X. LIVES OF THE FOUNDERS AND THE PRESIDENTS. A HISTORY of the Insurance Company of North America would not be complete without fitting notices of its executive officers. A retrospect of the lives of these men will show the causes of the company's endurance through trying times, and its final established successes; representative men they all were, and their con- nection necessarily made the company a representative corporation. It has not been a light task to gather materials for their memoirs, but sufficient is now known of them, to recognize in them, men of parts, of intelli- gence, and of probity; and in some of them, men, who on behalf of their native country, took no common part in aiding its establishment as an independent nation; men who gave their best energies and of their means to their country, could not but be found faithful to the institu- tion whose concerns were in after years committed to their care and oversight. Of Mr. ISTesbitt, the first president, but little can now be gathered. To him, and especially to Mr. Hazard, must be granted the meed of the successful establishment of the company; hence, the ensuing notice of Mr. Hazard properly follows that of Mr. Nesbitt, before we can enter upon the public and private career of the latter's successor, Colonel Pettit. And a notice of Mr. Samuel Blodget, though he was not an officer, finds the most INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 93 appropriate place as a co-founder with Mr. Hazard and the others immediately following that of Mr. Hazard. 1. ME. JOHN MAXWELL J^ESBITT was born in Ireland in 1728, and came to this country in early life, and entering mercantile life, became very successful in business, in the conduct of an extensive mercantile house in this city, w^ich was widely known in its connections successively as that of Conyngham, :N"esbitt & Co., the senior being Mr. Redmond Conyngham, who subsequently returned to Ireland, and there died, and whose advertisements appear in the Penn- sylvania Gazette as early as 9 June, 1757; of John M. Kesbitt & Co.; and of Conyngham, Nesbitt & Co., when David Hayfield Conyngham, the son of Redmond, was admitted, and the old style was resumed. His interest in Colonial affairs led him into active participation in the Revolution, he and his younger partner Mr. Conyngham, being elected members of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry in March, 1777, as his elder brother, Alexander ^Tesbitt had been two years preceding. He remained an active member of this now venerable company through the Revolution, sharing in its ]^ew Jersey campaigns, and on Ills resignation, was made an honorary member 10 Sep- tember, 1787, with his brother. Mr. ^"esbitt was one of the original members of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and was elected vice-president at their first meeting, 17 September, 1771. He became its second president in 1773, and afterwards held the same office from June, 1782 to March, 1796, at which time his
94 A HISTORY OF THE health began to fail. It was from the membership of this society that the Hibernian Society was formed 27 June, 1792, a society which to this day continues in useful activity, and is the heir to the good fame of the Friendly Sons. So many of his associates in this organization warmly espoused the side of the Colonies when the clouds of bitter dis- appointment arose, shutting out hope of any redress of grievances from the British parliament, that Mr. 3N'esbitt would have been singular, had he forborne participation in the stir of the times. On 17 June, 1780, the house of J. M. ]N"esbitt & Co. subscribed £5,000 to the fund to support the credit of a bank for furnishing a supply of provisions for the use of the army, and Mr. ^esbitt was appointed one of the five inspectors of the organization, which was effected under the name of the "Pennsylvania Bank." Mr. Simpson in his Lives of Eminent PMladelphians, narrates the story of his faithful patriotism, when Judge Peters called on him among the first after his receiving a letter from General Washington, depicting the great needs and suffering of the army, and explaining to him the wishes of Washington. Mr. JS'esbitt replied, "that a Mr. Howe, of Trenton, had offered to put up pork for him if he were paid in hard money, and that he had contracted with Howe to put up all the pork and beef he could possibly obtain, for which he should be paid in gold." The engagement was performed by Mr. Howe, and J. M. ^Nesbitt & Co. paid him the gold. Mr. 1'Tesbitt said to Judge Peters he might have this beef and pork, and, in addition, a valuable prize just arrived, laden with provisions. Mr. I^esbitt, with others prominent in the organization of the Bank of Pennsylvania, identified INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 95 themselves with the new banking institution promoted by Robert Morris the year following, and at the organization of the Bank of North America, on 1 November, 3781, he was elected one of its directors, and he continued in the board until 9 January, 1792. On 31 December following, it was incorporated as " The President, Directors, and Com- pany of the Bank of North America," and here we may perhaps find the original of the title, to the new insurance company which ten years later opened its doors under Mr. Nesbitt's presidency. Judge Peters was one of the witnesses to his will, with James S. Ritchie, Francis West, and Redmond Conyng- ham, which was proved 25 January, 1802, and by which he left his entire estate, after providing annuities to his surviv- ing brother James and three sisters, to his friend and partner Mr. Conyngham, whose son, the late Judge Conyng- ham, the eminent Pennsylvania jurist, born four years before his death, was named John Nesbitt Conyngham. In the Daily Advertiser of 27 January, 1802, a friend's obituary of Mr. Nesbitt describes him in the following »/ 0 words: "This worthy citizen maintained for upwards of half a century the character of an upright and intelligent merchant in this city. In his extensive dealings, friendship and kindness always tempered the claims of interest and justice. In private life he was truly amiable, and so circum- spect and discreet in his manners, as never to offend by speech or conduct. His remains were interred on Sunday [24th] in the First Presbyterian Church, and attended by a numerous concourse of respectable friends and fellow citizens." 96 A HISTORY OF THE 2. ME. EBEN-EZER HAZARD was one of tlie earlier promoters of the association which gave birth to the Insurance Com- pany of North America, and to his energy and industry must be largely attributed the instant success and the steady growth of the institution. He was a man of note among his peers, and prominent in all the various under- takings in which he engaged, and equally so in those initiated by others as in those of his own origination. The company was favored in having as its first secretary so faithful and conscientious an officer, and one whose standing in business and literary circles allied him to a large connec- tion, and whose wise administration of the general Post Office Department, for many years previously, was a guar- antee to both its stockholders and its clients of a just administration of his responsible duties. Ebenezer Hazard, the son of Samuel Hazard, of Phila- delphia, who was the great-grandson of Thomas Hazard, who came from Wales and settled on Long Island, was born in that city 26 January, 1745, and "was baptised in the 'New Building' in Fourth street below Arch," later known as the Old Academy, on 7 February, by Rev. Gilbert Tennent. He was the second son, and named after the Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton, who was the pastor of his mother at the First Presbyterian Church, New York, and by whom his parents were married in October, 1739; she was the daughter of Matthew Clarkson, of that city, whose wife was Cornelia Depeyster, and the sister of Matthew Clarkson, who was in 1792 mayor of the city of Philadel- phia. Samuel Hazard resided some years in New York,
INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 97 but returned to Philadelphia before the birth of his son. He was a merchant, and sold books among his other merchandise, and was one of the founders of the Pennsyl- vania Hospital, and for a number of years a manager until his death; and an original and active trustee of the College of New Jersey, and was one of the first members of the Second Presbyterian Church, which was organized through the instrumentality of the Rev. George "Whitefield in 1743, and under the pastoral care of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent. He died 14 July, 1758. Ebenezer Hazard spent, his early years at the school of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Finley (who afterwards married, for his second wife, Anna Clarkson, Hazard's aunt) at Nottingham, Maryland, and graduated at Princeton Colleo-e in 1762, of which Dr. Finley had become the president the year previously; one of his classmates was Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant. In 1780 he wrote a life of Dr. Finley. In November, 1762, he enlisted in a privateer, and the following mouth was wrecked off Martinique- subsequently shipping on H. M; ship Scarborough, he cruised in the West Indies until June, 1764, and afterwards sailing for England was there discharged and arrived home in March, 1765. He removed to New York in 1767, and engaged there in the book business with Garret Noel, and in 1770 became his partner under the style of Noel & Hazard, and so con- tinued until April, 1774, when the business proving less successful the firm was dissolved. It was in this connection that he developed that intimacy with books which was so helpful to him in after years, and made for him those 98 A HISTORY OF THE literary acquaintances which through life afforded him very agreeable connections. He spent parts of the years 1770 and 1771 in England. In July, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress recom- mended him to the Continental Congress as a fit person for postmaster, and on 5 October he was appointed the first post- master of New York. On 30 August, 1776, the day after the retreat of the American army from Long Island, he was ordered by the Committee of Safety to Dobbs Ferry, and in this neighborhood the New York post office mostly remained until after the evacuation of the city by the British army in November, 1783. In 1777 he was appointed surveyor of the post roads and offices throughout the coun- try, and traveled on duty on horseback between New Hampshire and Georgia until his appointment 28 January, 1782, as Postmaster General of the United States. He was the third to fill this office, in which he continued for seven years, succeeding Eichard Bache who had succeeded Ben- jamin Franklin. It was at this period he writes "he is hurried through life on horseback," but his new appointment gives him promise of a settled place of residence—which he found in his native city. It was in 1779, in the midst of his wanderings on government service, that he began to gather materials for his Historical Collections, consisting of State Papers and other Authentic Documents intended as materials for a History of the United States, no doubt filling in his spare moments in his tours through the principal towns by copying documents and manuscripts, which he finally pub- lished, the first volume in 1792 and the second in 1794. It was with his usual untiring industry that being armed INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 99 by the authority of Congress with the right to examine and copy whatever he saw fit, that he made copies of State papers and documents which he observed were fast going to decay or were being scattered and lost. Dr. Allibone truly says of him and his son Samuel, the compiler of the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Archives, that "it is to such indefatigable laborers that historians are indebted for much of the most valuable portions of their compilations." His labors on this work were in part interrupted by his appointment as Postmaster General, but were resumed in 1789 on his retirement and then pursued to completion, though the second volume was published when he was engrossed in his very active duties as secretary of the Insurance Company of ^orth America. Mr. Hazard married, 11 September, 1783, Abigail, daughter of Joseph and Jane (Chevalier) Arthur of ]^an- tucket. They were married at the residence of Judge Breese, in Shrewsbury, JN". J., whose wife was Mrs. Hazard's elder half-sister; Judge Breese by his first marriage with Rev. Dr. Finley's daughter became the grandfather of the great inventor Samuel F. B. Morse, LL.D. In his corres- pondence with Dr. Jeremy Belknap, whose History of .New Hampshire was published in Philadelphia in 1784 under the superintendence of Mr. Hazard, there are many interesting personal references to the Breese family and its connections; this correspondence was published by the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1878, and evidences Mr. Hazard's business as well as literary ability, and affords us a good exposition of his Christian and manly character as well as his merits as a finished letter-writer. 100 A HISTORY OF THE He began his housekeeping on Arch street, old JSTo. 161, below Fifth street, where their son Samuel was born 26 May, 1784; but on the removal of Congress to :N'cw York his office followed, and he renewed his residence in that city, and there continued until his retirement from office in 1789. Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, writes his wife from ISTew York, 6 April, 1785: "Hazard, the postmaster- general, has in consequence of the order of Congress come here and has been trying to get a house. He meets with difficulty, and wishes to have leave to reside in Philadelphia; whether he will get leave or not I cannot tell."—MS. letter. He finally returned to Philadelphia in December, 1790, havino- in that year served on the board of three, appointed by General Knox, Secretary of War, to appraise "West Point, then about to be purchased by the government. He here entered into the brokerage of stocks with Jonas Addoms, a firm which continued until 1792. He may have united the brokerage of insurances in his business, which doubtless brought him in connection with the project broached early in the latter year, of forming in Philadelphia an Association of Underwriters. He was the owner of two lots and houses on Arch street above Fourth street, one of which he had purchased in 1783, and in April, 1792, he removed these and erected on the eastern portion of this property his three-story brick man- sion, ]STo. 145 Arch street (now 415), into which he moved in November. He describes it to Dr. Belknap as "a fair brick house in an inconvenient part of the city, and too remote from the theatre of business." This was sold by his executrix on 8 November, 1817, to William Sansom, INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 101 who purchased it for his daughter, Mrs. George Yaux, and until its purchase and destruction by Mr. Womrath in 1861 it was generally known as the Yaux Mansion; the eastern of the three buildings erected by Mr. "Womrath stands on part of the site of the old house; the remainder of the lot was thrown into the garden; adjoining on the west was Mr. John Cooke's property, which was also purchased by Mr. Womrath, and upon these two his three stores are erected. This mansion which Mr. Hazard built, which he occupied for twenty-five years, and therein died, is of interest as containing the office of the ]S'orth America, and where all its business was transacted during the prevalence of the fearful epidemic of yellow fever in 1793, as the regular office had to be abandoned on account of its vicinity to the affected district. He writes 12 October, 1793, to his friend, S. A. Otis, "Here I am, with my family, in the midst of disease and death, which will no doubt surprise many, but Divine Providence had placed me in such a situation that it appeared evidently to be my duty to remain in town. This point being settled, I had no difficulty in determining what to do. I have always found the path of duty to be the way of safety; and whilst I know that I walk in it, I can cheerfully commit all events to the Great Disposer of them." And on 30 October to Dr. Jeremy Belknap he writes: "To remove from the city, or not, was early a ques- tion in my mind; but upon thinking over all circumstances, and especially how much depended on me respecting the insurance office, I felt it to be my duty to remain in the city, and determined accordingly. I have not been out at all, and Mrs. Hazard would not have me, so we all took our 102 A HISTORY OF THE chance together." These extracts testify to the steadfast- ness and faithfulness of the man, who believed his way of safety was in the path of duty. The president, Mr. Nesbitt, a man not of robust health, had early left the city and found refuge at his partner Mr. Conyngham's residence, Clermont, three miles to the north of the city, and from there com- municated almostly daily with Mr. Hazard. But the epidemic invaded his household, and he and Mrs. Hazard, his daughter, his sister, a young woman from the country, a servant, and man were all. in succession stricken down, and his sister Anna died of it 18 October, and was buried the same day, and the old servant was also a victim to it. In his letter to Mr. Otis of 12 October he says: "We have had our share of the disorder, but it has been very moderate compared with the sufferings of others. I am recovered; Mrs. Hazard is so well as to be about the house." On 27 July he had written Dr. Belknap: "I am seldom with my family, except at meal times and while I am asleep, and frequently do not leave the office before nine at night. Perhaps I perform works of supererogation, but it seems to be necessary at present. If business continues to encrease as it has done, assistance will be necessary." His industry appeared to be exceptional; all the records of the office were kept by him for many months; books, correspondence and policies were all from his pen, and he personally attended to all minutiae of the office; for though a clerk was in a short time after the company's operations began employed, all the responsible clerical work remained in his hands. The office work of those days was prolonged, and while to-day we condense in a few consecutive hours the work of INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA 103 the entire day, the custom" of the period was to accommo- date the merchants, who mainly living over their counting- houses had no limits of hours in the transaction of their private or business affairs. AYe find that by resolution of the directors on 15 January, 1795, the president was required to attend the office from eleven to two o'clock, and five to eight, and the secretary from ten to two, and from four to eight each day. This practice continued in effect for nine years. On 18 July, 1797, Mr. Hazard writes Dr. Belknap, "It is not necessary that our hours of business should be such as they are, and I have tried to get them altered so as to give me a little time for recreation, but I have not succeeded." On 14 January, 1796, he writes: "It is near Ten O'clock at night and I have not left the office yet." And it was in the midst of this labor, that he passed through the press the second volume of his Historical Collections, for which he was obliged to prepare a second Index, as his first MS. of this was destroyed at the fire of Thomas Dobson's, the publisher. Correlative to Mr. Hazard's industrious and faithful application to his duties in the North America, it is well to quote here his account of his labors as Postmaster General recounted in his address to President "Washington, 21 September, 1789, when a change seemed to be impending in the management of the office. "Though I have made repeated applications for more assistance and so clearly pointed out the necessity there was for it, that a Committee of Congress reported in favor of its being allowed, I have been left to encounter the whole business of the department almost alone. * * * * Besides the general superin- 104A HISTORY OF THE tendence of fifteen hundred miles, exclusive of post roads, I have had to maintain a very burthensome correspondence; to examine the quarterly returns from all the eastern offices; to enter all the accounts; to keep the books of the depart- ment (which since my appointment has been in double entry); to make communications to Congress and com- mittees, which have frequently required lengthy and tedious calculations; to form and enter into contracts, and pay the contractors quarterly; to inspect the dead letters; and to do the business out of doors as well as within. My own attention has been so constantly necessary that I have not had time for proper relaxation, and in three years past, have not been to the distance of ten miles from this city. I once hired a clerk, but found my salary was not equal to that expense in addition to the support of my family, and was obliged to dismiss him." It was under his administra- tion that the department for the first time became paying. Mr. Hazard's pecuniary interests in the company were great, and many of the stockholders were his personal friends. Mr. Robert Ralston, whose wife was his cousin, was a director until 1800. On 17 December, 1799, he asks leave to resign, as his health was so much affected by his constant close attention to business, and the same year he appears to have parted with the major part of his stock and at a handsome premium; and at the stockholders' meeting on 13 January following, his resignation was accepted with their "thanks for his long and faithful services as secretary of this company." He was requested to act as secretary pro tern. until the office was supplied, but he did not continue this long; a temporary arrangement was made by INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 105 which Mr. Robert S. Stephens, the bookkeeper should be first clerk and to countersign checks, but no secretary was appointed until Mr. Stephens' election to the office 28 February, 1806. It was during' the last years of his administration that occurred the heavy drains upon the company's fund from the captures of our merchantmen by French cruisers, amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $514,125.80, and the harassmeuts arising from this source with the uncertainty of the company being reimbursed by the French government, contributed greatly to Mr. Hazard's desire to be released from any further official responsibility. In his seven years' secretaryship, the company had in its marine business received in premiums $4,588,497.29, and paid in losses $3,556,682.99, and in its fire business, begun in December, 1794, had received $49,241.26 premiums, aud paid losses $22,853.99, and upon its capital of $600,000, had paid dividends to its stockholders amounting to $591,296.63. But Mr. Hazard's energies forbade idleness, and his release from office duties allowed him opportunities for equally efficient work in philanthropic and literary pursuits and in ecclesiastical stations. He was trustee and elder in the Second Presbyterian Church, then at Third and Arch streets, from 1784 until his death, and was trustee of the General Assembly; during his residence in 'New York, he had been a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, located in "Wall street. He was a deeply read bible student, and a fine Greek scholar, and revised Charles Thomson's MSS. of his original translation of the bible. The correspondence between the two is yet preserved in the family, and Thomson 106 A HISTORY OF THE generally yielded to the reasons advanced by Mr. Hazard for his corrections. He "finally purchased Mr. Thomson's share in the transaction, and afterwards disposed of it to Earle, the bookseller, and as it was passing through the press in 1808 he corrected the proof-sheets. He was Curator of the American Philosophical Society, to which he often con- tributed papers; the first corresponding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society; member of the New York Historical Society, and fellow of the American Academy of Natural Sciences. He was for many years manager of the Schuylkill and Pennsylvania Bridge Com- pany; of the Delaware and Schuylkill Canal Company; of the Philadelphia Dispensary; a member of the Guardians of the Poor; and of the Board of Missions. He was the author of the proposals and the outline of the act for the Schuylkill Navigation Company, which was incorporated in 1813. He was a useful promoter, with his influence and capital,, of many local improvements, and while possessing a sound judgment in all things, he was of such liberal and enterpris- ing turn of mind, that he ever stood ready to take a share of the risk which any venture that was sanctioned by his judgment demanded. But no greater monument exists to his memory in financial affairs than the Insurance Company which had the impulse of his mind in the outstart, and his steadfast and faithful administration in its years of infancy; and the same business soundness and executive ability in the successive officers of the company will preserve to it the like favoring success which he so firmly established. Mr. Hazard died at his residence on Arch street, on 13 April, 1817, and was buried in the ground on the north side INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 107 of Arch street, west of Fifth street; but on the removal of that cemetery, his remains were taken to Laurel Hill. His widow survived him a few years, dying 6 July, 1820. Mr. Hazard had four children, the youngest dying in infancy. The eldest, was Samuel, born 26 May, 1784, whose name is established in American historic annals as one of its most indefatigable compilers, and who died 26 May, 1870; the second, was Elizabeth Breese, who married first Ebenezer Rockwood, of Boston, and secondly, the Rev. Thomas E. Yermilye, D.D., of New York, and died in 1861, aged 75 years; and the third, was Erskine, born 30 November, 1789, who was identified with the development of the Pennsylvania anthracite coal fields, and was one of the originators of the Lehigh Navigation Company, of which he was for many years the president, and as well was inter- ested in the promotion of other enterprises to develop the iron as well as coal business of his native State. He died in 1865.* 3. MR. SAMUEL BLODGET, JR. was a native of Woburn, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1755. He entered into military service and passed three years' arduous duty, part of the time on the staff of General Washington, whom he had first met at the encampment at Cambridge in 1775, and with whom his father was personally intimate. Sub- sequently, he engaged in the East India trade, and made visits to Europe in 1784 and 1790. He married for his
* See sketch by Mr. Willis P. Hazard of his grandfather's life in Mr. Thomas R. Hazard's Recollections of Olden Times, Kew York, 1879. 108 A HISTORY OF THE second wife, on 10 May, 1792, Eebecca, the second daughter of the Reverend William Smith, D.D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Blodget was a man of bold spirit and venture, and while interesting himself in the Tontine Association, and equally in its successor the Insur- ance Company, he continued his efforts to found the national capital, a scheme he had been formulating for some years, and which took shape on his last return from Europe; and in connection with this, he planned a rational University, the details of which he had studied out in his foreign tours, and in the interests of which he frequently conferred with Dr. Smith, which led to an intimacy in his family, resulting in the marriage with his daughter. In his Economica, a statistical Manual for the United States of America,* he says of liimself: "The writer needed not the recommenda- tion of his former commander to persuade him to purchase, as he did in 1791, property to the amount of above $100,000 in and adjoining the city, one day to become the noblest of the universe." His plans for the new city embraced the establishment of his university, which was "what he most prized, designed in part at the Hague, and completed at Oxford, where he had all the universities of ancient and modern times to guide his pencil." The success of the new city of Washington was due to his skill and management, though some measure of the profits of his investments are realized only at this late day by his descendants of the third generation. Mr. Blodget died in Philadelphia, 11 April, 1814, and was buried on the 13th, in Christ Church burying- * 1813, 14 April, the directors subscribe for one copy Samuel Blodget's Sta- tistical Works. This copy yet remains in the company's library.
INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 109 ground, but no stone marks the grave of the founder of Washington City. 4. COLONEL CHARLES PETTIT, son of John Pcttit, was horn near Amwell, New Jersey, in 1737. He was early trained in public affairs. While a young man at Trenton, Perth Amhoy, Burlington and New Brunswick, in the Province of New Jersey, he held positions in connection with the Courts of the Province under the Provincial Government of George III. His earliest commission appears to he one dated 27 October, 1769, as Deputy Secretary, Clerk of the Council, Clerk of the Supreme Court, Clerk of the Pleas, Surrogate, and Keeper and Register of the Records of the Province. During this 0 *—' period he also held commission dated 8 March, 1771, as Aide-de-Camp, with rank of Lieut. Colonel, to William Franklin, Governor of the Province; and after Franklin's arrest in 1776, he was commissioned at Princeton 8 October, 1776 as Aide-de-Camp, with rank of Colonel, to Governor William Livingston. He was Colonial Secretary under Governor Franklin, and held most intimate and constant intercourse with him during the last eventful years of his administration. After the revolutionary proceedings of the Colonial Legislature of New Jersey, which brought to a close the Franklin admin- istration, Colonel Charles Pettit was again appointed Secretary of the Province by Governor Livingston. In the published records and archives of the Province of New 110 A HISTORY OF THE Jersey, we find his name frequently given in connection with proceedings of the executive and of the Provincial Congress previous to 1776. His residence had been at Burlington, but he removed with his family to Perth Amboy in 1774 when G-overnor Franklin removed thither; when Franklin was taken prisoner in 1776, he appears subse- quently to have made his residence in Philadelphia, after a short service as Secretary of the Province. During this period, fraught with anxiety to every lover of liberty in the Colonies, we find that Colonel Pettit continually co-operated to promote harmony between the Colony and the mother country, and if possible, by means lawful and peaceful and honorable alike both to England and the Province, prevent that trouble, resort to arms, which the obstinacy of the King and his Privy Council finally rendered necessary. In the eventful year 1776, being forty years of age, we find him providing for the safety and protection of the records of the Province, which the Assembly of ^Tew Jersey by special act of legislation had put into his charge. And sub- sequently he entered the military service of his country, being commissioned Assistant Quartermaster-General to Major- General Greene on the latter's appointment 2 March, 1778.* In this latter capacity he rendered faithful, efficient and responsible service for a long period under General Greene, and was with him at "White Plains, Philadelphia and else- where. With General Greene he had maintained an intimate friendship since childhood, and when that officer resigned, *At the same time Col. John Cox was appointed assistant quartermaster- general, and General Greene said " nothing could have induced him to accept this post but the appointment of those two gentlemen as his aids." See letter to General Eeed, 9 March, 1778. INSURANCE. COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. Ill Colonel Pettit was offered the Quartermaster-Generalship, but declined it. About 1783 he moved permanently to Philadelphia, and soon thereafter became engaged in mercantile pursuits. Here he was at once again thrown into public life. He entered the Pennsylvania Legislature in July, 1784, and in the Continental Congress, to which he was elected the next year, serving from 7 April, 1785 for two years. During this term of service the great questions relative to the organization of the Republic, by the adoption of a Constitution for the Confederation of States, were engross- ing the attention of all those patriots who strove to place upon a firm and lasting basis that independence for which they had risked their lives and fortunes. One of Colonel Pettit's contemporaries has thus recorded this position in regard to this matter, as follows: "He stated his objections to certain portions of the document with firmness, but recommended its adoption with candour, and it is known that he became the principal instrument of subduing the Pennsylvania opposition by his conciliatory conduct at the general conference which was held in Harrisburg previously to the ultimate vote of ratification." On 13 April, 1791, he was appointed the commissioner to superin- tend accounts of the Commonwealth with the ^NTational government; and was the author of the funding system of Pennsylvania. He was a trustee of the "University of Pennsylvania from 1791 to 1802, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, to which he had been elected 21 January, 1785, in whose deliberations he took a lively part. 112 A HISTORY OF THE One of the original directors of the I^orth America, and an intimate friend of Mr. Hazard, Colonel Pettit was active in its interests and zealous in promoting its growth; and on the resignation of Mr. Nesbitt, he was on 13 January, 1796, unanimously elected president. In September of the follow- ing year, he met with an accident while driving with his friend General Jonathan Williams, near the latter's seat, Mount Pleasant, which so seriously affected his health, that on his urgent request, the directors finally accepted his resignation on 9 January, 1798. On his illness it became necessary to appoint a president pro tern., and Mr. Joseph Ball was elected, who was eventually appointed president in January following. The office of the company was at this time in Arch street, and the members, in fear of the yellow fever, were out of the city; and we find an entry in the cash book on 17 September of a payment to " J. Hardy for horse hire, occasioned in calling a Board of Directors to a special meeting to elect a president pro tern." Colonel Pettit's health was regained, though he was permanently lamed, and his interest in company affairs was renewed, and on Mr. Ball declining further to serve on account of the office taking more of his time than he could spare from his private affairs, he was re-elected 8 July, 1799, and continued in office until his death, 3 September, 1806. The board had granted him the use of two rooms in the upper part of their office-building southwest corner Front and Walnut, when they removed thither in December, 1797, in consideration of his infirmities, and here he dwelt during Mr. Ball's presi- dency, and on his re-election, their use to him was continued, or as the minutes quaintly express it, "he was indulged (rent INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 113 free) on account of indisposition, with such part of the build- ing not rented." He continued his residence here until the office was removed to No. 98 south Second street, when he moved his rooms to Dock street, near Second street, where he died. An obituary to his memory appeared in the Daily Advertiser, 9 September, 1806, the authorship of which is attributed to the pen of his friend General Williams, whereby we can form a truer estimate of the man's character and influence, than by the mere recital of his various public duties. His interest in the company descends to present generations of his family; his only son, Andrew, was a director thirty-two years; his son-in-law, Andrew Bayard, from 1798 to 1805, and his great-grandson, Thomas Charlton Henry, elected a director in 1864, was on 2 November, 1880, elected vice-president of the company, and the tatter's grandfather, Alexander Henry, an intimate friend of Colonel Pettit, had been a director for the extended term of forty- eight years. Colonel Pettit married 5 April, 1758, Sarah, daughter of Andrew Reed* of Trenton, by his first wife, and was thus intimately connected with General Joseph Reed, the son, by Mr. Reed's second marriage. With William Bradford and Jared Ingersoll he was an executor of the will of General Joseph Reed, who died 5 March,
* Colonel Pettit's father and father-in-law had been associated as Reed & Pettit, in general merchandising in Philadelphia; and we have their advertisement in the Pennsylvania. Gazette, 7 August, 1760, "at their store in Front Street, a few doors below Walnut, Street, directly opposite Mr. William West's," nigh to the building in which the first office of the Insurance Company of North America was opened. Eeed & Pettit were among the prominent underwriters of Phila- delphia, for we find the firm subscribing to marine policies in respectable amounts as early as in July, 1759, as shown by Walter Shoe's books, and as late as November, 1762, we find them in Kidd & Bradford's books. 8 114 A HISTOR Y OF THE 1785. Colonel Pettlt's children were a son Andrew, and three daughters: Elizabeth, who married Jared Ingersoll, the eminent member of the Philadelphia bar, and for many years the counsellor of the Insurance Company of Xorth America; Sarah, who married Andrew Bayard, and Theo- dosia, who married Alexander G-raydon, the author of Graydon's Memoirs. Portraits of Colonel Pettit were made by Gilbert Stuart and Charles "Willson Peale; it is from the former's painting that the cut is taken which is produced here.
MR. JOSEPH BALL was born in Douglas township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1752, the son of John and Mary (Richards) Ball. In early manhood he became manager of the iron works at Batsto, Burlington county, New Jersey, then owned by Colonel John Cox; this was in the earlier years of the Revolution, and in 1779 lie became the pro- prietor. These works were extensively employed in the manufacture of shot and shells for the Continental service. The correspondence of Mr. Ball and Colonel Cox with the Committee of Safety of Philadelphia in May, 1776, given in the Pennsylvania Archives, 1st series, 4th volume, shows that the ammunition then being furnished to the committee was by their special order, hauled by teams from Batsto to Cooper's ferry, now Camden, instead of being transported by the usual less expeditious mode of conveyance by water. Mr. Ball took the oath of allegiance to Pennsylvania 10 September, 1777, and during the Revolution he was an INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 115 active patriot and advanced liberally of his means in aid of the cause. He entered into business in Philadelphia and with much success accumulating a goodly fortune and becoming largely interested in real estate. After the close of the war, it is said he embarked in the schemes for the restoration of the public credit inaugurated by Robert Morris, by means of which he with many others suffered much pecuniary loss. He was, in October, 1791, elected a director of the Bank of the United States, which Congress had incorporated in the month of February previous; and he was one of the original board of the Insurance Company of Korth America, and was influential in its councils; during an absence of Mr. Xesbitt he acted as president pro tern. in February, 1794, when Colonel Pettit met with his severe accident, he was on 20 September, 1797 again made president pro tern., and on 9 January following, on Colonel Pettit's resignation, was elected president. His private affairs, however, were many and pressing, and he resigned his office 8 July, 1799. His seat in the board was declared vacant 1 August, 1803, under the charter, agreeably to the provision formerly recited, to the effect that a director of the company could not act or serve in like capacity in another insurance company, as he had taken part in the organization of the Union Insurance Company and on 26 July preceding,-had been elected its first president. This company was chartered 6 February, 1804, and Mr. Ball con- tinued president until 10 February, 1807, when he declined re-election and was succeeded by Mr. George Latimer. His country seat was on Point-no-Point road, the site now being merged in the improvements of the Reading Railroad 116A HISTORY OF THE Company at Port Richmond. Here he died 2 September, 1825, leaving a large property, which upon the death of his wife, and leaving no children, was divided among a large number of heirs. He was first cousin to Mr. Benjamin ~W. Richards, who was mayor of the city of Philadelphia from 1829 to 1832. 6. MR. JOHN INSKEEP was elected a director in 1802, and on Colonel Pettit's death was elected president 1 October, 1806. He was born near Marlton, Burlington county, New Jersey, 29 January, 1757. He took part in the Revolu- tionary struggle, and was Commissary of Issues at one time, and captain in the second battalion Gloucester militia. Subsequently coming to Philadelphia, he became proprietor of the George Inn, at the southwest corner of Dock and Second streets, and afterwards entered the China trade and became a prosperous merchant, and was active in many public enterprises. He was elected mayor of the city in 1800, and again in 1804 and 1805, and became president of the company at the close of the last term. He had also served as alderman in 1801 and 1802. His conduct of the presidency of the company was very successful, and in July, 1824 the board voted him a set of plate valued at $500, as an acknowledgment of his services in procuring the reimbursement of the claims under the Spanish treaty, which produced to the stockholders, as stated on a former page, a dividend of sixty per cent. at that semi-annual period. He acknowledges receipt of this worthy testimonial INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 117 on 19 August following, in a well-written letter, which is retained in the company files. In his will (proved 23 December, 1834) he directs that "the plate presented to me hy the Insurance Company of ]^orth America, over which I presided, be divided equally between them [his children] or as nearly so in point of value as the pieces of which it is composed will admit." He resigned the presidency, due to increasing infirmities, 5 April, 1831, the directors voting him an annuity "until otherwise ordered," which was only terminated by his death 18 December, 1834. He is buried in Christ Church burying-ground, Fifth and Arch streets. The children named in his will were Abraham H., Mrs. Samuel Fisher Bradford, Mrs. Samuel Brooks and Mrs. Robert Taylor. His wife was Sarah Hewlings, whom he married in 1776, and who surviving him, died 17 January, 1842. She was in receipt of a pension from the govern- ment for her husband's services in the Revolution. A son John, who died before him, was taken in partnership by Mr. Bradford, his brother-in-law, forming the well-known and eminent firm of Bradford & Inskeep, publishers and booksellers of this city.
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MR. Jonx CORREY SMITH was born in Philadelphia, 3 October, 1784, the son of Dr. William Smith, an eminent druggist. He early engaged in mercantile pursuits, and for many years was actively and successfully engaged in the China trade. He was elected a director in January, 1831, and president 5 April following. He died suddenly 22 June, 118 A HISTORY OF THE 1845. The United States Gazette on the following' day noticed his death and said: "Mr. Smith during his long life fulfilled the duties which elevate and distinguish the man and the merchant, with snch propriety, and with snch efficiency, that he gained consideration for his worth, and respect where respect was so difficult of attainment and valuable in a commensurate degree. He was for many years one of the first merchants of our city, and at the period of his decease, was the president of the North American Insurance Company, a post he filled with much ability." His sons are Harrison. Cooper and Charles Ross Smith, merchants of this city; and his brother, Samuel F. Smith, served two terms in the Direction of the company from 1830 to 1835 and 1838 to .1862, thirty-one years in all, dying 23 August, 1862, aged eighty-four years; he was also president, during the latter term, of the Philadelphia National Bank from 1842 to 1852.
8. MR. ARTHUR GTILMAX Corny was born October, 1799, in INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 119 entering the shipping house of Messrs. Havens & Smith, where he won the confidence and esteem of all, and when a vacancy occurred in the secretaryship of the Insurance Company of ^Torth America he was induced to make application for it, which was strongly endorsed. His letter of application, yet preserved in the company's files, is indicative of the directness and simplicity of the man. He was elected secretary 19 June, 1832, against strong competitors, and fulfilled the duties of his office with such faithfulness and skill during almost the entire administra- tion of President Smith, that on the death of that gentle- man he was unanimously elected president 1 July, 184.5. His administration proved an eventful one, and marked the growth of the company up to the requirements of modern usages in both marine and fire underwriting; his good judgment and kindly tact effected a gradual change in the management of the responsibilities of the business which he found largely assumed by the directors through their weekly committees, which system gradually failed of active operations not only from the growing weight of the busi- ness, but as well also from the entire confidence the board grew to place in his equitable and conservative administra- tion. A perusal of the minutes during this period show the gradual reference of important matters to the president "with power" for his final action; and this position was attained by the influence of his great modesty and deference, for he continued to refer to the board matters of detail even after the practice had grown up of leaving all to his decision. He was a just man and an intelligent underwriter; his 120 A HISTORY OF THE professional opinions always had great weight, and his practical wisdom gave him an influence among all classes of men with whom he associated allotted to but few. When he assumed the presidency, the year closed with a capital of $300,000, and total assets of $426,507.84. The year of his resignation found the capital of the company $2,000,000, and the assets, $6,461,729.70. For some years his health had been failing, and while deprived of steady participation in the conduct, of the affairs of the company, he never with- held hearty endorsement to all the growing activities of the company, and its growth in wealth and position afforded him keen gratification. He desired to withdraw from the presidency, and the board declined to listen to his appeal; until finally he pressed the matter, and his resignation was finally accepted on 14 January, 1878. But in thus parting from him as president, he still remained a director, and the board continued to him his remaining years, a practical acknowledgment of their debt to his wise and faithful administration. He lived but a few years after; physically weak, and becoming more infirm, but busying himself in kindly thought with all the interests he had been connected with in his active life. Added to his office duties, he was for a third of a century vestryman of St. Andrew's Church, and some time warden; for many years a member of the Board of Education, and by the election of Councils, a director of Crirard College. He was a member of the first board of managers of the Merchants' Fund Association, and for a quarter of a century a member and the chairman of its executive committee; and during the same period he was a manager of the Union Benevolent Association, and
INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA. 121 also of the House of Refuge; for over forty years he was manager and president of the Magdalen Society; he was manager for more than a third of a century of the Pennsyl- vania Bible Society; and for many years a manager of the Pennsylvania Seaman's Friend Society. His death, 29 July, 1881, was felt far and wide, and both in corporate and private circles all recognized the loss as that of a Christian friend and a safe counsellor. 9. MR. CHARLES PLATT was born in the city of Philadel- phia, the son of 'William and Maria (Taylor) Platt, on 16 February, 1829. After pursuing an academic course, he entered the University of Pennsylvania where he graduated with honor in 1846. The connections of his father's house with the China trade opened to him an early opportunity of entering into business. The year after his graduation he was' sent to China in one of his father's ships, the Tartar, where he was trained in mercantile duties in the house of Ritchle & Co. at Canton. After passing three vears here,
he left for the United States, journeying in Calcutta and the Red Sea, and making the tour of Europe, reaching home in the autumn of 18.">0. In the following January he was admitted a partner in the house of William Platt & Sons. The large extensions of this eminent firm in the China and California trade and in the ownership of clipper ships, came to an end in the year 1854. For some years, as the junior partner, his time was gh'en to settling up the affairs of the firm, and on 3 January, I860, he was elected secretary of 122 A HISTORY OF THE the Insurance Company of J^orth America, and on 13 January, 1869, its vice-president, and finally on Mr. Coffin's resignation, was elected president 14 January, 1878. Mr. Platt on his entrance upon the company's work in I860, soon won the esteem and respect of the board com- posed of men his seniors in years, and in the trying years in the country's history which followed, was skilful and firm in the development of the company's business in all its branches, in which he had the hearty support and confidence of his venerated predecessor. His administration lias covered the most active and growing period in the com- pany's history, and the measures thereunder pursued have brought the company to the foremost rank of American institutions; in its fire. branch to a national reputation, and in its marine branch to cosmopolitan renown. Of the directors serving on his election in 1860, only Messrs. Harrison and Cope survive.