The incorporators of The Suffolk Club, aka the Suffolk County Society

In this email from researcher Dr. Richard Thomas, brief biographical research notes on the incorporators of the Suffolk Club is given.

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From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:15 AM
To: Van Lith, Marty; Deitz, John
Subject: The incorporators of The Suffolk Club, aka the Suffolk County Society

The incorporators and first directors of The Suffolk Club, as shown in the act of 11 Apr 1860, were:

Jones Rogers,

Isaac M. Wright,

Henry A. Coit,

J. Anthony Constant, and

Daniel H. Tompkins.

Jones Rogers

According to passport records, a Jones Rogers was born 08 Dec 1823 in New York City and was still living on 03 Mar 1869, the date the passport was issued. At age 45, he was 5 feet 9 inches tall, had a medium forehead, gray eyes, an ordinary nose, a medium mouth, round chin, brown hair, florid complexion, and oval face.

According to the census, a Jones Rogers lived at Castleton, Staten Island, in 1850. According to the 1864 IRS tax assessment list, he and Frances Rogers resided at 246 5th Ave. Frances's income was $6,709, and the income for Jones Rogers was $2,326.

In 1864, Jones Rogers was taxed $2 for one carriage, and Frances was taxed $4.62 for 154 ounces of silver.

In 1865, Jones Rogers was taxed on income of $4,400 at 5% ($220) and on income of $376 at 10% ($37.60) plus $1 on the first carriage and $2 on the second carriage, and $2 on one watch.

In 1866, he was taxed 5% on income of $4,136, $2 each on his two carriages, and $2 on his watch.

According to the census, another Jones Rogers born about 1803 and lived in the Town of Southampton in 1860 and 1870 and on Fishers Island, at age 77, in 1880. During the Civil War, this Jones Rogers living in Bridgehampton in the Town of Southampton was taxed for on his hogs.

Isaac Merritt Wright

Isaac Merritt Wright's father, William M. Wright, was known as the "Quaker merchant;" he and his grandfather, also Isaac Wright, were the founders of a line of packet ships, famous in the first half of the last century [1800-1850]. The grandfather was born 02 May 1760 (some say in Flushing, some say Long Island City) and died of cholera at age 72 on 09 Aug 1832.

William Wright was born 06 Dec 1787 and died 26 Feb 1850.

Isaac M. Wright, son of William, was born 07 Jun 1812. He was for some years the official representative of the United States at Vienna, Austria. Isaac Merritt married Mary Bedford, and they resided in Hempstead, Long Island, and New York City.

Isaac Wright, like Joseph Grafton, married well. His wife, Mary Bedford, was the heir to two fortunes from the Bedford estate of the late Lord Beresford.

He was also the part-owner of the line of Liverpool packet ships, the Black Ball Line. His brother, John D. Wright, was the founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

He was interred in the Bedford vault (no. 37) in the New York City Marble Cemetery, a small cemetery in the East Village. There is a neighboring cemetery with a similar name, New York Marble Cemetery, but otherwise not connected with this one. There is no interment date listed, but there is a removal date of 13 Jun 1869, the same removal date as for Henrietta A. Bedford (d. 16 Feb 1845).

Another Isaac M. Wright is listed in vault 163, interred 12 Nov 1868.

Aliza A. Bedford, Charles C. Bedford (d. 03 May 1866), Gunning S. Bedford (d. 07 Sep 1870), Henry Moore Bedford (d. 23 Aug 1880), and Jane M. Bedford (d. 31 Aug 1890), who were also interred in vault 37, all have a removal date of 12 Apr 1893.

The Old Merchants of New York, 2d Series, Chapter 25.

Up to 1815 there were nothing but transient ships. Then was first commenced that regular line of packets, such as the world had never before seen. The merchants of the city of New York led off in this undertaking. In 1815 a line of Liverpool packets was established. The ships were to leave New York and Liverpool on the first day of every month. Isaac Wright & Son and Francis Thompson were the proprietors of that line, and they ran it with such success, that after seven years' trial they determined to run a second line, starting from Liverpool and New York simultaneously on the 16th of each month. Additional ships were added, and they were all of the first class, in mercantile observation.

New York Evening Post, 1835.

NOTICE is hereby given, that the Copartnership heretofore existing, under the firm of ROSKELL, OGDEN & CO. at Liverpool, and WRIGHT & CO. at New York, will expire by its own limitation on the 31st instant,

JAS. D. P. OGDEN,

WM. WRIGHT.

The undersigned will continue as usual, under the firm of

ROSKELL, OGDEN & CO. at Liverpool, and

JAMES D. P. OGDEN & CO. at New York.

JAS. D. P. OGDEN.

NICHOLAS ROSKELL.

THE firm of WRIGHT & CO. will be continued, composed of Isaac M. Wright, Daniel H. Tompkins, and William Wright, for a limited term.

And Notice is hereby further given, pursuant to the provisions of the Revised Statutes of this State, that the two former are the general partners and the latter a special partner, who has contributed this day to the Capital Stock of said firm Fifty Thousand Dollars in Cash, which partnership will commence on the 1st January, 1835, and continue until the 1st January, 1838.

ISAAC M. WRIGHT.

DANIEL H. TOMPKINS.

WM. WRIGHT

New York, 20th December, 1834.

Henry A. Coit

Henry A. Coit was a New York City importer and merchant. He was born in New London, Connecticut. In 1815 he began business on South street as a shipping merchant. He was a director of the Union National Bank and served as it's Vice President for a time. He also served on the board of directors and as a trustee of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. He was married in 1822 to Miss Talman, a sister of a man who later became Vice President of the Farmers' Loan and Trust Company.

He died 19 May 1876, probably the oldest merchant in New York at that time, according to the Times.

J. Anthony Constant

J. [Joseph] Anthony Constant was a conservative Democrat. He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1826 and was a lawyer. He was appointed a judge by the governor before 1844, and he served in the New York State Assembly in 1845 as a representative of Westchester County. He married Eliza Sinclair, daughter of William Sinclair of the U. S. Navy. In 1828 he built a house on a 30-acre estate at Hastings-on-Hudson, which he to Robert Minturn, the owner of the world's fastest clipper ship, in 1850.

He died before his daughter's marriage in 1868 (Eliza Ackley Constant to James C. Kempton, Esq. of Philadelphia). The Union University alumni journal, says that when he entered the college in 1826 he lived in Peekskill and is in agreement with the New York Times in giving his death as 1860 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Times gives a date of 18 Mar 1860 when he was 54, even though that would have been the month before the New York State legislature passed the act of incorporation. He owned parcels of land at the south end of Manhattan (19 Barclay St. and 24 Park Place) which were conveyed by his executors, Eliza S. Constant and William S. Constant, to his daughter, Eliza A. Kempton for $250,000, on 21 Oct 1872.

CONSTANT. -- At Louisville, Ky., on Sunday, March 18, JOSEPH ANTHONY CONSTANT, Esq., in the 55th year of his age. The friends of the family are invited to attend the funeral, on Friday, at 1 o'clock P.M., from Trinity Church. [N Y Times, 23 Mar 1860.]

Daniel Hyatt Tompkins

Daniel Hyatt Tompkins was the son of Daniel D. Tompkins.

Daniel D. Tompkins (1774-1825) was the son of Jonathan Tompkins and Sarah Ann Hyatt. He was a Democratic governor of the state of New York from 1807-17, and the youngest governor in New York state history. He was the Vice-President of the United States during the two terms of the James Monroe administration from 04 Mar 1817 to 03 Mar 1825. He died three months and eight days after the end of his term on 11 Jun 1825 on Staten Island. He was said to be exceptionally handsome and to have "a face of singular masculine beauty."

http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/25/daniel_tompkins_portrait_web.jpg

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/image/Sculpture_22_00006.htm

Tompkinsville on Staten Island, Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, and Tompkins County are named for him.

His son, Daniel H. Tompkins, was born 17 Mar 1810 in White Plains (some say Somers), New York, and died 2 Sep 1875. He had a residence at 331 E. 14th St. in NYC.

Daniel H. Tompkins married Elizabeth Wright, the sister of Isaac M. Wright, above.

He was involved in a legal dispute with Alexander Bell over the ownership of a lot of land in New York City that had been owned by William Wright (father of Isaac M. and Elizabeth Wright). In that dispute, his name appears as "Thompkins" instead of "Tompkins."

He was a representative of New York and a speaker at the first Republican National Convention in 1856 (also spelled "Thompkins" here).

His second wife was Tamar Oakley.

In 1866, Daniel H. Tompkins served on the board of managers of the New York Institution for the Blind, on the Committee on Finance. Joseph Grafton also served on the board of managers of this institution in 1866.

He was appointed Deputy Collector of the New York Custom-House in November 1869.

Of the incorporators, only the name of Jones Rogers is known to have purchased property at South Haven, but searches have not been made on the other names above.

None of those above are listed as members of The Suffolk Club in articles in the New York Times.

Richard