Oliver Prince Buel

Buel was born on January 22, 1838, in Troy in Rensselaer County, New York. He was the youngest of eight children of Judge David Buel (1784–1860) and Harriet ({{nee}} Hillhouse) Buel (1792–1866). His father, originally from Litchfield County, Connecticut, was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.{{cite news |title=Death of Judge Buel. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1860/08/18/archives/death-of-judge-buel.html |page=8 |access-date=2023-03-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=18 August 1860}} Among his siblings were elder brothers, the Rev. Samuel Buel (father of Lt.-Col. David Hillhouse Buel), the Rev. David Hillhouse Buel, John Griswold Buel, Col. Clarence Buel, and Hambden Buel.{{cite book |last1=Browning |first1=Charles Henry |title=Americans of Royal Descent: A Collection of Genealogies of American Families Whose Lineage is Traced to the Legitimate Issue of Kings |date=1891 |publisher=Porter & Costes |page=310 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIUaAAAAYAAJ&dq=John+Griswold+Hillhouse&pg=PA310 |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were David Buel and Rachel ({{nee}} McNiel) Buel, and his maternal grandparents were John Griswold Hillhouse (brother of U.S. Senator James Hillhouse) and Elizabeth ({{nee}} Mason) Hillhouse of Montville, Connecticut.{{cite book |title=Genealogies of Connecticut Families: From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register |date=1983 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=978-0-8063-1030-5 |page=528 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k6fDl9gE45IC&dq=John+Griswold+Hillhouse&pg=RA1-PA528 |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}}

He graduated from Williams College in 1859.

After being admitted to the bar in Troy, Buel practiced law in Troy from 1865 to 1870 before moving to New York City and forming his own law firm with Joel B. Erhardt later known as Buel, Erhardt & Blackwell. He was afterwards associated with W. A. Ogden Hegeman and, later, Buel, Toucey and Whiting (later known as Patterson, Buel, Touchey & Whiting).{{cite book |last1=Court |first1=New York (State) Supreme |last2=Lansing |first2=Abraham |last3=Hun |first3=Marcus Tullius |title=Reports of Cases Heard and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of New York |date=1896 |publisher=Banks & brothers |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wotAQAAMAAJ&dq=Buel,+Toucey+and+Whiting&pg=PA389 |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Supreme Court, Appellate Division- First Department |date=1896 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=25pjhIH0Q8QC&dq=Buel,+Toucey+and+Whiting&pg=RA6-PA22 |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}}

In 1881, Buel was a founding trustee of the Metropolitan Trust Company which was organized by his cousin, Gen. Thomas Hillhouse,{{cite news |title=The New Trust company.; Business to Begin To-morrow--Deposits Already Received. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120920021/the-new-trust-company/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=7 |date=27 November 1881 |via=Newspapers.com}} who had just resigned as the Assistant Treasurer of the United States in New York City (following eleven years in that position after being appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870.{{cite news |title=Gen. Hillhouse Retires |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/11/19/98573027.pdf |access-date=2023-03-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=8 |date=November 19, 1881}} Hillhouse served as president until his death in July 1897 when he was succeeded by Brayton Ives.{{cite news |title=Corporation Elections.; Brayton Ives Now President of the Metropolitan Trust Company. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120920320/corporation-elections-brayton-ives/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=9 |date=13 January 1898 |via=Newspapers.com}}

On December 28, 1875, Buel was married to Josephine Maria ({{nee}} McDougall) Buel, in Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Originally from Indianapolis, Josephine was the widow of Lt.-Col. David Hillhouse Buel, who was actually Buel's nephew. Oliver became stepfather to her son, David Hillhouse Buel, a Yale graduate who became ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1898 and the 34th President of Georgetown University in 1905 (he later left the Jesuit order to marry, and subsequently became an Episcopal priest). Josephine's other child was Josephine Maria Buel, although she later changed her name to Violet McDougal, she married critic George Merriam Hyde.{{cite web |last1=Georgetown University Library Booth Family Center for Special Collections Center |title=Hyde, George Merriam, Papers |url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/559018 |website=repository.library.georgetown.edu |publisher=Georgetown University |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en |date=13 June 2013}}{{cite web |title=Collection: George Merriam Hyde Papers |publisher=Georgetown University Archival Resources |url=https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/10148 |access-date=18 April 2022}}

Buel died at his home, 1037 Fifth Avenue (corner of Fifth Avenue and 85th Street),{{cite book |last1=York |first1=Association of the Bar of the City of New |title=Year Book |date=1900 |publisher=The Association. |page=108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qd88AAAAIAAJ&dq=Buel,+Toucey+and+Whiting&pg=PA108 |access-date=18 April 2022 |language=en}} in New York on April 7, 1899.{{cite news |title=Died -- Buel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/120920492/died-buel/ |access-date=2023-03-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=7 |date=8 April 1899 |via=Newspapers.com}} He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

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Category:1838 births

Category:1899 deaths

Category:Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)

Category:Businesspeople from Troy, New York

Category:American bankers

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:Lawyers from New York City