Edmund C. Converse

Converse was born in Boston. After graduating from Boston Latin School in 1869, he secured an apprenticeship in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, with National Tube Works. He held several patents on improvements to tubing, such as lock-joints. After his innovations brought in several million dollars in sales, he became general manager of the company in 1889. Converse purchased a lot on 78th Street in New York City from railroad executive Henry H. Cook in the late 1890s. He had C. P. H. Gilbert build his house at 3 East 78th Street.{{cite web|last1=Gray|first1=Christopher|title=One century's breathing room is another's hiccup|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/realestate/nyu-project-runs-up-against-century-old-easements.html|work=The New York Times|accessdate=May 23, 2015|date=June 19, 2014}}

Converse moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, several years later, buying 20 farms and consolidating them into the {{convert|1489|acre|ha|adj=on}} Conyers Farm, which he named after the Old English spelling of his family name.{{cite news|last1=Tomasson|first1=Robert|title=A new beginning for an old estate|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/05/nyregion/a-new-beginning-for-an-old-estate.html|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=June 5, 1983}}{{cite news|title=Obituary: Edmund C. Converse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2OMcAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA951|work=The Iron Age|date=April 7, 1921|page=951}} In addition to cows, pigs and poultry, the farm had apple, pear and peach orchards; butter, eggs and milk were produced there.{{cite book|last=Dumas|first=Timothy|title=Greentown: Murder and Mystery in Greenwich, America's Wealthiest Community|url=https://archive.org/details/greentownmurderm00duma|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=978-1-55970-441-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/greentownmurderm00duma/page/187 187]}} Conyers Farm was unoccupied from Converse's 1921 death to 1936.{{cite news|last1=Tomasson|first1=Robert|title=End of the era for lavish estates|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/14/nyregion/end-of-the-era-for-lavish-estates.html|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=September 14, 1986}} Since the farm began accommodating luxury homes in the 1980s, several celebrities have lived there, including Tom Cruise, Ron Howard and Jessica Biel.{{cite web|last1=Semmes|first1=Anne|title=Howard estate sells for $27.5 million|url=http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Howard-estate-sells-for-27-5-million-5648294.php|work=Connecticut Post|accessdate=May 23, 2015|date=July 25, 2014}}

In 1899, he and William Nelson Cromwell facilitated the J. P. Morgan-funded merger of National Tube Works with 20 other companies, resulting in an enterprise known as the National Tube Company. Within two years, another Morgan-financed merger resulted in U.S. Steel. He served on the board of directors of U.S. Steel until 1916.

Converse became the president of two banks in 1903, Liberty National Bank and Bankers Trust. He led Liberty National Bank until 1907 and Bankers Trust until 1913. He was the president of Astor Trust Company from 1907 to 1917, when it was merged with Bankers Trust.

Converse served as Chairman of the International Nickel Company from 1916 until his death in 1921.{{cite news |year=1956 |title=The Chairmen |url=https://www.sudburymuseums.ca/triangle/data/INCOTriangle-19560801.pdf |work=Inco Triangle |pages=16}}

After the Pittsburgh Alleghenys baseball team in the American Association experienced a very poor season in 1883, they elected Converse, a substantial shareholder in the club, as team president.{{cite news|newspaper=Sporting Life|date=December 12, 1883|page=2|title=The Allegheny Club|url=https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll17/id/20746 }} The team got worse in 1884, but after that season Converse found out that the Columbus Buckeyes were disbanding and sent manager Horace Phillips to Columbus to recruit the players. Phillips enlisted almost all of them, poising the Alleghenys for significant improvement.{{cite book|last=Lieb|first=Frederick G.|title=The Pittsburgh Pirates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lPHoKmAutEC&pg=PA6|year=1948|publisher=SIU Press|isbn=978-0-8093-8985-8|pages=6–7}} Converse did not reach a second season as president, though, as William A. Nimick took over the position.{{cite encyclopedia|editor1-last=Thorn|editor1-first=J.|editor2-last=Palmer|editor2-first=P.|editor3-last=Gershman|editor3-first=M.|title=Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball|edition=7th|page=2460|location=Kingston, NY|publisher=Total Sports Publishing|year=2001|isbn=978-1-930844-01-8}}{{cite news|newspaper=Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette|date=December 6, 1884|page=6|title=Mullane to Be Blacklisted|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42902962/}}

File:Rumford.jpg given to Harvard University by the bequest of Converse]]

Converse engaged in philanthropic activities. In 1912, Converse financed the first endowed chair at the Harvard Business School.{{cite web|title=Timeline: 1912|url=http://institutionalmemory.hbs.edu/timeline/1912/edmund_c_converse_funds_hbs_s_first_endowed_chair.html|publisher=Harvard Business School|accessdate=May 23, 2015}} Four years later, he donated $250,000 to establish a library at Amherst College, the alma mater of his brother James.{{cite journal|title=The new Amherst College library|journal=Library Journal|date=September 1916|volume=41|page=649|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oDtVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA649|accessdate=May 23, 2015}} The Converse Library was dedicated in November 1917.{{cite journal|title=University and educational news|journal=Science|date=November 16, 1917|volume=46|issue=1194|page=482|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tk49AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA482|accessdate=May 23, 2015|doi=10.1126/science.46.1194.482|bibcode=1917Sci....46..482. |url-access=subscription}}

In 1879, Converse was married to Jessie MacDonough Green.{{cite book|editor-last=Ingham|editor-first=John N. |title=Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders|url=https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0001ingh|url-access=registration|year=1983|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-23907-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/biographicaldict0001ingh/page/187 187]–188}} She died in 1912, several months after undergoing an operation for appendicitis.{{cite news|title=Miss E. C. Converse dead|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/09/04/100546717.pdf|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=September 4, 1912}} Two years later, the 64-year-old Converse married Mary Edith Dunshee, who was 48. Dunshee was the sister of Converse's brother's widow.{{cite news|title=E. C. Converse, 64, weds Miss Dunshee|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/01/31/101915733.pdf|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=January 31, 1914}}

Converse's son, Edmund, Jr., owned the Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy in Ventura County, California.{{cite book|last1=Gidney|first1=Charles Montville|last2=Brooks|first2=Benjamin|last3=Sheridan|first3=Edwin M.|title=History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California|url=https://archive.org/details/historysantabar01shergoog|year=1917|publisher=Lewis Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/historysantabar01shergoog/page/n580 800]}} A daughter, Antoinette, moved to Germany after marrying Baron von Romberg, who died in World War I.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1914/09/30/archives/baron-von-romberg-killed-soninlaw-of-e-c-converse-was-captain-of.html |title=BARON VON ROMBERG KILLED.; Son-in-Law of E. C. Converse Was Captain of 80th Prussian Fusillers |work=The New York Times |date=30 September 1914 }}{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the New England Historic Genealogical Society|date=1919|publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_IhEyAQAAIAAJ}} Another daughter, Katherine, married one of her father's protégés, Benjamin Strong, Jr.; Strong was a president of Bankers Trust and governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.{{cite book|last1=Hutto|first1=Richard Jay|last2=McCash|first2=June Hall|title=Their Gilded Cage: The Jekyll Island Club Members|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNPoVchaehwC&pg=PA38|date=December 1, 2005|publisher=Indigo Custom Publishing|isbn=978-0-9770912-2-5|page=38}}

Converse died at the Huntington Hotel of heart problems in 1921.{{cite news|title=Items about banks, trust companies, etc.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HEc9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1480|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=Commercial & Financial Chronicle|volume=112|date=April 9, 1921}} Local press coverage after his death included the unsubstantiated assertion that Converse may have been murdered. Upon his death, his estate was valued at US$21,000,000 (${{Inflation|US|21000000|1921|fmt=c}} today), most of which was willed to colleges, charities and family members. Among the willed items was a portrait of Benjamin Thompson, which was thought to be worth $75,000 in 1912; it was bequeathed to Harvard University.{{cite news|title=Converse estate put at $21,000,000|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/13/98669646.pdf|accessdate=May 23, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=April 13, 1921}}

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Category:1849 births

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Category:Boston Latin School alumni

Category:Businesspeople from Boston

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Category:U.S. Steel people

Category:Trust Company of America people