now gone, who followed worthily in Mr. Everett's footsteps. I admired his talents, respected his virtues, loved him as a friend. He too worked for conciliation and goodwill between the two countries. I pay tribute to his memory." Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 38-Descendants. Abbott Lawrence was the grandfather of American poet and critic Amy Lowell (1874-1925), astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916), and Harvard Univ.'s 24th president during 1909-33 Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856-1943). Ref.: Ibid.
Lawrence, Abbott. 39-Abbott Lawrence Evaluated. One source thus evaluated him: "Abbott Lawrence, a driving, forceful dynamo of a man, was likewise a railroad baron whose wealth and connections enabled him to get elected to Congress; his Cotton Whig interests, his friendship with men such as Daniel Webster, helped him to rise still higher in the political hierarchy.... Yet for all that plumage and wealth, what is truly noteworthy about him is that Abbott Lawrence was a self-made man, a boy from the Massachusetts countryside who rose to distinction through the force of ambition and power." Ref.: Heymann, p. 159. See: Dinners, GP's, London. U.S. Ministers to Britain.
Lawrence, Lawrence (1818-97), was one of the deputation from the Fishmongers' Co.,, London, who called on GP, April 18, 1866, to offer him honorary membership. Others in the deputation were Walter Charles Venning (d. 1897), Prime Warden; William Flexman Vowler (d. Feb. 7, 1877); and George Moore (1806-76). GP gratefully accepted, explaining that he was leaving April 21, 1866, for a visit to the U.S. The membership scroll in a gold box worth 100 guineas (about $525), were mailed to him in the U.S., making him the 41st honorary member and the first U.S. citizen to be admitted to the Fishmongers' Co., whose ancient charter had been endorsed by 23 British monarchs. The membership scroll and box are among his honors in the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass. See: Fishmongers' Co. Persons named.
Lawrence, Stone & Co., of Boston. In the Panic of 1857, when firms anxiously called in their debts, George Peabody & Co. of London was unable to collect from Lawrence, Stone & Co. of Boston, which owed a large sum. To save his own firm GP applied for and was granted a large loan from the Bank of England which he soon repaid. See: Panic of 1857.
Lawrence, Timothy Bigelow (1826-69). 1-Secretary to his Father, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), destined to be GP's philanthropic adviser and PEF trustee president (1866-94), sent GP a copy of his speech given at Harvard Univ. Winthrop's letter to Timothy Bigelow Lawrence, secretary to his father, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), was passed on to GP. It read: "Mr. Peabody was absent from London, I believe, when I was there in 1847; at any rate I did not have the pleasure of meeting him. I venture however to send him through you a copy of my late address at Cambridge. His late liberality at Danvers proves that he is mindful of the cause of good learning in his native State." Ref.: Timothy Bigelow Lawrence to GP, Sept. 14, 1852, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Lawrence, T. B. 2-Career. Timothy Bigelow Lawrence was Secty. of Legation, London, under U.S. Minister to Britain Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868) during 1852-53; London Attaché under Minister James Buchanan (1791-1868) during 1853-56; and Consul General at Florence, Italy (1857). Ref.: Wallace and Gillespie, eds., I, p. 5, footnote 1. See: Winthrop, Robert Charles.
GP’s Public Relations
Lawrence, William (1850-1941). 1-PEF Trustee. William Lawrence was a PEF trustee, born in Boston, graduated from Harvard College (1871) and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass. (1875), where he was also a professor and dean (1884-93). He was university preacher at Harvard Univ. (1888-91) and was elected American Episcopal Bishop of Mass. (1893-1926). Ref.: Curry-b.
Lawrence, William. 2-On GP's Sense of Public Relations. William Lawrence described the public relations value of GP's banquets for the PEF trustees and their wives (1926): "There was in Mr. Peabody a touch of egotism and a satisfaction in publicity which worked to the advantage of this fund; by the selection of men of national fame as trustees he called the attention of the whole country to the educational needs of the South and the common interests of North and South in building up a united Nation." Ref.: Lawrence, pp. 268-269, quoted in Taylor, p. 25.
Lawrence, William. 3-On GP's Sense of Public Relations Cont'd.: "The trustees brought their wives to the annual meeting in New York, and in the evening met at the most sumptuous [banquet] that the hostelry of those days, the Fifth Avenue Hotel, could provide; the report of which and of what they had to eat and drink was headlined in the press of the South and the North. This annual event took place upon the suggestion of Mr. Peabody and at the expense of the fund; and in its social influence and publicity was well worth the cost." Ref.: Ibid. For another account of PEF trustee meetings, See: Farragut, David Glasgow. PEF.
GP at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Lawton, Alexander Robert (1818-96). 1-Met GP, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Robert Alexander Lawton was a S.C.-born Confederate general who by chance met, talked to, and was photographed with GP (Aug. 12), then visiting the mineral springs health spa at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., July 23-Aug. 30, 1869. Gathered there by chance were key southern and northern political, military, and educational leaders. GP, ill and three months from death, was there to rest and recuperate. He and Robert E. Lee talked, dined, walked arm in arm, were publicly applauded, and photographed with other prominent guests. Informal talks of later educational consequence took place on southern public education needs. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Lawton, A.R. 2-Career. A.R. Lawton attended West Point Military Academy (1839), resigned (1840), graduated from Harvard Law School (1842), practiced law in Savannah, Ga., was active in the Ga. militia, was a railroad president, and was in the Ga. legislature as a leading advocate of secession. After the Civil War he was active in Democratic politics and his law practice, was president of the American Bar Assn. (1882), and served as Pres. Cleveland's Minister to Austria (1887-89). Ref.: Boatner, p. 473. For details, names of prominent participant leaders, and sources, including historic W.Va. photos taken between Aug. 15-19, 1869, See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Confederate generals. Peabody, George, Illustrations. Persons named. Visits to the U.S. by GP. White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Baltimore Lady to Whom GP Twice Proposed Marriage
Leakin, James Wilson (1857-1922) was a Baltimore lawyer and philanthropist whose undated manuscript, "Family Tree of the Knoxes and Their Connections" was given to the PIB Library in 1958 by Mrs. Charles Rieman (formerly Elizabeth Taylor Goodwin who married Charles Rieman in 1899). In that manuscript J.W. Leakin's Oct. 17 1902, letter to Henrietta Cowman on their Knox ancestry told of a romance between GP and Elizabeth (née Knox) Carson (1799-1880), daughter of Samuel and Grace (née Gilmore) Knox of Baltimore. For details see Carson, Elizabeth (née Knox).
Lee, Mildred Childe (1846-1904), was the daughter of Robert E. Lee. See: Lee, Robert E. (below).
End of 5 of 14. Continued on 6 of 14. Send corrections, questions to: bfparker@frontiernet.net
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