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Frederick G. Eldridge

Frederick Gideon Eldridge (May 24, 1837 – July 22, 1889) was president of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in 1884.[1]

Early life

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Eldridge was born on May 24, 1837 in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was the son of Gideon Eldridge and Phebe Ann (née White) Eldridge,[2] a daughter of Lt. John White of the U.S. Navy.[3][4]

Career

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When he was twenty-four years old, he went to India and became a member of the mercantile firm of Atkinson, Tilton & Co. of Calcutta,[5] and of the Bengal Council, a governing body appointed by the governor-general of Bengal, the only American to ever held the position.[1]

After returning to America, he became a member of the brokerage firm Wharton & Eldridge. While a member of the New York Stock Exchange, he was prominent in several large financial operations, and was conspicuous during various panics in Wall Street for his conservative council and conduct. At the time of the organization of the Knickerbocker Trust Company in 1884, he became one of the largest stockholders and its founding president.[1]

Personal life

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On November 9, 1859 at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City, Eldridge married Alice Lee Goodrich (1838–1903).[6] She was the daughter of Massachusetts politician Samuel Griswold Goodrich, who was well known as an author under the name "Peter Parley,"[7] sister to Emily Goodrich Smith, and niece of Abigail Goodrich Whittelsey and the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. Together, they were the parents of four children:[2]

  • Frederick Larnac Eldridge (1860–1927), who married Elizabeth "Bettie" Barret, a daughter of William T. Barret, in 1887. After her death in 1915, he married Louisa Lee (née Andrews), Bacon, widow of painter Henry Bacon, in 1916.[7]
  • Marion Eldridge (1865–1939),[8] a painter who never married.[6]
  • Chauncey Eldridge (1867–1924),[9] an engineer; he married Mary Judson, a daughter of Dr. Oliver Albert Judson, in 1900.[10] They divorced in 1911 and he married Mabel Baylis, a daughter of Joseph T. Baylis. After his suicide in 1924, she married William Crane Ivison.[11][12]
  • Howard St. George Eldridge (1880–1958), who married Jessie Harris Cushing, a daughter of Waldo Emerson Cushing, in 1923.[6]

He was a member of the Union Club.[1]

He died at the Hotel Vendome in New York, where he had lived for several years in "one of the most desirable suites of apartments in the hotel"[13] on July 21, 1889.[1] After a funeral at Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, he was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.[14] After his death, his widow married Col. Etienne St. George of the Bengal Fusiliers in 1891 before her death in 1903.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "OBITUARY.; FREDERIC G. ELDRIDGE". The New York Times. 23 July 1889. Retrieved 21 February 2025. Frederic G. Eldridge, who has been for many years widely known in financial circles, first as a member of the Stock Exchange and of late years as President of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, died at the Hotel Vendome Sunday morning from heart disease. ... Mr. Eldridge was born in this city [sic] fifty-two years ago, and from the time of his majority was interested in commercial life. ... Mr. Eldridge leaves a widow, three sons, and two daughters. One of his sons, Chauncey, is in Mexico.
  2. ^ a b Beach, Moses Sperry; Ely, William (1902). The Ely Ancestry: Lineage of Richard Ely of Plymouth, England, who Came to Boston, Mass., about 1655, & Settled at Lyme, Conn. in 1660. Calumet Press. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-8328-0518-9. Retrieved 21 February 2025. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  3. ^ The Military and Naval Magazine of the United States. Thompson and Homans. 1835. p. 80. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  4. ^ Vital Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Essex Institute. 1926. p. 425. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  5. ^ State, United States Department of (1865). Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs: Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session, Thirty-eighth Congress. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 147. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Stuart, Inglis (1932). Mayflower Ancestry of Elizabeth Ely Goodrich and Her Descendants. Rhinebeck Gazette Press. p. 13. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  7. ^ a b The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. 1927. p. 520. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  8. ^ "MISS MARION ELDRIDGE; Marine Artist Had Exhibited Works Here and Abroad". The New York Times. 30 December 1939. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  9. ^ "WIRES OF SUICIDE, THEN KILLS HIMSELF; Chauncey Eldridge, Builder of Wireless Plants, Ends Life With a Bullet". The New York Times. 23 June 1924. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  10. ^ "Engagements and Marriages Announced". Boston Home Journal. Samuel T. Cobb & Company: 6. 1901. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Eldridge--Ivison". The New York Times. 26 January 1937. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  12. ^ "MRS. MABEL ELDRIDGE HAS CHURCH BRIDAL; She Is Married to William Crane Ivison, Financier, by the Rev. Dr. Donald B. Aldrich". The New York Times. 28 January 1937. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  13. ^ "ASSAULTED BY A WAITER.; A NARROW ESCAPE FOR FREDERICK G. ELDRIDGE". The New York Times. 8 May 1888. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  14. ^ "FUNERAL OF F.G. ELDRIDGE". The New York Times. 25 July 1889. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  15. ^ "DIED -- ST GEORGE". The New York Times. August 20, 1903. p. 9. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
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