John T. Terry

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Terry, as found in the Illustrated American biography; containing memoirs, and engravings and etchings of representative Americans. vol. 4, 1895

John Taylor Terry (September 9, 1822 – May 3, 1913) was an American merchant and banker.

Early life[edit]

Terry was born on September 9, 1822, in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a son of Harriet (née Taylor) Terry (1794–1841) and Roderick Terry (1788–1849), a member of the City Council and Connecticut state legislature who was president of The Exchange Bank in Hartford.[1] After his mother's death in 1841, his father married Lucy Coit (née Ripley) Birge, daughter of Dwight Ripley and widow of Backus W. Birge.[1]

His maternal grandparents were the Rev. John Taylor and Elizabeth (née Terry) Taylor.[1] His paternal grandparents were Eliphalet Terry and Mary (née Hall) Terry. Terry traced his lineage to Gov. William Bradford of Mayflower and Plymouth Colony fame as well as Continental Army Col. Nathaniel Terry, several Connecticut governors, and Civil War Maj.-Gen. Alfred H. Terry. His uncle, Eliphalet Terry, was president of The Hartford Fire Insurance Company.[2]

Career[edit]

In 1841, Terry moved to New York to clerk for Edwin Denison Morgan (future New York governor, U.S. Senator and Major General) at his import house, E.D. Morgan & Company (which had been organized by Morgan in 1843 with his cousin George D. Morgan and Frederick Avery). After Avery left the firm in 1844, Terry became the third partner. After Morgan's death in 1883, Terry assumed control of the firm.[3]

Terry, George Jay Gould, and the estate of Russell Sage controlled the board and management of Western Union Telegraph Company until 1909 when they all sold their stock to American Telephone & Telegraph Company which assumed control of Western Union.[3]

Personal life[edit]

Pinkstone, Terry's estate in Tarrytown, New York

In 1846, Terry was married to Elizabeth Roe Peet (1826–1899), a daughter of Frederick Tomlinson Peet and Elizabeth Roe (née Lockwood) Peet.[4] Together, they were the parents of seven children, including:[5][4]

  • Frederick Peet Terry (1847–1874), a Yale graduate and merchant who married Ellen Mills Battell, a daughter of Robbins Battell. After his death, she married Carl Stoeckel.[6]
  • Roderick Terry (1849–1933),[7][8][9] a minister who married Linda Marquand, a daughter of Henry Gurdon Marquand, in 1875.[10]
  • Henriette Taylor Terry (1851–1857), who died young.[4]
  • Elizabeth Lockwood Terry (1855–1855), who died in infancy.[4]
  • John Taylor Terry Jr. (1857–1942),[11] who married Bertha Halsted, sister of Dr. William Stewart Halsted.[12][13]

In June 1853, he was a founder of the Irvington Presbyterian Church, serving as an officer of the church for the rest of his life.[2] Terry was also a founder of the Ardsley Country Club in 1895.[14]

Terry died on May 3, 1913, and was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.[15]

Pinkstone estate[edit]

In 1853, 31-year-old Terry acquired a 35-acre estate along the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York, from the Requa family (next door to Lyndhurst, the estate of New York City mayor William Paulding Jr., then merchant George Merritt, and railroad tycoon Jay Gould). In 1858 he began construction of a pink granite mansion on his estate which he called "Pinkstone". The estate remained in his family until his death in 1913 when it was sold to Rev. Alfred Duane Pell before being acquired by Harold Mayer Lehman of Lehman Brothers (who added a brick exterior in the Georgian Colonial style and renamed the house "Willow Pond").[2][16][a]

References[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ In the mid-1950s the neighboring Lehman family estates of Mill Brook and Elm Brook were acquired by the General Foods, demolishing the houses to build a corporate campus on the properties. Willow Pond was acquired in 1975 and General Foods demolished the mansion to "make way for the creation of a 60-space parking lot", however, the parking area was never constructed.[16] Montefiore Health System bought the property from General Foods successor Kraft Foods in 2013 for $33 million.[2]
Sources
  1. ^ a b c Dwight, Benjamin Woodbridge (1874). The History of the Descendants of John Dwight, of Dedham, Mass. J. F. Trow & son, printers and bookbinders. pp. 297–298. ISBN 978-0-7884-4891-1. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Donovan, Mark. "Pinkstone: Estate had colonial Dutch, Revolutionary War roots, lasted into the 1970s". markhistorydonovan.blogspot.com. Mark Donovan. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b The Successful American. Press Biographical Company. 1899. p. 48. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d Descendants of Robert Lockwood: Colonial and Revolutionary History of the Lockwood Family in America, from A.D. 1630. Printed privately by the family. 1889. p. 483. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  5. ^ Who's Who in America. A.N. Marquis. 1923. p. 3027. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  6. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (6 May 1939). "MRS. C. STOECKEL, PATRON OF MUSIC; Founder With Late Husband of the Annual Festival Held in Norfolk, Conn., Dies at 88 BUILT A HALL ON ESTATE Gave a Music Library to Yale, Aided Students--Donated Land for State Park". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  7. ^ Times, Special to The New York (8 February 1921). "Rev. Dr. Roderick Terry Operated On". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (29 December 1933). "THE REV. DR. TERRY DEAD IN NEWPORT; Philanthropist and Long Civic Leader, 84, Was Chaplain in Spanish-American War. PASTOR HERE 24 YEARS Newport Historical Society and Redwood Library Head--Noted as Collector of Books". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  9. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (4 January 1934). "Terry Will Aids Institution". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. ^ Times, Special to The New York (29 May 1931). "MRS. RODERICK TERRY DIES IN NEWPORT HOME; Wife of Retired New York Pastor and Daughter of the Late Henry Marquand". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  11. ^ "JOHN T. TERRY, 81; RETIRED FINANCIER; Former Director and Trustee of Banks and Railroad Is Dead at His Home Here A YALE GRADUATE OF 1879 He Received Law Degree From ColumbiauWas a Member of Patriotic Societies". The New York Times. 1 June 1942. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  12. ^ "MRS. JOHN T. TERRY.; Leader in Philanthropies Here Dies in Garden City Hotel". The New York Times. 25 September 1930. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  13. ^ "JOHN TAYLOR TERRY". The New York Times. 12 July 1974. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  14. ^ "New Club on the Hudson; The Ardsley Casino Will Soon Be Finished". The New York Times. New York City, New York, United States. March 1, 1896. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  15. ^ "John T. Terry, Banker, Dead". The New York Times. 5 May 1913. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  16. ^ a b Barrett, Paul (February 3, 2014). "Development could threaten Annette Hoyt Flanders-designed former Lehman estate". www.tclf.org. The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 20 July 2022.

External links[edit]

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