Philanthropist George Peabody @ MindSay 
1 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...
1 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook of the Massachusetts-Born Merchant in the South, London-Based Banker, and Philanthropist's Life, Influence, and Related People, Places, Events, and Institutions. ©2007, By Franklin Parker & Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
This work updates and expands Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, ©1971, revised with illustrations ©1995), and related Peabody publications listed in the Authors' Preface below which also describes motives for this work.
Background: This "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, Nashville, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
Well known in the 1850s-60s, George Peabody has since been sadly neglected by scholars and the public. He was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South; as junior partner in Riggs & Peabody; later head of Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), both firms importing dry goods and other commodities worldwide for sale to U.S. wholesalers. From mercant Peabody transformed himself into: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), which helped finance in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable; and, by choosing Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner Oct. 1, 1854, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of the 1850s-60s, founding the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; founder in the U.S. of 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), model for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations.
Two tributes to George Peabody:
(Historian John Steele Gordon called George Peabody the "Most Underrated Philanthropist.... Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time." Ref.: American Heritage. Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69.
("The Peabody Fund, established in 1867 by George Peabody to assist southern education, is often credited with being the first foundation…" Ref.: Reader's Companion to American History, ed by Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991). Internet: http://HistoryChannel.com/ End of Background.
Abbreviations are easily recognizable and include U.S. state names (Tenn. for Tennessee, Md. for Maryland, etc.); city (NYC for New York City); titles (Pres. for President, Sen. for Senator, Rep. for Representative, Secty. for Secretary, Gov. for Governor, PM for Prime Minister, Adm. for Admiral, etc.); months of the year (Jan. for January); terms (Intro. for Introduction); and organizations (Univ. for University, Co. for Company, Dept. for Department, B&O RR for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; n.d. for no date; n.p. for no page; etc.). The following five abbreviations are used throughout this work:
1-GP for George Peabody (1795-1869
2-GPCFT for George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79).
3-PCofVU for Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ. (since July 1, 1979).
4-PEF for the Peabody Education Fund (Feb. 7, 1867-1914).
5-PIB for the Peabody Institute of Baltimore (since Oct. 24, 1857).
6-Peabody Papers, PEM for George Peabody Papers, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
7-USS for United States Ship, as in USS Plymouth: CSS for Confederate States Ship, as in CSS Alabama; and (for Britain) HMS for Her Majesty's Ship, as in HMS Monarch.
8-VU for Vanderbilt University.
References (Ref.)
References are briefly identified at the end of most articles as Ref.:, followed by author's last name and page or pages (or first significant words of title and page or pages if no author), with annotated reference easily found alphabetically in the back of this work.
See:
Names of persons after See: are listed by Last, First, and Middle names or initials.
Internet website URL and e-mail addresses of GP-related institutions, persons, and topics are listed in appropriate places (Ref.:, See:, other places) with date seen by the authors since URL's often appear, disappear, and change.
Summary repetitions about people, events, and circumstances are used in the many entries that follow when their use further illuminates GP's life and influence.
Birth and death years of persons, when known, are listed (after their names) when first mentioned in an entry.
English pound £ during GP's years in England (1837-69) was roughly equivalent to U.S. $5.00.
Authors' Preface: On the Trail of George Peabody (1795-1869)
(This Preface interweaves the origin of the authors' research "On the Trail of GP," with findings on his career and influence; lists the authors' GP publications; and continues alphabeticlly with entries 1-14 that touch on every uncovered aspect of GP's life, career, and influence).
1-Sept. 1946-52: We met as students at Berea College near Lexington, Ky. (Sept. 1946), Betty entering from Decatur, Ala.; Franklin from Asheville, N.C. Berea brought us together, led to our marriage (1950), and its Alumni Office got us our first teaching jobs at Ferrum Jr. College near Roanoke, Va., 1950-52.
2-To improve our teaching skills we attended George Peabody College for Teachers (GPCFT), sited next to Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, Tenn., the summers of 1951 and 1952. Attendance at Berea College, a work-study tuition-free college, enabled Franklin to extend his GI Bill entitlement (he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-46) to help cover graduate study costs at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, 1949-50, and GPCFT, 1952-56, plus travel to and housing near U.S. and British libraries to read GP-related papers.
3-1952-56: A part-time job and small GPCFT scholarship for Franklin, together with Betty's job teaching English in a Nashville business college, enabled us to be graduate students at GPCFT during 1952-56. Franklin took courses from and attached himself as doctoral candidate to Canadian-born Prof Clifton Landon Hall (1898-1987), graduate of Bishop Univ. (Quebec), McGill Univ. (Montreal), a Univ. of N.C., Chapel Hill, Ph.D. in the history of education, and widely respected on the Peabody and Vanderbilt campuses.
4-1953: Searching for a dissertation topic and finding an unexplored area in the history of higher education in Tenn., Franklin went for approval to GPCFT Dean (and later president) Felix Compton Robb (1914-97). Perhaps out of respect for Prof. Hall's reputation, Dean Robb told Franklin of his own earlier experience at Harvard University. In a history course he had at Harvard under historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. (1888-1965), Schlesinger, knowing that Robb was a Peabody College administrator, urged Robb to write on GP as a founder of modern educational philanthropy. Schlesinger knew of this achievement and lamented that it had not yet been fully explored and documented.
5-Determined on a career in higher education administration, Robb chose a dissertation in that area. Perhaps regretting a good topic not pursued, Robb spoke with enthusiasm of GP’s little known role as the founder of U.S. educational philanthropy and urged Franklin to consider it as a dissertation topic.
Basic Facts
6-GP in brief: Increasingly intrigued by what we found in libraries and encouraged by small scholarships, we read GP’s original letters and papers intensively in widely scattered U.S. and British depositories during 1953-55. He was born Feb. 18, 1795, into a poor branch of the Peabodys of Mass., third of eight children in Danvers, Mass., 19 miles northeast of Boston. He lived long enough to see his birthplace (renamed South Danvers in 1855 when Danvers was divided into North Danvers and South Danvers) renamed Peabody, Mass., in his honor on April 13, 1868.
7-He attended a district school 4 years, ages 8-12 (1803-07), all his parents could afford; was apprenticed in a general store 4 years, ages 12-15 (1807-10); and worked for a year in his oldest brother's dry goods store in Newburyport, Mass. (1810-11). His father died May 13, 1811, leaving the family in debt, the Danvers home mortgaged, with GP's mother and the five younger children forced to live with nearby relatives. Eighteen days later, May 31, 1811, the Great Fire of Newburyport ruined all business prospects, leading to an exodus of family breadwinners.
8-Paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827), whose Newburyport store and stock were burned, urged his 17-year old nephew GP to join him in opening a dry goods store in Georgetown, D.C. Because his uncle could not obtain credit, GP asked a Newburyport merchant to stand surety for him for a consignment of goods on credit from a Boston merchant. With $2,000 in goods secured, uncle and nephew sailed from Newburyport (May 5, 1812) and opened the Georgetown, D.C., store (May 15, 1812).
9-His uncle soon entered other enterprises. On his own GP tended the store and was also a pack peddler selling goods to nearby homes and stores. With nearby Washington, D.C., under threat of British attack, he volunteered in the War of 1812. There he met and impressed 35-year-old fellow soldier and experienced Md. merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs took the 19-year-old GP as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), which imported European fabric, clothing, and other goods for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815 and had warehouses in Philadelphia and New York City (NYC) by 1822. See: Riggs, Elisha, Sr.
Young Merchant in the South
10-Taking early responsibility as family breadwinner, GP sent his mother and siblings flour, sugar, clothes, other necessities, and money. By 1816, age 21, he had paid the family debts and restored his mother and siblings to their home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote GP on Dec. 16, 1816: "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent." Ref.: Ebon Mosely, Newburyport, Mass., to GP, Baltimore, Dec. 16, 1816, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
11-GP paid for the education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., of five younger relatives: brother Jeremiah, from 1819; sister Judith Dodge during 1821-27, sister Mary Gaines during 1822-27, cousin Adolphus W. Peabody (paternal uncle John's son) during 1827, and a nephew named for him (oldest brother David's son George), also during 1827. He bought a house in West Bradford for his relatives who were enrolled in the academy and where his mother also lived for several years.
12-He later paid for the education of other relatives: nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), at Yale Univ., later the first U.S. paleontologist at Yale; nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), Harvard-trained lawyer; niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835), Philadelphia finishing school; and others.
13-GP traveled in the U.S. and abroad for Riggs, Peabody & Co. He made five European buying trips during 1827-37. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., withdrew to become a NYC banker, the firm became Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48), with GP as senior partner and Riggs's nephew, Samuel Riggs (d. 1853), as junior partner.
14-In 1836, as part of large scale internal improvements in many states (building roads, canals, and railroads), the Md. legislature voted to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the B&O RR with interest-bearing state bonds to be sold abroad. Md. appointed three agents to sell its $8 million bond issue abroad. When one agent withdrew, GP sought and secured his place. He left for London Feb. 1837, just before the Panic of 1837.
15-A depression following the financial Panic of 1837 led the two other agents to return to the U.S. without success. GP remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857; May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867; and June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869).
16-Depressed conditions after 1837 led nine states, including Md., to stop interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. GP had to sell the bonds in this depressed market and amid the angers of British and other European investors at the stoppage of interest payments. He publicly assured investors that repudiation was temporary, that payments would be retroactive. By letters, printed in newspapers, he urged officials in Md. and other defaulting states to retroactively resume interest payments.
17-GP was finally relieved to sell his part of the Md. bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by London's Baring Brothers banking firm. In 1847-48 Md. officials acknowledged publicly that GP had upheld Md.'s credit abroad during a difficult financial panic and that, rather than burden the state treasury, had declined his own $60,000 commission. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) transmitted Md. legislature's resolutions of praise to him and wrote, "To you, sir...the thanks of the State were eminently due." See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
From Merchant to London-based Banker
18-Gradually curtailing business activities for Peabody, Riggs & Co., he withdrew his capital in 1843 and severed his connection in 1845 (the firm's business ended in 1848). Coincidentally, he founded George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864) and increasingly sold U.S. state bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads. He succeeded in transition from merchant to investment banker.
19-With others he helped finance the second Mexican War loan; bought, sold, and shipped European iron and later steel rails for U.S. western railroads; and was a director and part- financier of the Atlantic Cable Co. He had learned to marshal capital to finance and expand U.S. business and industrial growth. In the 1850s he became the most eminent U.S. banker in London dealing in U.S. trade and securities.
20-George Peabody & Co. prospered. Asked in an interview on Aug. 22, 1869, how and when he made his money, GP said, "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." Ref.: (Aug. 22, 1869, interview): Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
Morgan Partnership
21-Often ill and urged by business friends to take a partner, GP on Oct. 1, 1854, at age 59 took as partner Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90). J.S. Morgan's son John Pierpont Morgan (later Sr., 1837-1913), at age 19, began his banking career as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. Increasing illness hastened GP's retirement on Oct. 1, 1864. Unmarried, without a son, and knowing he would no longer control the firm, he asked that his name be withdrawn. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
22-GP's was thus the root of the international banking house of J.P. Morgan, a fact amply recorded but not now generally known. His firm continued in London as J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910-Nov. 1918), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (Nov. 1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German-owned international banking firm. Relieved of business burdens GP spent the last five years of his life (1864-69) looking after his philanthropic institutions, first begun in 1852.
Philanthropist
23-More intriguing than how GP made his money was why and how he gave it away. In 1820 he was worth between $40,000 and $50,000. His 1827 will left $4,000 for charity. His 1832 will left $27,000 (out of a $135,000 estate) for educational philanthropy. He early told intimates and said publicly in 1850 that he would found an educational or other useful institution in every town and city where he had lived and worked. He earned about $20 million during his lifetime and at his death (Nov. 4, 1869) he gave about half to philanthropy, half to his relatives. (Note: $20 million in 1869 is equivalent to $258.3 million In 2001 purchasing power: See: Philanthropy, GP's, worth of, in Ref.: g. Internet. URL: http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/dollarq.php).
24-His philanthropic gifts (26 gifts or resulting institutes are numbered below), totaled about $10 million. His seven U.S. Peabody institute libraries, with lecture halls and lecture funds were, like the Lyceums (from 1826) and later Chautauquas (from 1872), part of the adult education centers of the time.
25-His seven Peabody Institute libraries are in: 1-Peabody, 2-Danvers, 3-Newburyport, and 4-Georgetown (all in Mass.). The four-part 5-Peabody Institute of Baltimore (PIB) contained a reference library, initially so extensive that the Library of Congress early borrowed from it, plus an art gallery, a lecture hall a lecture fund, and a conservatory of music.
26-The PIB, to which he gave a total of $1.4 million, presaged such later cultural centers as the Lincoln Center, NYC; and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (the PIB reference library and the PIB conservatory of music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ., from 1982). Other Peabody libraries are in 6-Thetford, Vt. and in 7-Georgetown, D.C. (now the Peabody Room of the Washington, D.C., public library.
27-Influenced by his nephew O.C. Marsh's scientific interests and attainments, GP founded three Peabody museums of science: 8-the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (anthropology); 9-the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Univ. (paleontology), $150,000 each; and 10-what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (maritime history plus Essex County historical documents), $140,000.
28-GP earlier gave the 11-Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school, Oct. 31, 1851; 12-Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Oct. 30, 1866; 13-Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics and civil engineering, Nov. 6, 1866; and 14-and to former Gen. Robert E. Lee's (1807-70) Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee Univ., 1871), Lexington, Va., $60,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Sept. 1869.
29-He gave $20,000 publication funds each to the 15-Md. Historical Society, Baltimore, Nov. 5, 1866; and the 16-Mass. Historical Society, Boston, Jan. 1, 1867. He gave 17-the U.S. Sanitary Commission to aid Civil War orphans, widows, and disabled veterans $10,000, 1864; and the 18-Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy, $19,300, April 5, 1867.
30-He had a 19-Memorial Congregational Church built in his mother's memory in her hometown, Georgetown, Mass., $70,000, 1866. For patriotic causes he donated to the 20-Lexington Monument, now Peabody, Mass., $300, 1835; the 21-Bunker Hill Memorial, Boston, Mass., $500, June 3, 1845; and the 22-Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., $1,000, July 4, 1854.
Peabody Homes of London
31-His largest gift, $2.5 million total, was for model low rent apartments for London's working poor. Begun on March 12, 1862, what is now 23-the Peabody Trust Group, London, GP's most successful philanthropy, on March 31, 2006 owned or managed over 20,000 affordable homes housing over 50,000 low income Londoners (about 59% white, 32% black, and 9% others in 2002). These include, besides Peabody Trust Group-built estates, other London public housing units whose authorities deliberately chose to come under the Peabody Trust Group because of its efficient management, facilities, playgrounds for the young, recreation for the elderly, computer centers, job training, and job placement for its working adults. Ref.: Peabody Trust Group, London-c, annual report, 2002 (and later reports). Ref.: g. Internet. "Peabody Buildings," URL: http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Peabody.html
32-The Peabody Homes of London, GP's most successful philanthropy, was first suggested by social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85). GP first (1859) considered and discarded the idea of building a network of drinking fountains in London. He then considered a large gift to enlarge the Ragged Schools Union, a charitable trust managing schools for poor children in England, administered by Lord Shaftesbury (before the establishment of tax supported schools). GP asked his friend, Ohio's Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), who knew Shaftesbury, to consult with him. McIlvaine reported Shaftesbury's advice that housing was the London poor's greatest need. This advice determined GP's gift of low cost model apartments. The Peabody Homes of London inspired imitators elsewhere in England and in the U.S. and brought GP many honors in England.
PEF
33-GP's most in19,fluential U.S. gift was the $2 million 23-PEF (1867-1914) to promote public education in the eleven former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty. He actually gave the PEF $3,484,000, but $1.1 million in Miss. state bonds and $384,000 in Fla. bonds were never redeemed by those states.
34-For 47 years the PEF helped promote public schools in the devastated post Civil War South, focusing first on aiding existing public elementary and secondary schools in larger towns to serve as models, then aiding teacher training institutes and normal colleges, and finally aiding rural public school growth.
35-The PEF was without precedent, the first multimillion dollar educational foundation in the U.S., cited by historians as the model forerunner of all subsequent significant U.S. educational funds and foundations. See: PEF.
37-Other high offices held by PEF trustees: three were U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland; or eight U.S. presidents if Peabody Normal College and its predecessor institutions are included), six were U.S. state governors, and three were financiers: J.P. Morgan; Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93), inspired by GP's example to found Drexel Univ., Phila., and Paul Tulane (1801-87), inspired to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans, La. Ref.: Ibid.
38-PEF first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) wanted a model teachers college for the South in Nashville. When the Tenn. legislature declined to pass funding legislation for several state normal school proposals, Sears through the PEF helped establish the PEF-supported 24-Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) on the Univ. of Nashville campus in place of its moribund Literary Dept. In its 36 years of existence, Peabody Normal College achieved regional and national leadership in the professional preparation of teachers.
39-GP's PEF founding letter (Feb. 7, 1867) permitted ending the fund when its work in promoting public schools in the South was done. In 1914 the trustees distributed the fund's total assets ($2,324,000) as follows: $474,000 went to the education departments of 14 southern universities ($40,000 each to the universities of Va., N.C., Ga., Ala., Fla., Miss., Ark., Ky., and La. [State]; $6,000 each to Johns Hopkins Univ. and to the universities of S.C., Mo., and Tex.; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, S.C. (now Winthrop College), founded by PEF trustees Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94); and $350,000 to the John F. Slater Fund for Negro Education (a sum given later to the Southern Education Fund, Atlanta, where it still serves African-American education). See: PCofVU. PEF. Southern Education Fund, Atlanta.
GPCFT
40-Most of the PEF principal, $1.5 million plus required matching funds, went to endow 25-GPCFT (1914-79), with a new campus built next to Vanderbilt Univ. for academic strength. For 65 years GPCFT maintained its independence, cooperating with neighboring Vanderbilt Univ. in courses, programs, and library facilities. GPCFT was in fact a unique mini-university, focused on teacher education in a variety of fields, with departments of library science, physical education, science education, and music education. It retained and enhanced its predecessor's reputation as a leading institution in the South, with national recognition and an international student body.
41-GPCFT's best graduates became state university presidents, deans, leading professors, researchers, and textbook writers. Its success thereby strengthened competing lower cost state university colleges of education and ironically contributed to its own demise. National recession in the 1970s combined with higher energy and other costs adversely affected higher education and particularly private colleges of education.
PCofVU
42-Wise Peabodians knew that the time was past for the survival of a private single purpose teachers college like GPCFT, despite its proud history, high regional reputation, and national and international influence. Merger took place on July 1, 1979, when GPCFT became 26-PCofVU, Vanderbilt Univ.'s. ninth school.
43-PCofVU soon increased the status of its predecessor institutions as a leading private southern university's college of education. It quickly led the nation in preparing teachers to apply computers to student learning. Since the 1990s it has consistently ranked among the top U.S. graduate schools of education, highly esteemed in preparing special education teachers, guidance counselors, and educational researchers. Ref.: "Best Graduate Schools," pp. 109, 111.
44-PCofVU's history thus goes back to Davidson Academy (1785-1806), chartered by N.C. eleven years before Tenn. statehood; rechartered as Cumberland College (1806-26); rechartered as the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75); whose moribund literary dept. was rechartered as Peabody Normal College (1875-1911; rechartered as GPCFT (1914-79); renamed PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). PCofVU's lineage of over 210 years makes it the 15th U.S. collegiate institution after the founding of Harvard College in 1636.
45-Faced with greater class and race divisions and with greater financial difficulties than counterpart colleges in other sections of the U.S., it rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world. As part of Vanderbilt Univ., PCofVU carried into the 21st century GP's motto accompanying his check for his first hometown Peabody Institute Library (1852): "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
Philanthropic Influence
46-GP's philanthropic example, mainly through the PIB and the PEF, directly and personally influenced Enoch Pratt (1808-96) to found the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore's public library; influenced Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) to found the Johns Hopkins Univ., hospital, and medical school in Baltimore; influenced Anthony Joseph Drexel to found Drexel Univ., Philadelphia; influenced Paul Tulane to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans; and influenced others who gave to institutions, funds, and foundations.
47-At his death, Nov. 4, 1869, age 74, GP was the best known philanthropist in the U.S. and Britain, a founder of U.S. educational philanthropy. But time, larger fortunes, wealthier funds and foundations have dimmed his memory, except at his institutes and among interested scholars.
Manuscript Sources
48-We did research on GP concentratedly in 1953-56, sporadically since, and again concentratedly in retirement since 1994, always impressed with his achievements and wondering why he is so neglected. We read GP- papers of the following individuals at the Library of Congress (LC), Washington, D.C.: a-William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), business associate with whom GP helped finance the Second Mexican War loan (Corcoran is also known for donating the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C.). b-Hamilton Fish (1809-93), PEF trustee, N.Y. governor, and U.S. Secty. of State involved in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral.
49-We read the LC papers of c-John Work Garrett (1820-84), B&O RR president, who brought GP and Johns Hopkins together in his home near Baltimore, leading to the founding of Johns Hopkins Univ., Hospital, and Medical School. d-We read the LC papers of U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) who went to GP's rooms at the Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 9, 1867, to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. To forestall impeachment by radical Republicans bent on punishing the defeated South, Pres. Johnson's political advisor recommended a complete cabinet reshuffle with GP as Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his old cabinet kept Pres. Johnson from this course.
50-We read the LC papers of e-Benjamin Moran (1820-86), U.S. Legation in London Secty. (later called the U.S. Embassy), who during 1857-69 was often critical of GP in his private journal. f-We read the LC papers of the Riggs family, including Elisha Riggs, Sr., GP's first senior partner; Samuel Riggs (Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s, nephew), GP's second partner; and George Washington Riggs (1813-81, Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s son) who started the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C.
51-At the National Archives, Washington, D.C., we read a-"Veterans Records of the War of 1812" documenting GP's 14 days as a soldier, b-"Admirals and Commodores' Letters," c-"Dispatches from United States Ministers, Great Britain," and d-"Log of USS Plymouth," each documenting GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral (from his Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, to his final burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870, with much attendant press coverage.
52-In NYC's Pierpont Morgan Library we read the papers of J.S. Morgan, his son J.P. Morgan, Sr., and grandson J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943). These helped explain how GP, the founding root of the House of Morgan, along with a handful of other merchant-bankers, early learned to marshal foreign capital to help finance U.S. industrial growth.
53-In Mass. we read the bulk of GP's personal papers and business records (then not indexed or calendared) in what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. We also read his papers in depositories in Peabody, Salem, Danvers, and Boston, Mass.; at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; and in Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History (which has his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh’s papers).
54-In Baltimore, where GP spent 22 of his most formative commercial years, 1815-37, we read his papers at the PIB, and the papers and journals of PIB trustee John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) who, at GP's request for a cultural center for Baltimore, originally conceived of the idea of the PIB. In Baltimore we also read appropriate material in the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, whose founders, as mentioned, GP directly influenced. See: John Pendleton Kennedy and institutions mentioned.
55-Two travel difficulties were solved in Baltimore. We needed inexpensive passage to London. Ben Welsh, under whom Betty worked in the Berea College Labor Office (he was a part time travel agent), got us a low cost berth on a transatlantic ship. To safely store our old car, the Ruckdeshells, in whose Baltimore house we roomed (secured through the Johns Hopkins Univ. student housing), phoned a friend with an empty garage who helped us raise our car on blocks for four months' storage.
In England
56-London: Sept.-Dec. 1954: We registered as student researchers at the Univ. of London and rented an inexpensive "bed-sitter through student housing. Our daily pattern was an early breakfast of bread, peanut butter, fruit, and milk (with the outside window ledge our "fridge"), which preceded morning research in libraries. Lunch at a nearby bustling pub was followed by afternoon library research until closing time. An occasional restaurant supper treat preceded nighttime arranging of notes. We managed some Sunday and holiday visits to cultural sights and events. We survived the cold London winter nights of 1954 by huddling close to a space heater, feeding it shilling coins to keep it going.
57-At London's British Museum Manuscript Division we read PM William E. Gladstone's (1809-98) cabinet minutes, Nov. 10, 1869, showing the decision, first suggested by Queen Victoria, to use Britain's newest and largest warship, HMS Monarch, to return GP's remains from England for burial in the U.S.
Alabama Claims
58-HMS Monarch was deliberately chosen as funeral ship partly because of the public attention it would draw and partly to honor his philanthropy in the U.S. and especially in London. His gift that most warmed English hearts and brought him many British honors was his 1862 $2.5 million gift for low-cost apartments for London's working poor. There was also a political motive for the choice of HMS Monarch, as there was for unusual British (and later U.S.) pomp and ceremony surrounding his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Peabody Homes of London.
59-GP died at the height of unresolved U.S.-British angers over serious incidents during the U.S. Civil War. One lingering anger was over the Sept. 1861 Trent Affair. Four Confederate agents seeking arms and aid in England and France slipped through a Union blockade of Charleston, S.C., sailed to Havana, Cuba, and then boarded the British mail ship Trent for England when a Union warship stopped, boarded, removed, and jailed the Confederates.
60-Britain furiously protested this illegal seizure and sent troops to Canada should war erupt between the U.S. and Britain. Calmer heads prevailed; Pres. Lincoln had the Confederates released. Also, Confederate agents secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, like the CSS Alabama, which wrecked or sank Union ships and cost U.S. lives and vast treasure. The U.S. offered proof that Britain knowingly turned a blind eye to the sale of these raiders and angrily sought indemnity.
61-Choice of HMS Monarch was thus a political decision to soften near-war British-U.S. angers over these and other Civil War incidents. Politically astute PM Gladstone at the Nov. 9, 1869, Lord Mayor's Day banquet, five days after GP's death, said publicly: "With the country of Mr. Peabody we [will] not quarrel." Three years later (1872), a Geneva international court required Britain to pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity to settle the Alabama Claims controversy.
62-At London's Guildhall Record Office we read a-"Journals of the Court of Common Council" recording the Freedom of the City of London honor given to GP, July 10, 1862. We also read b-"Minutes of the Committee for Erecting a Statue to Mr. George Peabody, 1866-1870," documenting contributors to GP's seated statue in Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange, created by U.S.-born Rome-based sculptor William Wetmore Story (1815-95), unveiled before crowds by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII, 1841-1910), July 23, 1869.
63-A replica of GP's seated statue in London was erected in front of the PIB, April 7, 1890, by Baltimorean Robert Garrett (1847-96). GP's seated statue in London, 1869, was the first of four statues of Americans in London, the others being of Abraham Lincoln, 1920; George Washington, 1921; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1948.
64-At London's Public Record Office we read a-"Alien Entry Lists" recording every time GP entered a British port, b-"Foreign Affairs Papers," and c-"Admiralty Papers," the last two documenting Britain's part in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral.
65-In London's Westminster Abbey we read a-"Recollections by Dean [Arthur P.] Stanley of Funerals in Westminster Abbey 1865-1881." Visiting in Naples, Italy, when he read of GP's death in London on Nov. 4, 1869, Dean Stanley (1815-81) recalled GP's March 12, 1862, gift for housing London's working poor and telegraphed associates to offer Westminster Abbey for a funeral service for this generous American.
66-We read the Westminster Abbey's b-"Funeral Fee Book 1811-1899," which listed GP's Abbey funeral costs. c-We stood at the permanent GP marker on the stone floor of Westminster Abbey near Britain's unknown soldier where GP's remains rested for 30 days (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). That marker was refurbished for the 200th GP birthday ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Feb. 18, 1995.
67-To honor his housing gift to London's working poor, GP was made an honorary member of two ancient guilds, the Clothmakers' Co., July 2, 1862, and the Fishmongers' Co., April 19, 1866, whose records we read in the respective guild libraries.
68-At the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, we read letters from Queen Victoria and her advisors to, from, and about GP. The Queen offered him a knighthood. He declined, since this honor required him to become a British subject. Unwilling to give up his U.S. citizenship he accepted instead her letters of thanks and an enameled miniature portrait she commissioned to be made especially for him. That portrait, along with his other honors, are on display at the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass.
69-We read the three brass signs on the front door of Morgan, Grenfell & Co., Ltd., 23 Great Winchester St., London, which read from bottom to top: George Peabody & Co., 1838-64; J.S. Morgan & Co., 1864-1909); and Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1909-90). The firm's current descendant, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), has records of George Peabody & Co. and some business papers of GP, J.S. Morgan, and J.P. Morgan, Sr. We secured a copy of GP's death certificate from London's General Register Office, Somerset House.
71-We wrote letters to British newspaper editors asking readers for any privately held GP letters or memorabilia. Two families had "George Peabody" embossed glass plates made by a souvenir glassware manufacturer in Sunderland, England, in the aftermath of his widely publicized death and 96-day transatlantic funeral. We donated GP glassware given us to U.S. Peabody institutions.
72-When first proposed for membership in exclusive British clubs, GP was denied membership (blackballed). This occurred during repudiation of interest on U.S. state bonds sold to British investors, many held by widowed families. Americans were then especially disdained. When it became known that GP had publicly protested repudiation, and particularly after his gift for housing London's working poor, he was unanimously elected to London's best clubs.
73-We read of GP's admission to the most prestigious of these clubs, The Athenaeum, whose librarian Eileen Stiff (d. 1985) befriended us. We met her housemate, writer Margaret Leland Goldsmith (1895-1970), whose invaluable editorial help is mentioned later. We also visited a Peabody apartment complex where some 34,500 low income Londoners still live.
Back in the U.S.: Founders Day Address, Feb. 18, 1955
74-We returned to the U.S., loaded our old car in Baltimore with voluminous notes and microfilm, and headed for Nashville. There, David E. Short (1891-1957), president of the Nashville business school where Betty had taught English in exchange for a near-free apartment, generously let us live there again (paying whatever rent we could afford). His generosity plus part time jobs enabled us, on evenings, weekends, and holidays, to organize our voluminous GP materials. This task was suddenly hastened when GPCFT Pres. Henry H. Hill (1894-1987) asked Franklin to give the GPCFT's Founders Day Address on Feb. 18, 1955, the first such address by a student.
75-Pressed now to succinctly tell the GP story, Franklin's speech to a Peabody College audience highlighted GP's career, U.S.-British friendship dinners, philanthropic influence, death in London, and unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. This speech opportunity would not have happened if Dean Felix Robb had not first suggested the GP research; or if GPCFT Prof. Clifton Hall as major professor had not been widely respected on the Peabody and Vanderbilt campuses (such backing was needed by a little known untried doctoral researcher); or if Franklin not kept his five doctoral committee members abreast of findings by regular research progress reports. Doors of opportunity swung on such hinges.
76-Franklin highlighted GP’s last illness, death, and funeral: A sick 74-year-old GP joined business friend W.W. Corcoran at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., a popular mineral springs health spa (July 23-Aug. 30, 1869). Present there by chance were southern and northern political, educational and former Civil War leaders, including Robert E. Lee (1807-70), then president of Washington College, Lexington Va., renamed Washington and Lee Univ. in 1871.
77-Though confined to his cabin, GP yet heard some of the gayety of younger visitors who flocked to a Peabody Ball spontaneously held in his honor. On his few well days he and Lee walked, talked, and dined together, often applauded by visitors. GP and Lee were photographed together and with others, including visiting Civil War generals from South and North. Informal talks that last summer of GP’s life were on southern public education needs. These set a precedent for later more formal Conferences on Education in the South, 1898-1902, which in turn led to vast foundation aid which helped raise southern public schools and higher education toward national levels.
78-Distressed by the Civil War, GP in Nov. 1861 had helped two of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's emissaries contact leaders in London to keep Britain neutral: Ohio's Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (mentioned earlier as GP's emissary to Lord Shaftesbury) and N.Y. state journalist and political leader Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), both GP's long-time friends.
79-After GP's death, when he was attacked as a Confederate sympathizer, Thurlow Weed publicly vindicated GP's Union loyalty (which McIlvaine also affirmed). Some northern extremists, determined to punish the South, faulted GP for founding the PIB in Md. (1857) and the PEF (1867), both seen as aiding the South. Weed reported that the $2 million that went into the PEF GP originally intended (in 1859) to give to the NYC poor. But NYC public schools had prospered and the Civil War had intervened. Moved by Civil War devastation, GP determined to aid public education in the South.
80-Congress and Pres. U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson recognized GP's PEF as a national gift. as did, Forty seven years later, GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne's (1874-1937) Feb. 18, 1916 Founders Day speech thus imaginatively interpreted GP's PEF founding letter, Feb. 7, 1867, to ten of his 16 trustees gathered at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C.: "There stand several governors of states both North and South; senators of the United States; Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Farragut. [Chief trustee Robert C.] Winthrop is called to take the chair. Mr. Peabody rises to read his deed of gift. They kneel in a circle of prayer, the Puritan of New England, the pioneer of the West, the financier of the metropolis, and the defeated veteran of the Confederacy. [On] bended knee they dedicate this great gift. They consecrate themselves to its wise expenditure. In that act, not quite two years after Appomattox, is the first guarantee of a reunited country." See: PEF.
81-GP gave Lee's college Va. bonds ultimately worth $60,000 for a mathematics professorship, left for Salem, Mass., made his funeral plans, recorded his last will in NYC, and arrived in London gravely ill. Through aides, Queen Victoria invited GP to recuperate at Windsor Castle. But it was too late. He died Nov. 4, 1869, at the 80 Eaton Square (London) home of business associate Sir Curtis Lampson (1806-85). See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
82-Knowing that GP's will required burial in Mass., Lampson telegraphed GP's nephew George Peabody Russell, who left for England to accompany GP's body home. Letters poured in to London newspapers asking for public honors for GP. The Queen's advisor, Sir Arthur Helps, informed her: "There are many persons who wish to pay public respect to the memory of that good man." See persons mentioned.
83-When PM Gladstone, at Queen Victoria’s suggestion, offered HMS Monarch as funeral ship to transport GP's remains to the U.S., Pres. U.S. Grant and U.S. Navy officials, not to be outdone, ordered the USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to act as escort vessel. Boston and NYC officials, believing that their cities would be the receiving port, were chagrined when Portland, Maine, was chosen because of its deeper harbor. The U.S. Navy placed Adm. David G. Farragut in charge of a flotilla of U.S. receiving vessels in Portland harbor. GP's funeral took on unprecedented proportions.
84-U.S. London Legation Secretary Benjamin Moran's private journal entries reflected the consternation at mounting funeral plans. He wrote on Nov. 6, 1869: "Peabody haunts the Legation from all parts of the world like a ghost." Again on Dec. 6, 1869: "Old Peabody has given us much trouble," and, "Will that old man ever be buried?" See: Moran, Benjamin.
85-Although critical of GP in his private journal through the years, at the last, Benjamin Moran, witnessing GP's Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service, was wondrously touched. He wrote with rare eloquence: "I reflected on the marvelous career of the man, his early life, his penurious habits, his vast fortune, his magnificent charity; and the honor then being paid to his memory by the Queen of England in the place of sepulchre of twenty English kings. An anthem was sung and the service end[ed]--George Peabody having received burial in Westminster Abbey, an honor coveted by nobles and not always granted kings." Ibid.
86-The Dec. 12, 1869, transfer of the coffin from London's Westminster Abbey to Portsmouth, England, harbor took place in pouring rain and a blowing storm. British Marines formed an honor guard. Scarlet-robed Portsmouth council members under black umbrellas mingled oddly with lines, spars, and beams of assembled ships. Guns were fired. Bugles sounded.
87-U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77) said to the Monarch’s Capt. John E. Commerell (1829-1901): "Into your hands I deliver Mr. Peabody's remains." The Monarch at Spithead Harbor, Portsmouth, awaited the end of the gale then blowing for the long voyage home.
88-British honors evoked some dissent in the U.S. One Union extremist said that returning "Peabody's remains on a British ship of war [is an] insult. Peabody was a secessionist." The charge, often made, was as often denied. In 1866 GP told a Baltimore audience: "My sympathies were with the Union. Three-fourths of my property was invested in United States Government and State securities. I saw no hope except in Union victory. But I could not turn my back on Southern friends." A few radical anti-southern Congressional extremists, erroneously believing GP to have favored the Confederacy, argued against a U.S. Navy reception for his remains at Portland. They were outvoted. Both houses of Congress finally approved unanimously.
89-HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth were met in Portland harbor, Jan. 25, 1870, by Adm. Farragut and a flotilla of U.S. ships. At Queen Victoria's request and as a final measure of British respect, GP's remains lay in state on the Monarch for two days. Thousands of visitors who flocked to Portland went by small boats to view his coffin aboard the Monarch. On Jan. 29, 1870, a cold New England winter's day, Monarch seamen carried the coffin ashore. Drums sounded a muted roll. The band played the somber Death March.
90-Hushed crowds filed by his coffin lying in state in Portland's City Hall where, on Feb. 1, 1870, The Messiah was sung, Mozart's Requiem was played. In the bitter cold, thousands watched black plumed horses pull the hearse through Portland streets to the railway station. Many others watched en route and as the funeral train reached GP's hometown.
91-His coffin was taken to the Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass., where it lay in state for viewing in the Peabody library. On display there were Queen Victoria's enameled miniature portrait made especially for him, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and resolutions of praise for the PEF, scrolls of the Freedom of the City of London, scrolls of honorary memberships in the Fishmongers' and Clothworkers' Companies, and other honors.
92-The coffin was taken to the Congregational Church for the last funeral service and the eulogy. Special trains from Boston brought solemn crowds to his hometown. The Congregational Church was filled to capacity. All eyes were on Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur (Duke of Connaught, 1850-1942) and his entourage, captains of the Monarch and the Plymouth, Massachusetts and Maine governors, Harvard Univ. Pres. Charles W. Eliot, mayors of six nearby cities, and trustees of GP's institutes.
93-Eulogist Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), GP’s philanthropic advisor, said of him in part: "What a career this has been whose final scene lies before us! The trusts he established, the institutes he founded, the buildings he raised stand before all eyes. He planned these for many years. When I expressed amazement at his purpose, he said to me, 'Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea for me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which He has bestowed upon me by doing some great good for my fellow-men.'"
94-GP's underlined words above are carved on the Westminster Abbey floor marker where his remains had rested for 30 days (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). He was buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870, near where he played as a boy and where he built the family tomb. The 96-day funeral was over. Two nations had given his funeral a rare touch of grandeur.
GP the Founder of Modern Philanthropy
95-Franklin Parker's dissertation, "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," documented these PEF firsts: 1-The PEF was the first US foundation to require the stimulating effect of matching local grants for schools it aided or founded; 2-the first to require state legislation to perpetuate state financial support of its aided schools; 3-the first multimillion dollar foundation recognized as national rather than local; and 4-the first to provide operational flexibility as conditions changed.
96-Other PEF firsts included: 5-the first U.S. foundation to elect trustees from professional and financial circles; 6-the first deliberately to use public relations to foster public acceptance and good will; 7-the first whose executives were former university officials (Barnas Sears of Brown Univ; JLM Curry of Howard College, Ala.); 8-the first to allow its trustees to disband after its job was done and distribute its assets as they saw fit (when dissolved in 1914, PEF assets endowed George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, next to Vanderbilt Univ.; funded education departments of 14 southern universities and colleges; and gave its residue to the Slater Fund for Negro colleges).
97-Historians have written the following on the PEF's influence: 1-Charles William Dabney: [The Aug. 1869 GP-Lee meeting] inspired the Four Conferences on Education in the South from which emerged the Southern Education Board and [John D. Rockefeller's] General Education Board. 2-Abraham Flexner: There was the closest cooperation among, and interlocking officers and trustees of, the PEF, the Southern Education Board, the General Education Board, the Samuel F. Slater Fund, the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, and the Rosenwald Fund.
98-Historians on the PEF's influence (cont'd): 3-Paul H. Buck: [the PEF was]: a fruitful experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections. 4-Thomas D. Clark: [the PEF] worked as an education leaven. 5-Harvey Wish: no kindness touched the hearts of the Southerners quite so much as Peabody's educational bequest. 6-Jesse Brundage Sears: [the PEF was] the first successful precedent-setting educational foundation. 7-Daniel Coit Gilman: all subsequent foundations adopted the principles Peabody formulated.
99-Franklin's GPCFT's Founders Day Address, Feb. 18, 1955, documented that in their 47-years existence PEF executives and trustees pioneered the heartbeat of American educational philanthropy—using private wealth judiciously and experimentally as a lever to tackle key educational and socio-economic problems, the results if good serving as models for other agencies and governments to emulate. GP's hope and money made this influence possible. In appreciation and to attest to his influence, southern communities have given his name to a score of streets, avenues, elementary and secondary schools, university education buildings, hotels, and at least one park. GP built better than he knew. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Named Institutions, Firms, Buildings, Ships, Other Facilities; Music and/or Poems Named for GP.
100-With Franklin's speech given and handsomely printed, with the GP dissertation accepted, graduation followed in Aug. 1956. Through the years we went to teaching posts at the Univ. of Texas, Austin (1957-64); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman (1964-68); W.Va. Univ. (1968-86), and (after retirement), Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff (1986-89), and Western Carolina Univ., Cullowhee (1989-94).
101-Over the years we did other research, wrote other books, and wrote and published GP articles (listed fully below). We submitted to several publishers "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956), 3 vols, 1,209 pp. These were returned as needing pruning and focus.
George Peabody, a Biography
102-In May 1970, GPCFT Public Relations Director John E. Windrow (1899-1984) brought together prominent New England Peabodys for a Nashville dinner conference at which Franklin spoke. The new Vanderbilt Univ. Press director, in attendance, asked to see a revised GP manuscript. This welcome request threw us into a frenzy of revision. Unexpected but welcome help came from London Athenaeum Club librarian Eileen Stiff's friend, Margaret Leland Goldsmith, a professional writer. She and Eileen had befriended us through the years. Margaret's editorial suggestions helped turn the dissertation into a readable 233 page book.
103-Thus, 14 years after completing the GP dissertation, Franklin Parker's George Peabody, a Biography (Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 1971), was published. Twenty-four years later, for GP's 200th birthday, Feb. 18, 1795-1995, a revised and updated version was republished with 12 illustrations added. Earlier, also for GP's 200th birthday, our 22 previously published GP articles were reprinted in a special bicentennial issue, "The Legacy of George Peabody," Peabody Journal of Education, Fall 1994, 210 pp.
GP's Motives
104-We long pondered GP's philanthropic motives, strengths, weaknesses, and especially why he is he so little known today. His chief motive may have been his 1852 motto: "Education, a debt due from present to future generations." His motive may also have been to compensate for his own lack of formal education.
105-In 1831 he replied to a nephew who asked his financial help to attend Yale College (GP's underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me."
106-His motive may been simply to succeed. He said in an 1856 speech: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish a house in the great metropolis of England. I have endeavored to make it an American house, to give it an American atmosphere, to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my friends visiting London."
107-His motive may have been to gain honors, so abundant in his last years. After death he was elected to the New York Univ. Hall of Fame in 1900, where a bust of him was unveiled in 1926. His likeness was put on a large bronze door intended for the U.S. Capitol Building. Bicentennial programs were held on the 200th anniversary of his birth (1795-1995) at Harvard, Yale, in Nashville; in Danvers and in Peabody, Mass.; at the PIB; and at Westminster Abbey, England, where the marker at his temporary grave was refurbished.
108-Disappointment in love may have driven him. Late in life a business friend congratulated him on being the greatest philanthropist of his time. GP reportedly replied, "After my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that decision to my best ability."
109-This "disappointment" may have been an early failed romance with Elizabeth Knox of Baltimore to whom he is said to have proposed twice. There is also a documented broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) of Providence, R.I. She visited London for young Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). As a school girl she had earlier been infatuated with Alexander Lardner in Philadelphia. GP met her in London, fell in love, and proposed marriage. Returning to the U.S. she again met Lardner, realized her engagement to GP was a mistake, broke their engagement, married Lardner, had two children, and outlived GP by 35 years. Her portrait painted in Philadelphia by artist Thomas Sully shows her in all her beauty.
GP's Strengths
110-We long pondered GP's strengths. On this point his first partner Elisha Riggs, Sr. wrote in his last letter to GP (April 17, 1852): "You always had the faculty of an extraordinary memory and strong mind which enabled you to carry out your plans better than almost any other man I ever knew.... [To] these happy faculties I attribute much of your prosperity. [Unusual] perseverance enabled you to rise to an extraordinary position..." See: Riggs, Elisha, Sr.
111-Economic historian Muriel E. Hidy's wrote thus of GP's strengths: "He [GP] had a vigorous personality, and, in spite of a humble origin, apparently found little difficulty in moving in prominent circles. An ability to attract firm friends among his business contemporaries gave him many useful connections....He benefited by the confidence which as a young man he had awakened in Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. Later his amiability brought him close association with "[leading U.S. business men: William Shepard Wetmore, John Cryder, and Curtis Miranda Lampson, and William Wilson Corcoran….]." See: persons named.
112-John Bright, British statesman, wrote in his diary (June 4, 1867): "Mr. Peabody is a remarkable man. He is 74 years old, large and has been powerful of frame. He has made an enormous fortune, which he is giving for good objects--chiefly for education in America and for useful purposes in London. He has had almost no schooling and has not read books, but has had much experience, and is deeply versed in questions of commerce and banking. He is a man of strong will, and can decide questions for himself." See: John Bright.
Old Age Irritations
113-We also pondered his faults. Gout, rheumatism, and other ailments in old age sometimes made him irritable, crotchety, and abrupt. On July 14, 1869, four months before his death, he complained irritably to the trustees of his first Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass.: "You spend too much. You spend too much." Soon brightening he said smilingly, "Well, well, I must give you $50,000 more to get you out of trouble. And I must say that none of my foundations have given me so much satisfaction as this one at my native place."
114-In his last decade he was incredible busy looking after his philanthropies and seeing friends and relatives. He was also set in his ways. The daughter of a business friend wrote of his autocracy in old age during his 1866-67 U.S. visit.: 'The precision of business habits and a long old bachelor hood, combined with constitutional shyness, caused Mr. Peabody, at times, to appear to disadvantage…. He had himself accomplished so much that he felt [his] wishes…should become instantaneous facts--his small due from those around him….. [T]he ruthless serenity with which [he] countermanded luncheon and advanced the dinner hour to meet business exigencies…dismay[ed]…the hearts of the most devoted hostesses. I do not suppose Mr. Peabody ever thought of giving trouble, and certainly no one ever thought of remonstrating."
Fleeting Fame
115-Mostly we pondered why GP, so lauded in his last years, has been largely forgotten. This may be due to the fleeting nature of fame. Each generation chooses its heroes who rise, flourish, are replaced, and often forgotten. This view is suggested by historian John Steele Gordon whose article, "Most Underrated Philanthropist," American Heritage, Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69 reads in part: "Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time."
Grand Adventure
116-As researchers, looking back, we marvel at the good fortune, helpful people, and unusual turning points that enabled us to find and pursue a neglected American hero. We were 1930s depression children, the first in our families enabled to attend college in the booming aftermath of World War II that ended and altered so many lives. 117-Newly married, without children, seeking challenges--when the GP research opportunity fell our way, we saw he was worth pursuing. We were uncertain innocents, willing to take risks. We made mistakes and were often rescued by friends and fate. In retrospect being "On the Trail of GP" intermittently over the last 50 years has been a grand adventure.
Authors' Publications on GP
Dissertation
Franklin Parker, Ed. D. Dissertation, "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956), 3 vols., 1219 pp. Sold as Doctoral Dissertation No. 19,758, microfilm or hard copy, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 (Phone 1-800-521-0600 or 313-761-4700, FAX 313-973-1540). See: Dissertation Abstracts, XVII, No. 8 (Aug. 1957), pp. 1701-1702.
Books
1-Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971, 233 pp. Although out of print 1-there is a microform reprint in CORE [Collected Original Resources in Education], IX, 3 [Nov. 1985], Fiche 7 D10 (CORE is a British miroform journal) and 2-microfilm & print versions were also sold by Books on Demand, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 [ask fo
This work updates and expands Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, ©1971, revised with illustrations ©1995), and related Peabody publications listed in the Authors' Preface below which also describes motives for this work.
Following Background below, this 1 of 14 blogs covers: 1-"Preface," 2-authors list of published writings on GP, 3-Overview of GP's Life and Career, and 4- alphabetical entries from Abbott (Alfred Amos) to Brush (M.P.) 2.
Background: This "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, Nashville, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
Well known in the 1850s-60s, George Peabody has since been sadly neglected by scholars and the public. He was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South; as junior partner in Riggs & Peabody; later head of Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), both firms importing dry goods and other commodities worldwide for sale to U.S. wholesalers. From mercant Peabody transformed himself into: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), which helped finance in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable; and, by choosing Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90) as partner Oct. 1, 1854, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of the 1850s-60s, founding the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; founder in the U.S. of 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), model for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations.
Two tributes to George Peabody:
(Historian John Steele Gordon called George Peabody the "Most Underrated Philanthropist.... Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time." Ref.: American Heritage. Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69.
("The Peabody Fund, established in 1867 by George Peabody to assist southern education, is often credited with being the first foundation…" Ref.: Reader's Companion to American History, ed by Eric Foner and John A. Garraty (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991). Internet: http://HistoryChannel.com/ End of Background.
Abbreviations are easily recognizable and include U.S. state names (Tenn. for Tennessee, Md. for Maryland, etc.); city (NYC for New York City); titles (Pres. for President, Sen. for Senator, Rep. for Representative, Secty. for Secretary, Gov. for Governor, PM for Prime Minister, Adm. for Admiral, etc.); months of the year (Jan. for January); terms (Intro. for Introduction); and organizations (Univ. for University, Co. for Company, Dept. for Department, B&O RR for Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; n.d. for no date; n.p. for no page; etc.). The following five abbreviations are used throughout this work:
1-GP for George Peabody (1795-1869
2-GPCFT for George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79).
3-PCofVU for Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ. (since July 1, 1979).
4-PEF for the Peabody Education Fund (Feb. 7, 1867-1914).
5-PIB for the Peabody Institute of Baltimore (since Oct. 24, 1857).
6-Peabody Papers, PEM for George Peabody Papers, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
7-USS for United States Ship, as in USS Plymouth: CSS for Confederate States Ship, as in CSS Alabama; and (for Britain) HMS for Her Majesty's Ship, as in HMS Monarch.
8-VU for Vanderbilt University.
References (Ref.)
References are briefly identified at the end of most articles as Ref.:, followed by author's last name and page or pages (or first significant words of title and page or pages if no author), with annotated reference easily found alphabetically in the back of this work.
See:
Names of persons after See: are listed by Last, First, and Middle names or initials.
Internet website URL and e-mail addresses of GP-related institutions, persons, and topics are listed in appropriate places (Ref.:, See:, other places) with date seen by the authors since URL's often appear, disappear, and change.
Summary repetitions about people, events, and circumstances are used in the many entries that follow when their use further illuminates GP's life and influence.
Birth and death years of persons, when known, are listed (after their names) when first mentioned in an entry.
English pound £ during GP's years in England (1837-69) was roughly equivalent to U.S. $5.00.
Authors' Preface: On the Trail of George Peabody (1795-1869)
(This Preface interweaves the origin of the authors' research "On the Trail of GP," with findings on his career and influence; lists the authors' GP publications; and continues alphabeticlly with entries 1-14 that touch on every uncovered aspect of GP's life, career, and influence).
1-Sept. 1946-52: We met as students at Berea College near Lexington, Ky. (Sept. 1946), Betty entering from Decatur, Ala.; Franklin from Asheville, N.C. Berea brought us together, led to our marriage (1950), and its Alumni Office got us our first teaching jobs at Ferrum Jr. College near Roanoke, Va., 1950-52.
2-To improve our teaching skills we attended George Peabody College for Teachers (GPCFT), sited next to Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, Tenn., the summers of 1951 and 1952. Attendance at Berea College, a work-study tuition-free college, enabled Franklin to extend his GI Bill entitlement (he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-46) to help cover graduate study costs at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, 1949-50, and GPCFT, 1952-56, plus travel to and housing near U.S. and British libraries to read GP-related papers.
3-1952-56: A part-time job and small GPCFT scholarship for Franklin, together with Betty's job teaching English in a Nashville business college, enabled us to be graduate students at GPCFT during 1952-56. Franklin took courses from and attached himself as doctoral candidate to Canadian-born Prof Clifton Landon Hall (1898-1987), graduate of Bishop Univ. (Quebec), McGill Univ. (Montreal), a Univ. of N.C., Chapel Hill, Ph.D. in the history of education, and widely respected on the Peabody and Vanderbilt campuses.
4-1953: Searching for a dissertation topic and finding an unexplored area in the history of higher education in Tenn., Franklin went for approval to GPCFT Dean (and later president) Felix Compton Robb (1914-97). Perhaps out of respect for Prof. Hall's reputation, Dean Robb told Franklin of his own earlier experience at Harvard University. In a history course he had at Harvard under historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. (1888-1965), Schlesinger, knowing that Robb was a Peabody College administrator, urged Robb to write on GP as a founder of modern educational philanthropy. Schlesinger knew of this achievement and lamented that it had not yet been fully explored and documented.
5-Determined on a career in higher education administration, Robb chose a dissertation in that area. Perhaps regretting a good topic not pursued, Robb spoke with enthusiasm of GP’s little known role as the founder of U.S. educational philanthropy and urged Franklin to consider it as a dissertation topic.
Basic Facts
6-GP in brief: Increasingly intrigued by what we found in libraries and encouraged by small scholarships, we read GP’s original letters and papers intensively in widely scattered U.S. and British depositories during 1953-55. He was born Feb. 18, 1795, into a poor branch of the Peabodys of Mass., third of eight children in Danvers, Mass., 19 miles northeast of Boston. He lived long enough to see his birthplace (renamed South Danvers in 1855 when Danvers was divided into North Danvers and South Danvers) renamed Peabody, Mass., in his honor on April 13, 1868.
7-He attended a district school 4 years, ages 8-12 (1803-07), all his parents could afford; was apprenticed in a general store 4 years, ages 12-15 (1807-10); and worked for a year in his oldest brother's dry goods store in Newburyport, Mass. (1810-11). His father died May 13, 1811, leaving the family in debt, the Danvers home mortgaged, with GP's mother and the five younger children forced to live with nearby relatives. Eighteen days later, May 31, 1811, the Great Fire of Newburyport ruined all business prospects, leading to an exodus of family breadwinners.
8-Paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827), whose Newburyport store and stock were burned, urged his 17-year old nephew GP to join him in opening a dry goods store in Georgetown, D.C. Because his uncle could not obtain credit, GP asked a Newburyport merchant to stand surety for him for a consignment of goods on credit from a Boston merchant. With $2,000 in goods secured, uncle and nephew sailed from Newburyport (May 5, 1812) and opened the Georgetown, D.C., store (May 15, 1812).
9-His uncle soon entered other enterprises. On his own GP tended the store and was also a pack peddler selling goods to nearby homes and stores. With nearby Washington, D.C., under threat of British attack, he volunteered in the War of 1812. There he met and impressed 35-year-old fellow soldier and experienced Md. merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs took the 19-year-old GP as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), which imported European fabric, clothing, and other goods for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815 and had warehouses in Philadelphia and New York City (NYC) by 1822. See: Riggs, Elisha, Sr.
Young Merchant in the South
10-Taking early responsibility as family breadwinner, GP sent his mother and siblings flour, sugar, clothes, other necessities, and money. By 1816, age 21, he had paid the family debts and restored his mother and siblings to their home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote GP on Dec. 16, 1816: "I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent." Ref.: Ebon Mosely, Newburyport, Mass., to GP, Baltimore, Dec. 16, 1816, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
11-GP paid for the education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., of five younger relatives: brother Jeremiah, from 1819; sister Judith Dodge during 1821-27, sister Mary Gaines during 1822-27, cousin Adolphus W. Peabody (paternal uncle John's son) during 1827, and a nephew named for him (oldest brother David's son George), also during 1827. He bought a house in West Bradford for his relatives who were enrolled in the academy and where his mother also lived for several years.
12-He later paid for the education of other relatives: nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), at Yale Univ., later the first U.S. paleontologist at Yale; nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), Harvard-trained lawyer; niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835), Philadelphia finishing school; and others.
13-GP traveled in the U.S. and abroad for Riggs, Peabody & Co. He made five European buying trips during 1827-37. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., withdrew to become a NYC banker, the firm became Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48), with GP as senior partner and Riggs's nephew, Samuel Riggs (d. 1853), as junior partner.
GP as Md.'s Fiscal Agent Abroad
14-In 1836, as part of large scale internal improvements in many states (building roads, canals, and railroads), the Md. legislature voted to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the B&O RR with interest-bearing state bonds to be sold abroad. Md. appointed three agents to sell its $8 million bond issue abroad. When one agent withdrew, GP sought and secured his place. He left for London Feb. 1837, just before the Panic of 1837.
15-A depression following the financial Panic of 1837 led the two other agents to return to the U.S. without success. GP remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857; May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867; and June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869).
16-Depressed conditions after 1837 led nine states, including Md., to stop interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. GP had to sell the bonds in this depressed market and amid the angers of British and other European investors at the stoppage of interest payments. He publicly assured investors that repudiation was temporary, that payments would be retroactive. By letters, printed in newspapers, he urged officials in Md. and other defaulting states to retroactively resume interest payments.
17-GP was finally relieved to sell his part of the Md. bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by London's Baring Brothers banking firm. In 1847-48 Md. officials acknowledged publicly that GP had upheld Md.'s credit abroad during a difficult financial panic and that, rather than burden the state treasury, had declined his own $60,000 commission. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) transmitted Md. legislature's resolutions of praise to him and wrote, "To you, sir...the thanks of the State were eminently due." See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
From Merchant to London-based Banker
18-Gradually curtailing business activities for Peabody, Riggs & Co., he withdrew his capital in 1843 and severed his connection in 1845 (the firm's business ended in 1848). Coincidentally, he founded George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864) and increasingly sold U.S. state bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads. He succeeded in transition from merchant to investment banker.
19-With others he helped finance the second Mexican War loan; bought, sold, and shipped European iron and later steel rails for U.S. western railroads; and was a director and part- financier of the Atlantic Cable Co. He had learned to marshal capital to finance and expand U.S. business and industrial growth. In the 1850s he became the most eminent U.S. banker in London dealing in U.S. trade and securities.
20-George Peabody & Co. prospered. Asked in an interview on Aug. 22, 1869, how and when he made his money, GP said, "I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of United States securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly." Ref.: (Aug. 22, 1869, interview): Moorman-b, pp. 15-17.
Morgan Partnership
21-Often ill and urged by business friends to take a partner, GP on Oct. 1, 1854, at age 59 took as partner Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90). J.S. Morgan's son John Pierpont Morgan (later Sr., 1837-1913), at age 19, began his banking career as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. Increasing illness hastened GP's retirement on Oct. 1, 1864. Unmarried, without a son, and knowing he would no longer control the firm, he asked that his name be withdrawn. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer.
22-GP's was thus the root of the international banking house of J.P. Morgan, a fact amply recorded but not now generally known. His firm continued in London as J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910-Nov. 1918), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (Nov. 1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German-owned international banking firm. Relieved of business burdens GP spent the last five years of his life (1864-69) looking after his philanthropic institutions, first begun in 1852.
Philanthropist
23-More intriguing than how GP made his money was why and how he gave it away. In 1820 he was worth between $40,000 and $50,000. His 1827 will left $4,000 for charity. His 1832 will left $27,000 (out of a $135,000 estate) for educational philanthropy. He early told intimates and said publicly in 1850 that he would found an educational or other useful institution in every town and city where he had lived and worked. He earned about $20 million during his lifetime and at his death (Nov. 4, 1869) he gave about half to philanthropy, half to his relatives. (Note: $20 million in 1869 is equivalent to $258.3 million In 2001 purchasing power: See: Philanthropy, GP's, worth of, in Ref.: g. Internet. URL: http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/dollarq.php).
24-His philanthropic gifts (26 gifts or resulting institutes are numbered below), totaled about $10 million. His seven U.S. Peabody institute libraries, with lecture halls and lecture funds were, like the Lyceums (from 1826) and later Chautauquas (from 1872), part of the adult education centers of the time.
25-His seven Peabody Institute libraries are in: 1-Peabody, 2-Danvers, 3-Newburyport, and 4-Georgetown (all in Mass.). The four-part 5-Peabody Institute of Baltimore (PIB) contained a reference library, initially so extensive that the Library of Congress early borrowed from it, plus an art gallery, a lecture hall a lecture fund, and a conservatory of music.
26-The PIB, to which he gave a total of $1.4 million, presaged such later cultural centers as the Lincoln Center, NYC; and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (the PIB reference library and the PIB conservatory of music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ., from 1982). Other Peabody libraries are in 6-Thetford, Vt. and in 7-Georgetown, D.C. (now the Peabody Room of the Washington, D.C., public library.
27-Influenced by his nephew O.C. Marsh's scientific interests and attainments, GP founded three Peabody museums of science: 8-the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (anthropology); 9-the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Univ. (paleontology), $150,000 each; and 10-what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (maritime history plus Essex County historical documents), $140,000.
28-GP earlier gave the 11-Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school, Oct. 31, 1851; 12-Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Oct. 30, 1866; 13-Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics and civil engineering, Nov. 6, 1866; and 14-and to former Gen. Robert E. Lee's (1807-70) Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee Univ., 1871), Lexington, Va., $60,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Sept. 1869.
29-He gave $20,000 publication funds each to the 15-Md. Historical Society, Baltimore, Nov. 5, 1866; and the 16-Mass. Historical Society, Boston, Jan. 1, 1867. He gave 17-the U.S. Sanitary Commission to aid Civil War orphans, widows, and disabled veterans $10,000, 1864; and the 18-Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy, $19,300, April 5, 1867.
30-He had a 19-Memorial Congregational Church built in his mother's memory in her hometown, Georgetown, Mass., $70,000, 1866. For patriotic causes he donated to the 20-Lexington Monument, now Peabody, Mass., $300, 1835; the 21-Bunker Hill Memorial, Boston, Mass., $500, June 3, 1845; and the 22-Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., $1,000, July 4, 1854.
Peabody Homes of London
31-His largest gift, $2.5 million total, was for model low rent apartments for London's working poor. Begun on March 12, 1862, what is now 23-the Peabody Trust Group, London, GP's most successful philanthropy, on March 31, 2006 owned or managed over 20,000 affordable homes housing over 50,000 low income Londoners (about 59% white, 32% black, and 9% others in 2002). These include, besides Peabody Trust Group-built estates, other London public housing units whose authorities deliberately chose to come under the Peabody Trust Group because of its efficient management, facilities, playgrounds for the young, recreation for the elderly, computer centers, job training, and job placement for its working adults. Ref.: Peabody Trust Group, London-c, annual report, 2002 (and later reports). Ref.: g. Internet. "Peabody Buildings," URL: http://www.vauxhallsociety.org.uk/Peabody.html
32-The Peabody Homes of London, GP's most successful philanthropy, was first suggested by social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85). GP first (1859) considered and discarded the idea of building a network of drinking fountains in London. He then considered a large gift to enlarge the Ragged Schools Union, a charitable trust managing schools for poor children in England, administered by Lord Shaftesbury (before the establishment of tax supported schools). GP asked his friend, Ohio's Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), who knew Shaftesbury, to consult with him. McIlvaine reported Shaftesbury's advice that housing was the London poor's greatest need. This advice determined GP's gift of low cost model apartments. The Peabody Homes of London inspired imitators elsewhere in England and in the U.S. and brought GP many honors in England.
PEF
33-GP's most in19,fluential U.S. gift was the $2 million 23-PEF (1867-1914) to promote public education in the eleven former Confederate states plus W.Va., added because of its poverty. He actually gave the PEF $3,484,000, but $1.1 million in Miss. state bonds and $384,000 in Fla. bonds were never redeemed by those states.
34-For 47 years the PEF helped promote public schools in the devastated post Civil War South, focusing first on aiding existing public elementary and secondary schools in larger towns to serve as models, then aiding teacher training institutes and normal colleges, and finally aiding rural public school growth.
35-The PEF was without precedent, the first multimillion dollar educational foundation in the U.S., cited by historians as the model forerunner of all subsequent significant U.S. educational funds and foundations. See: PEF.
36-High offices held by the over 50 PEF trustees during 1867-1914 included: thirteen state legislators, two U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justices, six U.S. ambassadors, eight U.S. Senators, seven in the U.S. House of Representatives, two Civil War generals, one U.S. naval admiral, one U.S. Army Surgeon-Gen., three Confederate generals, three who served in the Confederate Congress, two bishops, and six U.S. cabinet officers. For names, See: Governors, U.S. States, and GP. PCofVU. PEF. Presidents, U.S., and GP.
37-Other high offices held by PEF trustees: three were U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland; or eight U.S. presidents if Peabody Normal College and its predecessor institutions are included), six were U.S. state governors, and three were financiers: J.P. Morgan; Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93), inspired by GP's example to found Drexel Univ., Phila., and Paul Tulane (1801-87), inspired to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans, La. Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Normal College
38-PEF first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) wanted a model teachers college for the South in Nashville. When the Tenn. legislature declined to pass funding legislation for several state normal school proposals, Sears through the PEF helped establish the PEF-supported 24-Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) on the Univ. of Nashville campus in place of its moribund Literary Dept. In its 36 years of existence, Peabody Normal College achieved regional and national leadership in the professional preparation of teachers.
39-GP's PEF founding letter (Feb. 7, 1867) permitted ending the fund when its work in promoting public schools in the South was done. In 1914 the trustees distributed the fund's total assets ($2,324,000) as follows: $474,000 went to the education departments of 14 southern universities ($40,000 each to the universities of Va., N.C., Ga., Ala., Fla., Miss., Ark., Ky., and La. [State]; $6,000 each to Johns Hopkins Univ. and to the universities of S.C., Mo., and Tex.; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, S.C. (now Winthrop College), founded by PEF trustees Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94); and $350,000 to the John F. Slater Fund for Negro Education (a sum given later to the Southern Education Fund, Atlanta, where it still serves African-American education). See: PCofVU. PEF. Southern Education Fund, Atlanta.
GPCFT
40-Most of the PEF principal, $1.5 million plus required matching funds, went to endow 25-GPCFT (1914-79), with a new campus built next to Vanderbilt Univ. for academic strength. For 65 years GPCFT maintained its independence, cooperating with neighboring Vanderbilt Univ. in courses, programs, and library facilities. GPCFT was in fact a unique mini-university, focused on teacher education in a variety of fields, with departments of library science, physical education, science education, and music education. It retained and enhanced its predecessor's reputation as a leading institution in the South, with national recognition and an international student body.
41-GPCFT's best graduates became state university presidents, deans, leading professors, researchers, and textbook writers. Its success thereby strengthened competing lower cost state university colleges of education and ironically contributed to its own demise. National recession in the 1970s combined with higher energy and other costs adversely affected higher education and particularly private colleges of education.
PCofVU
42-Wise Peabodians knew that the time was past for the survival of a private single purpose teachers college like GPCFT, despite its proud history, high regional reputation, and national and international influence. Merger took place on July 1, 1979, when GPCFT became 26-PCofVU, Vanderbilt Univ.'s. ninth school.
43-PCofVU soon increased the status of its predecessor institutions as a leading private southern university's college of education. It quickly led the nation in preparing teachers to apply computers to student learning. Since the 1990s it has consistently ranked among the top U.S. graduate schools of education, highly esteemed in preparing special education teachers, guidance counselors, and educational researchers. Ref.: "Best Graduate Schools," pp. 109, 111.
44-PCofVU's history thus goes back to Davidson Academy (1785-1806), chartered by N.C. eleven years before Tenn. statehood; rechartered as Cumberland College (1806-26); rechartered as the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75); whose moribund literary dept. was rechartered as Peabody Normal College (1875-1911; rechartered as GPCFT (1914-79); renamed PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). PCofVU's lineage of over 210 years makes it the 15th U.S. collegiate institution after the founding of Harvard College in 1636.
45-Faced with greater class and race divisions and with greater financial difficulties than counterpart colleges in other sections of the U.S., it rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world. As part of Vanderbilt Univ., PCofVU carried into the 21st century GP's motto accompanying his check for his first hometown Peabody Institute Library (1852): "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
Philanthropic Influence
46-GP's philanthropic example, mainly through the PIB and the PEF, directly and personally influenced Enoch Pratt (1808-96) to found the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore's public library; influenced Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) to found the Johns Hopkins Univ., hospital, and medical school in Baltimore; influenced Anthony Joseph Drexel to found Drexel Univ., Philadelphia; influenced Paul Tulane to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans; and influenced others who gave to institutions, funds, and foundations.
47-At his death, Nov. 4, 1869, age 74, GP was the best known philanthropist in the U.S. and Britain, a founder of U.S. educational philanthropy. But time, larger fortunes, wealthier funds and foundations have dimmed his memory, except at his institutes and among interested scholars.
Manuscript Sources
48-We did research on GP concentratedly in 1953-56, sporadically since, and again concentratedly in retirement since 1994, always impressed with his achievements and wondering why he is so neglected. We read GP- papers of the following individuals at the Library of Congress (LC), Washington, D.C.: a-William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888), business associate with whom GP helped finance the Second Mexican War loan (Corcoran is also known for donating the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C.). b-Hamilton Fish (1809-93), PEF trustee, N.Y. governor, and U.S. Secty. of State involved in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral.
49-We read the LC papers of c-John Work Garrett (1820-84), B&O RR president, who brought GP and Johns Hopkins together in his home near Baltimore, leading to the founding of Johns Hopkins Univ., Hospital, and Medical School. d-We read the LC papers of U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) who went to GP's rooms at the Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 9, 1867, to thank him for the PEF as a national gift. To forestall impeachment by radical Republicans bent on punishing the defeated South, Pres. Johnson's political advisor recommended a complete cabinet reshuffle with GP as Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his old cabinet kept Pres. Johnson from this course.
50-We read the LC papers of e-Benjamin Moran (1820-86), U.S. Legation in London Secty. (later called the U.S. Embassy), who during 1857-69 was often critical of GP in his private journal. f-We read the LC papers of the Riggs family, including Elisha Riggs, Sr., GP's first senior partner; Samuel Riggs (Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s, nephew), GP's second partner; and George Washington Riggs (1813-81, Elisha Riggs, Sr.'s son) who started the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C.
51-At the National Archives, Washington, D.C., we read a-"Veterans Records of the War of 1812" documenting GP's 14 days as a soldier, b-"Admirals and Commodores' Letters," c-"Dispatches from United States Ministers, Great Britain," and d-"Log of USS Plymouth," each documenting GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral (from his Nov. 4, 1869, death in London, to his final burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870, with much attendant press coverage.
52-In NYC's Pierpont Morgan Library we read the papers of J.S. Morgan, his son J.P. Morgan, Sr., and grandson J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943). These helped explain how GP, the founding root of the House of Morgan, along with a handful of other merchant-bankers, early learned to marshal foreign capital to help finance U.S. industrial growth.
53-In Mass. we read the bulk of GP's personal papers and business records (then not indexed or calendared) in what is now the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. We also read his papers in depositories in Peabody, Salem, Danvers, and Boston, Mass.; at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; and in Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History (which has his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh’s papers).
54-In Baltimore, where GP spent 22 of his most formative commercial years, 1815-37, we read his papers at the PIB, and the papers and journals of PIB trustee John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870) who, at GP's request for a cultural center for Baltimore, originally conceived of the idea of the PIB. In Baltimore we also read appropriate material in the Johns Hopkins Univ. Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library, whose founders, as mentioned, GP directly influenced. See: John Pendleton Kennedy and institutions mentioned.
55-Two travel difficulties were solved in Baltimore. We needed inexpensive passage to London. Ben Welsh, under whom Betty worked in the Berea College Labor Office (he was a part time travel agent), got us a low cost berth on a transatlantic ship. To safely store our old car, the Ruckdeshells, in whose Baltimore house we roomed (secured through the Johns Hopkins Univ. student housing), phoned a friend with an empty garage who helped us raise our car on blocks for four months' storage.
In England
56-London: Sept.-Dec. 1954: We registered as student researchers at the Univ. of London and rented an inexpensive "bed-sitter through student housing. Our daily pattern was an early breakfast of bread, peanut butter, fruit, and milk (with the outside window ledge our "fridge"), which preceded morning research in libraries. Lunch at a nearby bustling pub was followed by afternoon library research until closing time. An occasional restaurant supper treat preceded nighttime arranging of notes. We managed some Sunday and holiday visits to cultural sights and events. We survived the cold London winter nights of 1954 by huddling close to a space heater, feeding it shilling coins to keep it going.
57-At London's British Museum Manuscript Division we read PM William E. Gladstone's (1809-98) cabinet minutes, Nov. 10, 1869, showing the decision, first suggested by Queen Victoria, to use Britain's newest and largest warship, HMS Monarch, to return GP's remains from England for burial in the U.S.
Alabama Claims
58-HMS Monarch was deliberately chosen as funeral ship partly because of the public attention it would draw and partly to honor his philanthropy in the U.S. and especially in London. His gift that most warmed English hearts and brought him many British honors was his 1862 $2.5 million gift for low-cost apartments for London's working poor. There was also a political motive for the choice of HMS Monarch, as there was for unusual British (and later U.S.) pomp and ceremony surrounding his unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Death and Funeral, GP's.
59-GP died at the height of unresolved U.S.-British angers over serious incidents during the U.S. Civil War. One lingering anger was over the Sept. 1861 Trent Affair. Four Confederate agents seeking arms and aid in England and France slipped through a Union blockade of Charleston, S.C., sailed to Havana, Cuba, and then boarded the British mail ship Trent for England when a Union warship stopped, boarded, removed, and jailed the Confederates.
60-Britain furiously protested this illegal seizure and sent troops to Canada should war erupt between the U.S. and Britain. Calmer heads prevailed; Pres. Lincoln had the Confederates released. Also, Confederate agents secretly bought British-built ships, armed them as Confederate raiders, like the CSS Alabama, which wrecked or sank Union ships and cost U.S. lives and vast treasure. The U.S. offered proof that Britain knowingly turned a blind eye to the sale of these raiders and angrily sought indemnity.
61-Choice of HMS Monarch was thus a political decision to soften near-war British-U.S. angers over these and other Civil War incidents. Politically astute PM Gladstone at the Nov. 9, 1869, Lord Mayor's Day banquet, five days after GP's death, said publicly: "With the country of Mr. Peabody we [will] not quarrel." Three years later (1872), a Geneva international court required Britain to pay the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity to settle the Alabama Claims controversy.
62-At London's Guildhall Record Office we read a-"Journals of the Court of Common Council" recording the Freedom of the City of London honor given to GP, July 10, 1862. We also read b-"Minutes of the Committee for Erecting a Statue to Mr. George Peabody, 1866-1870," documenting contributors to GP's seated statue in Threadneedle St., near London's Royal Exchange, created by U.S.-born Rome-based sculptor William Wetmore Story (1815-95), unveiled before crowds by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII, 1841-1910), July 23, 1869.
63-A replica of GP's seated statue in London was erected in front of the PIB, April 7, 1890, by Baltimorean Robert Garrett (1847-96). GP's seated statue in London, 1869, was the first of four statues of Americans in London, the others being of Abraham Lincoln, 1920; George Washington, 1921; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1948.
64-At London's Public Record Office we read a-"Alien Entry Lists" recording every time GP entered a British port, b-"Foreign Affairs Papers," and c-"Admiralty Papers," the last two documenting Britain's part in GP's unusual 96-day transatlantic funeral.
65-In London's Westminster Abbey we read a-"Recollections by Dean [Arthur P.] Stanley of Funerals in Westminster Abbey 1865-1881." Visiting in Naples, Italy, when he read of GP's death in London on Nov. 4, 1869, Dean Stanley (1815-81) recalled GP's March 12, 1862, gift for housing London's working poor and telegraphed associates to offer Westminster Abbey for a funeral service for this generous American.
66-We read the Westminster Abbey's b-"Funeral Fee Book 1811-1899," which listed GP's Abbey funeral costs. c-We stood at the permanent GP marker on the stone floor of Westminster Abbey near Britain's unknown soldier where GP's remains rested for 30 days (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). That marker was refurbished for the 200th GP birthday ceremony at Westminster Abbey on Feb. 18, 1995.
67-To honor his housing gift to London's working poor, GP was made an honorary member of two ancient guilds, the Clothmakers' Co., July 2, 1862, and the Fishmongers' Co., April 19, 1866, whose records we read in the respective guild libraries.
68-At the Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, we read letters from Queen Victoria and her advisors to, from, and about GP. The Queen offered him a knighthood. He declined, since this honor required him to become a British subject. Unwilling to give up his U.S. citizenship he accepted instead her letters of thanks and an enameled miniature portrait she commissioned to be made especially for him. That portrait, along with his other honors, are on display at the Peabody Institute Library, Peabody, Mass.
69-We read the three brass signs on the front door of Morgan, Grenfell & Co., Ltd., 23 Great Winchester St., London, which read from bottom to top: George Peabody & Co., 1838-64; J.S. Morgan & Co., 1864-1909); and Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1909-90). The firm's current descendant, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), has records of George Peabody & Co. and some business papers of GP, J.S. Morgan, and J.P. Morgan, Sr. We secured a copy of GP's death certificate from London's General Register Office, Somerset House.
70-Turning pages of heavy dusty bound newspaper volumes at the British Library at Colindale, we found many contemporary articles about GP, especially of his elaborate U.S.-British friendship dinners in or near London from 1850 onward, most often on July 4th, U.S. Independence Day.
71-We wrote letters to British newspaper editors asking readers for any privately held GP letters or memorabilia. Two families had "George Peabody" embossed glass plates made by a souvenir glassware manufacturer in Sunderland, England, in the aftermath of his widely publicized death and 96-day transatlantic funeral. We donated GP glassware given us to U.S. Peabody institutions.
72-When first proposed for membership in exclusive British clubs, GP was denied membership (blackballed). This occurred during repudiation of interest on U.S. state bonds sold to British investors, many held by widowed families. Americans were then especially disdained. When it became known that GP had publicly protested repudiation, and particularly after his gift for housing London's working poor, he was unanimously elected to London's best clubs.
73-We read of GP's admission to the most prestigious of these clubs, The Athenaeum, whose librarian Eileen Stiff (d. 1985) befriended us. We met her housemate, writer Margaret Leland Goldsmith (1895-1970), whose invaluable editorial help is mentioned later. We also visited a Peabody apartment complex where some 34,500 low income Londoners still live.
Back in the U.S.: Founders Day Address, Feb. 18, 1955
74-We returned to the U.S., loaded our old car in Baltimore with voluminous notes and microfilm, and headed for Nashville. There, David E. Short (1891-1957), president of the Nashville business school where Betty had taught English in exchange for a near-free apartment, generously let us live there again (paying whatever rent we could afford). His generosity plus part time jobs enabled us, on evenings, weekends, and holidays, to organize our voluminous GP materials. This task was suddenly hastened when GPCFT Pres. Henry H. Hill (1894-1987) asked Franklin to give the GPCFT's Founders Day Address on Feb. 18, 1955, the first such address by a student.
75-Pressed now to succinctly tell the GP story, Franklin's speech to a Peabody College audience highlighted GP's career, U.S.-British friendship dinners, philanthropic influence, death in London, and unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral. This speech opportunity would not have happened if Dean Felix Robb had not first suggested the GP research; or if GPCFT Prof. Clifton Hall as major professor had not been widely respected on the Peabody and Vanderbilt campuses (such backing was needed by a little known untried doctoral researcher); or if Franklin not kept his five doctoral committee members abreast of findings by regular research progress reports. Doors of opportunity swung on such hinges.
76-Franklin highlighted GP’s last illness, death, and funeral: A sick 74-year-old GP joined business friend W.W. Corcoran at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., a popular mineral springs health spa (July 23-Aug. 30, 1869). Present there by chance were southern and northern political, educational and former Civil War leaders, including Robert E. Lee (1807-70), then president of Washington College, Lexington Va., renamed Washington and Lee Univ. in 1871.
77-Though confined to his cabin, GP yet heard some of the gayety of younger visitors who flocked to a Peabody Ball spontaneously held in his honor. On his few well days he and Lee walked, talked, and dined together, often applauded by visitors. GP and Lee were photographed together and with others, including visiting Civil War generals from South and North. Informal talks that last summer of GP’s life were on southern public education needs. These set a precedent for later more formal Conferences on Education in the South, 1898-1902, which in turn led to vast foundation aid which helped raise southern public schools and higher education toward national levels.
78-Distressed by the Civil War, GP in Nov. 1861 had helped two of Pres. Abraham Lincoln's emissaries contact leaders in London to keep Britain neutral: Ohio's Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (mentioned earlier as GP's emissary to Lord Shaftesbury) and N.Y. state journalist and political leader Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), both GP's long-time friends.
79-After GP's death, when he was attacked as a Confederate sympathizer, Thurlow Weed publicly vindicated GP's Union loyalty (which McIlvaine also affirmed). Some northern extremists, determined to punish the South, faulted GP for founding the PIB in Md. (1857) and the PEF (1867), both seen as aiding the South. Weed reported that the $2 million that went into the PEF GP originally intended (in 1859) to give to the NYC poor. But NYC public schools had prospered and the Civil War had intervened. Moved by Civil War devastation, GP determined to aid public education in the South.
80-Congress and Pres. U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson recognized GP's PEF as a national gift. as did, Forty seven years later, GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne's (1874-1937) Feb. 18, 1916 Founders Day speech thus imaginatively interpreted GP's PEF founding letter, Feb. 7, 1867, to ten of his 16 trustees gathered at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C.: "There stand several governors of states both North and South; senators of the United States; Ulysses S. Grant and Admiral Farragut. [Chief trustee Robert C.] Winthrop is called to take the chair. Mr. Peabody rises to read his deed of gift. They kneel in a circle of prayer, the Puritan of New England, the pioneer of the West, the financier of the metropolis, and the defeated veteran of the Confederacy. [On] bended knee they dedicate this great gift. They consecrate themselves to its wise expenditure. In that act, not quite two years after Appomattox, is the first guarantee of a reunited country." See: PEF.
81-GP gave Lee's college Va. bonds ultimately worth $60,000 for a mathematics professorship, left for Salem, Mass., made his funeral plans, recorded his last will in NYC, and arrived in London gravely ill. Through aides, Queen Victoria invited GP to recuperate at Windsor Castle. But it was too late. He died Nov. 4, 1869, at the 80 Eaton Square (London) home of business associate Sir Curtis Lampson (1806-85). See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
82-Knowing that GP's will required burial in Mass., Lampson telegraphed GP's nephew George Peabody Russell, who left for England to accompany GP's body home. Letters poured in to London newspapers asking for public honors for GP. The Queen's advisor, Sir Arthur Helps, informed her: "There are many persons who wish to pay public respect to the memory of that good man." See persons mentioned.
83-When PM Gladstone, at Queen Victoria’s suggestion, offered HMS Monarch as funeral ship to transport GP's remains to the U.S., Pres. U.S. Grant and U.S. Navy officials, not to be outdone, ordered the USS Plymouth from Marseilles, France, to act as escort vessel. Boston and NYC officials, believing that their cities would be the receiving port, were chagrined when Portland, Maine, was chosen because of its deeper harbor. The U.S. Navy placed Adm. David G. Farragut in charge of a flotilla of U.S. receiving vessels in Portland harbor. GP's funeral took on unprecedented proportions.
84-U.S. London Legation Secretary Benjamin Moran's private journal entries reflected the consternation at mounting funeral plans. He wrote on Nov. 6, 1869: "Peabody haunts the Legation from all parts of the world like a ghost." Again on Dec. 6, 1869: "Old Peabody has given us much trouble," and, "Will that old man ever be buried?" See: Moran, Benjamin.
85-Although critical of GP in his private journal through the years, at the last, Benjamin Moran, witnessing GP's Nov. 12, 1869, Westminster Abbey funeral service, was wondrously touched. He wrote with rare eloquence: "I reflected on the marvelous career of the man, his early life, his penurious habits, his vast fortune, his magnificent charity; and the honor then being paid to his memory by the Queen of England in the place of sepulchre of twenty English kings. An anthem was sung and the service end[ed]--George Peabody having received burial in Westminster Abbey, an honor coveted by nobles and not always granted kings." Ibid.
86-The Dec. 12, 1869, transfer of the coffin from London's Westminster Abbey to Portsmouth, England, harbor took place in pouring rain and a blowing storm. British Marines formed an honor guard. Scarlet-robed Portsmouth council members under black umbrellas mingled oddly with lines, spars, and beams of assembled ships. Guns were fired. Bugles sounded.
87-U.S. Minister to Britain John Lothrop Motley (1814-77) said to the Monarch’s Capt. John E. Commerell (1829-1901): "Into your hands I deliver Mr. Peabody's remains." The Monarch at Spithead Harbor, Portsmouth, awaited the end of the gale then blowing for the long voyage home.
88-British honors evoked some dissent in the U.S. One Union extremist said that returning "Peabody's remains on a British ship of war [is an] insult. Peabody was a secessionist." The charge, often made, was as often denied. In 1866 GP told a Baltimore audience: "My sympathies were with the Union. Three-fourths of my property was invested in United States Government and State securities. I saw no hope except in Union victory. But I could not turn my back on Southern friends." A few radical anti-southern Congressional extremists, erroneously believing GP to have favored the Confederacy, argued against a U.S. Navy reception for his remains at Portland. They were outvoted. Both houses of Congress finally approved unanimously.
89-HMS Monarch and the USS Plymouth were met in Portland harbor, Jan. 25, 1870, by Adm. Farragut and a flotilla of U.S. ships. At Queen Victoria's request and as a final measure of British respect, GP's remains lay in state on the Monarch for two days. Thousands of visitors who flocked to Portland went by small boats to view his coffin aboard the Monarch. On Jan. 29, 1870, a cold New England winter's day, Monarch seamen carried the coffin ashore. Drums sounded a muted roll. The band played the somber Death March.
90-Hushed crowds filed by his coffin lying in state in Portland's City Hall where, on Feb. 1, 1870, The Messiah was sung, Mozart's Requiem was played. In the bitter cold, thousands watched black plumed horses pull the hearse through Portland streets to the railway station. Many others watched en route and as the funeral train reached GP's hometown.
91-His coffin was taken to the Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass., where it lay in state for viewing in the Peabody library. On display there were Queen Victoria's enameled miniature portrait made especially for him, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and resolutions of praise for the PEF, scrolls of the Freedom of the City of London, scrolls of honorary memberships in the Fishmongers' and Clothworkers' Companies, and other honors.
92-The coffin was taken to the Congregational Church for the last funeral service and the eulogy. Special trains from Boston brought solemn crowds to his hometown. The Congregational Church was filled to capacity. All eyes were on Queen Victoria's son Prince Arthur (Duke of Connaught, 1850-1942) and his entourage, captains of the Monarch and the Plymouth, Massachusetts and Maine governors, Harvard Univ. Pres. Charles W. Eliot, mayors of six nearby cities, and trustees of GP's institutes.
93-Eulogist Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), GP’s philanthropic advisor, said of him in part: "What a career this has been whose final scene lies before us! The trusts he established, the institutes he founded, the buildings he raised stand before all eyes. He planned these for many years. When I expressed amazement at his purpose, he said to me, 'Why Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea for me. From the earliest of my manhood, I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my heavenly Father day by day, that I might be enabled, before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which He has bestowed upon me by doing some great good for my fellow-men.'"
94-GP's underlined words above are carved on the Westminster Abbey floor marker where his remains had rested for 30 days (Nov. 12-Dec. 11, 1869). He was buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass., Feb. 8, 1870, near where he played as a boy and where he built the family tomb. The 96-day funeral was over. Two nations had given his funeral a rare touch of grandeur.
GP the Founder of Modern Philanthropy
95-Franklin Parker's dissertation, "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," documented these PEF firsts: 1-The PEF was the first US foundation to require the stimulating effect of matching local grants for schools it aided or founded; 2-the first to require state legislation to perpetuate state financial support of its aided schools; 3-the first multimillion dollar foundation recognized as national rather than local; and 4-the first to provide operational flexibility as conditions changed.
96-Other PEF firsts included: 5-the first U.S. foundation to elect trustees from professional and financial circles; 6-the first deliberately to use public relations to foster public acceptance and good will; 7-the first whose executives were former university officials (Barnas Sears of Brown Univ; JLM Curry of Howard College, Ala.); 8-the first to allow its trustees to disband after its job was done and distribute its assets as they saw fit (when dissolved in 1914, PEF assets endowed George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, next to Vanderbilt Univ.; funded education departments of 14 southern universities and colleges; and gave its residue to the Slater Fund for Negro colleges).
97-Historians have written the following on the PEF's influence: 1-Charles William Dabney: [The Aug. 1869 GP-Lee meeting] inspired the Four Conferences on Education in the South from which emerged the Southern Education Board and [John D. Rockefeller's] General Education Board. 2-Abraham Flexner: There was the closest cooperation among, and interlocking officers and trustees of, the PEF, the Southern Education Board, the General Education Board, the Samuel F. Slater Fund, the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, and the Rosenwald Fund.
98-Historians on the PEF's influence (cont'd): 3-Paul H. Buck: [the PEF was]: a fruitful experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections. 4-Thomas D. Clark: [the PEF] worked as an education leaven. 5-Harvey Wish: no kindness touched the hearts of the Southerners quite so much as Peabody's educational bequest. 6-Jesse Brundage Sears: [the PEF was] the first successful precedent-setting educational foundation. 7-Daniel Coit Gilman: all subsequent foundations adopted the principles Peabody formulated.
99-Franklin's GPCFT's Founders Day Address, Feb. 18, 1955, documented that in their 47-years existence PEF executives and trustees pioneered the heartbeat of American educational philanthropy—using private wealth judiciously and experimentally as a lever to tackle key educational and socio-economic problems, the results if good serving as models for other agencies and governments to emulate. GP's hope and money made this influence possible. In appreciation and to attest to his influence, southern communities have given his name to a score of streets, avenues, elementary and secondary schools, university education buildings, hotels, and at least one park. GP built better than he knew. See: Peabody, George (1795-1869), Named Institutions, Firms, Buildings, Ships, Other Facilities; Music and/or Poems Named for GP.
100-With Franklin's speech given and handsomely printed, with the GP dissertation accepted, graduation followed in Aug. 1956. Through the years we went to teaching posts at the Univ. of Texas, Austin (1957-64); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman (1964-68); W.Va. Univ. (1968-86), and (after retirement), Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff (1986-89), and Western Carolina Univ., Cullowhee (1989-94).
101-Over the years we did other research, wrote other books, and wrote and published GP articles (listed fully below). We submitted to several publishers "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956), 3 vols, 1,209 pp. These were returned as needing pruning and focus.
George Peabody, a Biography
102-In May 1970, GPCFT Public Relations Director John E. Windrow (1899-1984) brought together prominent New England Peabodys for a Nashville dinner conference at which Franklin spoke. The new Vanderbilt Univ. Press director, in attendance, asked to see a revised GP manuscript. This welcome request threw us into a frenzy of revision. Unexpected but welcome help came from London Athenaeum Club librarian Eileen Stiff's friend, Margaret Leland Goldsmith, a professional writer. She and Eileen had befriended us through the years. Margaret's editorial suggestions helped turn the dissertation into a readable 233 page book.
103-Thus, 14 years after completing the GP dissertation, Franklin Parker's George Peabody, a Biography (Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 1971), was published. Twenty-four years later, for GP's 200th birthday, Feb. 18, 1795-1995, a revised and updated version was republished with 12 illustrations added. Earlier, also for GP's 200th birthday, our 22 previously published GP articles were reprinted in a special bicentennial issue, "The Legacy of George Peabody," Peabody Journal of Education, Fall 1994, 210 pp.
GP's Motives
104-We long pondered GP's philanthropic motives, strengths, weaknesses, and especially why he is he so little known today. His chief motive may have been his 1852 motto: "Education, a debt due from present to future generations." His motive may also have been to compensate for his own lack of formal education.
105-In 1831 he replied to a nephew who asked his financial help to attend Yale College (GP's underlining): "Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me."
106-His motive may been simply to succeed. He said in an 1856 speech: "Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish a house in the great metropolis of England. I have endeavored to make it an American house, to give it an American atmosphere, to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my friends visiting London."
107-His motive may have been to gain honors, so abundant in his last years. After death he was elected to the New York Univ. Hall of Fame in 1900, where a bust of him was unveiled in 1926. His likeness was put on a large bronze door intended for the U.S. Capitol Building. Bicentennial programs were held on the 200th anniversary of his birth (1795-1995) at Harvard, Yale, in Nashville; in Danvers and in Peabody, Mass.; at the PIB; and at Westminster Abbey, England, where the marker at his temporary grave was refurbished.
108-Disappointment in love may have driven him. Late in life a business friend congratulated him on being the greatest philanthropist of his time. GP reportedly replied, "After my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that decision to my best ability."
109-This "disappointment" may have been an early failed romance with Elizabeth Knox of Baltimore to whom he is said to have proposed twice. There is also a documented broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) of Providence, R.I. She visited London for young Queen Victoria's coronation (June 28, 1838). As a school girl she had earlier been infatuated with Alexander Lardner in Philadelphia. GP met her in London, fell in love, and proposed marriage. Returning to the U.S. she again met Lardner, realized her engagement to GP was a mistake, broke their engagement, married Lardner, had two children, and outlived GP by 35 years. Her portrait painted in Philadelphia by artist Thomas Sully shows her in all her beauty.
GP's Strengths
110-We long pondered GP's strengths. On this point his first partner Elisha Riggs, Sr. wrote in his last letter to GP (April 17, 1852): "You always had the faculty of an extraordinary memory and strong mind which enabled you to carry out your plans better than almost any other man I ever knew.... [To] these happy faculties I attribute much of your prosperity. [Unusual] perseverance enabled you to rise to an extraordinary position..." See: Riggs, Elisha, Sr.
111-Economic historian Muriel E. Hidy's wrote thus of GP's strengths: "He [GP] had a vigorous personality, and, in spite of a humble origin, apparently found little difficulty in moving in prominent circles. An ability to attract firm friends among his business contemporaries gave him many useful connections....He benefited by the confidence which as a young man he had awakened in Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. Later his amiability brought him close association with "[leading U.S. business men: William Shepard Wetmore, John Cryder, and Curtis Miranda Lampson, and William Wilson Corcoran….]." See: persons named.
112-John Bright, British statesman, wrote in his diary (June 4, 1867): "Mr. Peabody is a remarkable man. He is 74 years old, large and has been powerful of frame. He has made an enormous fortune, which he is giving for good objects--chiefly for education in America and for useful purposes in London. He has had almost no schooling and has not read books, but has had much experience, and is deeply versed in questions of commerce and banking. He is a man of strong will, and can decide questions for himself." See: John Bright.
Old Age Irritations
113-We also pondered his faults. Gout, rheumatism, and other ailments in old age sometimes made him irritable, crotchety, and abrupt. On July 14, 1869, four months before his death, he complained irritably to the trustees of his first Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass.: "You spend too much. You spend too much." Soon brightening he said smilingly, "Well, well, I must give you $50,000 more to get you out of trouble. And I must say that none of my foundations have given me so much satisfaction as this one at my native place."
114-In his last decade he was incredible busy looking after his philanthropies and seeing friends and relatives. He was also set in his ways. The daughter of a business friend wrote of his autocracy in old age during his 1866-67 U.S. visit.: 'The precision of business habits and a long old bachelor hood, combined with constitutional shyness, caused Mr. Peabody, at times, to appear to disadvantage…. He had himself accomplished so much that he felt [his] wishes…should become instantaneous facts--his small due from those around him….. [T]he ruthless serenity with which [he] countermanded luncheon and advanced the dinner hour to meet business exigencies…dismay[ed]…the hearts of the most devoted hostesses. I do not suppose Mr. Peabody ever thought of giving trouble, and certainly no one ever thought of remonstrating."
Fleeting Fame
115-Mostly we pondered why GP, so lauded in his last years, has been largely forgotten. This may be due to the fleeting nature of fame. Each generation chooses its heroes who rise, flourish, are replaced, and often forgotten. This view is suggested by historian John Steele Gordon whose article, "Most Underrated Philanthropist," American Heritage, Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69 reads in part: "Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time."
Grand Adventure
116-As researchers, looking back, we marvel at the good fortune, helpful people, and unusual turning points that enabled us to find and pursue a neglected American hero. We were 1930s depression children, the first in our families enabled to attend college in the booming aftermath of World War II that ended and altered so many lives. 117-Newly married, without children, seeking challenges--when the GP research opportunity fell our way, we saw he was worth pursuing. We were uncertain innocents, willing to take risks. We made mistakes and were often rescued by friends and fate. In retrospect being "On the Trail of GP" intermittently over the last 50 years has been a grand adventure.
Authors' Publications on GP
Dissertation
Franklin Parker, Ed. D. Dissertation, "George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy," (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956), 3 vols., 1219 pp. Sold as Doctoral Dissertation No. 19,758, microfilm or hard copy, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 (Phone 1-800-521-0600 or 313-761-4700, FAX 313-973-1540). See: Dissertation Abstracts, XVII, No. 8 (Aug. 1957), pp. 1701-1702.
Books
1-Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971, 233 pp. Although out of print 1-there is a microform reprint in CORE [Collected Original Resources in Education], IX, 3 [Nov. 1985], Fiche 7 D10 (CORE is a British miroform journal) and 2-microfilm & print versions were also sold by Books on Demand, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 [ask fo
1 of 2 Parts: Paul K. Conkin, Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Fro
1 of 2 Parts: Paul K. Conkin, Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Frontiers of Teaching and Learning (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2002), ISBN 0-8265-1425-1, Reviewed with commentary by Franklin Parker, bfparker.
See end of concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts about reviewer Franklin Parker).
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Paul K. Conkin, Vanderbilt University's distinguished history professor emeritus, has long gazed over the Twenty-First Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, divide between the campuses of Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College for Teachers. Conkin's new book, Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Frontiers of Teaching and Learning, 2002, is an important multifaceted history covering 217 years of six consecutive charter-connected educational institutions in Nashville culminating in the present Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
Multifaceted History
The book is about schooling in frontier Nashville before Tennessee became a state (1796) and before and after it became the "Athens of the South."
It is about new beginnings, examining why each of the six predecessor Peabody educational institutions was founded, how each begat its offspring, who their leading officials and teachers were, what they did right, wrong, neglected to do, and the consequences.
It is about the relationship between Peabody College's predecessors and neighboring Vanderbilt University and the merger that occurred on July 1, 1979.
It is about the philanthropic intent of George Peabody, Massachusetts-born merchant in the South who became a London-based banker and philanthropist.
It is about his Peabody Education Fund (1867-1914); and how Peabody College became the legatee of that fund.
It is about how Peabody College as the South's pioneer model private teacher education institution embraced George Peabody's idealistic motto: "Education: A Debt Due from Present to Future Generations."
It is also about Peabody College of Vanderbilt University's continuing pursuit of George Peabody's dream—to uplift the South and advance the nation through professionally prepared teachers serving ever-better public schools.
These are the large tasks Conkin has undertaken.
Origins
In 1779 Virginia-born and North Carolina-reared James Robertson (1742-1814) explored the western part of North Carolina, now Tennessee. The next year (1780) he led mainly Scotch-Irish families to the frontier settlement of Nashborough, later renamed Nashville.
Frequent Indian raids caused settler to build makeshift forts (some 50 settlers annually were killed by Indians). From the North Carolina legislature of which he was a member James Robertson secured both a land grant and a charter for a Davidson Academy (newly named Davidson County included Nashville). He found and persuaded Presbyterian minister Thomas Craighead (c.1750-1825) to be both church pastor and academy principal.
Thomas Craighead was a graduate of the College of New Jersey (which became Princeton University, 1896). It was founded by "New Light" Presbyterians to train ministers. Its President John Witherspoon (1723-94), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, inspired many of his graduates with missionary zeal to preach and teach on the frontier.
Thus, Davidson Academy and its successors (Cumberland College and the University of Nashville) were molded by Scotch-Irish Presbyterian culture, rooted in Scottish reformer John Knox's (c.1514-72) enthusiasm for universal literacy so that all could read and understand the Bible.
Overview, 1785-1875
Peabody's six predecessor schools were: Davidson Academy (during 1785-1806), under Principal Thomas Craighead who also headed for three years to 1809 its rechartered successor, Cumberland College (1806-26).
Noted educator James Priestley (1760-1821) succeeded Craighead as president of Cumberland College from October 24, 1809, to February 4, 1821. Priestley was succeeded as president by a nationally prestigious scholar, President Philip Lindsley (1786-1850), at whose suggestion Cumberland College was rechartered as the University of Nashville from November 27, 1826, to 1875.
Why the University of Nashville?
There was some confusion between Cumberland College, Nashville, and a Cumberland College in Kentucky. Adoption of the name change to the University of Nashville was hastened by the availability of a federal land grant to institutions of higher education. There was also pride in Nashville's growing importance. President Lindsley envisioned a University of Nashville as an umbrella embracing professional schools and academic departments.
Overview, Since 1875
The University of Nashville's (1826-1875) charter was amended in 1875 so that its Literary Department was rechartered as State Normal School (1875-89), renamed officially Peabody Normal College (1889-1911), although informally called Peabody Normal College from the first because of its Peabody Education Fund origin and financial support). Peabody Normal College was rechartered as George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), which became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University on July 1, 1979.
Vision of an Athens of the South
Conkin wrote that by scholarly eminence and vision alone Lindsley deserved a chapter by himself, that "Philip Lindsley's University of Nashville first justified the reputation of Nashville as a center of higher education in the South…. It was his Princeton of the West." In 1835 Philip Lindsley first called Nashville the "Athens of the West." (Conkin, p. 47).
University of Nashville (1826-75)
Philip Lindsley was succeeded as president of the University of Nashville in 1850 by his physician son, Dr. John Berrien Lindsley (1822-97), chancellor during 1850-72, succeeded in turn by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-93) as chancellor during 1872-75.
University of Nashville's Medical School
Financially pressed and occupied by Union troops during most of the Civil War, the University of Nashville hosted a cluster of schools and departments, some short-lived. The most successful was its medical school from 1850 to 1895, which graduated a total of 1,699 physicians and was the second largest U.S. medical school during the Civil War.
Other Schools and Departments
The University of Nashville also had a law department (1854-72); a school of agriculture and mechanic arts (1872-75); a school of civil engineering (1872-75); a military institute (about 1854-59); and a preparatory school, Montgomery Bell Academy, partly endowed by wealthy Nashville iron manufacturer Montgomery Bell (1769-1855), still functioning under the University of Nashville charter.
Nearly Defunct Literary Department
The University of Nashville's Literary Department, comparable to a college of arts and sciences, did not fare well in enrollment, finances, or faculty. From this nearly defunct Literary Department in 1875 the Peabody Education Fund trustees created and financed a State Normal School, later renamed Peabody Normal College, from which emerged George Peabody College for Teachers and finally Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (July 1, 1979).
Conkin tells this story by describing George Peabody's fund to aid public education in the desolate former Confederate states.
George Peabody (1795-1869)
A short account of Peabody's career and philanthropic motives helps explain his motto, "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." This motto accompanied his July 16, 1852, letter and check founding his first library and lecture hall in his hometown (then South Danvers, renamed Peabody, Massachusetts, 1868). That motto also helps explain the teacher education idealism of Peabody College, offspring of the Peabody Education Fund (1867-1914), whose purpose was to stimulate public schools for all as a way to help reunite and strengthen the nation.
Merchant in the South
Born poor in Massachusetts 19 miles from Boston, Peabody had four years of schooling and was apprenticed in a general store for four years. In 1811 his father died in debt with the family forced out of their mortgaged home to live with relatives. Two weeks later a great fire in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where young Peabody worked in his older brother's store, ruined all business prospects. These catastrophes led the17-year-old to migrate to Georgetown, D.C., where he opened a dry goods store (1812).
Peabody served in the War of 1812. Older fellow soldier and Maryland merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (his son founded Riggs Bank, Washington, D.C.) took Peabody at age 19 as junior partner. Their Baltimore-based firm successfully imported dry goods for resale to U.S. wholesalers. Besides traveling widely in the South as a merchant, George Peabody also made five European buying trips during 1827-37.
American Banker in London
On his fifth trip to London, February 1837, he was also an agent to sell abroad Maryland's $8 million in bonds to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Panic of 1837 soon forced Maryland and eight other U.S. states to stop paying interest on their bonds. Foreign investors holding these bonds, many of them pensioners and widows, were incensed.
Peabody helped ease foreign investors anxiety by publicly urging officials in Maryland and other defaulting states to resume interest payments retroactively. When resumption occurred and it became known that rather than burden the Maryland treasury Peabody had declined his $60,000 commission, he won public thanks from Maryland's legislature and governor and respect in London banking circles.
To show his confidence that the defaulting states would eventually pay interest on their bonds, he privately bought many of them when their value was low. When interest payments were resumed he reaped a profit, the basis of his fortune and the source of his later philanthropy.
George Peabody & Co., London
Remaining in London from 1837 onward he founded George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), a London-based banking firm, which sold state bonds to finance U.S. canals, roads, and railroads. He bought, sold, and shipped iron and steel rails for U.S. railroads. He helped sell the bonds that financed the Mexican War loan. He was a director of the Atlantic Cable Co.
Root of the Banking Firm of J.P. Morgan
Ill and overworked, he took as partner in 1854 Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose son, John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), began as New York City agent for George Peabody & Co. On retirement, 1864, unmarried, without a son to carry on, George Peabody withdrew his name. The London firm continued as J.S. Morgan & Co., Morgan Grenfell & Co., and still continues as Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. George Peabody was the founding root of the banking house of J.P. Morgan.
"Deprived as I was"
In his mid-teens when his father died in debt in 1811, Peabody supported his mother and siblings forced out of their mortgaged home to live with relatives. Peabody restored them to the family home(1816) and paid for five of his younger relatives to attend Bradford Academy, Bradford, Massachusetts. When his17-year-old nephew asked his financial help to attend Yale College, Peabody replied from London (May 18, 1831, his underlining):
Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me.
Peabody as Philanthropist
Peabody early told intimates privately and in 1850 said publicly that he would endow helpful institutions in every town and city where he had lived and worked. His gifts included seven Peabody libraries in the U.S.; Peabody museums at Harvard (anthropology), Yale (paleontology), and in Salem, Massachusetts (maritime history); professorships at an academy and several colleges; publication funds to two historical societies; aid to Civil War veterans, their wives and orphan children; and aid for a charitable hospital in the Vatican, Italy.
Housing (London) and Education (Defeated Southern States)
His two largest gifts were: $2.4 million for housing London's working poor (begun 1862), where 34,500 low income Londoners (white, black, others) still live in 17,183 affordable apartments; and a $2 million Peabody Education Fund to aid public education in the eleven embittered, impoverished, Civil War-torn former Confederate states. In May 1866 Peabody went for advice to Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), who helped choose the original trustees and also presided over the board of trustees.
Robert Charles Winthrop
Winthrop was descended from Massachusetts Bay Colony's early governor, John Winthrop (1588-1649). He was a Harvard graduate (1828), trained in Daniel Webster's law office, was admitted to the bar (1831), a Whig member of the Massachusetts legislature, Speaker of the Massachusetts State House, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1842-50 and its speaker, 1847-50), and was appointed to fill Daniel Webster's U.S. Senate seat (1850). A respected national figure no longer seeking public office, Winthrop in the last 27 years of his life (during 1867-94) directed the Peabody Education Fund trustees.
A Plan and an Administrator
Winthrop pondered how to use the relatively small income from a $2 million fund to stimulate public schools for white and black children in twelve poverty-ridden, Civil War-ravaged states (West Virginia was added because of its poverty); how to convince defeated, resentful southern parents, taxpayers, and political leaders that permanent tax supported public schools could help renew their economy and uplift their lives; how to attract and train better teachers; and how to spread public elementary and secondary schools to strengthen a new South.
Barnas Sears
Winthrop found a feasible plan and its able administrator in long-time friend Barnas Sears (1802-90), then president of Brown University in Rhode Island. Barnas Sears was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, was a Brown University graduate (1825), studied at Newton Theological Seminary (Massachusetts), was ordained a Baptist minister, was a Colgate University (New York) professor (1831-33), studied in German universities, was Newton Theological Seminary professor and later its president. He succeeded Horace Mann (1796-1859) as Massachusetts Board of Education secretary (during 1848-55) and was Brown University president (1855-67).
Winthrop and Sears, March 13, 1867
Winthrop met Sears by chance at the old Wednesday Evening Club in Boston, March 13, 1867; asked Sears how the Peabody Education Fund might carry out its mission; and was impressed by Sears's remarks.
Sears's March 14, 1867 Letter
Winthrop shared with the trustees Sears's letter of March 14, 1867, from Providence, Rhode Island, detailing how the Fund might operate. Backed by the trustees Winthrop persuaded Sears to accept the post as the Peabody Education Fund's first administrator during 1867-80, the crucial first 13 years.
Sears's Plan
Sears's plan was to strengthen through grants existing public schools in larger towns to serve as models for smaller communities; to establish new public schools where needed; to require that Peabody Education Fund-aided schools become permanent tax-supported public schools under state control; to require that aided schools meet nine or ten months a year; to have at least one teacher per 50 pupils; and to require local citizens to match Peabody Education Fund contributions, if possible, by two or three times the amount of Peabody Education Fund aid.
Matching Funds and Permanent Legislation
Sears set a rising scale of financial aid as enrollments rose: $300 a year for a school enrolling up to 100 pupils, $450 for 100 to 150 pupils, $600 for 150 to 200 pupils, $800 for 200 to 250 pupils, and $1,000 for 300 or more pupils. It was pure pump priming, using small grants for their matching and levering effect and requiring legislative approval and permanent state support.
Sears's First Aim
Sears and his family moved to Staunton, Virginia. He wrote, spoke, and traveled widely during his 13 years as fund administrator (1867-80). He used the fund's limited resources to accomplish his first aim: to help establish tax supported elementary and secondary public schools and create a model teacher training college for the South in Nashville (Peabody Normal College during 1875-1911).
Sears's Other Two Aims
Sears's second aim, to establish both short term teachers' institutes (a week or less training for practicing teachers) and long term professional teacher training normal schools, was largely accomplished by the fund's second administrator J.L.M. Curry during 1881-1903.
Sears's third aim, rural public schools, was largely accomplished by the fund's third administrator Wycliffe Rose (1862-1931) during 1907-14.
State Normal School in Nashville
Sears saw Nashville, Tennessee, as a cultural center and the ideal place for a normal school as a model for the South. Proposals in the Tennessee legislature to establish a state teacher training normal school had failed in 1857 and 1865. In June-July 1867, Sears offered Peabody Education Fund stipends of $1,000 or more annually if Tennessee would establish one or more normal schools. Legislative bills for a state normal school failed in 1868, 1871, and 1873, even though the Peabody Education Fund offered (in 1873) $6,000 annually to match annual state funding.
University of Nashville Land and Buildings
Disappointed at not getting Tennessee legislative cooperation for a state normal school and not wanting to lose Nashville as his preferred site, Sears in 1874 asked the University of Nashville trustees to give land and buildings for a normal school in place of their moribund Literary Department. He promised to support the normal school with $6,000 annually from the Peabody Education Fund.
Helped by Tennessee Governor James Davis Porter
In 1875, with the help of the then new Tennessee Governor James Davis Porter (1828-1912), Sears got the University of Nashville trustees to convert its nearly defunct Literary Department into a normal school. The legislature, encouraged by Governor Porter, amended the University of Nashville's charter to legalize the normal school. Sears and the Peabody Education Fund trustees subsidized the normal school, expecting imminent and continuing state support.
State Normal School: 1875-1889
Glad not to spend state funds, the Tennessee legislature amended the University of Nashville's charter to allow it to establish a normal school, financed by Peabody Education Fund's $6,000 annual contribution (Sears expected sustaining state aid). The new State Normal School on the University of Nashville campus opened December 1, 1875, with 13 students and ended the first year with 60 students.
Peabody Scholarships Provided a Southern Regional Influence
State Normal School (1875-89) was officially renamed Peabody Normal College (1889-1911), although it was always locally called Peabody Normal College. Attendance was cost-free to selected students with promise as future teachers. During 1877-1904, 3,645 of the most promising applicants from the South received Peabody Education Fund scholarships of $200 annually during 1877-91 and $100 annually plus railroad fare during 1891-1904.
The importance of the Peabody scholarships was that they reached beyond Tennessee to the entire South. Alfred Leland Crabb (1883-1979, of George Peabody College for Teachers) later noted that these 3,645 Peabody scholarship teachers in their time formed an important core of educational leaders for the South.
Threat of a Move to Georgia
Unable or unwilling to offer state aid, the Tennessee legislature defeated appropriation bills for the State Normal School in 1877 and 1879, leaving funding solely to the Peabody Education Fund until 1881. Disappointed, Sears and the fund trustees considered moving State Normal School from Nashville to Georgia, whose legislature agreed on state support if the fund continued its $6,000 annual contribution. But Georgia's Constitution required that any such school be state controlled as part of the University of Georgia at Athens. This requirement irked Sears and the fund trustees, who wanted state aid but opposed state control.
Tennessee State Aid
Threat of a move from Tennessee prompted Nashville citizens to guarantee $6,000 by April 1880 to keep the Normal School in Nashville. Stung into action, the Tennessee legislature gave the Normal School $10,000 annually (1881-83), raised to $13,300 annually (1883-95), and raised again to $23,000 annually (1895-1905). Peabody Normal College got $555,730 from the Peabody Education Fund (1875-1909) and $429,000 from the Tennessee legislature (1881-1905).
Peabody Normal College's Three Presidents: 1875-1909
The three presidents of State Normal School (1875-89) and Peabody Normal College (1889-1911) were, first, President Eben Sperry Stearns (1819-87) during 1875-87. Born in Massachusetts and Harvard University educated, Stearns, under Massachusetts Board of Education Secretary Barnas Sears, was the second president of Newton Normal School, Massachusetts (the first U.S. normal school).
The second president was William Harold Payne (1836-1907) during 1888-1901. He had held the first professorship of education in the U.S. at the University of Michigan during 1879-88.
The third president was James Davis Porter during 1901-09, a Tennessean, a University of Nashville graduate (1846), a lawyer, Tennessee House member, Confederate officer, and Tennessee governor (1874-78).
Normal Colleges Became State Colleges of Education
The Peabody Normal College years (1875-1911) coincided with the rise of state normal schools as the chief agency to prepare elementary and secondary school teachers. After 1910, state normal schools were increasingly replaced by state colleges of education, a changeover which coincided with the Peabody Education Fund's dissolution in 1914.
Transition to George Peabody College for Teachers
George Peabody's founding letter (February 7, 1867) allowed the Peabody Education Fund trustees to end the trust after 30 years and to distribute its principal. On January 29, 1903, the fund trustees resolved to give most of the fund's principal to found George Peabody College for Teachers (influential trustees then included Theodore Roosevelt and John Pierpont Morgan, Sr.).
On January 24, 1905, the fund trustees committed $1 million (later raised to $1.5 million) to transform the Peabody Normal College into George Peabody College for Teachers, contingent on matching funds from Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, and other donors; and on relocating from south Nashville to Twenty-First Avenue near Vanderbilt University for added academic strength.
Transition Problems
A problem arose when Georgia State Commissioner of Education G.R. Glenn, Peabody Education Fund acting administrator in 1903, argued in his annual report that because public education in the South lagged behind national levels, the fund's principal should be used in a campaign to raise local public school taxes. But fear of losing Peabody Education Fund assets led Peabody Normal College alumni to secure petitions supporting the creation of George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville as successor to Peabody Normal College.
After a year-long deadlock on the issue, the Peabody Education Fund trustees confirmed that George Peabody College for Teachers would indeed succeed Peabody Normal College, with a new campus near Vanderbilt University.
Objection to Move From South Nashville
South Nashville property owners objected to moving Peabody Normal College from their area and began court action. President James D. Porter also preferred south Nashville but the Peabody Education Fund trustees' endowment power determined the Vanderbilt University location. President J.D. Porter acquiesced, was compensated by a pension from the Carnegie Pension Fund, and helped secure the legislation that permitted transfer of assets from the University of Nashville's Peabody Normal School to George Peabody College for Teachers.
By June 1909 President Porter also helped secure funds required to match the Peabody Education Fund's $1.5 million endowment: $250,000 from the Tennessee legislature, $200,000 from the City of Nashville, and $100,000 from Davidson County. President Porter resigned on August 4, 1909, and George Peabody College for Teachers was incorporated on October 5, 1909.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University was chartered August 6, 1872, as Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In February 1873 its founder, Methodist Bishop Holland N. McTyeire (1824-89), needing building funds, visited Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) in New York City. Their wives were cousins and had been intimate girlhood friends in Mobile, Alabama (this was Cornelius Vanderbilt's second wife, his first wife having died).
Cornelius Vanderbilt's Gifts
Bishop McTyeire told Cornelius Vanderbilt of higher education needs in the South and particularly of Central University building needs in Nashville. Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose wealth came from ferry boats, steamship lines, and railroads (New York Central, 1867), gave Central University in Nashville $500,000 on March 12, 1873, later doubled to $1 million, leading to the renaming of Central University to Vanderbilt University on June 6, 1873.
Vanderbilt-Peabody Connection
Vanderbilt University's second Chancellor James Hampton Kirkland (1859-1939) wanted to make Nashville a great university center. He also knew that George Peabody College for Teachers' endowment was initially greater than Vanderbilt's endowment. Wanting a Vanderbilt-Peabody College connection similar to the successful Teachers College of Columbia University, Kirkland deeded Vanderbilt land to George Peabody College for Teachers, about which some contention later resulted.
Daniel Coit Gilman
Kirkland's hoped-for ally in making a Vanderbilt-Peabody connection was Johns Hopkins University President Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), the South's most respected higher education leader and also an influential Peabody Education Fund trustee. Kirkland urged in 1900 and 1901 that Gilman, about to retire as Johns Hopkins president, become Peabody Normal College president and help form a Vanderbilt-Peabody connection.
While retaining his long friendship with Kirkland, Gilman adroitly sidestepped involvement, declining to give a major address in Nashville in 1900 and also declining to head Peabody Normal College in its last years.
First Peabody College President Bruce Ryburn Payne
First President Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937) during 1911-37 cooperated academically with Vanderbilt but adamantly kept Peabody independent as the South's leading teacher training institution.
North Carolinian Bruce R. Payne was a graduate of Trinity College (later renamed Duke University), was principal of Morganton (North Carolina.) Academy, did graduate study at Trinity College and at Teachers College of Columbia University (M.A., 1903; Ph.D., 1904), was professor of philosophy and education, College of William and Mary, Virginia (1904-05); and was University of Virginia professor of secondary education and psychology and summer school organizer.
Architecture Inspired By Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia
Payne assembled a first-rate faculty, modeled the new Peabody campus on Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia architectural plan (a quadrangle of columned buildings dominated by a Social-Religious Building with a commanding rotunda), and raised an additional $1 million for the new campus.
President Payne's Fund Raising
An example of Payne's fund raising: banker and Peabody Education Fund trustee J.P. Morgan, Sr., had promised $250,000 toward George Peabody College for Teachers buildings when needed but died. Payne went to New York City to request the funds of Morgan's son-in-law, Herbert Livingston Satterlee (1863-1947). Satterlee hesitated because Morgan had not left written evidence of his promised aid. Payne felt he had failed in this fund raising until Satterlee, checking with Morgan's son (J.P. Morgan, Jr.), released the promised amount.
Peabody Education Fund Assets Distributed, 1914
The Peabody Education Fund trustees dissolved in 1914 and distributed their total assets ($2,324,000) as follows: $1.5 million to endow George Peabody College for Teachers; $474,000 to education departments of 14 southern universities ($40,000 each to the universities of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana [State]); $6,000 each to Johns Hopkins University and to the universities of South Carolina, Missouri, and Texas; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, South Carolina (now Winthrop College), founded by Peabody Education Fund trustee President Robert Charles Winthrop.
Recipient state universities of Georgia, Mississippi, Florida at Gainesville, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and others named their college of education buildings after George Peabody. George Peabody-named elementary and secondary schools exist in the southern states his fund benefited; along with a Peabody Avenue and a Peabody Hotel, both in Memphis, Tennessee; and Peabody Hotels in Orlando, Florida, and elsewhere.
Peabody's Payne and Vanderbilt's Kirkland
Payne, like Kirkland, was a strong administrator with a vibrant personality. Their relations were polite but strained by Payne's determination to keep Peabody College independent yet cooperative in cross-listing courses and programs. Kirkland was elitist and an educational conservative while Payne, concerned for mass education, was egalitarian in the spirit of the democratic educational philosophy of his Columbia University mentor, John Dewey (1859-1952).
A Unique Mini-University
Payne and his successors, rightly or wrongly, made and tried to keep Peabody a unique mini-university. Besides the professional preparation of teachers, it graduated students in liberal arts, science, music, physical education, art, and library science; and had a demonstration elementary school for teachers-in-training, Knapp farm for rural studies, and a school survey research unit used widely in the South. Unresolved fiscal problems in the late 1960s and early 1970s created the possibility of some kind of merger in the late 1970s.
Mutual Suspicions
With more women than men students during the 1920s-50s, Peabodians felt discrimination and a snobbish belittling of their professional education courses by Vanderbilt liberal arts professors (some of whom gladly taught for extra pay in Peabody College's large summer school).
The Peabody community sensed that Vanderbilt wanted to separate its graduate courses from them and that Vanderbilt deans and faculty disdained Peabody's teacher education mission and belittled its academic standards.
Cautious Cooperation
Vanderbilt's short-lived Education Department (1930-34) caused apprehension at Peabody. It was headed by Joseph Kinmount Hart (1876-1949), a progressive educator from the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin who had written A Social Interpretation of Education, 1929, and other textbooks. Hart's liberalism caused student disturbances. He ended his Vanderbilt career with bitterness and vague threats of a lawsuit.
More fruitful was the Joint Universities Library (JUL), dedicated December 5-6, 1941, outgrowth of a 1935 study of library needs of adjoining campuses of Vanderbilt, Peabody, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers (Methodist college founded in 1892, later an adult education conference center). JUL was renamed in 1984 the Jean and Alexander Heard Library.
The following overview of the Peabody presidents since Bruce R. Payne, with Conkin's assessment of each, helps explain conditions that led to the 1979 Vanderbilt merger.
Presidents of George Peabody College for Teachers
Peabody's first President Bruce R. Payne (1911-died in office, April 21, 1937) was succeeded by the following:
S. C. Garrison
Sidney Clarence Garrison (1887-1944), Peabody's second president during 1937-44, eight years; was a North Carolinian, a graduate of Wake Forest College, a high school principal and county superintendent. He was an M.A. degree graduate of Peabody College, 1916; served as a World War I captain; earned the Ph.D. degree from Peabody, 1919; taught educational psychology at Peabody where he was also a dean. "Garrison was not Payne," wrote Conkin; "he was an interim president." (Conkin, pp. 252-253).
Henry H. Hill
President Henry Harrington Hill (1894-1987) was third president during Peabody's boom years, 1945-60 (16 years) and interim president, 1962-63 (total of 18 years). Also a North Carolinian, Hill received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Virginia and the Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. He was a teacher, principal, and school superintendent in Arkansas; an education professor and dean at the University of Kentucky; was school superintendent in Lexington, Kentucky; St. Louis, Missouri; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hill was cautious, moderate, and an expert at building consensus (Conkin, p. 265). In 1951, using a foundation grant, Hill hired four high profile division chairs: 1-Harold R. W. Benjamin (1893-1969) to head Foundations of Education; 2-Willard E. Goslin (1899-1969) to head Education Administration; 3-William Van Til (1911-) to head Teaching and Curriculum; and 4-Nicholas Hobbs (1915-83) to head Guidance and Development (Hobbs later led in securing for Peabody its prestigious and well funded John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development. Hobbs was later also a Vanderbilt provost).
Felix C. Robb
Felix Compton Robb (1914-97), fourth president during 1961-66, was an Alabamian, had a Vanderbilt M.A. degree, took education courses at Peabody where he became President Hill's assistant and heir apparent, and received a Ph.D. degree from Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Conkin characterized Robb as charismatic and idealistic but, when cracks appeared in Peabody's finances, "not a forceful or decisive leader" (Conkin, p. 296).
John Claunch
John M. Claunch (1906-90), fifth president from August 1, 1967, through 1973, six years, was from Louisiana, a graduate of Austin State Teachers College, Texas (B.A., 1928); and the University of Texas (M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1956). His main administrative experience was as director of Dallas College, an adult education mainly evening college, established by Southern Methodist University. Stronger candidates had warily declined the Peabody presidency. Conkin called Claunch's appointment a "disastrous decision," adding that he was "rigid, insecure,…authoritarian" (Conkin, pp. 311-312).
Claunch chafed at endless studies and reports to keep Peabody College afloat, clashed with Nicholas Hobbs over the Kennedy Center, opposed faculty independence, and was critical of student protests against military action in Vietnam
John Dunworth
John Dunworth (1924-) was Peabody's sixth and last president during 1974-79, five years, when the trauma of merger was played out. Born in Los Angeles, Dunworth was an Ed.D. graduate of the University of Southern California, had been a successful dean of Ball State University's Teachers College, Indiana. Conkin characterized him as "Charming, vain, an expert at self promotion…[he] worked well with faculty" and "in other times, other circumstances, might have been a popular president" (Conkin, p. 330).
Reviewers' Experience at Peabody, 1951-56
[I here insert our experiences during 1951-56 as graduate students at George Peabody College for Teachers for any light it may shed on the Peabody College of that time].
Betty Parker and I were newly married (1950); recent graduates of Berea College near Lexington, Kentucky (a tuition-free work-study college); on our first teaching jobs at what is now Ferrum College near Roanoke, Virginia. To upgrade our teaching skills we took Peabody College courses the summer of 1951.
Peabody had a fine regional reputation in our school-oriented circles. Betty's aunt and other relatives had attended there. We returned to Peabody the summer of 1952 and remained as graduate students through August 1956, four years and two summers, holding part time jobs at Peabody and at Belmont College (now University), which the Baptists had acquired from Ward Belmont School.
Professor Clifton Landon Hall (1898-1987)
I looked for an unexplored aspect of Tennessee higher education as a dissertation topic to pursue under Canadian-born Clifton L. Hall, a respected Peabody professor in history and philosophy of education. Eager to be accepted as Hall's doctoral candidate, I enrolled in Hall's courses for several years. Not until I took Hall's seminars with weekly papers did I feel I had won Hall's confidence. Hall was a graduate of Bishop University (Quebec) and McGill University (Montreal) with a Ph.D. degree under University of North Carolina's (Chapel Hill) history of education Professor Edgar W. Knight.
Dean of Instruction Felix Robb
After I passed the doctoral preliminary examinations, Dean of Instruction Felix Robb had to formalize my doctoral committee and topic. When I met with Dean Robb in late 1953 Robb spoke at length about his own experience at Harvard Graduate School of Education. In a Harvard seminar under historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. (1888-1965), Schlesinger, knowing that Robb was a rising administrator at Peabody, mentioned George Peabody’s little known role as a founder of U.S. educational philanthropy. Schlesinger said that someone needed to explore and document that thesis.
Robb, then President Hill's assistant, expected to rise to an executive position and chose instead to write his dissertation on education administration. Perhaps regretting an interesting topic not pursued, perhaps out of respect for Clifton Hall (knowing I was Hall's student), Robb urged me to look into the George Peabody topic.
End of Part 1 of 2 Parts. See concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts.
Please send comments and corrections to bfparker@frontiernet.net
About the Parkers: 24 of their book titles are listed in:
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/about/alum6.html#P
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See end of concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts about reviewer Franklin Parker).
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Paul K. Conkin, Vanderbilt University's distinguished history professor emeritus, has long gazed over the Twenty-First Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, divide between the campuses of Vanderbilt University and George Peabody College for Teachers. Conkin's new book, Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Frontiers of Teaching and Learning, 2002, is an important multifaceted history covering 217 years of six consecutive charter-connected educational institutions in Nashville culminating in the present Peabody College of Vanderbilt University.
Multifaceted History
The book is about schooling in frontier Nashville before Tennessee became a state (1796) and before and after it became the "Athens of the South."
It is about new beginnings, examining why each of the six predecessor Peabody educational institutions was founded, how each begat its offspring, who their leading officials and teachers were, what they did right, wrong, neglected to do, and the consequences.
It is about the relationship between Peabody College's predecessors and neighboring Vanderbilt University and the merger that occurred on July 1, 1979.
It is about the philanthropic intent of George Peabody, Massachusetts-born merchant in the South who became a London-based banker and philanthropist.
It is about his Peabody Education Fund (1867-1914); and how Peabody College became the legatee of that fund.
It is about how Peabody College as the South's pioneer model private teacher education institution embraced George Peabody's idealistic motto: "Education: A Debt Due from Present to Future Generations."
It is also about Peabody College of Vanderbilt University's continuing pursuit of George Peabody's dream—to uplift the South and advance the nation through professionally prepared teachers serving ever-better public schools.
These are the large tasks Conkin has undertaken.
Origins
In 1779 Virginia-born and North Carolina-reared James Robertson (1742-1814) explored the western part of North Carolina, now Tennessee. The next year (1780) he led mainly Scotch-Irish families to the frontier settlement of Nashborough, later renamed Nashville.
Frequent Indian raids caused settler to build makeshift forts (some 50 settlers annually were killed by Indians). From the North Carolina legislature of which he was a member James Robertson secured both a land grant and a charter for a Davidson Academy (newly named Davidson County included Nashville). He found and persuaded Presbyterian minister Thomas Craighead (c.1750-1825) to be both church pastor and academy principal.
Thomas Craighead was a graduate of the College of New Jersey (which became Princeton University, 1896). It was founded by "New Light" Presbyterians to train ministers. Its President John Witherspoon (1723-94), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, inspired many of his graduates with missionary zeal to preach and teach on the frontier.
Thus, Davidson Academy and its successors (Cumberland College and the University of Nashville) were molded by Scotch-Irish Presbyterian culture, rooted in Scottish reformer John Knox's (c.1514-72) enthusiasm for universal literacy so that all could read and understand the Bible.
Overview, 1785-1875
Peabody's six predecessor schools were: Davidson Academy (during 1785-1806), under Principal Thomas Craighead who also headed for three years to 1809 its rechartered successor, Cumberland College (1806-26).
Noted educator James Priestley (1760-1821) succeeded Craighead as president of Cumberland College from October 24, 1809, to February 4, 1821. Priestley was succeeded as president by a nationally prestigious scholar, President Philip Lindsley (1786-1850), at whose suggestion Cumberland College was rechartered as the University of Nashville from November 27, 1826, to 1875.
Why the University of Nashville?
There was some confusion between Cumberland College, Nashville, and a Cumberland College in Kentucky. Adoption of the name change to the University of Nashville was hastened by the availability of a federal land grant to institutions of higher education. There was also pride in Nashville's growing importance. President Lindsley envisioned a University of Nashville as an umbrella embracing professional schools and academic departments.
Overview, Since 1875
The University of Nashville's (1826-1875) charter was amended in 1875 so that its Literary Department was rechartered as State Normal School (1875-89), renamed officially Peabody Normal College (1889-1911), although informally called Peabody Normal College from the first because of its Peabody Education Fund origin and financial support). Peabody Normal College was rechartered as George Peabody College for Teachers (1914-79), which became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University on July 1, 1979.
Vision of an Athens of the South
Conkin wrote that by scholarly eminence and vision alone Lindsley deserved a chapter by himself, that "Philip Lindsley's University of Nashville first justified the reputation of Nashville as a center of higher education in the South…. It was his Princeton of the West." In 1835 Philip Lindsley first called Nashville the "Athens of the West." (Conkin, p. 47).
University of Nashville (1826-75)
Philip Lindsley was succeeded as president of the University of Nashville in 1850 by his physician son, Dr. John Berrien Lindsley (1822-97), chancellor during 1850-72, succeeded in turn by Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-93) as chancellor during 1872-75.
University of Nashville's Medical School
Financially pressed and occupied by Union troops during most of the Civil War, the University of Nashville hosted a cluster of schools and departments, some short-lived. The most successful was its medical school from 1850 to 1895, which graduated a total of 1,699 physicians and was the second largest U.S. medical school during the Civil War.
Other Schools and Departments
The University of Nashville also had a law department (1854-72); a school of agriculture and mechanic arts (1872-75); a school of civil engineering (1872-75); a military institute (about 1854-59); and a preparatory school, Montgomery Bell Academy, partly endowed by wealthy Nashville iron manufacturer Montgomery Bell (1769-1855), still functioning under the University of Nashville charter.
Nearly Defunct Literary Department
The University of Nashville's Literary Department, comparable to a college of arts and sciences, did not fare well in enrollment, finances, or faculty. From this nearly defunct Literary Department in 1875 the Peabody Education Fund trustees created and financed a State Normal School, later renamed Peabody Normal College, from which emerged George Peabody College for Teachers and finally Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (July 1, 1979).
Conkin tells this story by describing George Peabody's fund to aid public education in the desolate former Confederate states.
George Peabody (1795-1869)
A short account of Peabody's career and philanthropic motives helps explain his motto, "Education: a debt due from present to future generations." This motto accompanied his July 16, 1852, letter and check founding his first library and lecture hall in his hometown (then South Danvers, renamed Peabody, Massachusetts, 1868). That motto also helps explain the teacher education idealism of Peabody College, offspring of the Peabody Education Fund (1867-1914), whose purpose was to stimulate public schools for all as a way to help reunite and strengthen the nation.
Merchant in the South
Born poor in Massachusetts 19 miles from Boston, Peabody had four years of schooling and was apprenticed in a general store for four years. In 1811 his father died in debt with the family forced out of their mortgaged home to live with relatives. Two weeks later a great fire in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where young Peabody worked in his older brother's store, ruined all business prospects. These catastrophes led the17-year-old to migrate to Georgetown, D.C., where he opened a dry goods store (1812).
Peabody served in the War of 1812. Older fellow soldier and Maryland merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (his son founded Riggs Bank, Washington, D.C.) took Peabody at age 19 as junior partner. Their Baltimore-based firm successfully imported dry goods for resale to U.S. wholesalers. Besides traveling widely in the South as a merchant, George Peabody also made five European buying trips during 1827-37.
American Banker in London
On his fifth trip to London, February 1837, he was also an agent to sell abroad Maryland's $8 million in bonds to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Panic of 1837 soon forced Maryland and eight other U.S. states to stop paying interest on their bonds. Foreign investors holding these bonds, many of them pensioners and widows, were incensed.
Peabody helped ease foreign investors anxiety by publicly urging officials in Maryland and other defaulting states to resume interest payments retroactively. When resumption occurred and it became known that rather than burden the Maryland treasury Peabody had declined his $60,000 commission, he won public thanks from Maryland's legislature and governor and respect in London banking circles.
To show his confidence that the defaulting states would eventually pay interest on their bonds, he privately bought many of them when their value was low. When interest payments were resumed he reaped a profit, the basis of his fortune and the source of his later philanthropy.
George Peabody & Co., London
Remaining in London from 1837 onward he founded George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), a London-based banking firm, which sold state bonds to finance U.S. canals, roads, and railroads. He bought, sold, and shipped iron and steel rails for U.S. railroads. He helped sell the bonds that financed the Mexican War loan. He was a director of the Atlantic Cable Co.
Root of the Banking Firm of J.P. Morgan
Ill and overworked, he took as partner in 1854 Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), whose son, John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), began as New York City agent for George Peabody & Co. On retirement, 1864, unmarried, without a son to carry on, George Peabody withdrew his name. The London firm continued as J.S. Morgan & Co., Morgan Grenfell & Co., and still continues as Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. George Peabody was the founding root of the banking house of J.P. Morgan.
"Deprived as I was"
In his mid-teens when his father died in debt in 1811, Peabody supported his mother and siblings forced out of their mortgaged home to live with relatives. Peabody restored them to the family home(1816) and paid for five of his younger relatives to attend Bradford Academy, Bradford, Massachusetts. When his17-year-old nephew asked his financial help to attend Yale College, Peabody replied from London (May 18, 1831, his underlining):
Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me.
Peabody as Philanthropist
Peabody early told intimates privately and in 1850 said publicly that he would endow helpful institutions in every town and city where he had lived and worked. His gifts included seven Peabody libraries in the U.S.; Peabody museums at Harvard (anthropology), Yale (paleontology), and in Salem, Massachusetts (maritime history); professorships at an academy and several colleges; publication funds to two historical societies; aid to Civil War veterans, their wives and orphan children; and aid for a charitable hospital in the Vatican, Italy.
Housing (London) and Education (Defeated Southern States)
His two largest gifts were: $2.4 million for housing London's working poor (begun 1862), where 34,500 low income Londoners (white, black, others) still live in 17,183 affordable apartments; and a $2 million Peabody Education Fund to aid public education in the eleven embittered, impoverished, Civil War-torn former Confederate states. In May 1866 Peabody went for advice to Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), who helped choose the original trustees and also presided over the board of trustees.
Robert Charles Winthrop
Winthrop was descended from Massachusetts Bay Colony's early governor, John Winthrop (1588-1649). He was a Harvard graduate (1828), trained in Daniel Webster's law office, was admitted to the bar (1831), a Whig member of the Massachusetts legislature, Speaker of the Massachusetts State House, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1842-50 and its speaker, 1847-50), and was appointed to fill Daniel Webster's U.S. Senate seat (1850). A respected national figure no longer seeking public office, Winthrop in the last 27 years of his life (during 1867-94) directed the Peabody Education Fund trustees.
A Plan and an Administrator
Winthrop pondered how to use the relatively small income from a $2 million fund to stimulate public schools for white and black children in twelve poverty-ridden, Civil War-ravaged states (West Virginia was added because of its poverty); how to convince defeated, resentful southern parents, taxpayers, and political leaders that permanent tax supported public schools could help renew their economy and uplift their lives; how to attract and train better teachers; and how to spread public elementary and secondary schools to strengthen a new South.
Barnas Sears
Winthrop found a feasible plan and its able administrator in long-time friend Barnas Sears (1802-90), then president of Brown University in Rhode Island. Barnas Sears was born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, was a Brown University graduate (1825), studied at Newton Theological Seminary (Massachusetts), was ordained a Baptist minister, was a Colgate University (New York) professor (1831-33), studied in German universities, was Newton Theological Seminary professor and later its president. He succeeded Horace Mann (1796-1859) as Massachusetts Board of Education secretary (during 1848-55) and was Brown University president (1855-67).
Winthrop and Sears, March 13, 1867
Winthrop met Sears by chance at the old Wednesday Evening Club in Boston, March 13, 1867; asked Sears how the Peabody Education Fund might carry out its mission; and was impressed by Sears's remarks.
Sears's March 14, 1867 Letter
Winthrop shared with the trustees Sears's letter of March 14, 1867, from Providence, Rhode Island, detailing how the Fund might operate. Backed by the trustees Winthrop persuaded Sears to accept the post as the Peabody Education Fund's first administrator during 1867-80, the crucial first 13 years.
Sears's Plan
Sears's plan was to strengthen through grants existing public schools in larger towns to serve as models for smaller communities; to establish new public schools where needed; to require that Peabody Education Fund-aided schools become permanent tax-supported public schools under state control; to require that aided schools meet nine or ten months a year; to have at least one teacher per 50 pupils; and to require local citizens to match Peabody Education Fund contributions, if possible, by two or three times the amount of Peabody Education Fund aid.
Matching Funds and Permanent Legislation
Sears set a rising scale of financial aid as enrollments rose: $300 a year for a school enrolling up to 100 pupils, $450 for 100 to 150 pupils, $600 for 150 to 200 pupils, $800 for 200 to 250 pupils, and $1,000 for 300 or more pupils. It was pure pump priming, using small grants for their matching and levering effect and requiring legislative approval and permanent state support.
Sears's First Aim
Sears and his family moved to Staunton, Virginia. He wrote, spoke, and traveled widely during his 13 years as fund administrator (1867-80). He used the fund's limited resources to accomplish his first aim: to help establish tax supported elementary and secondary public schools and create a model teacher training college for the South in Nashville (Peabody Normal College during 1875-1911).
Sears's Other Two Aims
Sears's second aim, to establish both short term teachers' institutes (a week or less training for practicing teachers) and long term professional teacher training normal schools, was largely accomplished by the fund's second administrator J.L.M. Curry during 1881-1903.
Sears's third aim, rural public schools, was largely accomplished by the fund's third administrator Wycliffe Rose (1862-1931) during 1907-14.
State Normal School in Nashville
Sears saw Nashville, Tennessee, as a cultural center and the ideal place for a normal school as a model for the South. Proposals in the Tennessee legislature to establish a state teacher training normal school had failed in 1857 and 1865. In June-July 1867, Sears offered Peabody Education Fund stipends of $1,000 or more annually if Tennessee would establish one or more normal schools. Legislative bills for a state normal school failed in 1868, 1871, and 1873, even though the Peabody Education Fund offered (in 1873) $6,000 annually to match annual state funding.
University of Nashville Land and Buildings
Disappointed at not getting Tennessee legislative cooperation for a state normal school and not wanting to lose Nashville as his preferred site, Sears in 1874 asked the University of Nashville trustees to give land and buildings for a normal school in place of their moribund Literary Department. He promised to support the normal school with $6,000 annually from the Peabody Education Fund.
Helped by Tennessee Governor James Davis Porter
In 1875, with the help of the then new Tennessee Governor James Davis Porter (1828-1912), Sears got the University of Nashville trustees to convert its nearly defunct Literary Department into a normal school. The legislature, encouraged by Governor Porter, amended the University of Nashville's charter to legalize the normal school. Sears and the Peabody Education Fund trustees subsidized the normal school, expecting imminent and continuing state support.
State Normal School: 1875-1889
Glad not to spend state funds, the Tennessee legislature amended the University of Nashville's charter to allow it to establish a normal school, financed by Peabody Education Fund's $6,000 annual contribution (Sears expected sustaining state aid). The new State Normal School on the University of Nashville campus opened December 1, 1875, with 13 students and ended the first year with 60 students.
Peabody Scholarships Provided a Southern Regional Influence
State Normal School (1875-89) was officially renamed Peabody Normal College (1889-1911), although it was always locally called Peabody Normal College. Attendance was cost-free to selected students with promise as future teachers. During 1877-1904, 3,645 of the most promising applicants from the South received Peabody Education Fund scholarships of $200 annually during 1877-91 and $100 annually plus railroad fare during 1891-1904.
The importance of the Peabody scholarships was that they reached beyond Tennessee to the entire South. Alfred Leland Crabb (1883-1979, of George Peabody College for Teachers) later noted that these 3,645 Peabody scholarship teachers in their time formed an important core of educational leaders for the South.
Threat of a Move to Georgia
Unable or unwilling to offer state aid, the Tennessee legislature defeated appropriation bills for the State Normal School in 1877 and 1879, leaving funding solely to the Peabody Education Fund until 1881. Disappointed, Sears and the fund trustees considered moving State Normal School from Nashville to Georgia, whose legislature agreed on state support if the fund continued its $6,000 annual contribution. But Georgia's Constitution required that any such school be state controlled as part of the University of Georgia at Athens. This requirement irked Sears and the fund trustees, who wanted state aid but opposed state control.
Tennessee State Aid
Threat of a move from Tennessee prompted Nashville citizens to guarantee $6,000 by April 1880 to keep the Normal School in Nashville. Stung into action, the Tennessee legislature gave the Normal School $10,000 annually (1881-83), raised to $13,300 annually (1883-95), and raised again to $23,000 annually (1895-1905). Peabody Normal College got $555,730 from the Peabody Education Fund (1875-1909) and $429,000 from the Tennessee legislature (1881-1905).
Peabody Normal College's Three Presidents: 1875-1909
The three presidents of State Normal School (1875-89) and Peabody Normal College (1889-1911) were, first, President Eben Sperry Stearns (1819-87) during 1875-87. Born in Massachusetts and Harvard University educated, Stearns, under Massachusetts Board of Education Secretary Barnas Sears, was the second president of Newton Normal School, Massachusetts (the first U.S. normal school).
The second president was William Harold Payne (1836-1907) during 1888-1901. He had held the first professorship of education in the U.S. at the University of Michigan during 1879-88.
The third president was James Davis Porter during 1901-09, a Tennessean, a University of Nashville graduate (1846), a lawyer, Tennessee House member, Confederate officer, and Tennessee governor (1874-78).
Normal Colleges Became State Colleges of Education
The Peabody Normal College years (1875-1911) coincided with the rise of state normal schools as the chief agency to prepare elementary and secondary school teachers. After 1910, state normal schools were increasingly replaced by state colleges of education, a changeover which coincided with the Peabody Education Fund's dissolution in 1914.
Transition to George Peabody College for Teachers
George Peabody's founding letter (February 7, 1867) allowed the Peabody Education Fund trustees to end the trust after 30 years and to distribute its principal. On January 29, 1903, the fund trustees resolved to give most of the fund's principal to found George Peabody College for Teachers (influential trustees then included Theodore Roosevelt and John Pierpont Morgan, Sr.).
On January 24, 1905, the fund trustees committed $1 million (later raised to $1.5 million) to transform the Peabody Normal College into George Peabody College for Teachers, contingent on matching funds from Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, and other donors; and on relocating from south Nashville to Twenty-First Avenue near Vanderbilt University for added academic strength.
Transition Problems
A problem arose when Georgia State Commissioner of Education G.R. Glenn, Peabody Education Fund acting administrator in 1903, argued in his annual report that because public education in the South lagged behind national levels, the fund's principal should be used in a campaign to raise local public school taxes. But fear of losing Peabody Education Fund assets led Peabody Normal College alumni to secure petitions supporting the creation of George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville as successor to Peabody Normal College.
After a year-long deadlock on the issue, the Peabody Education Fund trustees confirmed that George Peabody College for Teachers would indeed succeed Peabody Normal College, with a new campus near Vanderbilt University.
Objection to Move From South Nashville
South Nashville property owners objected to moving Peabody Normal College from their area and began court action. President James D. Porter also preferred south Nashville but the Peabody Education Fund trustees' endowment power determined the Vanderbilt University location. President J.D. Porter acquiesced, was compensated by a pension from the Carnegie Pension Fund, and helped secure the legislation that permitted transfer of assets from the University of Nashville's Peabody Normal School to George Peabody College for Teachers.
By June 1909 President Porter also helped secure funds required to match the Peabody Education Fund's $1.5 million endowment: $250,000 from the Tennessee legislature, $200,000 from the City of Nashville, and $100,000 from Davidson County. President Porter resigned on August 4, 1909, and George Peabody College for Teachers was incorporated on October 5, 1909.
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University was chartered August 6, 1872, as Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In February 1873 its founder, Methodist Bishop Holland N. McTyeire (1824-89), needing building funds, visited Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) in New York City. Their wives were cousins and had been intimate girlhood friends in Mobile, Alabama (this was Cornelius Vanderbilt's second wife, his first wife having died).
Cornelius Vanderbilt's Gifts
Bishop McTyeire told Cornelius Vanderbilt of higher education needs in the South and particularly of Central University building needs in Nashville. Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose wealth came from ferry boats, steamship lines, and railroads (New York Central, 1867), gave Central University in Nashville $500,000 on March 12, 1873, later doubled to $1 million, leading to the renaming of Central University to Vanderbilt University on June 6, 1873.
Vanderbilt-Peabody Connection
Vanderbilt University's second Chancellor James Hampton Kirkland (1859-1939) wanted to make Nashville a great university center. He also knew that George Peabody College for Teachers' endowment was initially greater than Vanderbilt's endowment. Wanting a Vanderbilt-Peabody College connection similar to the successful Teachers College of Columbia University, Kirkland deeded Vanderbilt land to George Peabody College for Teachers, about which some contention later resulted.
Daniel Coit Gilman
Kirkland's hoped-for ally in making a Vanderbilt-Peabody connection was Johns Hopkins University President Daniel Coit Gilman (1831-1908), the South's most respected higher education leader and also an influential Peabody Education Fund trustee. Kirkland urged in 1900 and 1901 that Gilman, about to retire as Johns Hopkins president, become Peabody Normal College president and help form a Vanderbilt-Peabody connection.
While retaining his long friendship with Kirkland, Gilman adroitly sidestepped involvement, declining to give a major address in Nashville in 1900 and also declining to head Peabody Normal College in its last years.
First Peabody College President Bruce Ryburn Payne
First President Bruce Ryburn Payne (1874-1937) during 1911-37 cooperated academically with Vanderbilt but adamantly kept Peabody independent as the South's leading teacher training institution.
North Carolinian Bruce R. Payne was a graduate of Trinity College (later renamed Duke University), was principal of Morganton (North Carolina.) Academy, did graduate study at Trinity College and at Teachers College of Columbia University (M.A., 1903; Ph.D., 1904), was professor of philosophy and education, College of William and Mary, Virginia (1904-05); and was University of Virginia professor of secondary education and psychology and summer school organizer.
Architecture Inspired By Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia
Payne assembled a first-rate faculty, modeled the new Peabody campus on Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia architectural plan (a quadrangle of columned buildings dominated by a Social-Religious Building with a commanding rotunda), and raised an additional $1 million for the new campus.
President Payne's Fund Raising
An example of Payne's fund raising: banker and Peabody Education Fund trustee J.P. Morgan, Sr., had promised $250,000 toward George Peabody College for Teachers buildings when needed but died. Payne went to New York City to request the funds of Morgan's son-in-law, Herbert Livingston Satterlee (1863-1947). Satterlee hesitated because Morgan had not left written evidence of his promised aid. Payne felt he had failed in this fund raising until Satterlee, checking with Morgan's son (J.P. Morgan, Jr.), released the promised amount.
Peabody Education Fund Assets Distributed, 1914
The Peabody Education Fund trustees dissolved in 1914 and distributed their total assets ($2,324,000) as follows: $1.5 million to endow George Peabody College for Teachers; $474,000 to education departments of 14 southern universities ($40,000 each to the universities of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana [State]); $6,000 each to Johns Hopkins University and to the universities of South Carolina, Missouri, and Texas; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, South Carolina (now Winthrop College), founded by Peabody Education Fund trustee President Robert Charles Winthrop.
Recipient state universities of Georgia, Mississippi, Florida at Gainesville, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and others named their college of education buildings after George Peabody. George Peabody-named elementary and secondary schools exist in the southern states his fund benefited; along with a Peabody Avenue and a Peabody Hotel, both in Memphis, Tennessee; and Peabody Hotels in Orlando, Florida, and elsewhere.
Peabody's Payne and Vanderbilt's Kirkland
Payne, like Kirkland, was a strong administrator with a vibrant personality. Their relations were polite but strained by Payne's determination to keep Peabody College independent yet cooperative in cross-listing courses and programs. Kirkland was elitist and an educational conservative while Payne, concerned for mass education, was egalitarian in the spirit of the democratic educational philosophy of his Columbia University mentor, John Dewey (1859-1952).
A Unique Mini-University
Payne and his successors, rightly or wrongly, made and tried to keep Peabody a unique mini-university. Besides the professional preparation of teachers, it graduated students in liberal arts, science, music, physical education, art, and library science; and had a demonstration elementary school for teachers-in-training, Knapp farm for rural studies, and a school survey research unit used widely in the South. Unresolved fiscal problems in the late 1960s and early 1970s created the possibility of some kind of merger in the late 1970s.
Mutual Suspicions
With more women than men students during the 1920s-50s, Peabodians felt discrimination and a snobbish belittling of their professional education courses by Vanderbilt liberal arts professors (some of whom gladly taught for extra pay in Peabody College's large summer school).
The Peabody community sensed that Vanderbilt wanted to separate its graduate courses from them and that Vanderbilt deans and faculty disdained Peabody's teacher education mission and belittled its academic standards.
Cautious Cooperation
Vanderbilt's short-lived Education Department (1930-34) caused apprehension at Peabody. It was headed by Joseph Kinmount Hart (1876-1949), a progressive educator from the universities of Chicago and Wisconsin who had written A Social Interpretation of Education, 1929, and other textbooks. Hart's liberalism caused student disturbances. He ended his Vanderbilt career with bitterness and vague threats of a lawsuit.
More fruitful was the Joint Universities Library (JUL), dedicated December 5-6, 1941, outgrowth of a 1935 study of library needs of adjoining campuses of Vanderbilt, Peabody, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers (Methodist college founded in 1892, later an adult education conference center). JUL was renamed in 1984 the Jean and Alexander Heard Library.
The following overview of the Peabody presidents since Bruce R. Payne, with Conkin's assessment of each, helps explain conditions that led to the 1979 Vanderbilt merger.
Presidents of George Peabody College for Teachers
Peabody's first President Bruce R. Payne (1911-died in office, April 21, 1937) was succeeded by the following:
S. C. Garrison
Sidney Clarence Garrison (1887-1944), Peabody's second president during 1937-44, eight years; was a North Carolinian, a graduate of Wake Forest College, a high school principal and county superintendent. He was an M.A. degree graduate of Peabody College, 1916; served as a World War I captain; earned the Ph.D. degree from Peabody, 1919; taught educational psychology at Peabody where he was also a dean. "Garrison was not Payne," wrote Conkin; "he was an interim president." (Conkin, pp. 252-253).
Henry H. Hill
President Henry Harrington Hill (1894-1987) was third president during Peabody's boom years, 1945-60 (16 years) and interim president, 1962-63 (total of 18 years). Also a North Carolinian, Hill received the B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Virginia and the Ph.D. degree from Columbia University. He was a teacher, principal, and school superintendent in Arkansas; an education professor and dean at the University of Kentucky; was school superintendent in Lexington, Kentucky; St. Louis, Missouri; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hill was cautious, moderate, and an expert at building consensus (Conkin, p. 265). In 1951, using a foundation grant, Hill hired four high profile division chairs: 1-Harold R. W. Benjamin (1893-1969) to head Foundations of Education; 2-Willard E. Goslin (1899-1969) to head Education Administration; 3-William Van Til (1911-) to head Teaching and Curriculum; and 4-Nicholas Hobbs (1915-83) to head Guidance and Development (Hobbs later led in securing for Peabody its prestigious and well funded John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development. Hobbs was later also a Vanderbilt provost).
Felix C. Robb
Felix Compton Robb (1914-97), fourth president during 1961-66, was an Alabamian, had a Vanderbilt M.A. degree, took education courses at Peabody where he became President Hill's assistant and heir apparent, and received a Ph.D. degree from Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Conkin characterized Robb as charismatic and idealistic but, when cracks appeared in Peabody's finances, "not a forceful or decisive leader" (Conkin, p. 296).
John Claunch
John M. Claunch (1906-90), fifth president from August 1, 1967, through 1973, six years, was from Louisiana, a graduate of Austin State Teachers College, Texas (B.A., 1928); and the University of Texas (M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1956). His main administrative experience was as director of Dallas College, an adult education mainly evening college, established by Southern Methodist University. Stronger candidates had warily declined the Peabody presidency. Conkin called Claunch's appointment a "disastrous decision," adding that he was "rigid, insecure,…authoritarian" (Conkin, pp. 311-312).
Claunch chafed at endless studies and reports to keep Peabody College afloat, clashed with Nicholas Hobbs over the Kennedy Center, opposed faculty independence, and was critical of student protests against military action in Vietnam
John Dunworth
John Dunworth (1924-) was Peabody's sixth and last president during 1974-79, five years, when the trauma of merger was played out. Born in Los Angeles, Dunworth was an Ed.D. graduate of the University of Southern California, had been a successful dean of Ball State University's Teachers College, Indiana. Conkin characterized him as "Charming, vain, an expert at self promotion…[he] worked well with faculty" and "in other times, other circumstances, might have been a popular president" (Conkin, p. 330).
Reviewers' Experience at Peabody, 1951-56
[I here insert our experiences during 1951-56 as graduate students at George Peabody College for Teachers for any light it may shed on the Peabody College of that time].
Betty Parker and I were newly married (1950); recent graduates of Berea College near Lexington, Kentucky (a tuition-free work-study college); on our first teaching jobs at what is now Ferrum College near Roanoke, Virginia. To upgrade our teaching skills we took Peabody College courses the summer of 1951.
Peabody had a fine regional reputation in our school-oriented circles. Betty's aunt and other relatives had attended there. We returned to Peabody the summer of 1952 and remained as graduate students through August 1956, four years and two summers, holding part time jobs at Peabody and at Belmont College (now University), which the Baptists had acquired from Ward Belmont School.
Professor Clifton Landon Hall (1898-1987)
I looked for an unexplored aspect of Tennessee higher education as a dissertation topic to pursue under Canadian-born Clifton L. Hall, a respected Peabody professor in history and philosophy of education. Eager to be accepted as Hall's doctoral candidate, I enrolled in Hall's courses for several years. Not until I took Hall's seminars with weekly papers did I feel I had won Hall's confidence. Hall was a graduate of Bishop University (Quebec) and McGill University (Montreal) with a Ph.D. degree under University of North Carolina's (Chapel Hill) history of education Professor Edgar W. Knight.
Dean of Instruction Felix Robb
After I passed the doctoral preliminary examinations, Dean of Instruction Felix Robb had to formalize my doctoral committee and topic. When I met with Dean Robb in late 1953 Robb spoke at length about his own experience at Harvard Graduate School of Education. In a Harvard seminar under historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. (1888-1965), Schlesinger, knowing that Robb was a rising administrator at Peabody, mentioned George Peabody’s little known role as a founder of U.S. educational philanthropy. Schlesinger said that someone needed to explore and document that thesis.
Robb, then President Hill's assistant, expected to rise to an executive position and chose instead to write his dissertation on education administration. Perhaps regretting an interesting topic not pursued, perhaps out of respect for Clifton Hall (knowing I was Hall's student), Robb urged me to look into the George Peabody topic.
End of Part 1 of 2 Parts. See concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts.
Please send comments and corrections to bfparker@frontiernet.net
About the Parkers: 24 of their book titles are listed in:
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/about/alum6.html#P
For writings by the Parkers in blogs, enter bfparker in google.com or in any other search engine.
7 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J.
7 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below 7 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18) to Peabody, George, Illus.: "Prophetic Eye."
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
J. P. Morgan Family
Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18). George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864), became J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). On J.S. Morgan's death (1890) the firm was controlled by J.P. Morgan, Sr. The firm continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. See: Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. George Peabody & Co. Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Morgan, John Pierpont, Sr. (1837-1913). 1-International Banker. John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., was the son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-1890), Boston merchant and GP's partner in George Peabody & Co., London, for ten years during Oct. 1,1854 to Oct. 1, 1864. J.P. Morgan, Sr., was born in Hartford, Conn., educated at the English High School in Boston, and soon after his father's partnership with GP attended the Univ. of Göttingen, Germany (1856-57). J.P. Morgan, Sr., at age 16 visited London with his father and mother when he first met GP in London in May 1853. His father was then considering becoming GP's partner. On May 18, 1853, J.P. Morgan, Sr., wrote his 14-year-old cousin James Junius Goodwin (1835-1915), : "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 2-J.P. Morgan [Sr.], at age 20. In 1857 J.P. Morgan, Sr., at age 20 shared an apartment at 45 West 17 St. NYC, with GP's relative (distant cousin?) Joseph Peabody (d. April 7, 1905) and was the NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. His father soon placed him in the NYC banking firm of Duncan, Sherman & Co. (1860), which chiefly represented George Peabody & Co. J.P. Morgan, Sr., then became junior partner in Dabney, Morgan & Co., NYC (1864), helped form Drexel, Morgan & Co., NYC (1871), of which his father was also a partner. Drexel, Morgan & Co. became J.P. Morgan & Co. (1895). Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469. See: Peabody, Joseph.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 3-Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, London. GP retired on Oct. 1, 1864. Knowing that he would no longer exert control, he asked that his name be withdrawn from the firm. George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864), then became J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). On J.S. Morgan's death (1890) the firm was controlled by J.P. Morgan, Sr. The firm continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. J.P. Morgan, Sr., was also a partner of Drexel & Co., Philadelphia, when he gained control of leading railroads (1901), organized United States Steel Co. (1901), and controlled both steel and coal interests. He was the leading financier of his time, a yachtsman, art collector, and philanthropist. For details and sources of J.P. Morgan, Sr., as a PEF trustee, see PEF.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 4-GP, Root of Morgan Banking. George Peabody & Co. was the root of the J.P. Morgan, Sr., financial empire which, in later more complex times, was on an international scale that far surpassed its GP beginnings. GP and a few other merchant-bankers of his time began, and the Morgans and other international bankers greatly advanced, the use of investment capital that developed and industrialized the U.S. to world leadership. Ref.: Allen, F.L. See: Junius Spencer Morgan. Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990). For details and sources of how GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne secured a $250,000 gift from the estate of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., see PCofVU, history. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Morgan, John Pierpont, Jr. (1867-1943). 1-Of the House of Morgan. John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., was the son of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913). He was born in Irvington, N.Y., graduated from Harvard Univ. (1889), and soon after worked in J.S. Morgan & Co., London (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). The firm, begun by GP as George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864); continued as J.S. Morgan & Co., London (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909); continued as Morgan, Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910-18), continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90); and continues as Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer. Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
Morgan, John Pierpont, Jr. 2-Career. J.P. Morgan, Jr., succeeded his father as head of J.P. Morgan & Co. (from 1913) and head of United States Steel. In 1920 he gave his Grosvenor Square, London, residence in to the U.S. government as its London embassy. In 1924 he endowed as a public institution the Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC, originally his father's private library, which has family papers and some GP papers. J.P. Morgan, Jr., contributed to charitable institutions and was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, Cooper Union, and several hospitals. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Partner, J.S. Morgan
Morgan, Junius Spencer (1813-90). 1-Am. Merchant in London. GP went to England in Feb. 1837 as one of three Md. agents to sell the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal part of Md.'s $8 million bonds to finance internal improvements. It was his fifth commercial trip abroad during 1827-37. The other two agents returned without success to the U.S. He remained in London from Feb. 1837 to his death (Nov. 4, 1869), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, and June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). In 1837 GP was age 42 and had been in the mercantile trade for 23 years. The Panic of 1837, followed by a depression into the 1840s, adversely affected all business including GP's sale of Md. bonds and the mercantile business of Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48). See: Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Morgan, J.S. 2-End of Peabody, Riggs & Co. GP was Peabody, Riggs & Co.'s senior partner and London resident financier. Junior partner Samuel Riggs (d.1853) managed the main Baltimore office and then the NYC office. Two other younger partners, Henry T. Jenkins (b.1815) and Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814), GP's cousin, son of his paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827), traveled and collected debts for the firm in the U.S. In London GP also traded on his own, first in various goods and services, then increasingly in U.S. state and federal securities. Peabody, Riggs & Co.'s mercantile trade declined. GP withdrew his capital in 1843, although the firm continued to 1848 when the other partners entered other firms. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 3-Beginning of George Peabody & Co. (1838). On Dec. 1, 1838, GP leased an office at 31 Moorgate St., in London's inner city not far from St. Paul's Cathedral where business houses occupy odd nooks and crannies. He installed desks, chairs, a mahogany counter, a safe, and bookkeeping materials. This was the informal beginning of George Peabody & Co., London, merchant banker (1838-64). He still traded in goods and commodities and was in transition from merchant to securities broker and banker. He lived simply and worked concentratedly. In 1848, tired and often ill, he complained to intimate NYC business friend William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62): "I am almost tired of making money without having time to spend and enjoy it--and I feel this particularly at this time when I am not very well & should be out of this City [London] where the cholera is raging with terrible effect." Ref.: GP to William Shepard Wetmore, Sept. 24 and 28, 1848, quoted in Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 261.
Morgan, J.S 4-Seeking a Partner. GP complained to business friends that by 1851 he had worked 10 hours a day, had not been away from his office two consecutive days, had not been 100 miles from London for six years. Sometimes in poor health, he had severe attacks of rheumatism, suffered from gout and intestinal ailments, and was occasionally absent from his office. Business friends and clients were concerned because he ran a one-man business. They urged him to take an American partner to give his firm continuity. In 1843 he hired 32-year-old British-born Charles Cubitt Gooch (1811-89) as salaried clerk at £150 ($750) a year. Gooch had seven years' experience as bookkeeper with Thomas Wilson & Co., a London firm headed by an American, and then worked in another firm specializing in U.S. trade. Ref.: (Gooch partnership): Articles of partnership between GP and Charles Cubitt Gooch, Jan. 1852, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S 5-Seeking a Partner Cont'd. Although Gooch was an efficient bookkeeper and an able office manager, friends and clients still urged GP to find an experienced younger American partner. In 1852 GP made Gooch a salaried junior partner. GP cautiously let it be known that he was looking for an American merchant of probity as partner, one with dry goods importing experience, knowledgeable about U.S. government and U.S. state securities, and one adaptable to the fast-changing world of securities banking. Business friends and clients whose advice he valued recommended as an ideal choice Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan. Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 6-Morgan's Commercial Career. J.S. Morgan, 18 years younger than GP, was from an old Mass. family. His ancestor Miles Morgan (1616-99) arrived in America from England in 1636, a year after GP's ancestor Francis Peboddy (1612 or 14-1697) arrived in America in 1635. J.S. Morgan was born in West Springfield (later Holyoke), Mass. He grew up in Hartford, Conn., where his father Joseph Morgan (1771-1847) moved the family in 1817. This Joseph Morgan began as a farmer, was a realtor, made money in stage coach lines, then hotels, and finally in insurance companies. Biographer Andrew Sinclair of grandson John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), wrote that Joseph Morgan's "fortune was...based on the great Wall Street fire of December, 1835, when he had made his Aetna Fire Insurance Company pay up promptly in order to attract more business at triple rates." Ref.: Sinclair, p. 5.
Morgan, J.S. 7-Morgan's Commercial Career Cont'd. J.S. Morgan was educated in private schools. He learned the wholesale dry goods business as apprentice to merchant-banker Alfred Wells (1814-67) of Boston and was briefly Wells's partner. He then was a partner in Morris Ketchum's private bank on Wall St., NYC; and then became a partner in the dry goods house of Howe Mather & Co., Hartford, Conn. (which became Mather Morgan & Co.). He was a partner in J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Co. of Boston during 1851-54, dealing in dry goods and commodities, when he came to GP's attention. GP had dealings with this firm and particularly valued James Madison Beebe's (1800-75) high regard for his partner. Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469.
Morgan, J.S. 8-Considering a GP-Morgan Partnership. J.S. Morgan had first visited England in 1850, but had no known connection with GP then. Now in 1853 GP let J.S. Morgan know of his interest in having him as his partner. J.S. Morgan was interested enough to go with his wife to London in May 1853. They were joined there by their 16-year-old son John Pierpont Morgan (Sr., 1837-1913). GP and J.S. Morgan first met at George Peabody & Co., 6 Warnford Court, Throgmorton St., London, May 15, 1853. GP at 58 and J.S. Morgan at 40 liked each other. On May 18, 1853, young John Pierpont in London wrote to his cousin James Junius Goodwin (1835-1915), "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." Ref.: Ibid. Satterlee, p. 207.
Morgan, J.S. 9-At GP's May 18, 1853, Dinner. GP and J.S. Morgan took each other's social measure at this dinner GP gave to honor the new U.S. Minister to England Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868) and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. Among the 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) was Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" on May 18, 1853, given by GP and attended by former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren (1782-62, eighth U.S. Pres. during 1837-41), and "many very distinguished persons." See: Dinners, GP's, London (May 18, 1853).
Morgan, J.S. 10-N.Y Times on May 18, 1853, Dinner. The New York Daily Times prefaced its four-column account of the dinner with the following about GP: "No American who has visited England within the past ten or fifteen years, needs to be told who Mr. Peabody is, or how much he is constantly doing to make his countrymen feel at home upon British soil, or how largely he has contributed, in an unostentatious but most effective way to strengthen the feeling of friendship between the people of the two great nations on which so much of their peace and prosperity must always depend." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 11-N.Y Times on May 18, 1853, Dinner Cont'd.: "Possessed of princely wealth, the fruit solely of his own industry and business talent, and gifted with more than princely beneficence, he seems to know no greater pleasure than to extend to Americans in London the warmest and most profuse[d] hospitality--taking occasion, at the same time, to bring them into direct social intimacy with some of the worthiest and the best of the English people, and thus substantially serving great ends, while promoting the personal enjoyment of his countrymen." Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 12-May 18, 1853, Dinner Speeches. After the sumptuous meal and appropriate band music GP rose to express pleasure at bringing together U.S. and English friends. The new U.S. Minister Ingersoll then toasted the Queen, the U.S. President, and the peoples of the U.S. and the U.K., which he called: "The two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 13-May 18, 1853, Dinner Speeches Cont'd. In his speech referring to GP's British-U.S. friendship dinners Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) said: "When history should come to be written, and...weight...given to all...influences,...it would assign...a very high place to...one who had done very much to promote...goodwill between...two great nations...here represented." The dinner and speeches were widely and favorably reported in the transatlantic press. What the dinner cost GP is not known. One bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
Negotiating a Partnership
Morgan, J.S. 14-Negotiating a Partnership. GP valued J.S. Morgan's commercial credentials, stable family, and social qualities. J.S. Morgan and GP were favorably impressed with each other. Morgan returned to Boston. GP wrote him details about his firm's business. Morgan visited U.S. firms with whom George Peabody & Co. did business. They exchanged letters. Concerned commercial acquaintances eyed the match favorably. Samuel G. Ward, U.S. agent for the Baring Brothers, GP's chief competitor in London for U.S. trade in goods and securities, wrote to his superior, April 11, 1854: "Mr. Morgan is highly thought of here as a man of talent, energy, & labor. If Mr. Peabody was safe before, he will be much safer now with Mr. Morgan at his side." Ref.: (S.G. Ward): Burk, p. 18. Carosso, p. 36. Mirabile, ed., pp. 427-429.
Morgan, J.S. 15-Negotiating a Partnership Cont'd. George B. Blake of Boston's Blake, Howe & Co., which did much business with George Peabody & Co., wrote GP: "I am more convinced than ever that he is the man of all others for you." J.S. Morgan's partner, J.M. Beebe, wrote GP: "the situation you have offered him presents so many advantages and is so congenial to his taste--that I cannot but approve of his acceptance." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 16-Negotiating a Partnership Cont'd. GP began serious negotiations with Morgan in Nov. 1853. In early Feb. 1854, J.S. Morgan returned to London to examine George Peabody & Co.'s accounts books. These showed that in 1851 GP was worth £1.2 million ($6 million) From Aug. 1848 to Sept. 30, 1854, George Peabody & Co. had earned £311,546 ($1,557,730). Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 17-Partnership Agreement. A ten-year partnership agreement was drawn up on Sept. 30, 1854. Of George Peabody & Co.'s capital of £450,000 ($2.25 million), GP provided £400,000 ($2 million) and was to get 65 percent of the profits. Morgan provided £40,000 ($200,000) and was to get 28 percent of the profits plus £2,500 ($12,500) per year entertainment allowance. Longtime clerk Charles Cubitt Gooch, made a partner, put in £10,000 ($50,000) and was to earn 7 percent of profits. Ref.: George Peabody & Co. circular announcing entrance of Junius Spencer Morgan as a partner, Aug. 10, 1854, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.; copy in Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC; and copy in Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), London, England.
Morgan, J.S. 18-Partnership Agreement Cont'd. A circular dated Aug. 10, 1854, announced: "On the first of October Mr. J.S. Morgan, who recently retired from the house of Messer[s]. J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Company, of Boston, will become a Partner of our Firm, but its title will remain unaltered.... "Our arrangements with Mr. Morgan have been made, with a view to establish our House permanently; and that if our Prior [GP] is removed by death before the expiration of the time contemplated by this arrangement, a large portion of his capital [will be used for the firm].... "The business of the House will consist of sales and purchases of Stocks, Foreign Exchange, banking and Credits; the execution of orders for railroad iron, purchase and sale of Produce together with general mercantile transactions. Signed by George Peabody. C.C. Gooch." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 19-GP to Blake on Partner Morgan. On Oct. 6, 1854, GP wrote to George B. Blake of Boston: "Mr. Morgan has taken his place in a room adjoining me, and I trust he will make an able help-mate." To another business friend, Charles Macalester (1798-1873) GP wrote at the end of Oct. 1854: "Mr. Morgan my new partner has been with us about a month and I begin to find him useful and I trust when we get into our new counting house in [22] Broad Street (which will be one of the best in London), and get proper assistance around us that I shall begin to experience the good results of my late arrangements, and before 1857 if my life and health is spared, find leisure to visit my native land...." Ref.: (GP to Blake): GP to George B. Blake, Boston, Oct. 6, 1854, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC. Ref.: (GP to Macalester): GP to Charles Macalester, Oct. 31, 1854, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 20-GP to Blake on Partner Morgan Cont'd.: "It has been, and is now, a favorite object with me to so arrange all my business, that my house will be purely American, that its continuance for many years will not depend on my life, and that my American friends will feel that, in every respect the house is worthy of their entire confidence." Ref. Ibid. (History of the company): [Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd.]. New York Times, Nov. 28, 1989, p. 29, contd. p. 42 (Steven Prokesch, "Germans to Buy Morgan Grenfell," continued as "Deutsche Bank to Acquire Morgan Grenfell"). (1854 partnership): Burk, pp. 18-19. (S.G. Ward and G.B. Blake): Burk, p. 19. Carosso, pp. 35-36. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990). Mirabile, ed., pp. 427-429.
GP’s 1856-57 U.S. Visit
Morgan, J.S. 21-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. Freed from daily routine by the Morgan partnership, GP prepared for a year's U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug 19, 1857), his first return after nearly 20 years' absence in London. John Pierpont Morgan, age 19, attending the Univ. of Göttingen, Germany, spent his summer 1856 vacation putting GP's papers in order. He wrote his cousin James Junius Goodwin: "Since my return from Göttingen I have been pretty busily occupied arranging Mr. Peabody's letters, etc., which had accumulated for over twenty years. Those operations were brought to a close last Tuesday when Mr. P. left us for Liverpool. He sailed in the Atlantic last Tuesday." Ref.: John Pierpont Morgan, London, to cousin, James Junius Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., Sept. 5, 1856, quoted in Satterlee, pp. 283-284.
Morgan, J.S. 22-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit Cont'd.: "Wednesday we received a letter from him which he had given to the pilot off Point Lynas which was written in very good spirits. Before this letter reaches you I trust he will have arrived at New York, where I have no doubt he will be welcomed by a large circle of friends. He said before he left that he would make it a point to visit Hartford, so I suppose you may see him there." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 23-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit Cont'd.: "He is a very agreeable gentleman and very full of wit, but a regular old bachelor. If you could have seen the quantity of nic-nacs which he carried with him to America, and which were stored away in his trunk with the greatest precision, you would most certainly have thought he was going to Central Africa to some unexplored regions, rather than to America." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 24-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. During GP's hectic 1856-57 U.S. visit he added funds to his institute library in South Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868, total gift $217,600), Mass.; created a branch institute library in North Danvers (now Danvers), Mass., total gift $100,000; founded in Baltimore the PIB (total gift $1.4 million), and was féted in his home town (Oct. 9, 1856) and honored elsewhere. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Morgan, J.S. 25-J.S. Morgan Kept GP Informed. J.S. Morgan, relating business and other news, wrote GP on Sept. 30, 1856: "Glad to hear of your safe arrival and that you had so little sea-sickness. Your friends have certainly been very kind in their reception. I hope their kindness won't go so far as to injure your health which we fear might be the case if you yield to all the temptations that surround you." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Sept. 30, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 26-Morgan to GP on Atlantic Cable. Morgan wrote GP on Oct. 10 that Cyrus W. Field (1819-92) was organizing the Atlantic Telegraph and Cable Co. and wanted GP as one of the directors: "Field is getting up his company on the ocean Telegraph. He wishes your name as one of the directors. Lampson and ourselves agree that it is best you should accept, and I have taken responsibility of saying to Field it might be put through subject to your confirmation. It will be a go and the new [organization] with you will be of the right stamp.... We have many inquiries for you every day." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Oct. 10, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 27-Morgan to GP on Bessemer Steel. On Oct. 14 Morgan reported that Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) wanted GP to use his influence in Washington, D.C., to get U.S. government support for British engineer Henry Bessemer's (1813-98) new steel process. Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Oct. 14, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 28-On Oct. 9, 1856, GP Reception. In late Oct. 1856, 19-year-old John Pierpont Morgan returned to his studies at the Univ. of Göttingen, wrote to his cousin James Junius Goodwin on hearing of the Oct. 9, 1856, Danvers reception for GP: "Mr. Peabody's reception at Danvers must indeed have been a glorious affair. I should have liked immensely to have been present to have seen it. The report has been copied into several of the European journals, and very well spoken of. I trust Mr. P. did not have an attack of gout after the sumptuous dinner." Ref.: Satterlee, p. 288.
Morgan, J.S. 29-Morgan on Atlantic Cable. On Nov. 14, 1856, J.S. Morgan wrote Peabody that the Atlantic Telegraph was going well, that GP's name as director was being publicly used, and that Curtis M. Lampson would also consent to be a director. J.S. Morgan wrote in Dec.: "The Bessemer Patent...I fear...is likely to bring us in for a great loss, for I believe we should lose every shilling we agreed to pay. This is Lampson's opinion." Ref. J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Nov. 14, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 30-Morgan on Atlantic Cable Cont'd. Morgan to GP, Dec. 16: "Many inquire for you every day. The election for directors for the Atlantic Telegraph Company came off very satisfactorily." Morgan to GP, Dec. 22: "I am glad you are able to spend Thanksgiving in Georgetown [Mass., with sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell, 1799-1879, and her family] and that the rest and quiet there has been beneficial." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Dec. 16 and 22, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 31-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan. GP was in Washington, D.C., in Jan. and during Feb. 13-24, 1857. His relations with Pres.-elect James Buchanan (1791-1868) were strained. This strain went back to GP's July 4, 1854, British-U.S. friendship dinner in London. James Buchanan was then U.S. Minister to Britain. His Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), a super patriot, had created an incident when GP toasted Queen Victoria before toasting the U.S. president. Sickles refused to stand with the other 149 guests and walked out in anger. In a lengthy exchange of letters to the press Sickles accused GP of toadying to the British. GP and others at the dinner wrote defending GP. Buchanan quickly replaced Sickles but did not publicly censure him. See: Sickles Affair. Persons named.
Morgan, J.S. 32-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan Cont'd. GP explained to his Mass.-born friend, sometimes agent, and London resident genealogist Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72) why he would not call on Pres. Buchanan: "Buchanan's friends are particularly attentive to me, but I refuse any interferences to bring us together without a direct explanation from him. I met Miss Lane [Harriet Lane, 1830-1903, bachelor James Buchanan's niece and White House hostess] who treated me with great cordiality." Ref.: GP, Philadelphia, to Horatio Gates Somerby, Jan. 18, 1857, Somerby Papers, Mass. Historical Society, Boston. See: Lane, Harriet.
Morgan, J.S. 33-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan Cont'd. Of Buchanan's aloofness, J.S. Morgan wrote from London to GP in Washington, D.C., March 13, 1857: "Your course respecting Mr. Buchanan strikes us as just the thing. It is for you to receive him if either is to be received, but any reconciliations now would look like truckling to a man because he happens to be in power." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., March 3, 1857, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
GP & the Panic of 1857
Morgan, J.S. 34-Panic of 1857. J.S. Morgan in London alerted GP in the U.S. of the first rumblings of the Panic of 1857. Morgan noted the heavy demand for debt payments on George Peabody & Co. and wrote GP on Jan. 30, 1857: "The drawing upon us for the last two or three mails have been very heavy and the look of our financial business is anything but encouraging for it." Morgan wrote GP again on Feb. 27 and Apr. 9: "These are times when we must keep a sharp lookout. We are in a good position and must keep so." Ref. (J.S. Morgan to GP): J.S. Morgan to GP, Jan. 30, Feb. 27, and April 9, 1857, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 35-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. GP's cousin Joseph Peabody wrote from NYC (GP was then in Philadelphia), April 11: "There is a report by telegraph from Halifax that Greene & Co. of Paris have been obliged to suspend: I know nothing of particulars." Alarmed, J.S. Morgan wrote GP, April 17, that money was stringent, and the specie of the bank of England were down to nine million, "the lowest point in ten years." Ref.: Joseph Peabody, NYC, to GP, care of Capt. Edward Schenley, Pittsburgh, Penn., April 12, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 36-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. GP hurried back to England. Back in London the end of Aug. 1857 GP found his firm severely threatened by the Panic of 1857. The financial crisis came from overspeculation in western U.S. lands, poorly managed railroads needing large capital, and overbuying of goods in eastern U.S. cities. The collapse of hundreds of business firms in the U.S. and Britain was hastened by poor U.S. wheat sales abroad, the sinking of a packet ship with $1.6 billion in California gold bullion aboard (Sept. 1857), and the failure of some railroads, banks, and insurance companies. Ref.: Hidy, R.W.-c, pp. 456-465.
Morgan, J.S. 37-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86) described the crisis in his journal entry for Nov. 6, 1857: "The news from the United States indicates a commercial panic of the most disastrous nature. Each arrival brings us worse news than the last, and now starvation seems to threaten unemployed workmen, fifty thousand of which are in New York alone." Business firms failed in Glasgow, Liverpool, and London. George Peabody & Co. was in trouble. Ref.: (Moran entry Nov. 6, 1857): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., p. 176.
Bank of England Loan to GP
Morgan, J.S. 38-Bank of England Loan. GP had given large credit to Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which could not repay him. Meanwhile, the House of Baring pressed GP for £150,000 ($750,000) he owed them. Gathering his assets, GP on Nov. 17, 1857, applied for a $4 million loan from the Bank of England (which seldom made such loans). Moran's Nov. 6, 1857, journal entry stated that he had heard that the stability of George Peabody & Co was in grave danger. Moran's Nov. 21, 1857, entry: "My friend, Phil [Philip N. Dallas, 1825-66, U.S. Minister George Mifflin Dallas' son under whom Moran then worked] went over to George Peabody & Co. the other day to withdraw all his father's deposits, having heard that house would fail unless relief in the form of a tremendous loan arrived." Breaking precedent, the Bank of England lent GP more than was needed. Ref.: Burk, p. 21. Ref. (Moran's entries Nov. 6 and 21, 1857): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., Vol. I, pp. 176, 181.
Morgan, J.S. 39-Bank of England Loan Cont'd. During negotiations for the Bank of England loan, some unscrupulous financiers, seeing opportunity to force GP out of business, approached GP's partner J.S. Morgan. Morgan was told that certain individuals would guarantee a loan to George Peabody & Co. if the firm ceased business in London at the end of 1858. PEF's second administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) reported GP's reaction as follows: "When Mr. Morgan brought this message to Mr. Peabody, he was in a rage like a wounded lion, and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." [Italics added]. Ref.: Curry-b, p. 7.
Morgan, J.S. 40-Bank of England Loan Cont'd. GP repaid the Bank of England loan on March 30, 1858. He wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888): "My business is again quite snug.... Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref. (GP to Corcoran): GP, London, to William Wilson Corcoran, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1858, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms.; also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 168-169. (GP's financial difficulties in the Panic of 1857 briefly told): Strouse, pp. 70-71.
Morgan, J.S. 41-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide. On Nov. 13, 1857, GP wrote in gloom to his niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835, daughter of deceased older brother David Peabody, 1790-1841): "This letter I promised to write you has been postponed because of my constant engagements and the unparalleled gloom of the Panic. What will happen, Heaven only knows. Lack of confidence and distrust is universal here and in the United States. I hope my house will weather the storm. I think it will do so even though so many in debt to me cannot pay. If I fail I will bear it like a man. In my conscience I know I never deceived or injured any other human being." Ref.: (GP to niece Julia): Curry-b, pp. 8-9.
Morgan, J.S. 42-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd.: "It is less than three months since I left you in the United States, prosperous and happy. Now all is gloom and affliction. Nearly all the American houses in Europe have suspended operations and nothing but great strength can save them. It is the loss of credit of my house I fear. In any circumstances, only a small part of my private fortune will be lost. I will have enough for all my required purposes." GP waited before sending this letter. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 43-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd. GP held the letter to niece Julia for three weeks. He then added: "My very dear Niece,--The three pages enclosed, as you will see from the date were written three weeks ago when I felt...that the credit of my house was in danger.... I thought to myself, Why should I make my good niece unhappy, however so my miserable self? and consequently declined to send the letter, and I am glad that I did not. "A few days after I felt it to be my duty to apply to the banks for a loan of money sufficient to carry my house through the crisis, proposing security for the full amount required, which was four million dollars." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 44-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd. "It was a severe test to my pride, but after a week spent with the Committees and Directors of the Banks I finally succeeded, and I doubt not that my house is now free from all danger.... Don't you hold your head less high or your heart worth less than you did before, for your Uncle George had done nothing but what among sensible persons will raise him higher than before." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 45-Panic of 1857's Effect . The financial panic, his illness, age (63), and wanting to put his philanthropies in order made GP write as follows to a young man who applied for a position with him: "The influence of the panic year upon my feelings have been such as to greatly modify my ambitious views and I have fully determined not only to keep snug during the terms of my present copartnership but if my life is spared to its end to then leave business entirely and shall most likely pass any remaining years that may be allotted me by Providence in my native land." Ref.: (On retirement): GP to William Heath, Boston, Dec. 9, 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 46-GP Corrected N.Y. Times Report. The New York Times published incorrectly, late Dec. 1857, that George Peabody & Co. owed others £6 million ($30 million) at the time of the Bank of England loan. GP sent a correction to the editor on Feb. 9, 1858: "With a few exceptions the American press has extended me more sympathy than blame for my course in the panic. Your respectable journal's account in late December, 1857, of my house's acceptances of six million sterling is inaccurate." Ref.: New York Times, Feb. 9, 1858, p. 4, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 47-GP Corrected N.Y. Times Report Cont'd.: "Here are the facts: About November 20th, my house considered it prudent to borrow funds to protect our own credit and save many of our American correspondents unable to meet engagements. The bills my house were liable for at the time of the loan were £2,300,000, not £6,000,000. I applied for a loan of £800,000 from the Bank of England on good securities but have only taken £300,000 to this date. Of the £2,300,000 bills liable, my house paid more than £l,500,000 at the time of the loan. The strength of our correspondents is such that our losses will be but trifling. In justice to American credit and to my house these facts are at your disposal." Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 48-Correcting Another N.Y. Times Report. Again on Feb. 18, 1858, GP corrected another New York Times error that he had secured the Bank of England loan, not on the basis of securities but on the personal guarantees of friends. He wrote: "The Charter of the Bank of England forbids...lending money on any but British securities. Since my house held large securities from the states and cities of the United States, the Bank of England required guarantees from Englishmen. Some personal friends and interested parties guaranteed £90,000 of the £300,000 which my house received from the Bank. The error in the press arose from the circumstance in the Panic of 1837 when three American houses obtained assistance from the Bank of England by giving guarantees without other securities." Ref.: New York Times, Feb. 18, 1858, p. 4, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 49-J.S. Morgan to GP on Atlantic Cable. GP was ill with gout and went for relief to a health spa in Vichy, France. J.S. Morgan wrote him from London Aug. 12, 1858, about Atlantic Telegraph Co. stock. The Atlantic cable had been laid in 1858 but broke. "Our position," Morgan wrote GP, "is an unpleasant one. The moment we sell it is known and down goes the market." Ref.: (Morgan on Atlantic cable): J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, Vichy, France, Aug. 1858, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 50-Morgan Visited Niece Julia Adelaide. In Oct. 1858 Morgan was in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and had heard reports of GP's improved health. He planned to go to Zanesville, Ohio, to see GP's niece Julia Adelaide Peabody. On Nov. 2 he wrote to GP that he had seen Julia and "found her all that I had expected from your description.... I am not surprised at your feelings toward her as she seemed a person uncommonly attractive both in mind and person." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, NYC, to GP, Nov. 2, 1858, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 51-GP Reassured Niece Julia. GP also wrote his niece Julia in late 1858 that he had returned from Vichy, France, where he had been under the care of a physician for gout in his feet and right hand: "I am happy also to tell you that although my firm lost some money the business of the year more than made it good, and individually I am now worth much more than I supposed myself when I left the United States and I sincerely feel that what we supposed misfortunes and calamities last year were, so far as regards myself, really 'blessings in disguise.'" Ref.: GP to Julia Adelaide Peabody, n.d., probably late 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 52-GP Ill, March 1859. Resting away from London GP wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran of his rest cures at health spas for gout attacks: "I have been a great sufferer by rheumatic gout in my knees and arms, as also my right hand, for several months. I have been here for three weeks for the benefit of the waters, and may remain a fortnight longer. I am now quite well, except my right hand, which is painful when I write, and I fear you will hardly be able to make out what I have written." Ref.: GP to William Wilson Corcoran, March 22, 1859, Corcoran Papers, VII, Accession Nos. 8279-8280, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, p. 178.
Morgan, J.S. 53-GP and N.Y. Gov. W.H. Seward. In May 1859 N.Y. Gov. William Henry Seward (1801-72) visited London. Seward was the political protégé of GP's friend Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), Albany, N.Y. Evening News editor. GP arranged for Seward to meet such prominent people as Irish-born MP Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869). These meetings were of special importance a few years later when Seward became Pres. Lincoln's Secty. of State during the Civil War.
Morgan, J.S. 54-GP and N.Y. Gov. W.H. Seward Cont'd. Too ill to attend himself, GP explained to Seward: "As the time approaches to join you at Lady Tennent's I find myself too unwell to go out being quite lame and in considerable pain in my feet arising from my late severe attack of gout.--Having accomplished the object I had in view of bringing together yourself and Sir James, I do not so much regret my inability to join you but feel forced to make this explanation." Ref. GP to William Henry Seward, May 26, 1859, Seward Collection, Univ. of Rochester.
N.Y. Herald Attacks on GP
Morgan, J.S. 55-N.Y. Herald Criticism. GP ignored hostile articles about him in editor James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald ' during his 1856-57 U.S. visit. A false report of a rift between GP and J.S. Morgan forced him to reply in 1859. This Sept. 20, 1859, Herald article read: "There is a rumor that the firm of George Peabody & Co. is to be dissolved or remodelled. The cause I have not heard, but I know that the head of the house has never been pleased nor satisfied since certain events during and previous to the great crisis of 1857. Before that disgraceful failure in Boston, connected with Lawrence, of Lawrence, Stone & Co." Ref.: New York Herald , Sept. 20, 1859, p. 2, c. 2.
Morgan, J.S. 56-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd.: "A draft was actually drawn amounting to some £80,000 [then equivalent to $400,000] and some real or fanciful security offered. This draft was accepted, and the negotiation had been about completed when the senior partner, Mr. Peabody came in and put a veto on the whole transaction. As matters turned out the securities were not worth a straw. Lawrence failed and but for the timely appearance of Mr. Peabody, his firm would have been seriously damaged by the stroke of the pen." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 57-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd. Before GP could reply the Herald again directed sarcasm at GP personally and stated that he used undue influence on the Times financial writer to attack business rivals. The N.Y. Herald for Oct. 12, 1859, read: "The London Timeshas been declining in influence because Mr. Sampson who writes the money articles has an American wife and is intimate to the point of control with George Peabody. They attack the Bank of England, certain corporations, speculations, public works, and loans from which they expect to make nothing. It has gotten so that an individual wanting to enter something in the London Times financial column must go to--not the owner or manager or editor--but to a man who is to London financial circles what a podunk newspaper is to political newspapers of the world." Ref.: New York Herald , Oct. 12, 1859, p. 2, c. 2.
Morgan, J.S. 58-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd.: "Money articles in the Times follow what George Peabody favors or opposes, reflecting his personal enmities, piques, quarrels. Articles telling of a large loan received during the 1857 crisis are laughed at by the Bank of England. Here is a striking example of his influence: A year or more ago an English merchant ship owner about to start steamers from England to New York unfortunately asked George Peabody's advice as to which New York house to consign it. Peabody advised a house with one of his relatives in it. The Englishman later chose the American Express Co. as New York agent. He and his steamship company were attacked in the London Times. Thus the quarrels and enmities of an insignificant individual are echoed, trumpeted and heralded forth year after year in the Times." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 59-W.W. Corcoran on Herald Attacks. GP's Washington, D.C. business friend William Wilson Corcoran joked about the charge: "I read a letter in the Herald some time since alluding to your influence with the London Times which if true, makes you more potential than Lord Palmerston [Henry John Temple Palmerston (1784-1865), British Prime Minister during 1855-58]." GP, particularly wanting to reassure his Baltimore friends, felt he had to answer the Herald's erroneous charges. Ref.: William Wilson Corcoran, Washington, D.C., to George Peabody, Dec. 20, 1859, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 60-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks. GP wrote on Dec. 23, 1859, to the Baltimore American (reprinted in the New York Times): "For some motive, which I have never been able to understand, the managers of the New York Herald have, from the time I landed in New York in 1856, frequently introduced into its columns paragraphs and articles reflecting upon me personally, or on the position and business of my house, without the least regard to facts. Their London correspondence (or letters bearing the date of London) has been characterized by the same feeling of untruthfulness throughout; although I have not thought advisable to publicly contradict them, I will now notice three of these letters, and thereby put you and my Baltimore friends right on matters to which they refer." Ref.: (GP's Dec. 23, 1859, letter to the Baltimore American) reprinted in New York Times, Jan. 12, 1860, p. 1, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 61-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd.: "The most important...stating that I had never been satisfied with the management of my firm's business since certain events during and previous to the crisis of 1857; and that I had to put my veto on a transaction with Lawrence, Stone & Co.,...about being entered into for an advance of $400,000 to that house. As this reflects upon my partner, Mr. J. S. Morgan, I beg to state that it has not the least foundation in truth. Mr. Morgan joined my firm on the 1st of October, 1854, and since that period our business has been most satisfactory to all parties interested, and a difference of opinion on the subject of its management has never occurred between Mr. Morgan and myself." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 62-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd.: "Another letter appearing in the New York Herald infers erroneously that I interposed an objection to the Bank of England's financial dealing with the Gallway (Lever) steamers. No act or expression of mine has ever been made in an unfriendly spirit to this Company, although I think it has been unfortunately managed. "The last letter I wish to comment on was dated December 7, 1858, stating that if my house had not opposed the sale of Florida Railroad bonds, Mr. [Edward M.C.] Cabell would have effected their negotiation in London. This is untrue, as my wishes were favorable to his success, and I offered him every assistance my position would justify, short of recommending the bonds to the British public. This I could not do, nor do I connect my name in any way with schemes or companies got up for the European market, however unquestionable may be the character of the gentlemen who have charge of them." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 63-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd. GP knew from his NYC cousin Joseph Peabody that New York Herald editor James Gordon Bennett deliberately provoked controversy in order to sell newspapers. Joseph Peabody had earlier written to GP that: [Herald editor Bennett] "published...falsehood[s] expressly to provoke a reply.... He makes it a system to attack some prominent person, it matters little who that person may be!...as regards the 'Herald,' it is even better to be abused than be praised by such a rascal as Bennett." Ref.: Joseph Peabody, NYC, to GP, Montreal, Canada, Oct. 18, 1856, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. For criticism of GP in the New York Herald during GP's 1856-57 U.S. visit, reasons for Bennett's criticism, and sources, See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Trent Affair & GP
Morgan, J.S. 64-Trent Affair, 1861. GP's hope for early retirement was pushed back by the Civil War. Officially neutral, the British upper class had a natural sympathy for the Confederacy. Also, British cotton factory jobs and profit were dependent on southern cotton, cut off by the Union blockade of southern ports. The Nov. 8, 1861 Trent Affair was one of several frictionable events during the Civil War that provoked near war hysteria between Britain and the U.S. GP and J.S. Morgan were named in a side incident of the Trent Affair. See: Trent Affair.
Morgan, J.S. 65-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. On the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, four Confederate emissaries and some of their families evaded a Union blockade of Charleston, S.C., got to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail steamer Trent bound for Southampton, England. Their mission was to seek aid and arms from Britain and France. One day out of Havana, on Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped by the captain of the Union warship San Jacinto. The four Confederate emissaries were forcibly removed and taken to Boston Harbor's Fort Warren prison. Their illegal seizure and detention produced exultation in the U.S. North but anger in Britain. Passions were aroused. Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada in case of war between Britain and the U.S. Calmer heads prevailed at Pres. Lincoln's Dec. 26, 1861, cabinet meeting. The illegal seizure was disavowed. The four Confederates were released on Jan. 1, 1862. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 66-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. A Capt. Richard Williams in charge of the mail on the Trent was asked to tell of the illegal seizure at a dinner in Liverpool. His version, published in the Liverpool Daily Post (Jan. 8, 1862) was that when the San Jacinto's captain sent Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) to remove the Confederate agents, John Slidell's (1793-1871) daughter clung to her father, and that when Lt. Fairfax tried to separate them, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from a Member of Parliament who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He told the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 67-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan, who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Mr. Hanckel's visit never materialized. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 68-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. The GP-J.S. Morgan involvement had to do with John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72, of La.). His wife was Louise Morris née Corcoran Eustice (1838-67), the only daughter of GP's Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, and sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. When the wives of Slidell and Eustice reached England, it is understandable that someone from George Peabody & Co., probably Junius Spencer Morgan, went to see after the Eustices' welfare (GP may have been ill or busy at the time). Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Homes of London
Morgan, J.S. 69-Peabody Homes of London. Angers over the Trent affair lasted well into 1862, affecting GP and J.S. Morgan in London. J.S. Morgan was one of the five trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund for building model apartments for London's working poor families (total gift $2.5 million). The Trent Affair and other frictionable U.S.-British events had caused worry and delay in public announcement of this gift. GP and his trustees feared that while U.S.-British feelings were so hostile, the British government, press, and public might reject his gift. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 70-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension. GP explained the delay in a note to his friend Thurlow Weed (1797-1882): "Two days ago we thought it exactly the right time, but one cloud between this country and ours is no sooner disposed than another appears. Today the Times and Post are at us again...[as are] ugly extracts from the World and other New York papers.... The feeling [is] as bad as it was before the Trent affair closed. The Post I have takes up strongly the blocking up of Charlestown harbour. Lampson told me that he thought both Sir Emerson [Tennent] and Mr. Adams were in rather a gloomy mood on our affairs with England and France, and Sir Emerson told me that France was pushing England very hard to join and recognize the Southern Confederacy." Ref.: GP, London, to Thurlow Weed, Jan. 17, 1862, Weed Collection, Univ. of Rochester; also quoted in Barnes, p. 365.
Morgan, J.S. 71-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension Cont'd. GP sadly mentioned in his note to Weed the "Newcastle story," printed in the London Times and widely circulated as true. U.S. Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) allegedly told the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secty., that one way to end the U.S. Civil War and get the South to rejoin the North would be to start a war with Britain. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Morgan, J.S. 72-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension Cont'd. GP's note to Weed explained the seriousness of the Newcastle story: "We talked over the mystery hanging over the Seward and the New Castle [sic] affair. Sir James E[merson] Tennent said that there can be no doubt that what the Duke reported of Seward's remarks had strongly influenced the government in this war preparation for several months past. The Bishop [McIlvaine] said that he had received the words from Sir H[enry]. Holland [medical advisor to Queen Victoria], and I think Lord Shaftesbury, both of whom had them from the Duke's own lips. You should at once write to Mr. Seward for a letter to the Duke and have the matter cleared up." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 73-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised. GP's Peabody Donation Fund founding letter was at last published on March 12, 1862. Widely printed and praised it was addressed to and accepted by his five trustees: his partner J.S. Morgan, business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), U.S. Minister to England Charles Francis Adams (1806-86), longtime friend and MP Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869), and Lord Stanley, trustee chairman (Edward George Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, 1799-1869, Member of Parliament and president of the Board of Control [trade]). Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 74-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised. News of GP's gift swept London, captured England, echoed in the U.S., and made the world press. Sir James Emerson Tennent sent GP London press notices and added: "But the press is only a faint echo of the voice of Society which is so forcible in praise of an act so utterly beyond all precedent. It is the topic of conversation and laudation in every circle of London, from the Palace down...." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 75-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised Cont'd. After spending March 27, 1862, with the Commissioners of Charities arranging for their legal acceptance of the gift, Tennent wrote GP: "I have returned after spending a very long time with the Commissioners of Charities.... They tell me that in the whole range of charities of England there is nothing to compare with the disinterestedness and magnitude of your gift." GP rested in Bath, England, late March and early April 1862. His friend and agent, Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), a Vt.-born London-resident genealogist, sent him London newspaper clippings. GP answered Somerby with: "I had not the least conception that it would cause so much excitement over the country." GP's mounting reputation had a positive spillover effect on J.S. Morgan, both as partner in George Peabody & Co. and as Peabody Donation Fund trustee. Ref.: Ibid.
Freedom of the City of London to GP
Morgan, J.S. 76-Freedom of the City of London, July 10, 1862. J.S. Morgan attended London's ancient Guildhall, 3:00 P.M. on July 10, 1862, when GP was given the Freedom of the City of London. GP was the first of five Americans to accept this honor, the second, Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85, U.S. general and 18th U.S. president), awarded June 15, 1877; third, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, 26th U.S. president), awarded May 31, 1910; fourth, John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948, U.S. general), awarded July 18, 1919; and fifth, Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969, U.S. general and the 34th U.S. president), awarded June 12, 1945. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
Morgan, J.S. 77-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862. Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Morgan were among the 300 guests assembled that evening at the Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, for the Lord Mayor's dinner honoring GP. Guests included Peabody Donation Fund trustees and their wives, Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869) and the Curtis Miranda Lampsons, U.S. Minister to England Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) and Mrs. Adams, author Charles Dickens' daughter, Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873, Queen Victoria's physician), and other British and U.S. notables. A loving cup was passed around until all 300 present had drunk from it. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Morgan, J.S. 78-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd. Several toasts were proposed, including one to GP from the Lord Mayor, who said (in part): "I now propose a toast to a distinguished gentleman who has won the esteem of the City of London and the approbation of the world. Mr. Peabody has performed the crowning act of an honorable career. How glad I am for Mr. Peabody to be here and I hope he may live long to see his noble deed prove a monument to his name and character." Amid loud cheering, GP rose to reply (in part): "Persons in every station hope for success and tremble at real or imagined calamities, but none more than a merchant. From a full and grateful heart I say that this day has repaid me for the care and anxiety of fifty years of commercial life. I will not take up time from other speakers. I am no orator but ask that you accept my deeds for my words." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 79-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd. The Lord Mayor then spoke of the Peabody Donation Fund for housing London's working poor and proposed a toast to its trustees. Trustee Charles Francis Adams, U.S. Minister, responded to the toast. He said (in part): "The City of London does honour to Mr. Peabody to-day. Why? The reason is that Mr. Peabody has done honour to human nature (loud cheers!). I honour Mr. Peabody because he has done honour to his country." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 80-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd.: "Born in America he went out to build his fortune, became successful in his own land and eminently more so on this side of the ocean. In twenty years he achieved his ambition. How did this happen? The answer is simple. It was by making an honest use of the friendly relations between the two countries. He drew benefit from the trade of both countries. His career teaches the advantage of good will. His success shows how mutual interests advance with peace. Now, with this gift he forms a new bond between two nations." Long speeches followed by Lord Stanley and Sir James Emerson Tennent, who toasted the Lord Mayor. GP, as he enjoyed doing, gave the last toast to the Lady Mayoress. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 81-Walked Home to Save Carriage Fare? The story persisted in news accounts at his death (Nov. 4, 1869), seven years later, that after the Lord Mayor's banquet, July 10, 1862, GP walked home to save carriage fare. The night being damp and foggy, he reportedly caught cold. He more likely walked home filled with wonder. Officials of the world's largest city had given him its greatest honor. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Retirement
Morgan, J.S. 82-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 . GP's business partnership with J.S. Morgan and C.C. Gooch expired on Oct. 1, 1864. He had set this as his retirement date. He was in the Scottish Highlands in Aug. 1864, resting and fishing, when J.S. Morgan wrote urging him to delay retirement beyond Oct. 1. The firm had many securities which would have to be sold in order to liquidate the partnership. To sell in Oct. would result in some loss. But GP was set on his course. In six months he would be age 70.
Morgan, J.S. 83-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 Cont'd. GP wrote to Morgan from Scotland: "It has been my fixed determination to retire from all commercial business if I should live till the lst of October 1864 and I can now make no change, for although the continuance of the firm for three or six months, which you suggest, may appear short to you, to me--feeling as I deeply do, the uncertainty of life at the age of seventy--months would appear as years, for I am most anxious before I die to place my worldly affairs in a much more satisfactory state than they are at present." Ref.: (1864): GP to J.S. Morgan, Aug. 13, 1864, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 84-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 Cont'd. J.S. Morgan was also disappointed that GP, not wanting responsibility over a firm he would no longer control, asked that his name be removed from the firm. George Peabody & Co. (Dec. 1838 to Oct. 1, 1864) was succeeded by J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864 to Dec. 31, 1909); succeeded by Morgan Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910 to 1918); Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. (1918-90); and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned bank. GP's remaining five years and one month were devoted to his philanthropies. He returned gravely ill from his last U.S. visit, June 8-Sept. 29, 1869, and died Nov. 4, 1869, at the London home of Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson. J.S. Morgan attended his Westminster Abbey funeral. See: Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
J. S. Morgan Attended GP’s Westminster Abbey Funeral
Morgan, J.S. 85-Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869. J.S. Morgan's presence at GP's Westminster Abbey funeral was recorded in U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's journal (Nov. 12, 1869): "At about 12 to-day Mr. Motley and I arrived in his carriage at Sir Curtis Lampson's, 80 Eaton Square, where we met Sir Curtis and his three sons, J.S. Morgan, Russell Sturgis, Mr. F.H. Morse, Mr. Nunn, Drs. Gull and Covey, Horatio G. Somerby, and several other gentlemen, who were to act as mourners...in Westminster Abbey...." Moran's journal entry described the ceremony in the Abbey: "The coffin was
Following Background "Preface" below 7 of 14 blogs covers alphabetically: Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18) to Peabody, George, Illus.: "Prophetic Eye."
Background: "Preface" 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
J. P. Morgan Family
Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18). George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864), became J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). On J.S. Morgan's death (1890) the firm was controlled by J.P. Morgan, Sr. The firm continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. See: Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. George Peabody & Co. Morgan, Junius Spencer.
Morgan, John Pierpont, Sr. (1837-1913). 1-International Banker. John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., was the son of Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-1890), Boston merchant and GP's partner in George Peabody & Co., London, for ten years during Oct. 1,1854 to Oct. 1, 1864. J.P. Morgan, Sr., was born in Hartford, Conn., educated at the English High School in Boston, and soon after his father's partnership with GP attended the Univ. of Göttingen, Germany (1856-57). J.P. Morgan, Sr., at age 16 visited London with his father and mother when he first met GP in London in May 1853. His father was then considering becoming GP's partner. On May 18, 1853, J.P. Morgan, Sr., wrote his 14-year-old cousin James Junius Goodwin (1835-1915), : "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 2-J.P. Morgan [Sr.], at age 20. In 1857 J.P. Morgan, Sr., at age 20 shared an apartment at 45 West 17 St. NYC, with GP's relative (distant cousin?) Joseph Peabody (d. April 7, 1905) and was the NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. His father soon placed him in the NYC banking firm of Duncan, Sherman & Co. (1860), which chiefly represented George Peabody & Co. J.P. Morgan, Sr., then became junior partner in Dabney, Morgan & Co., NYC (1864), helped form Drexel, Morgan & Co., NYC (1871), of which his father was also a partner. Drexel, Morgan & Co. became J.P. Morgan & Co. (1895). Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469. See: Peabody, Joseph.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 3-Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, London. GP retired on Oct. 1, 1864. Knowing that he would no longer exert control, he asked that his name be withdrawn from the firm. George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864), then became J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). On J.S. Morgan's death (1890) the firm was controlled by J.P. Morgan, Sr. The firm continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co. (1910-18), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. J.P. Morgan, Sr., was also a partner of Drexel & Co., Philadelphia, when he gained control of leading railroads (1901), organized United States Steel Co. (1901), and controlled both steel and coal interests. He was the leading financier of his time, a yachtsman, art collector, and philanthropist. For details and sources of J.P. Morgan, Sr., as a PEF trustee, see PEF.
Morgan, J.P., Sr. 4-GP, Root of Morgan Banking. George Peabody & Co. was the root of the J.P. Morgan, Sr., financial empire which, in later more complex times, was on an international scale that far surpassed its GP beginnings. GP and a few other merchant-bankers of his time began, and the Morgans and other international bankers greatly advanced, the use of investment capital that developed and industrialized the U.S. to world leadership. Ref.: Allen, F.L. See: Junius Spencer Morgan. Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990). For details and sources of how GPCFT Pres. Bruce R. Payne secured a $250,000 gift from the estate of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr., see PCofVU, history. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Morgan, John Pierpont, Jr. (1867-1943). 1-Of the House of Morgan. John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., was the son of John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913). He was born in Irvington, N.Y., graduated from Harvard Univ. (1889), and soon after worked in J.S. Morgan & Co., London (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909). The firm, begun by GP as George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864); continued as J.S. Morgan & Co., London (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909); continued as Morgan, Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910-18), continued as Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (1918-90); and continues as Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned banking firm. See: Morgan, Junius Spencer. Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
Morgan, John Pierpont, Jr. 2-Career. J.P. Morgan, Jr., succeeded his father as head of J.P. Morgan & Co. (from 1913) and head of United States Steel. In 1920 he gave his Grosvenor Square, London, residence in to the U.S. government as its London embassy. In 1924 he endowed as a public institution the Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC, originally his father's private library, which has family papers and some GP papers. J.P. Morgan, Jr., contributed to charitable institutions and was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library, Cooper Union, and several hospitals. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Partner, J.S. Morgan
Morgan, Junius Spencer (1813-90). 1-Am. Merchant in London. GP went to England in Feb. 1837 as one of three Md. agents to sell the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal part of Md.'s $8 million bonds to finance internal improvements. It was his fifth commercial trip abroad during 1827-37. The other two agents returned without success to the U.S. He remained in London from Feb. 1837 to his death (Nov. 4, 1869), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857, May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867, and June 8-Sept. 29, 1869). In 1837 GP was age 42 and had been in the mercantile trade for 23 years. The Panic of 1837, followed by a depression into the 1840s, adversely affected all business including GP's sale of Md. bonds and the mercantile business of Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48). See: Riggs, Peabody & Co.
Morgan, J.S. 2-End of Peabody, Riggs & Co. GP was Peabody, Riggs & Co.'s senior partner and London resident financier. Junior partner Samuel Riggs (d.1853) managed the main Baltimore office and then the NYC office. Two other younger partners, Henry T. Jenkins (b.1815) and Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814), GP's cousin, son of his paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827), traveled and collected debts for the firm in the U.S. In London GP also traded on his own, first in various goods and services, then increasingly in U.S. state and federal securities. Peabody, Riggs & Co.'s mercantile trade declined. GP withdrew his capital in 1843, although the firm continued to 1848 when the other partners entered other firms. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 3-Beginning of George Peabody & Co. (1838). On Dec. 1, 1838, GP leased an office at 31 Moorgate St., in London's inner city not far from St. Paul's Cathedral where business houses occupy odd nooks and crannies. He installed desks, chairs, a mahogany counter, a safe, and bookkeeping materials. This was the informal beginning of George Peabody & Co., London, merchant banker (1838-64). He still traded in goods and commodities and was in transition from merchant to securities broker and banker. He lived simply and worked concentratedly. In 1848, tired and often ill, he complained to intimate NYC business friend William Shepard Wetmore (1802-62): "I am almost tired of making money without having time to spend and enjoy it--and I feel this particularly at this time when I am not very well & should be out of this City [London] where the cholera is raging with terrible effect." Ref.: GP to William Shepard Wetmore, Sept. 24 and 28, 1848, quoted in Hidy, M.E.-c, p. 261.
Morgan, J.S 4-Seeking a Partner. GP complained to business friends that by 1851 he had worked 10 hours a day, had not been away from his office two consecutive days, had not been 100 miles from London for six years. Sometimes in poor health, he had severe attacks of rheumatism, suffered from gout and intestinal ailments, and was occasionally absent from his office. Business friends and clients were concerned because he ran a one-man business. They urged him to take an American partner to give his firm continuity. In 1843 he hired 32-year-old British-born Charles Cubitt Gooch (1811-89) as salaried clerk at £150 ($750) a year. Gooch had seven years' experience as bookkeeper with Thomas Wilson & Co., a London firm headed by an American, and then worked in another firm specializing in U.S. trade. Ref.: (Gooch partnership): Articles of partnership between GP and Charles Cubitt Gooch, Jan. 1852, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S 5-Seeking a Partner Cont'd. Although Gooch was an efficient bookkeeper and an able office manager, friends and clients still urged GP to find an experienced younger American partner. In 1852 GP made Gooch a salaried junior partner. GP cautiously let it be known that he was looking for an American merchant of probity as partner, one with dry goods importing experience, knowledgeable about U.S. government and U.S. state securities, and one adaptable to the fast-changing world of securities banking. Business friends and clients whose advice he valued recommended as an ideal choice Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan. Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 6-Morgan's Commercial Career. J.S. Morgan, 18 years younger than GP, was from an old Mass. family. His ancestor Miles Morgan (1616-99) arrived in America from England in 1636, a year after GP's ancestor Francis Peboddy (1612 or 14-1697) arrived in America in 1635. J.S. Morgan was born in West Springfield (later Holyoke), Mass. He grew up in Hartford, Conn., where his father Joseph Morgan (1771-1847) moved the family in 1817. This Joseph Morgan began as a farmer, was a realtor, made money in stage coach lines, then hotels, and finally in insurance companies. Biographer Andrew Sinclair of grandson John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. (1837-1913), wrote that Joseph Morgan's "fortune was...based on the great Wall Street fire of December, 1835, when he had made his Aetna Fire Insurance Company pay up promptly in order to attract more business at triple rates." Ref.: Sinclair, p. 5.
Morgan, J.S. 7-Morgan's Commercial Career Cont'd. J.S. Morgan was educated in private schools. He learned the wholesale dry goods business as apprentice to merchant-banker Alfred Wells (1814-67) of Boston and was briefly Wells's partner. He then was a partner in Morris Ketchum's private bank on Wall St., NYC; and then became a partner in the dry goods house of Howe Mather & Co., Hartford, Conn. (which became Mather Morgan & Co.). He was a partner in J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Co. of Boston during 1851-54, dealing in dry goods and commodities, when he came to GP's attention. GP had dealings with this firm and particularly valued James Madison Beebe's (1800-75) high regard for his partner. Ref.: "Goodwin," p. 469.
Morgan, J.S. 8-Considering a GP-Morgan Partnership. J.S. Morgan had first visited England in 1850, but had no known connection with GP then. Now in 1853 GP let J.S. Morgan know of his interest in having him as his partner. J.S. Morgan was interested enough to go with his wife to London in May 1853. They were joined there by their 16-year-old son John Pierpont Morgan (Sr., 1837-1913). GP and J.S. Morgan first met at George Peabody & Co., 6 Warnford Court, Throgmorton St., London, May 15, 1853. GP at 58 and J.S. Morgan at 40 liked each other. On May 18, 1853, young John Pierpont in London wrote to his cousin James Junius Goodwin (1835-1915), "Father and Mother went to a dinner given by George Peabody at Richmond." Ref.: Ibid. Satterlee, p. 207.
Morgan, J.S. 9-At GP's May 18, 1853, Dinner. GP and J.S. Morgan took each other's social measure at this dinner GP gave to honor the new U.S. Minister to England Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868) and his niece, Miss Charlotte Manigault Wilcocks (1821-75). The dinner was held at the Star and Garter, Richmond, about eight miles from London, overlooking the Thames. Among the 150 guests (65 English, 85 Americans) was Harvard Univ. professor (and president in 1860) Cornelius Conway Felton (1807-62). He later wrote in his book, Familiar Letters from Europe, of being a guest "at a splendid and costly entertainment" on May 18, 1853, given by GP and attended by former U.S. Pres. Martin Van Buren (1782-62, eighth U.S. Pres. during 1837-41), and "many very distinguished persons." See: Dinners, GP's, London (May 18, 1853).
Morgan, J.S. 10-N.Y Times on May 18, 1853, Dinner. The New York Daily Times prefaced its four-column account of the dinner with the following about GP: "No American who has visited England within the past ten or fifteen years, needs to be told who Mr. Peabody is, or how much he is constantly doing to make his countrymen feel at home upon British soil, or how largely he has contributed, in an unostentatious but most effective way to strengthen the feeling of friendship between the people of the two great nations on which so much of their peace and prosperity must always depend." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 11-N.Y Times on May 18, 1853, Dinner Cont'd.: "Possessed of princely wealth, the fruit solely of his own industry and business talent, and gifted with more than princely beneficence, he seems to know no greater pleasure than to extend to Americans in London the warmest and most profuse[d] hospitality--taking occasion, at the same time, to bring them into direct social intimacy with some of the worthiest and the best of the English people, and thus substantially serving great ends, while promoting the personal enjoyment of his countrymen." Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 12-May 18, 1853, Dinner Speeches. After the sumptuous meal and appropriate band music GP rose to express pleasure at bringing together U.S. and English friends. The new U.S. Minister Ingersoll then toasted the Queen, the U.S. President, and the peoples of the U.S. and the U.K., which he called: "The two great nations, whose common origin, mutual interests and growing friendships, serve to cement a union created by resemblance in language, liberty, religion and law." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 13-May 18, 1853, Dinner Speeches Cont'd. In his speech referring to GP's British-U.S. friendship dinners Episcopal Bishop of Ohio Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873) said: "When history should come to be written, and...weight...given to all...influences,...it would assign...a very high place to...one who had done very much to promote...goodwill between...two great nations...here represented." The dinner and speeches were widely and favorably reported in the transatlantic press. What the dinner cost GP is not known. One bill, only part of the total, was about $940. Ref.: Ibid.
Negotiating a Partnership
Morgan, J.S. 14-Negotiating a Partnership. GP valued J.S. Morgan's commercial credentials, stable family, and social qualities. J.S. Morgan and GP were favorably impressed with each other. Morgan returned to Boston. GP wrote him details about his firm's business. Morgan visited U.S. firms with whom George Peabody & Co. did business. They exchanged letters. Concerned commercial acquaintances eyed the match favorably. Samuel G. Ward, U.S. agent for the Baring Brothers, GP's chief competitor in London for U.S. trade in goods and securities, wrote to his superior, April 11, 1854: "Mr. Morgan is highly thought of here as a man of talent, energy, & labor. If Mr. Peabody was safe before, he will be much safer now with Mr. Morgan at his side." Ref.: (S.G. Ward): Burk, p. 18. Carosso, p. 36. Mirabile, ed., pp. 427-429.
Morgan, J.S. 15-Negotiating a Partnership Cont'd. George B. Blake of Boston's Blake, Howe & Co., which did much business with George Peabody & Co., wrote GP: "I am more convinced than ever that he is the man of all others for you." J.S. Morgan's partner, J.M. Beebe, wrote GP: "the situation you have offered him presents so many advantages and is so congenial to his taste--that I cannot but approve of his acceptance." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 16-Negotiating a Partnership Cont'd. GP began serious negotiations with Morgan in Nov. 1853. In early Feb. 1854, J.S. Morgan returned to London to examine George Peabody & Co.'s accounts books. These showed that in 1851 GP was worth £1.2 million ($6 million) From Aug. 1848 to Sept. 30, 1854, George Peabody & Co. had earned £311,546 ($1,557,730). Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 17-Partnership Agreement. A ten-year partnership agreement was drawn up on Sept. 30, 1854. Of George Peabody & Co.'s capital of £450,000 ($2.25 million), GP provided £400,000 ($2 million) and was to get 65 percent of the profits. Morgan provided £40,000 ($200,000) and was to get 28 percent of the profits plus £2,500 ($12,500) per year entertainment allowance. Longtime clerk Charles Cubitt Gooch, made a partner, put in £10,000 ($50,000) and was to earn 7 percent of profits. Ref.: George Peabody & Co. circular announcing entrance of Junius Spencer Morgan as a partner, Aug. 10, 1854, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.; copy in Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC; and copy in Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), London, England.
Morgan, J.S. 18-Partnership Agreement Cont'd. A circular dated Aug. 10, 1854, announced: "On the first of October Mr. J.S. Morgan, who recently retired from the house of Messer[s]. J.M. Beebe, Morgan & Company, of Boston, will become a Partner of our Firm, but its title will remain unaltered.... "Our arrangements with Mr. Morgan have been made, with a view to establish our House permanently; and that if our Prior [GP] is removed by death before the expiration of the time contemplated by this arrangement, a large portion of his capital [will be used for the firm].... "The business of the House will consist of sales and purchases of Stocks, Foreign Exchange, banking and Credits; the execution of orders for railroad iron, purchase and sale of Produce together with general mercantile transactions. Signed by George Peabody. C.C. Gooch." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 19-GP to Blake on Partner Morgan. On Oct. 6, 1854, GP wrote to George B. Blake of Boston: "Mr. Morgan has taken his place in a room adjoining me, and I trust he will make an able help-mate." To another business friend, Charles Macalester (1798-1873) GP wrote at the end of Oct. 1854: "Mr. Morgan my new partner has been with us about a month and I begin to find him useful and I trust when we get into our new counting house in [22] Broad Street (which will be one of the best in London), and get proper assistance around us that I shall begin to experience the good results of my late arrangements, and before 1857 if my life and health is spared, find leisure to visit my native land...." Ref.: (GP to Blake): GP to George B. Blake, Boston, Oct. 6, 1854, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC. Ref.: (GP to Macalester): GP to Charles Macalester, Oct. 31, 1854, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 20-GP to Blake on Partner Morgan Cont'd.: "It has been, and is now, a favorite object with me to so arrange all my business, that my house will be purely American, that its continuance for many years will not depend on my life, and that my American friends will feel that, in every respect the house is worthy of their entire confidence." Ref. Ibid. (History of the company): [Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd.]. New York Times, Nov. 28, 1989, p. 29, contd. p. 42 (Steven Prokesch, "Germans to Buy Morgan Grenfell," continued as "Deutsche Bank to Acquire Morgan Grenfell"). (1854 partnership): Burk, pp. 18-19. (S.G. Ward and G.B. Blake): Burk, p. 19. Carosso, pp. 35-36. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990). Mirabile, ed., pp. 427-429.
GP’s 1856-57 U.S. Visit
Morgan, J.S. 21-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. Freed from daily routine by the Morgan partnership, GP prepared for a year's U.S. visit (Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug 19, 1857), his first return after nearly 20 years' absence in London. John Pierpont Morgan, age 19, attending the Univ. of Göttingen, Germany, spent his summer 1856 vacation putting GP's papers in order. He wrote his cousin James Junius Goodwin: "Since my return from Göttingen I have been pretty busily occupied arranging Mr. Peabody's letters, etc., which had accumulated for over twenty years. Those operations were brought to a close last Tuesday when Mr. P. left us for Liverpool. He sailed in the Atlantic last Tuesday." Ref.: John Pierpont Morgan, London, to cousin, James Junius Goodwin, Hartford, Conn., Sept. 5, 1856, quoted in Satterlee, pp. 283-284.
Morgan, J.S. 22-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit Cont'd.: "Wednesday we received a letter from him which he had given to the pilot off Point Lynas which was written in very good spirits. Before this letter reaches you I trust he will have arrived at New York, where I have no doubt he will be welcomed by a large circle of friends. He said before he left that he would make it a point to visit Hartford, so I suppose you may see him there." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 23-J.P. Morgan on GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit Cont'd.: "He is a very agreeable gentleman and very full of wit, but a regular old bachelor. If you could have seen the quantity of nic-nacs which he carried with him to America, and which were stored away in his trunk with the greatest precision, you would most certainly have thought he was going to Central Africa to some unexplored regions, rather than to America." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 24-GP's 1856-57 U.S. Visit. During GP's hectic 1856-57 U.S. visit he added funds to his institute library in South Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868, total gift $217,600), Mass.; created a branch institute library in North Danvers (now Danvers), Mass., total gift $100,000; founded in Baltimore the PIB (total gift $1.4 million), and was féted in his home town (Oct. 9, 1856) and honored elsewhere. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Morgan, J.S. 25-J.S. Morgan Kept GP Informed. J.S. Morgan, relating business and other news, wrote GP on Sept. 30, 1856: "Glad to hear of your safe arrival and that you had so little sea-sickness. Your friends have certainly been very kind in their reception. I hope their kindness won't go so far as to injure your health which we fear might be the case if you yield to all the temptations that surround you." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Sept. 30, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 26-Morgan to GP on Atlantic Cable. Morgan wrote GP on Oct. 10 that Cyrus W. Field (1819-92) was organizing the Atlantic Telegraph and Cable Co. and wanted GP as one of the directors: "Field is getting up his company on the ocean Telegraph. He wishes your name as one of the directors. Lampson and ourselves agree that it is best you should accept, and I have taken responsibility of saying to Field it might be put through subject to your confirmation. It will be a go and the new [organization] with you will be of the right stamp.... We have many inquiries for you every day." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Oct. 10, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 27-Morgan to GP on Bessemer Steel. On Oct. 14 Morgan reported that Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85) wanted GP to use his influence in Washington, D.C., to get U.S. government support for British engineer Henry Bessemer's (1813-98) new steel process. Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Oct. 14, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 28-On Oct. 9, 1856, GP Reception. In late Oct. 1856, 19-year-old John Pierpont Morgan returned to his studies at the Univ. of Göttingen, wrote to his cousin James Junius Goodwin on hearing of the Oct. 9, 1856, Danvers reception for GP: "Mr. Peabody's reception at Danvers must indeed have been a glorious affair. I should have liked immensely to have been present to have seen it. The report has been copied into several of the European journals, and very well spoken of. I trust Mr. P. did not have an attack of gout after the sumptuous dinner." Ref.: Satterlee, p. 288.
Morgan, J.S. 29-Morgan on Atlantic Cable. On Nov. 14, 1856, J.S. Morgan wrote Peabody that the Atlantic Telegraph was going well, that GP's name as director was being publicly used, and that Curtis M. Lampson would also consent to be a director. J.S. Morgan wrote in Dec.: "The Bessemer Patent...I fear...is likely to bring us in for a great loss, for I believe we should lose every shilling we agreed to pay. This is Lampson's opinion." Ref. J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Nov. 14, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 30-Morgan on Atlantic Cable Cont'd. Morgan to GP, Dec. 16: "Many inquire for you every day. The election for directors for the Atlantic Telegraph Company came off very satisfactorily." Morgan to GP, Dec. 22: "I am glad you are able to spend Thanksgiving in Georgetown [Mass., with sister Judith Dodge (née Peabody) Russell, 1799-1879, and her family] and that the rest and quiet there has been beneficial." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., Dec. 16 and 22, 1856, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 31-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan. GP was in Washington, D.C., in Jan. and during Feb. 13-24, 1857. His relations with Pres.-elect James Buchanan (1791-1868) were strained. This strain went back to GP's July 4, 1854, British-U.S. friendship dinner in London. James Buchanan was then U.S. Minister to Britain. His Legation Secty. Daniel Edgar Sickles (1825-1914), a super patriot, had created an incident when GP toasted Queen Victoria before toasting the U.S. president. Sickles refused to stand with the other 149 guests and walked out in anger. In a lengthy exchange of letters to the press Sickles accused GP of toadying to the British. GP and others at the dinner wrote defending GP. Buchanan quickly replaced Sickles but did not publicly censure him. See: Sickles Affair. Persons named.
Morgan, J.S. 32-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan Cont'd. GP explained to his Mass.-born friend, sometimes agent, and London resident genealogist Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72) why he would not call on Pres. Buchanan: "Buchanan's friends are particularly attentive to me, but I refuse any interferences to bring us together without a direct explanation from him. I met Miss Lane [Harriet Lane, 1830-1903, bachelor James Buchanan's niece and White House hostess] who treated me with great cordiality." Ref.: GP, Philadelphia, to Horatio Gates Somerby, Jan. 18, 1857, Somerby Papers, Mass. Historical Society, Boston. See: Lane, Harriet.
Morgan, J.S. 33-Avoidance of Pres. Buchanan Cont'd. Of Buchanan's aloofness, J.S. Morgan wrote from London to GP in Washington, D.C., March 13, 1857: "Your course respecting Mr. Buchanan strikes us as just the thing. It is for you to receive him if either is to be received, but any reconciliations now would look like truckling to a man because he happens to be in power." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, U.S., March 3, 1857, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
GP & the Panic of 1857
Morgan, J.S. 34-Panic of 1857. J.S. Morgan in London alerted GP in the U.S. of the first rumblings of the Panic of 1857. Morgan noted the heavy demand for debt payments on George Peabody & Co. and wrote GP on Jan. 30, 1857: "The drawing upon us for the last two or three mails have been very heavy and the look of our financial business is anything but encouraging for it." Morgan wrote GP again on Feb. 27 and Apr. 9: "These are times when we must keep a sharp lookout. We are in a good position and must keep so." Ref. (J.S. Morgan to GP): J.S. Morgan to GP, Jan. 30, Feb. 27, and April 9, 1857, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 35-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. GP's cousin Joseph Peabody wrote from NYC (GP was then in Philadelphia), April 11: "There is a report by telegraph from Halifax that Greene & Co. of Paris have been obliged to suspend: I know nothing of particulars." Alarmed, J.S. Morgan wrote GP, April 17, that money was stringent, and the specie of the bank of England were down to nine million, "the lowest point in ten years." Ref.: Joseph Peabody, NYC, to GP, care of Capt. Edward Schenley, Pittsburgh, Penn., April 12, 1857, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 36-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. GP hurried back to England. Back in London the end of Aug. 1857 GP found his firm severely threatened by the Panic of 1857. The financial crisis came from overspeculation in western U.S. lands, poorly managed railroads needing large capital, and overbuying of goods in eastern U.S. cities. The collapse of hundreds of business firms in the U.S. and Britain was hastened by poor U.S. wheat sales abroad, the sinking of a packet ship with $1.6 billion in California gold bullion aboard (Sept. 1857), and the failure of some railroads, banks, and insurance companies. Ref.: Hidy, R.W.-c, pp. 456-465.
Morgan, J.S. 37-Panic of 1857 Cont'd. U.S. Legation Secty. Benjamin Moran (1820-86) described the crisis in his journal entry for Nov. 6, 1857: "The news from the United States indicates a commercial panic of the most disastrous nature. Each arrival brings us worse news than the last, and now starvation seems to threaten unemployed workmen, fifty thousand of which are in New York alone." Business firms failed in Glasgow, Liverpool, and London. George Peabody & Co. was in trouble. Ref.: (Moran entry Nov. 6, 1857): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., p. 176.
Bank of England Loan to GP
Morgan, J.S. 38-Bank of England Loan. GP had given large credit to Lawrence, Stone and Co. of Boston, which could not repay him. Meanwhile, the House of Baring pressed GP for £150,000 ($750,000) he owed them. Gathering his assets, GP on Nov. 17, 1857, applied for a $4 million loan from the Bank of England (which seldom made such loans). Moran's Nov. 6, 1857, journal entry stated that he had heard that the stability of George Peabody & Co was in grave danger. Moran's Nov. 21, 1857, entry: "My friend, Phil [Philip N. Dallas, 1825-66, U.S. Minister George Mifflin Dallas' son under whom Moran then worked] went over to George Peabody & Co. the other day to withdraw all his father's deposits, having heard that house would fail unless relief in the form of a tremendous loan arrived." Breaking precedent, the Bank of England lent GP more than was needed. Ref.: Burk, p. 21. Ref. (Moran's entries Nov. 6 and 21, 1857): Wallace and Gillespie, eds., Vol. I, pp. 176, 181.
Morgan, J.S. 39-Bank of England Loan Cont'd. During negotiations for the Bank of England loan, some unscrupulous financiers, seeing opportunity to force GP out of business, approached GP's partner J.S. Morgan. Morgan was told that certain individuals would guarantee a loan to George Peabody & Co. if the firm ceased business in London at the end of 1858. PEF's second administrator Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry (1825-1903) reported GP's reaction as follows: "When Mr. Morgan brought this message to Mr. Peabody, he was in a rage like a wounded lion, and told Mr. Morgan to reply that he dared them to cause his failure." [Italics added]. Ref.: Curry-b, p. 7.
Morgan, J.S. 40-Bank of England Loan Cont'd. GP repaid the Bank of England loan on March 30, 1858. He wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888): "My business is again quite snug.... Our credit...stands as high as ever before." Ref. (GP to Corcoran): GP, London, to William Wilson Corcoran, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1858, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress Ms.; also quoted in Corcoran, pp. 168-169. (GP's financial difficulties in the Panic of 1857 briefly told): Strouse, pp. 70-71.
Morgan, J.S. 41-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide. On Nov. 13, 1857, GP wrote in gloom to his niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835, daughter of deceased older brother David Peabody, 1790-1841): "This letter I promised to write you has been postponed because of my constant engagements and the unparalleled gloom of the Panic. What will happen, Heaven only knows. Lack of confidence and distrust is universal here and in the United States. I hope my house will weather the storm. I think it will do so even though so many in debt to me cannot pay. If I fail I will bear it like a man. In my conscience I know I never deceived or injured any other human being." Ref.: (GP to niece Julia): Curry-b, pp. 8-9.
Morgan, J.S. 42-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd.: "It is less than three months since I left you in the United States, prosperous and happy. Now all is gloom and affliction. Nearly all the American houses in Europe have suspended operations and nothing but great strength can save them. It is the loss of credit of my house I fear. In any circumstances, only a small part of my private fortune will be lost. I will have enough for all my required purposes." GP waited before sending this letter. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 43-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd. GP held the letter to niece Julia for three weeks. He then added: "My very dear Niece,--The three pages enclosed, as you will see from the date were written three weeks ago when I felt...that the credit of my house was in danger.... I thought to myself, Why should I make my good niece unhappy, however so my miserable self? and consequently declined to send the letter, and I am glad that I did not. "A few days after I felt it to be my duty to apply to the banks for a loan of money sufficient to carry my house through the crisis, proposing security for the full amount required, which was four million dollars." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 44-GP to Niece Julia Adelaide Cont'd. "It was a severe test to my pride, but after a week spent with the Committees and Directors of the Banks I finally succeeded, and I doubt not that my house is now free from all danger.... Don't you hold your head less high or your heart worth less than you did before, for your Uncle George had done nothing but what among sensible persons will raise him higher than before." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 45-Panic of 1857's Effect . The financial panic, his illness, age (63), and wanting to put his philanthropies in order made GP write as follows to a young man who applied for a position with him: "The influence of the panic year upon my feelings have been such as to greatly modify my ambitious views and I have fully determined not only to keep snug during the terms of my present copartnership but if my life is spared to its end to then leave business entirely and shall most likely pass any remaining years that may be allotted me by Providence in my native land." Ref.: (On retirement): GP to William Heath, Boston, Dec. 9, 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 46-GP Corrected N.Y. Times Report. The New York Times published incorrectly, late Dec. 1857, that George Peabody & Co. owed others £6 million ($30 million) at the time of the Bank of England loan. GP sent a correction to the editor on Feb. 9, 1858: "With a few exceptions the American press has extended me more sympathy than blame for my course in the panic. Your respectable journal's account in late December, 1857, of my house's acceptances of six million sterling is inaccurate." Ref.: New York Times, Feb. 9, 1858, p. 4, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 47-GP Corrected N.Y. Times Report Cont'd.: "Here are the facts: About November 20th, my house considered it prudent to borrow funds to protect our own credit and save many of our American correspondents unable to meet engagements. The bills my house were liable for at the time of the loan were £2,300,000, not £6,000,000. I applied for a loan of £800,000 from the Bank of England on good securities but have only taken £300,000 to this date. Of the £2,300,000 bills liable, my house paid more than £l,500,000 at the time of the loan. The strength of our correspondents is such that our losses will be but trifling. In justice to American credit and to my house these facts are at your disposal." Ref. Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 48-Correcting Another N.Y. Times Report. Again on Feb. 18, 1858, GP corrected another New York Times error that he had secured the Bank of England loan, not on the basis of securities but on the personal guarantees of friends. He wrote: "The Charter of the Bank of England forbids...lending money on any but British securities. Since my house held large securities from the states and cities of the United States, the Bank of England required guarantees from Englishmen. Some personal friends and interested parties guaranteed £90,000 of the £300,000 which my house received from the Bank. The error in the press arose from the circumstance in the Panic of 1837 when three American houses obtained assistance from the Bank of England by giving guarantees without other securities." Ref.: New York Times, Feb. 18, 1858, p. 4, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 49-J.S. Morgan to GP on Atlantic Cable. GP was ill with gout and went for relief to a health spa in Vichy, France. J.S. Morgan wrote him from London Aug. 12, 1858, about Atlantic Telegraph Co. stock. The Atlantic cable had been laid in 1858 but broke. "Our position," Morgan wrote GP, "is an unpleasant one. The moment we sell it is known and down goes the market." Ref.: (Morgan on Atlantic cable): J.S. Morgan, London, to GP, Vichy, France, Aug. 1858, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 50-Morgan Visited Niece Julia Adelaide. In Oct. 1858 Morgan was in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and had heard reports of GP's improved health. He planned to go to Zanesville, Ohio, to see GP's niece Julia Adelaide Peabody. On Nov. 2 he wrote to GP that he had seen Julia and "found her all that I had expected from your description.... I am not surprised at your feelings toward her as she seemed a person uncommonly attractive both in mind and person." Ref.: J.S. Morgan, NYC, to GP, Nov. 2, 1858, Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC.
Morgan, J.S. 51-GP Reassured Niece Julia. GP also wrote his niece Julia in late 1858 that he had returned from Vichy, France, where he had been under the care of a physician for gout in his feet and right hand: "I am happy also to tell you that although my firm lost some money the business of the year more than made it good, and individually I am now worth much more than I supposed myself when I left the United States and I sincerely feel that what we supposed misfortunes and calamities last year were, so far as regards myself, really 'blessings in disguise.'" Ref.: GP to Julia Adelaide Peabody, n.d., probably late 1858, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 52-GP Ill, March 1859. Resting away from London GP wrote Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran of his rest cures at health spas for gout attacks: "I have been a great sufferer by rheumatic gout in my knees and arms, as also my right hand, for several months. I have been here for three weeks for the benefit of the waters, and may remain a fortnight longer. I am now quite well, except my right hand, which is painful when I write, and I fear you will hardly be able to make out what I have written." Ref.: GP to William Wilson Corcoran, March 22, 1859, Corcoran Papers, VII, Accession Nos. 8279-8280, Library of Congress Ms., quoted in Corcoran, p. 178.
Morgan, J.S. 53-GP and N.Y. Gov. W.H. Seward. In May 1859 N.Y. Gov. William Henry Seward (1801-72) visited London. Seward was the political protégé of GP's friend Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), Albany, N.Y. Evening News editor. GP arranged for Seward to meet such prominent people as Irish-born MP Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869). These meetings were of special importance a few years later when Seward became Pres. Lincoln's Secty. of State during the Civil War.
Morgan, J.S. 54-GP and N.Y. Gov. W.H. Seward Cont'd. Too ill to attend himself, GP explained to Seward: "As the time approaches to join you at Lady Tennent's I find myself too unwell to go out being quite lame and in considerable pain in my feet arising from my late severe attack of gout.--Having accomplished the object I had in view of bringing together yourself and Sir James, I do not so much regret my inability to join you but feel forced to make this explanation." Ref. GP to William Henry Seward, May 26, 1859, Seward Collection, Univ. of Rochester.
N.Y. Herald Attacks on GP
Morgan, J.S. 55-N.Y. Herald Criticism. GP ignored hostile articles about him in editor James Gordon Bennett's New York Herald ' during his 1856-57 U.S. visit. A false report of a rift between GP and J.S. Morgan forced him to reply in 1859. This Sept. 20, 1859, Herald article read: "There is a rumor that the firm of George Peabody & Co. is to be dissolved or remodelled. The cause I have not heard, but I know that the head of the house has never been pleased nor satisfied since certain events during and previous to the great crisis of 1857. Before that disgraceful failure in Boston, connected with Lawrence, of Lawrence, Stone & Co." Ref.: New York Herald , Sept. 20, 1859, p. 2, c. 2.
Morgan, J.S. 56-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd.: "A draft was actually drawn amounting to some £80,000 [then equivalent to $400,000] and some real or fanciful security offered. This draft was accepted, and the negotiation had been about completed when the senior partner, Mr. Peabody came in and put a veto on the whole transaction. As matters turned out the securities were not worth a straw. Lawrence failed and but for the timely appearance of Mr. Peabody, his firm would have been seriously damaged by the stroke of the pen." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 57-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd. Before GP could reply the Herald again directed sarcasm at GP personally and stated that he used undue influence on the Times financial writer to attack business rivals. The N.Y. Herald for Oct. 12, 1859, read: "The London Timeshas been declining in influence because Mr. Sampson who writes the money articles has an American wife and is intimate to the point of control with George Peabody. They attack the Bank of England, certain corporations, speculations, public works, and loans from which they expect to make nothing. It has gotten so that an individual wanting to enter something in the London Times financial column must go to--not the owner or manager or editor--but to a man who is to London financial circles what a podunk newspaper is to political newspapers of the world." Ref.: New York Herald , Oct. 12, 1859, p. 2, c. 2.
Morgan, J.S. 58-N.Y. Herald Criticism Cont'd.: "Money articles in the Times follow what George Peabody favors or opposes, reflecting his personal enmities, piques, quarrels. Articles telling of a large loan received during the 1857 crisis are laughed at by the Bank of England. Here is a striking example of his influence: A year or more ago an English merchant ship owner about to start steamers from England to New York unfortunately asked George Peabody's advice as to which New York house to consign it. Peabody advised a house with one of his relatives in it. The Englishman later chose the American Express Co. as New York agent. He and his steamship company were attacked in the London Times. Thus the quarrels and enmities of an insignificant individual are echoed, trumpeted and heralded forth year after year in the Times." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 59-W.W. Corcoran on Herald Attacks. GP's Washington, D.C. business friend William Wilson Corcoran joked about the charge: "I read a letter in the Herald some time since alluding to your influence with the London Times which if true, makes you more potential than Lord Palmerston [Henry John Temple Palmerston (1784-1865), British Prime Minister during 1855-58]." GP, particularly wanting to reassure his Baltimore friends, felt he had to answer the Herald's erroneous charges. Ref.: William Wilson Corcoran, Washington, D.C., to George Peabody, Dec. 20, 1859, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 60-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks. GP wrote on Dec. 23, 1859, to the Baltimore American (reprinted in the New York Times): "For some motive, which I have never been able to understand, the managers of the New York Herald have, from the time I landed in New York in 1856, frequently introduced into its columns paragraphs and articles reflecting upon me personally, or on the position and business of my house, without the least regard to facts. Their London correspondence (or letters bearing the date of London) has been characterized by the same feeling of untruthfulness throughout; although I have not thought advisable to publicly contradict them, I will now notice three of these letters, and thereby put you and my Baltimore friends right on matters to which they refer." Ref.: (GP's Dec. 23, 1859, letter to the Baltimore American) reprinted in New York Times, Jan. 12, 1860, p. 1, c. 6.
Morgan, J.S. 61-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd.: "The most important...stating that I had never been satisfied with the management of my firm's business since certain events during and previous to the crisis of 1857; and that I had to put my veto on a transaction with Lawrence, Stone & Co.,...about being entered into for an advance of $400,000 to that house. As this reflects upon my partner, Mr. J. S. Morgan, I beg to state that it has not the least foundation in truth. Mr. Morgan joined my firm on the 1st of October, 1854, and since that period our business has been most satisfactory to all parties interested, and a difference of opinion on the subject of its management has never occurred between Mr. Morgan and myself." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 62-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd.: "Another letter appearing in the New York Herald infers erroneously that I interposed an objection to the Bank of England's financial dealing with the Gallway (Lever) steamers. No act or expression of mine has ever been made in an unfriendly spirit to this Company, although I think it has been unfortunately managed. "The last letter I wish to comment on was dated December 7, 1858, stating that if my house had not opposed the sale of Florida Railroad bonds, Mr. [Edward M.C.] Cabell would have effected their negotiation in London. This is untrue, as my wishes were favorable to his success, and I offered him every assistance my position would justify, short of recommending the bonds to the British public. This I could not do, nor do I connect my name in any way with schemes or companies got up for the European market, however unquestionable may be the character of the gentlemen who have charge of them." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 63-GP's Reply to Herald Attacks Cont'd. GP knew from his NYC cousin Joseph Peabody that New York Herald editor James Gordon Bennett deliberately provoked controversy in order to sell newspapers. Joseph Peabody had earlier written to GP that: [Herald editor Bennett] "published...falsehood[s] expressly to provoke a reply.... He makes it a system to attack some prominent person, it matters little who that person may be!...as regards the 'Herald,' it is even better to be abused than be praised by such a rascal as Bennett." Ref.: Joseph Peabody, NYC, to GP, Montreal, Canada, Oct. 18, 1856, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. For criticism of GP in the New York Herald during GP's 1856-57 U.S. visit, reasons for Bennett's criticism, and sources, See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
Trent Affair & GP
Morgan, J.S. 64-Trent Affair, 1861. GP's hope for early retirement was pushed back by the Civil War. Officially neutral, the British upper class had a natural sympathy for the Confederacy. Also, British cotton factory jobs and profit were dependent on southern cotton, cut off by the Union blockade of southern ports. The Nov. 8, 1861 Trent Affair was one of several frictionable events during the Civil War that provoked near war hysteria between Britain and the U.S. GP and J.S. Morgan were named in a side incident of the Trent Affair. See: Trent Affair.
Morgan, J.S. 65-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. On the stormy night of Oct. 11, 1861, four Confederate emissaries and some of their families evaded a Union blockade of Charleston, S.C., got to Havana, Cuba, and there boarded the British mail steamer Trent bound for Southampton, England. Their mission was to seek aid and arms from Britain and France. One day out of Havana, on Nov. 8, 1861, the Trent was illegally stopped by the captain of the Union warship San Jacinto. The four Confederate emissaries were forcibly removed and taken to Boston Harbor's Fort Warren prison. Their illegal seizure and detention produced exultation in the U.S. North but anger in Britain. Passions were aroused. Britain sent 8,000 troops to Canada in case of war between Britain and the U.S. Calmer heads prevailed at Pres. Lincoln's Dec. 26, 1861, cabinet meeting. The illegal seizure was disavowed. The four Confederates were released on Jan. 1, 1862. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 66-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. A Capt. Richard Williams in charge of the mail on the Trent was asked to tell of the illegal seizure at a dinner in Liverpool. His version, published in the Liverpool Daily Post (Jan. 8, 1862) was that when the San Jacinto's captain sent Lt. Donald McNeill Fairfax (1821-94) to remove the Confederate agents, John Slidell's (1793-1871) daughter clung to her father, and that when Lt. Fairfax tried to separate them, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from a Member of Parliament who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name, misspelled, was Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He told the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 67-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan, who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Mr. Hanckel's visit never materialized. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 68-Trent Affair, 1861, Cont'd. The GP-J.S. Morgan involvement had to do with John Slidell's secretary, George Eustice (1828-72, of La.). His wife was Louise Morris née Corcoran Eustice (1838-67), the only daughter of GP's Washington, D.C., business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888). She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, and sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. When the wives of Slidell and Eustice reached England, it is understandable that someone from George Peabody & Co., probably Junius Spencer Morgan, went to see after the Eustices' welfare (GP may have been ill or busy at the time). Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Homes of London
Morgan, J.S. 69-Peabody Homes of London. Angers over the Trent affair lasted well into 1862, affecting GP and J.S. Morgan in London. J.S. Morgan was one of the five trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund for building model apartments for London's working poor families (total gift $2.5 million). The Trent Affair and other frictionable U.S.-British events had caused worry and delay in public announcement of this gift. GP and his trustees feared that while U.S.-British feelings were so hostile, the British government, press, and public might reject his gift. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 70-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension. GP explained the delay in a note to his friend Thurlow Weed (1797-1882): "Two days ago we thought it exactly the right time, but one cloud between this country and ours is no sooner disposed than another appears. Today the Times and Post are at us again...[as are] ugly extracts from the World and other New York papers.... The feeling [is] as bad as it was before the Trent affair closed. The Post I have takes up strongly the blocking up of Charlestown harbour. Lampson told me that he thought both Sir Emerson [Tennent] and Mr. Adams were in rather a gloomy mood on our affairs with England and France, and Sir Emerson told me that France was pushing England very hard to join and recognize the Southern Confederacy." Ref.: GP, London, to Thurlow Weed, Jan. 17, 1862, Weed Collection, Univ. of Rochester; also quoted in Barnes, p. 365.
Morgan, J.S. 71-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension Cont'd. GP sadly mentioned in his note to Weed the "Newcastle story," printed in the London Times and widely circulated as true. U.S. Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) allegedly told the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secty., that one way to end the U.S. Civil War and get the South to rejoin the North would be to start a war with Britain. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Morgan, J.S. 72-GP to Weed on U.S.-British Tension Cont'd. GP's note to Weed explained the seriousness of the Newcastle story: "We talked over the mystery hanging over the Seward and the New Castle [sic] affair. Sir James E[merson] Tennent said that there can be no doubt that what the Duke reported of Seward's remarks had strongly influenced the government in this war preparation for several months past. The Bishop [McIlvaine] said that he had received the words from Sir H[enry]. Holland [medical advisor to Queen Victoria], and I think Lord Shaftesbury, both of whom had them from the Duke's own lips. You should at once write to Mr. Seward for a letter to the Duke and have the matter cleared up." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 73-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised. GP's Peabody Donation Fund founding letter was at last published on March 12, 1862. Widely printed and praised it was addressed to and accepted by his five trustees: his partner J.S. Morgan, business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), U.S. Minister to England Charles Francis Adams (1806-86), longtime friend and MP Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869), and Lord Stanley, trustee chairman (Edward George Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, 1799-1869, Member of Parliament and president of the Board of Control [trade]). Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 74-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised. News of GP's gift swept London, captured England, echoed in the U.S., and made the world press. Sir James Emerson Tennent sent GP London press notices and added: "But the press is only a faint echo of the voice of Society which is so forcible in praise of an act so utterly beyond all precedent. It is the topic of conversation and laudation in every circle of London, from the Palace down...." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 75-Peabody Homes of London Gift Praised Cont'd. After spending March 27, 1862, with the Commissioners of Charities arranging for their legal acceptance of the gift, Tennent wrote GP: "I have returned after spending a very long time with the Commissioners of Charities.... They tell me that in the whole range of charities of England there is nothing to compare with the disinterestedness and magnitude of your gift." GP rested in Bath, England, late March and early April 1862. His friend and agent, Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), a Vt.-born London-resident genealogist, sent him London newspaper clippings. GP answered Somerby with: "I had not the least conception that it would cause so much excitement over the country." GP's mounting reputation had a positive spillover effect on J.S. Morgan, both as partner in George Peabody & Co. and as Peabody Donation Fund trustee. Ref.: Ibid.
Freedom of the City of London to GP
Morgan, J.S. 76-Freedom of the City of London, July 10, 1862. J.S. Morgan attended London's ancient Guildhall, 3:00 P.M. on July 10, 1862, when GP was given the Freedom of the City of London. GP was the first of five Americans to accept this honor, the second, Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-85, U.S. general and 18th U.S. president), awarded June 15, 1877; third, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919, 26th U.S. president), awarded May 31, 1910; fourth, John Joseph Pershing (1860-1948, U.S. general), awarded July 18, 1919; and fifth, Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969, U.S. general and the 34th U.S. president), awarded June 12, 1945. See: London, Freedom of the City of London.
Morgan, J.S. 77-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862. Mr. and Mrs. J.S. Morgan were among the 300 guests assembled that evening at the Egyptian Hall, Mansion House, for the Lord Mayor's dinner honoring GP. Guests included Peabody Donation Fund trustees and their wives, Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869) and the Curtis Miranda Lampsons, U.S. Minister to England Charles Francis Adams (1807-86) and Mrs. Adams, author Charles Dickens' daughter, Sir Henry Holland (1788-1873, Queen Victoria's physician), and other British and U.S. notables. A loving cup was passed around until all 300 present had drunk from it. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Morgan, J.S. 78-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd. Several toasts were proposed, including one to GP from the Lord Mayor, who said (in part): "I now propose a toast to a distinguished gentleman who has won the esteem of the City of London and the approbation of the world. Mr. Peabody has performed the crowning act of an honorable career. How glad I am for Mr. Peabody to be here and I hope he may live long to see his noble deed prove a monument to his name and character." Amid loud cheering, GP rose to reply (in part): "Persons in every station hope for success and tremble at real or imagined calamities, but none more than a merchant. From a full and grateful heart I say that this day has repaid me for the care and anxiety of fifty years of commercial life. I will not take up time from other speakers. I am no orator but ask that you accept my deeds for my words." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 79-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd. The Lord Mayor then spoke of the Peabody Donation Fund for housing London's working poor and proposed a toast to its trustees. Trustee Charles Francis Adams, U.S. Minister, responded to the toast. He said (in part): "The City of London does honour to Mr. Peabody to-day. Why? The reason is that Mr. Peabody has done honour to human nature (loud cheers!). I honour Mr. Peabody because he has done honour to his country." Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 80-Lord Mayor's Dinner, July 10, 1862 Cont'd.: "Born in America he went out to build his fortune, became successful in his own land and eminently more so on this side of the ocean. In twenty years he achieved his ambition. How did this happen? The answer is simple. It was by making an honest use of the friendly relations between the two countries. He drew benefit from the trade of both countries. His career teaches the advantage of good will. His success shows how mutual interests advance with peace. Now, with this gift he forms a new bond between two nations." Long speeches followed by Lord Stanley and Sir James Emerson Tennent, who toasted the Lord Mayor. GP, as he enjoyed doing, gave the last toast to the Lady Mayoress. Ref.: Ibid.
Morgan, J.S. 81-Walked Home to Save Carriage Fare? The story persisted in news accounts at his death (Nov. 4, 1869), seven years later, that after the Lord Mayor's banquet, July 10, 1862, GP walked home to save carriage fare. The night being damp and foggy, he reportedly caught cold. He more likely walked home filled with wonder. Officials of the world's largest city had given him its greatest honor. Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s Retirement
Morgan, J.S. 82-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 . GP's business partnership with J.S. Morgan and C.C. Gooch expired on Oct. 1, 1864. He had set this as his retirement date. He was in the Scottish Highlands in Aug. 1864, resting and fishing, when J.S. Morgan wrote urging him to delay retirement beyond Oct. 1. The firm had many securities which would have to be sold in order to liquidate the partnership. To sell in Oct. would result in some loss. But GP was set on his course. In six months he would be age 70.
Morgan, J.S. 83-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 Cont'd. GP wrote to Morgan from Scotland: "It has been my fixed determination to retire from all commercial business if I should live till the lst of October 1864 and I can now make no change, for although the continuance of the firm for three or six months, which you suggest, may appear short to you, to me--feeling as I deeply do, the uncertainty of life at the age of seventy--months would appear as years, for I am most anxious before I die to place my worldly affairs in a much more satisfactory state than they are at present." Ref.: (1864): GP to J.S. Morgan, Aug. 13, 1864, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Morgan, J.S. 84-Retirement, Oct. 1, 1864 Cont'd. J.S. Morgan was also disappointed that GP, not wanting responsibility over a firm he would no longer control, asked that his name be removed from the firm. George Peabody & Co. (Dec. 1838 to Oct. 1, 1864) was succeeded by J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864 to Dec. 31, 1909); succeeded by Morgan Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910 to 1918); Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. (1918-90); and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German owned bank. GP's remaining five years and one month were devoted to his philanthropies. He returned gravely ill from his last U.S. visit, June 8-Sept. 29, 1869, and died Nov. 4, 1869, at the London home of Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson. J.S. Morgan attended his Westminster Abbey funeral. See: Morgan Grenfell & Co. Ltd. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990).
J. S. Morgan Attended GP’s Westminster Abbey Funeral
Morgan, J.S. 85-Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869. J.S. Morgan's presence at GP's Westminster Abbey funeral was recorded in U.S. Legation in London Secty. Benjamin Moran's journal (Nov. 12, 1869): "At about 12 to-day Mr. Motley and I arrived in his carriage at Sir Curtis Lampson's, 80 Eaton Square, where we met Sir Curtis and his three sons, J.S. Morgan, Russell Sturgis, Mr. F.H. Morse, Mr. Nunn, Drs. Gull and Covey, Horatio G. Somerby, and several other gentlemen, who were to act as mourners...in Westminster Abbey...." Moran's journal entry described the ceremony in the Abbey: "The coffin was
2of2Parts:Paul K.Conkin, Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ. By Franklin Parker.
2 of 2 Parts: George Peabody, "Education: A Debt Due from Present to Future Generations" (June 16, 1852); A Review with Commentary of Paul K. Conkin, Peabody College: From a Frontier Academy to the Frontiers of Teaching and Learning (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2002), ISBN 0-8265-1425-1.
By Franklin Parker (see end of article About the Reviewer).
Concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts Follows:
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Peabody's Acting Dean Hardy C. Wilcoxon
Acting Dean Hardy C. Wilcoxon during 1979-80 knew that Peabody College of Vanderbilt University had to "sharpen its focus as a professional school." Like all Vanderbilt schools, Peabody College had to pay its own way from tuition, research grants, and fundraising. It also had to pay its share of total plant operating costs, personnel costs, and other services.
H.C. Wilcoxon attended the University of Arkansas (B.A., 1947, and M.A., 1948) and Yale University (Ph.D., 1951), was psychology professor, University of Arkansas (to 1966), a George Peabody College for Teachers faculty member from 1966, and acting dean at the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University merger, 1979-80.
Dean Willis D. Hawley
Wilcoxon's successor was Dean Willis David Hawley (b.1938) from October 15, 1980 to l989. He came to Vanderbilt in August 1980 to teach political science and to direct the Center for Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt's interdisciplinary Institute for Public Policy. Born in San Francisco, he earned the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He taught political science at Yale University (1969-72) and co-directed Yale's training of secondary school teachers. He taught political science at Duke University (1972-80) and directed its Center for Education Policy. He was on leave from Duke (1977-78) to help plan the cabinet-level U.S. Department of Education under U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Educational Technology Breakthrough
Under Dean Hawley and amid a national surge of public education reform (inspired by A Nation at Risk, 1983, and other national reports critical of public education), Peabody had by 1983-84 upgraded its undergraduate and graduate programs, added new faculty, become proficient in using computers and telecommunications to enhance teaching and learning, and moved Peabody into national leadership in applying the new educational technology to improve public school teaching and learning. Peabody's scattered educational technology components were placed in a Learning Technology Center to assure better research and to secure grants to improve learning and public school teaching.
"America's School of Education"
Hawley stated in 1986: "Peabody, more than any other school of education and human development, [is] national in scope and influence." He cited Peabody as "America's School of Education" because "we are arguably better than anyone else at linking knowledge to practice." After a 1987 self-study on Peabody's mission, Hawley wrote that "Peabody's central mission is to enhance the social and cognitive development of children and youth," focusing on the handicapped, and to transfer that knowledge into action through policy analysis, product development, and the design of practical models.
Peabody Library School Closed
A self-study in 1987 led Peabody to close its 60-year-old Library School. Reasons given for its closing were: it had been understaffed, student enrollment had not grown, school librarians had become computer-based learning facilitators, and American Library Association standards would require adding faculty. A two-day celebration in May 1987 honored Peabody's Library School leaders and alumni.
Ten Years after Merger
Dean Hawley left the deanship after nine years (1980-89), remaining at Peabody. He became University of Maryland's education dean on July 1, 1993. Reflecting on Peabody's ten years as Vanderbilt's ninth school, he said: To make it the best U.S. school of education and human development, Peabody had improved two-thirds of its programs, collaborated with Fisk University on increasing minority teachers, added new faculty, and increased its capacity to serve and influence educational policy makers and practitioners.
Peabody had established the Center for Advanced Study of Educational Leadership, the Corporate Learning Center, the Learning Technology Center, and strengthened and broadened the mission of the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development. It had increased student aid and increased external research and development funding at an annual rate of 20 percent. In educational technology research and learning, he said, "we can claim to be the best in the country."
In 1989 Hawley listed the following among Peabody College of Vanderbilt University's achievements:
The U.S. Department of Education had awarded Peabody College and Harvard University a joint 5-year $2.5 million grant to study effective leadership in kindergarten through grade 12 school systems. The grant funded a National Center for Educational Leadership, housed at both Peabody and at Harvard, to study the leadership styles of school principals and school superintendents.
Apple Computer had donated computers, with equipment and software matched by Peabody, to improve math, science, and language arts teaching in a Nashville middle school. Besides better middle school learning, multimedia presentations showed prospective teachers how to apply educational technology in the classroom. Peabody was one of a six-member Southeast research university consortium testing and evaluating new educational technology programs in teaching and learning.
Peabody College received a four-year $80,000 grant for 20 educators to develop and evaluate computer-based instruction to improve learning by children with disabilities. The 20 teachers so trained, in turn, were resource educators for other teacher education institutions, thus stimulating ongoing programs. Said a Peabody special education professor directing the research: "We're on the forefront of computer-based instruction and one of the leading institutions on technology as applied to teaching children with disabilities."
For three consecutive years, Peabody College was named as having the "top choice" program to prepare guidance counselors. The judges (6l8 high school guidance counselors) most often named Peabody College of Vanderbilt University as having the best program for undergraduates from among 650 quality four-year colleges, public and independent, listed in Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges for 1990, 1991, and 1992.
Peabody College's Dean J.W. Pellegrino
After a two-and-a-half year search, James William Pellegrino (1947-) was chosen as the second dean of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, 1992-98. He had been acting dean at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining Vanderbilt as holder of the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Cognitive Studies. "I inherited a financially stable and intellectually robust institution," he said in the fall of 1992 (enrollment was over 1,500 [870 undergraduate, some 630 graduate students]). His goals were to so undergird Peabody 's instructional programs with innovative technology that they would be "uniquely superior" and set a standard for other universities.
Dean Pellegrino said Peabody was developing a college-wide blueprint to improve learning in U.S. schools. That blueprint included continued collaboration with school leaders and teachers in Nashville and elsewhere, focusing on Peabody-developed innovative educational technology. Besides continued collaboration after September 1992 with Nashville schools, Peabody also joined the U.S. Education Department-sponsored alliance to promote the six (later raised to eight) national education goals.
Social-Religious Building Remodeled
During 1993-96 Peabody's historic Social-Religious Building was renovated and expanded by 50,000 feet at a cost of $15 million to make it Peabody's center for educational technology research and development. Its aim was to use creatively computers, interactive video and audio, fiber optics, and satellite systems to improve learning and enhance teaching.
The Social-Religious Building retained the main auditorium and housed Peabody's central administrative offices, the Department of Teaching and Learning, and the Learning Technology Center. It had built-in capabilities for multimedia presentations, productions, and conferences, and also a visitors center.
Dean Camilla Persson Benbow
Peabody College's second Dean James William Pellegrino, who remained as research professor, was succeeded by third Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (b.1956) from August 1998. She was former interim dean of Iowa State University College of Education and an authority on academically talented children.
Under Dean Benbow, on April 30, 2000, the Social-Religious Building was renamed the Faye and Joe Wyatt Center for Education, to honor the retiring Vanderbilt University chancellor and his wife, under whom the 1993-96 building renovation occurred.
Since 1979, under deans Hawley, Pellegrino, and Benbow, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University has advanced its small but excellent teacher education and other programs, especially its educational technology; has been financially stable; has refurbished its physical plant; and has enhanced its national reputation.
Conkin's Conclusions
Conkin wrote positively about the Vanderbilt-Peabody union. He ended his book with the statement that "Peabody…has enhanced the reputation of its host [Vanderbilt]." Conkin sees a realization of "Philip Lindsley's 1828 dream of a great university in Nashville, with one of its colleges dedicated to the training of teachers." Conkin lauds as reality "Chancellor Kirkland's dream at the beginning of the last century of a great university center in Nashville" (Conkin, p. 409).
Final Thoughts
Conkin wrote a fair and balanced history of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He read massive documentation, offered much detail yet also presented the big picture. He was blunt and made judgments based on facts. This book is a fit companion to and will stand the test of time alongside Conkin, et al. Gone With the Ivy: A Biography of Vanderbilt University (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985).
Touching Dedication
I was touched, as all Peabodians will be, at Conkin's dedication:
I dedicate this book to the corps of Peabody-trained teachers. From the first thirteen young women who enrolled in a new State Normal College in December 1875 to the present, thousands of women and men, teachers or prospective teachers, have come to Peabody to gain needed skills in their chosen calling. They have eschewed wealth or the lofty status that too often attaches to high incomes. They have left Peabody, not only well prepared to teach or to assume leadership positions in education, but with a heightened idealism and a stronger commitment to a life of service. More than anyone else, they embody the Peabody ideal.
Last Word
Faced with greater financial challenges and class and race divisions than its northern and western counterparts, Peabody College and its predecessors rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world. Strengthened since 1979 as part of Vanderbilt University, and annually in the 1990s through 2002 voted among the best U.S. graduate schools of education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University proudly carries into the twenty-first century George Peabody's 1852 motto, "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
[About the reviewer: Franklin Parker's article, "George Peabody (1795-1869)," appeared in Notable American Philanthropists: Biographies of Giving and Volunteering, pp. 242-246, ed. By Robert T. Grimm, Jr. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002). His other George Peabody articles, co-authored with Betty J. Parker, published in the ERIC system (Educational Resources Information Center) include ERIC ED numbers 369720, 378070, 379179, 388571, 392653, 392664, 397179, 398126, 413254, 422243, 436444, 444917, and 445998.
The Parkers do research and writing in their retirement home, 63 Heritage Loop, Crossville, TN 38571-8270. E-mail: bfparker@frontiernet.net]
End of Review
Please send comments and corrections to bfparker@frontiernet.net
About the Parkers: 24 of their book titles are listed in:
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/about/alum6.html#P
For writings by the Parkers in blogs, enter bfparker in google.com or in any other search engine.
By Franklin Parker (see end of article About the Reviewer).
Concluding Part 2 of 2 Parts Follows:
Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Peabody's Acting Dean Hardy C. Wilcoxon
Acting Dean Hardy C. Wilcoxon during 1979-80 knew that Peabody College of Vanderbilt University had to "sharpen its focus as a professional school." Like all Vanderbilt schools, Peabody College had to pay its own way from tuition, research grants, and fundraising. It also had to pay its share of total plant operating costs, personnel costs, and other services.
H.C. Wilcoxon attended the University of Arkansas (B.A., 1947, and M.A., 1948) and Yale University (Ph.D., 1951), was psychology professor, University of Arkansas (to 1966), a George Peabody College for Teachers faculty member from 1966, and acting dean at the Peabody College of Vanderbilt University merger, 1979-80.
Dean Willis D. Hawley
Wilcoxon's successor was Dean Willis David Hawley (b.1938) from October 15, 1980 to l989. He came to Vanderbilt in August 1980 to teach political science and to direct the Center for Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt's interdisciplinary Institute for Public Policy. Born in San Francisco, he earned the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He taught political science at Yale University (1969-72) and co-directed Yale's training of secondary school teachers. He taught political science at Duke University (1972-80) and directed its Center for Education Policy. He was on leave from Duke (1977-78) to help plan the cabinet-level U.S. Department of Education under U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Educational Technology Breakthrough
Under Dean Hawley and amid a national surge of public education reform (inspired by A Nation at Risk, 1983, and other national reports critical of public education), Peabody had by 1983-84 upgraded its undergraduate and graduate programs, added new faculty, become proficient in using computers and telecommunications to enhance teaching and learning, and moved Peabody into national leadership in applying the new educational technology to improve public school teaching and learning. Peabody's scattered educational technology components were placed in a Learning Technology Center to assure better research and to secure grants to improve learning and public school teaching.
"America's School of Education"
Hawley stated in 1986: "Peabody, more than any other school of education and human development, [is] national in scope and influence." He cited Peabody as "America's School of Education" because "we are arguably better than anyone else at linking knowledge to practice." After a 1987 self-study on Peabody's mission, Hawley wrote that "Peabody's central mission is to enhance the social and cognitive development of children and youth," focusing on the handicapped, and to transfer that knowledge into action through policy analysis, product development, and the design of practical models.
Peabody Library School Closed
A self-study in 1987 led Peabody to close its 60-year-old Library School. Reasons given for its closing were: it had been understaffed, student enrollment had not grown, school librarians had become computer-based learning facilitators, and American Library Association standards would require adding faculty. A two-day celebration in May 1987 honored Peabody's Library School leaders and alumni.
Ten Years after Merger
Dean Hawley left the deanship after nine years (1980-89), remaining at Peabody. He became University of Maryland's education dean on July 1, 1993. Reflecting on Peabody's ten years as Vanderbilt's ninth school, he said: To make it the best U.S. school of education and human development, Peabody had improved two-thirds of its programs, collaborated with Fisk University on increasing minority teachers, added new faculty, and increased its capacity to serve and influence educational policy makers and practitioners.
Peabody had established the Center for Advanced Study of Educational Leadership, the Corporate Learning Center, the Learning Technology Center, and strengthened and broadened the mission of the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Education and Human Development. It had increased student aid and increased external research and development funding at an annual rate of 20 percent. In educational technology research and learning, he said, "we can claim to be the best in the country."
In 1989 Hawley listed the following among Peabody College of Vanderbilt University's achievements:
The U.S. Department of Education had awarded Peabody College and Harvard University a joint 5-year $2.5 million grant to study effective leadership in kindergarten through grade 12 school systems. The grant funded a National Center for Educational Leadership, housed at both Peabody and at Harvard, to study the leadership styles of school principals and school superintendents.
Apple Computer had donated computers, with equipment and software matched by Peabody, to improve math, science, and language arts teaching in a Nashville middle school. Besides better middle school learning, multimedia presentations showed prospective teachers how to apply educational technology in the classroom. Peabody was one of a six-member Southeast research university consortium testing and evaluating new educational technology programs in teaching and learning.
Peabody College received a four-year $80,000 grant for 20 educators to develop and evaluate computer-based instruction to improve learning by children with disabilities. The 20 teachers so trained, in turn, were resource educators for other teacher education institutions, thus stimulating ongoing programs. Said a Peabody special education professor directing the research: "We're on the forefront of computer-based instruction and one of the leading institutions on technology as applied to teaching children with disabilities."
For three consecutive years, Peabody College was named as having the "top choice" program to prepare guidance counselors. The judges (6l8 high school guidance counselors) most often named Peabody College of Vanderbilt University as having the best program for undergraduates from among 650 quality four-year colleges, public and independent, listed in Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges for 1990, 1991, and 1992.
Peabody College's Dean J.W. Pellegrino
After a two-and-a-half year search, James William Pellegrino (1947-) was chosen as the second dean of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, 1992-98. He had been acting dean at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining Vanderbilt as holder of the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Cognitive Studies. "I inherited a financially stable and intellectually robust institution," he said in the fall of 1992 (enrollment was over 1,500 [870 undergraduate, some 630 graduate students]). His goals were to so undergird Peabody 's instructional programs with innovative technology that they would be "uniquely superior" and set a standard for other universities.
Dean Pellegrino said Peabody was developing a college-wide blueprint to improve learning in U.S. schools. That blueprint included continued collaboration with school leaders and teachers in Nashville and elsewhere, focusing on Peabody-developed innovative educational technology. Besides continued collaboration after September 1992 with Nashville schools, Peabody also joined the U.S. Education Department-sponsored alliance to promote the six (later raised to eight) national education goals.
Social-Religious Building Remodeled
During 1993-96 Peabody's historic Social-Religious Building was renovated and expanded by 50,000 feet at a cost of $15 million to make it Peabody's center for educational technology research and development. Its aim was to use creatively computers, interactive video and audio, fiber optics, and satellite systems to improve learning and enhance teaching.
The Social-Religious Building retained the main auditorium and housed Peabody's central administrative offices, the Department of Teaching and Learning, and the Learning Technology Center. It had built-in capabilities for multimedia presentations, productions, and conferences, and also a visitors center.
Dean Camilla Persson Benbow
Peabody College's second Dean James William Pellegrino, who remained as research professor, was succeeded by third Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (b.1956) from August 1998. She was former interim dean of Iowa State University College of Education and an authority on academically talented children.
Under Dean Benbow, on April 30, 2000, the Social-Religious Building was renamed the Faye and Joe Wyatt Center for Education, to honor the retiring Vanderbilt University chancellor and his wife, under whom the 1993-96 building renovation occurred.
Since 1979, under deans Hawley, Pellegrino, and Benbow, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University has advanced its small but excellent teacher education and other programs, especially its educational technology; has been financially stable; has refurbished its physical plant; and has enhanced its national reputation.
Conkin's Conclusions
Conkin wrote positively about the Vanderbilt-Peabody union. He ended his book with the statement that "Peabody…has enhanced the reputation of its host [Vanderbilt]." Conkin sees a realization of "Philip Lindsley's 1828 dream of a great university in Nashville, with one of its colleges dedicated to the training of teachers." Conkin lauds as reality "Chancellor Kirkland's dream at the beginning of the last century of a great university center in Nashville" (Conkin, p. 409).
Final Thoughts
Conkin wrote a fair and balanced history of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. He read massive documentation, offered much detail yet also presented the big picture. He was blunt and made judgments based on facts. This book is a fit companion to and will stand the test of time alongside Conkin, et al. Gone With the Ivy: A Biography of Vanderbilt University (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985).
Touching Dedication
I was touched, as all Peabodians will be, at Conkin's dedication:
I dedicate this book to the corps of Peabody-trained teachers. From the first thirteen young women who enrolled in a new State Normal College in December 1875 to the present, thousands of women and men, teachers or prospective teachers, have come to Peabody to gain needed skills in their chosen calling. They have eschewed wealth or the lofty status that too often attaches to high incomes. They have left Peabody, not only well prepared to teach or to assume leadership positions in education, but with a heightened idealism and a stronger commitment to a life of service. More than anyone else, they embody the Peabody ideal.
Last Word
Faced with greater financial challenges and class and race divisions than its northern and western counterparts, Peabody College and its predecessors rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world. Strengthened since 1979 as part of Vanderbilt University, and annually in the 1990s through 2002 voted among the best U.S. graduate schools of education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University proudly carries into the twenty-first century George Peabody's 1852 motto, "Education, a debt due from present to future generations."
[About the reviewer: Franklin Parker's article, "George Peabody (1795-1869)," appeared in Notable American Philanthropists: Biographies of Giving and Volunteering, pp. 242-246, ed. By Robert T. Grimm, Jr. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002). His other George Peabody articles, co-authored with Betty J. Parker, published in the ERIC system (Educational Resources Information Center) include ERIC ED numbers 369720, 378070, 379179, 388571, 392653, 392664, 397179, 398126, 413254, 422243, 436444, 444917, and 445998.
The Parkers do research and writing in their retirement home, 63 Heritage Loop, Crossville, TN 38571-8270. E-mail: bfparker@frontiernet.net]
End of Review
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About the Parkers: 24 of their book titles are listed in:
http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/about/alum6.html#P
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