Brayton Ives

Brayton Ives (August 23, 1840 – October 22, 1914) was president of Northern Pacific Railway from 1893 to 1896 and was president of the New York Stock Exchange and the Western National Bank of New York.[1] He also served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Brayton Ives
President of Northern Pacific Railway
In office
1893–1896
Preceded byThomas Fletcher Oakes
Succeeded byEdward Dean Adams
President of the New York Stock Exchange
In office
1878–1880
Preceded byHenry Meigs Jr.
Succeeded byDonald Mackay
Personal details
Born(1840-08-23)August 23, 1840
Farmington, Connecticut
DiedOctober 22, 1914(1914-10-22) (aged 74)
Ossining, New York
Spouse(s)
Eleanor Anderson Bissell
​
​
(m. 1867)​
EducationYale University
Military service
AllegianceUnited States of America
Union
Branch/serviceUnion Army
Years of service1861–1865
Rank Colonel
Bvt. Brigadier General
Commands1st Connecticut Cavalry Regiment
Battles/warsAmerican Civil War

Early life

Ives was born on August 23, 1840 in Farmington, Connecticut. He was a son of William A. Ives and Julia (née Root).

He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1861.

Career

He served in the American Civil War as assistant adjutant general on the staff of Brigadier General Orris S. Ferry and became the Colonel of the 1st Connecticut Cavalry Regiment. He was brevetted brigadier general for gallantry at the battles of Ream's Station, Deep Bottom, Five Forks, and Sailor's Creek.[2]

Ives became a prominent New York financier by 1868 and served two terms as president of the New York Stock Exchange; he was president of the Western National Bank of New York for many years and was chosen president of Northern Pacific Railway on 20 October 1893. At the time of his death he was President of the Hecker-Jones-Jewell Milling Company, the Standard Milling Company, the Kanona & Prattsburg Railway Company, and the Northwestern Consolidated Milling Company.[1][2]

In 1912, he resigned as president of the Metropolitan Trust Company due to his poor health.[3]

Personal life

Ives was married to Eleanor Anderson Bissell (1840–1927), a sister of Rensselaer H. Bissell.[4] on February 6, 1867. Together, they had four children:[5]

  • Sherwood Bissell Ives (1870–1907), who died of an accidental gunshot wound in New Mexico.[6][7]
  • Winifred Ives (1870–1918), an art collector who died unmarried.[8][9]
  • Eunice Ives (1872–1942), who married Walter Effingham Maynard (1871–1925).[10]
  • Frances Ives.[2]

In 1899, they bought the former summer home of Benjamin Moore (father of Clement Clarke Moore), including a brick mansion, stables and riparian rights on the Hudson River for $80,000.[11] Ives was a survivor of the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Republic in January 1909.

He died in Ossining, New York on October 22, 1914.[2] His widow died in Bar Harbor, Maine on August 31, 1927.[4] She left her estate equally among her two surviving daughters.[5] Among his descendants are actor Oliver Platt.

Collections

Ives was a collector of ceramics and other art objects, and of books. He had a library of more than 6000 volumes including many incunabula. He possessed a Guttenberg Bible, and early printed editions of Euclid and of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He had a collection of 200 rare books pertaining to the early settlement of America.[1]

In addition to the ceramics and art, Ives made a collection of rare and historical swords. When he ceased collecting, the swords were sold, and through the efforts of Mr. Heber R. Bishop, William Thompson Walters and the American Art Association, the valuable sword collection, valued at $15,000, was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[12]

References
  1. "Gen. Brayton Ives Financier, Is Dead" (PDF), The New York Times, New York, New York, 23 October 1914
  2. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1914-1915, pp. 756-6.
  3. "BRAYTON IVES RESIGNS.; President of Metropolitan Trust Company in Poor Health" (PDF). The New York Times. 17 October 1912. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  4. Times, Special to The New York (1 September 1927). "MRS. BRAYTON IVES DEAD.; General's Widow Dies in Bar Harbor -- Her Funeral Here Tomorrow" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  5. "MRS. IVES'S WILL IS FILED.; Estate of General's Widow Is Left to Her Two Daughters" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 September 1927. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  6. "S.B. IVES DEAD IN MEXICO; Son of Gen. Brayton Ive's Shoots Himself by Accident on Friend's Ranch. CARRIED FIFTY MILES His 'Mother and Sister Prostrated by the Shock -- His Father in the South" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 February 1907. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  7. "HOW DR. S. B. IVES DIED.; Inflicted a Mortal Wound after Vainly probing for Bullet" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 February 1907. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  8. "Miss Winifred Ives" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 May 1918. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  9. "Mrs. Ives' Estate to Daughters" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 July 1918. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  10. Chamoff, Lisa (April 29, 2015). "Chateau-style home for $16.5M". Newsday. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  11. "Brayton Ives Buys a Summer Home" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 January 1899. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  12. Kunz, George F. "Heber Reginald Bishop and his Jade Collection. American Anthropologist. New Series, Volume #5, January–March 1903. Page 116.

Further reading
  • Busbey, T. Addison, editor (1896). The Biographical Directory of Railway Officials of America, Edition of 1896. Chicago, Illinois: Railway Age and Northwestern Railroader. p. 244.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Preceded by
Thomas Fletcher Oakes		 President of Northern Pacific Railway
1893 – 1896		 Succeeded by
Edward Dean Adams
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