Nicholas Gouverneur

Nicholas Gouverneur
President of the Bank of New York
In office
1799–1802
Preceded byGulian Verplanck
Succeeded byHerman LeRoy
Personal details
Born1753
New York City, Province of New York British America
DiedJuly 12, 1802(1802-07-12) (aged 48–49)
New York City, New York, United States
Spouse
Hester Kortright
​
​
(m. 1790; died 1802)​
RelationsAbraham Ogden (cousin)
Samuel Ogden (cousin)
Gouverneur Kemble (nephew)
Parent(s)Samuel Gouverneur
Experience Johnson

Nicholas Gouverneur (1753 – July 12, 1802) was an American merchant with Gouverneur & Kemble and banker who served as the president of the Bank of New York.

Early life

Portrait of his mother, Experience Johnson Gouverneur, by John Wollaston, c. 1750

Gouverneur was born in 1753.[1] He was the son of Samuel Gouverneur (1720–1778), a merchant, and Experience (née Johnson) Gouverneur (1720–1788). Among his siblings were Gertrude Gouverneur (the wife of Peter Kemble Jr.),[2][a] and Margaret Gouverneur (the wife of Lewis Ogden), Hannah Gouverneur (the wife of Charles Ogden), and Mary Gouverneur (the wife of the Rev. Uzal Ogden). Margaret, Hannah, and Mary all married brothers, direct descendants of colonist John Ogden.[4]

His paternal grandparents were Isaac Gouverneur (brother of Speaker of the Assembly Abraham Gouverneur) and Sarah (née Staats) Gouverneur (a daughter of Dr. Samuel Staats and granddaughter of Abraham Staats).[4] Among his extended family was uncle Nicolas Gouverneur,[b] and aunt Gertrude Gouverneur Ogden (wife of jurist David Ogden), through whom he was a first cousin of Abraham Ogden and Samuel Ogden. Through his sister, Gertrude Gouverneur Kemble, he was uncle to U.S. Representative Gouverneur Kemble and Gertrude Kemble (wife of Secretary of the Navy James Kirke Paulding).[2]

Career

Like his father and grandfather before him, Gouverneur was a prominent merchant.[5] Their firm, Gouverneur & Kemble, conducted trade in the West Indies, Europe and China.[6] It had been founded by his grandfather, Isaac Gouverneur and Peter Kemble, who "were among the foremost merchants in New York".[3]

After the death of Gulian Verplanck in 1799, he was elected to succeed Verplanck as the president of the Bank of New York (which had been founded by Alexander Hamilton and of which Verplanck had been president for eight years). Gouverneur served as president until his own death in July 1802.[7]

Personal life

On February 25, 1790, Gouverneur was married to Hester Kortright (1770–1842), a daughter of wealthy merchant Lawrence Kortright and Hannah (née Aspinwall) Kortright.[8][9] Among her siblings was the future First Lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe.[10] Together, they were the parents of three sons and three daughters:[11]

Gouverneur died on July 12, 1802 in New York.[18] His estate was divided amongst his living children.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ His brother-in-law, Peter Kemble Jr. (1739–1823), was the son of merchant Peter Kemble and Gertrude Bayard.[3]
  2. ^ His uncle, Nicolas Gouverneur (1713–1787), was married to Maria Maytilda Winkler and Sarah Cruger (a sister of Mayor John Cruger Jr. and daughter of Mayor John Cruger).[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Pelletreau, William Smith (1907). Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Family History of New York. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 162. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b Sturm-Lind, Lisa (2018). Actors of Globalization: New York Merchants in Global Trade, 1784-1812. BRILL. p. 18. ISBN 9789004356412. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b Hamilton, Alexander (1964). The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton. Columbia University Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-0-231-08945-6. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  4. ^ a b Alstyne, Lawrence Van; Ogden, Charles Burr (1907). The Ogden family in America, Elizabethtown branch, and their English ancestry: John Ogden, the Pilgrim, and his descendants, 1640-1906. Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company. p. 104. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  5. ^ Sturm-Lind, Lisa (18 December 2017). Actors of Globalization: New York Merchants in Global Trade, 1784-1812. BRILL. p. 18. ISBN 978-90-04-35641-2. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Gouverneur & Kemble letter book", New York Public Library Archives
  7. ^ "The Bank of the United States". The Journal of American History. Associated Publishers of American Records. 1921. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  8. ^ Riker, James (1881). Harlem (City of New York): Its Origin and Early Annals: Prefaced by Home Scenes in the Fatherlands; Or, Notices of Its Founders Before Emigration. Also, Sketches of Numerous Families, and the Recovered History of the Land-titles. Published by the author. p. 518. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  9. ^ Weeks, Lyman Horace (1898). Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City. Historical Company. p. 345. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  10. ^ George Morgan (1921). The life of James Monroe. Small, Maynard & Company. pp. 416–418.
  11. ^ "Nicholas Gouverneur (1753-1802)". americanaristocracy.com. American Aristocracy. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  12. ^ Bigelow, Timothy (1880). Diary of a Visit to Newport, New York and Philadelphia During the Summer of 1815. Private Distribution. p. 12. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  13. ^ MacBean, William Munro (1925). Biographical Register of Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York ... Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York. p. 109. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  14. ^ Duyckinck, Whitehead Cornell; Cornell, John (1908). The Duyckinck and Allied Families: Being a Record of the Descendants of Evert Duyckink who Settled in New Amsterdam, Now New York, in 1638. Tobias A. Wright. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  15. ^ Tillotson, Robert R. Union College. May 8, 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  16. ^ Gouverneur, Marian Campbell (1911). As I Remember: Recollections of American Society During the Nineteenth Century. D. Appleton. p. 256. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  17. ^ Jordan, John Woolf (1915). Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 487. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  18. ^ "1786 - will of Nicholas Gouverneur of New Jersey". www.albanyinstitute.org. Albany Institute of History & Art. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  19. ^ Chancery, NEW YORK, State of Court of (1839). Reports of Cases Adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New York ... By William Johnson. Second Edition, Etc. March 1814(-July 1823). E. F. Backus. p. 78. Retrieved 4 December 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)