C. Ledyard Blair

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C. Ledyard Blair
Born
Clinton Ledyard Blair

(1867-07-16)July 16, 1867
Belvidere, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedFebruary 7, 1949(1949-02-07) (aged 81)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
EducationLawrenceville School
Alma materPrinceton University
OccupationInvestment banker
Spouses
Florence Osborne Jennings
​
​
(m. 1891; died 1931)​
Harriet Stewart Brown
​
​
(m. 1936⁠–⁠1949)​
Children4
Parent(s)DeWitt Clinton Blair
Mary Anna Kimball
RelativesJohn Insley Blair (grandfather)

Clinton Ledyard Blair (July 16, 1867 – February 7, 1949) was an American investment banker and yachtsman.[1]

Early years[edit]

Blair was born in Belvidere, New Jersey, on July 16, 1867. He was the son of DeWitt Clinton Blair, a philanthropist and industrialist, and Mary Anna (née Kimball) Blair. His paternal grandfather was John Insley Blair, one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century.

He attended the Lawrenceville School and then Princeton University, graduating in 1890 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[2]

Career[edit]

While still a senior at Princeton, Blair joined his father and grandfather in founding the banking firm of Blair & Company, primarily to manage railroad interests linked to the Gould family. The firm underwrote a $50 million bond issue of the Western Pacific Railroad and helped in the financial management of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Western Maryland Railroad.[3]

After Blair & Company merged with the firm of William Salomon & Co. in April 1920 (under the name of Blair & Co., Inc.), Ledyard Blair was named chairman of the board of directors.[4] He was also the director of several railway companies, including the Clinchfield Railroad, the Sussex Railroad, and the Green Bay and Western Railroad.[3]

Blair & Co. was active in assisting with the mergers of oil companies.[5] In 1924-1925, the firm arranged a deal in which Standard Oil of Indiana obtained control of the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company and Lago Petroleum Company in Venezuela.[6]

Society life[edit]

Blair's home, Blairsden

An avid yachtsman, Blair was named Commodore of the New York Yacht Club in 1910. During World War I, he turned over his 254-foot steel yacht, Diana, to the U.S. government and gave up yachting. At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Blair was on the SS Kronprinzessin Cecilie, a North German Lloyd ocean liner, sailing from New York City to Plymouth, England. Nearing Plymouth, news of hostilities forced the ship to turn back. Blair took the helm and safely piloted the ship to Bar Harbor, Maine, where his family had a summer home. The ship was carrying $10 million in gold and $3.5 million in silver.[7][8]

Blairsden, Ledyard Blair's opulent 38-room mansion in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey, was built between 1898 and 1903.[9] Blair threw lavish weddings for each of the Blair daughters, all held at Blairsden. He also owned a mansion in New York City, now known as C. Ledyard Blair House. In addition to Blairsden, he had residences in Newport, Rhode Island, "Honeysuckle Lodge," and Bermuda, "Deepdene."[3]

Personal life[edit]

On October 1, 1891, he married Florence Osborne Jennings (1869–1931) and they had four daughters:[10][11]

  • Marjory Bruce Blair (1892–1975), who married William Clark (1891–1957) in 1913.[7]
  • Florence Ledyard Blair (1893–1982), who married Herbert Rivington Pyne (1892–1952), son of Percy Rivington Pyne II, in 1917.[7]
  • Edith Dodd Blair (1896–1988), who married Richard Gambrill (1890–1952) in 1917.[7]
  • Marie Louise Blair (1899–1994), who married Maj. Gen. Pierpont Morgan Hamilton (1898–1982) in 1919.[12][13][7] She later married Washington Everardus Bogardus (1896–1931)[14] and James Bethune Campbell (1909–1983).[15][16]

Blair's first wife Florence died on November 15, 1931. In 1936, he married Harriet Stewart Brown (1884–1953), the widow of Thomas Suffern Tailer (who died in 1928), and daughter of Baltimore banker Alexander Brown.[3] The Browns were members of the family which founded investment bank Alex. Brown & Sons.

Blair died on February 7, 1949, in Manhattan and was buried in Saint Bernards Cemetery, beside his first wife Florence.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "C. Ledyard Blair seated". loc.gov. The Library of Congress. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  2. ^ "From Princeton's vault: A young millionaire's scrapbook". princeton.edu. Princeton Alumni Weekly. January 21, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e "C. LEDYARD BLAIR; Co-Founder of Blair & Co. Here Was Yachtsman and Former- Stock Exchange Governor" (PDF). The New York Times. February 8, 1949. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  4. ^ "BANKING HOUSE MERGER.; Blair & Co. and William Salomon & Co. to Unite" (PDF). The New York Times. January 14, 1920. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  5. ^ Swaine, Robert T. (1946). The Cravath Firm And Its Predecessors: 1819-1947. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-58477-713-7. Retrieved July 25, 2013.
  6. ^ Swaine 1946, p. 433.
  7. ^ a b c d e Schleicher, William A.; Winter, Susan (1997). In the Somerset Hills: The Landed Gentry. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9780752408996. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Putnam, William Lowell (2001). The Kaiser's Merchant Ships in World War I. Light Technology Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 9781622336999. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Blairsden Archived June 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine from Historical Society of Sommerset Hills
  10. ^ Scannell's New Jersey First Citizens, 1917-1918. J.J. Scannell, 1918.
  11. ^ Leonard, John William; Mohr, William Frederick; Holmes, Frank R.; Knox, Herman Warren; Downs, 0infield Scott (1907). Who's who in New York City and State. L.R. Hamersly Company. p. 141. Retrieved May 16, 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "MISS BLAIR, BRIDE OF P.M. HAMILTON; Youngest Daughter of C. Ledyard Blair Weds Grandson of Late J. Pierpont Morgan. NUPTIAL IN BERNARDSVILLE Bishop Rhinelander Officiates in St.John's Chapel-on-the-Mountain--Reception at Blairsden" (PDF). The New York Times. September 12, 1919. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  13. ^ "Miss Blair, Bride of P.M. Hamilton" The New York Times, September 12, 1919. Accessed March 12, 2008.
  14. ^ "W.E. BOGARDUS DEAD; FORMERLY A BANKER; Descendant of a Famous Dutch Family Had Lived Eleven Years in Honolulu". The New York Times. December 25, 1931. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  15. ^ Waggoner, Walter H. (March 16, 1982). "P.M. HAMILTON, 83, DIES ON THE COAST". The New York Times. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  16. ^ Backhouse, Constance; Backhouse, Nancy L. (January 31, 2005). The Heiress vs the Establishment: Mrs. Campbell's Campaign for Legal Justice. UBC Press. ISBN 9780774850735. Retrieved May 16, 2017.

External links[edit]

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