Robert C. Pruyn
{{Short description|American investor and banker (1847–1934)}}
{{infobox officeholder
| image = Robert C. Pruyn (Albany, New York businessman).jpg
| caption = Leslie's Illustrated, June 15, 1901.
| office = President of the National Commercial Bank and Trust Company
| term_start = 1885
| term_end = 1931
| predecessor = Daniel Manning
| successor = Jacob C. Herzog
| birth_name = Robert Clarence Pruyn
| birth_date = {{birth date|1847|10|23}}
| birth_place = Albany, New York, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1934|10|29|1847|10|23}}
| death_place = Albany, New York, U.S.
| alma_mater = Rutgers College
| parents = Robert H. Pruyn
Jane Ann Lansing Pruyn
| spouse = {{marriage|Anna Williams|October 22, 1873}}
| children =
| relations = Gerrit Y. Lansing (grandfather)
}}
Robert Clarence Pruyn (October 23, 1847 – October 29, 1934) was an American inventor, banker, businessman, and politician.
Early life
Pruyn was born on October 23, 1847, in Albany, New York. He was a son of Jane Ann (née Lansing) Pruyn (1811–1886) and Robert Hewson Pruyn, who served as Speaker of the New York State Assembly in 1850 and 1854 and was one of the founders of Albany Law School. Among his siblings was Charles Lansing Pruyn.{{cite web |last1=Bielinski |first1=Stefan |title=Casparus F. Pruyn |url=https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/p/cafpruyn.html |website=exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov |publisher=New York State Museum |access-date=10 March 2020 |archive-date=22 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722214034/https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/p/cafpruyn.html |url-status=live }}
His maternal grandparents were Helen (née Ten Eyck) Lansing (daughter of Abraham Ten Eyck) and Gerrit Yates Lansing, a U.S. Representative who served as the Chancellor of the University of the State of New York. His paternal grandparents were Ann (née Hewson) Pruyn and Casparus Francis Pruyn, the land and business agent of Rensselaerwyck for Stephen Van Rensselaer.{{cite web |title=Pruyn House |url=https://www.pruynhouse.org/index.php/site/our-history |website=www.pruynhouse.org |publisher=Friends of Pruyn House |access-date=10 March 2020 |archive-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120184310/https://www.pruynhouse.org/index.php/site/our-history |url-status=live }} The Pruyn family was one of the oldest and most esteemed Dutch families in New York, and at the time of Robert's birth, had resided in Albany for over two centuries.[http://www.albanyinstitute.org/collections/FindingAids/PRUYN%20FAMILY%20PAPERS%20JQ%2084-08.pdf Albany Institute - Pruyn Family Papers] {{webarchive | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030053418/http://www.albanyinstitute.org/collections/FindingAids/PRUYN%20FAMILY%20PAPERS%20JQ%2084-08.pdf |date=October 30, 2008 }}
At an early age, Pruyn traveled to Japan with his father (who was political ally and close friend to William Henry Seward), where the elder Pruyn was serving as the U.S. Minister to Japan. When he returned to the United States in 1865, he entered Rutgers College from which he graduated in 1869. He also received M.A. and LL.D. degrees from Rutgers.
Career
He was also active in the state militia, rising to the rank of colonel.{{cite book |title=Memoirs of John Adams Dix |author=Morgan Dix |year=1883 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsjohnadam02dixgoog
|page=[https://archive.org/details/memoirsjohnadam02dixgoog/page/n202 178] |quote=Robert Pruyn Judge Advocate General.}}
In 1871, Pruyn went on to become president of the Embossing Company, one of the major toy manufacturers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.{{cite web |url=http://www.toyhistory.com/Embossing.html |title=ToyHistory.com |publisher=ToyHistory.com |date=1955-12-03 |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303221109/http://www.toyhistory.com/Embossing.html |url-status=live }} He was credited for five patents involving puzzles, dominoes, and building blocks.{{cite web |url=http://www.toyhistory.com/embosspeople.html |title=ibid. |publisher=Toyhistory.com |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2018-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705115859/http://toyhistory.com/embosspeople.html |url-status=dead }} When John A. Dix became Governor of New York in 1873, Pruyn became an aide on the Governor's staff, and was later appointed a member of the New York State Board of Regents.{{cite web |url=http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/pruyn-1.html |title=SchenectadyHistory.org |publisher=SchenectadyHistory.org |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2014-07-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140731122429/http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/pruyn-1.html |url-status=live }}
On May 23, 1885, Pruyn was named the President of National Commercial Bank and Trust Company of Albany after the former president, Daniel Manning, was appointed United States Secretary of the Treasury by President Grover Cleveland. Coincidentally, Manning has succeeded Pruyn's father as president of the Bank. During his forty-one years as president,{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=QUITS BANK PRESIDENCY.; R.C. Pruyn Heads Board of National Commercial in Albany. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/23/archives/quits-bank-presidency-rc-pruyn-heads-board-of-national-commercial.html |access-date=10 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=23 May 1931 |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185532/https://www.nytimes.com/1931/05/23/archives/quits-bank-presidency-rc-pruyn-heads-board-of-national-commercial.html |url-status=live }} Pruyn's secretaries included Charles E. Adams and Frederick Baldwin Adams. Pruyn and his staff became some of the more successful investors of the early twentieth century.{{cite web |url=http://www.darcisplace.com/darci/pruyn-robert.htm |title=Encyclopedia of Biography of New York |publisher=Darcisplace.com |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2017-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924045804/http://www.darcisplace.com/darci/pruyn-robert.htm |url-status=live }} While president, Pruyn hired architect Robert W. Gibson to erect a new granite and marble headquarters at 60 State Street in Albany, which opened in May 1904.{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Cuyler |title=Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene |date=1911 |publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company |pages=227–228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4k-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA227 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185520/https://books.google.com/books?id=b4k-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA227#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}
Pruyn also served as vice-president of the Municipal Gas Company of Albany, and the president of the Albany Railway Company, the two largest corporations in the city. He was a director (and one of the organizers) of the Union Trust Company, a member of the board of governors of the Albany Hospital, a director of the Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society, a member of the Sons of the Revolution, the Holland Society, the Century Association, the University Club, the Metropolitan Club and the Jekyll Island Club in Georgia.{{cite book|title=Albany Chronicles|author=Cuyler Reynolds|year=1906|publisher=J. B. Lyon company, printers |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_XNU0AAAAIAAJ| page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_XNU0AAAAIAAJ/page/n991 677] |quote=Robert Clarence Pruyn.}}{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New York City and State |date=1914 |publisher=L.R. Hamersly Company |page=589 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5exHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA589 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185533/https://books.google.com/books?id=5exHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA589#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}
Personal life
On October 22, 1873, he was married to Anna Williams (1853–1939). Anna was a daughter of Martha Andrews (née Hough) Williams and Chauncey Pratt Williams, former president of the National Exchange Bank. Her brother, Chauncey Pratt Williams, was a prominent banker and historian. Pruyn hired architects Potter & Robertson to design a house for his family at the corner of Lancaster and Willett Streets.{{cite book |last1=Bender |first1=Matthew |title=Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City |date=1993 |publisher=Mount Ida Press |isbn=978-0-9625368-1-6 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_M7vlQPa8kC&pg=PA180 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=2024-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185720/https://books.google.com/books?id=B_M7vlQPa8kC&pg=PA180#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} Together, they were the parents of three sons and one daughter, including:{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Richard Henry |last2=Stiles |first2=Henry Reed |last3=Dwight |first3=Melatiah Everett |last4=Totten |first4=John Reynolds |last5=Forest |first5=Louis Effingham De |title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |date=1886 |publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society |page=214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5kyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA214 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185712/https://books.google.com/books?id=V5kyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA214#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}
- Edward Lansing Pruyn (1875–1950), an artists who married Gladys Lillian Ericson (1900–1959).{{cite book |last1=Foulke |first1=Patricia |last2=Foulke |first2=Robert |title=Adventure Guide to the Champlain and Hudson River Valleys |date=2007 |publisher=Hunter Publishing, Inc |isbn=978-1-58843-345-9 |page=99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O7Y-Zv0UAYEC&pg=PA99 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185715/https://books.google.com/books?id=O7Y-Zv0UAYEC&pg=PA99 |url-status=live }}
- Ruth Williams Pruyn (1877), who married David Marvin Goodrich, and son Benjamin Goodrich (founder of the B. F. Goodrich Company),{{cite book |last1=of 1898 |first1=Harvard College (1780-) Class |title=Harvard College Class of 1898 Quindecennial Report |date=1913 |publisher=Harvard College |pages=127–128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isknAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425185524/https://books.google.com/books?id=isknAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA127#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }} in 1903.{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/06/04/102005153.pdf |title=New York Times |work=New York Times |date=1903-06-04 |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2024-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190114/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/06/04/102005153.pdf |url-status=live }} They divorced and David married Frederic's ex-wife Beatrice in 1936.{{cite news |title=MRS. BEATRICE PRUYN WED TO D. M. GOODRICH; Bride Sister of Mrs. Cleveland E. Dodge and W. F. Morgan Jr., Markets Commissioner. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/19/88713634.html |access-date=10 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=19 November 1936 |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190118/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/11/19/88713634.html |url-status=live }}
- Robert Dunbar Pruyn (1879–1955), a Harvard graduate who married Rebecca C. Metcalf (1880–1943), a daughter of Frederic Wilder Metcalf.
- Frederic Pruyn (1881–1938), who married Beatrice Morgan, a daughter of William Fellowes Morgan Sr.,{{cite news |title=W. F. MORGAN SR., CIVIC LEADER, DIES; Prominent Figure in the Cold Storage Industry for Last 55 Years Was 82 {{!}} PHILANTHROPIES NOTABLE {{!}} Ex-Head of Y.M.C.A. --Active in Church Circles--President of Merchants' Group for Years |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/05/03/archives/w-f-morg-sr-cic-leer-dies-prominent-figure-in-the-cold-storaee.html |access-date=10 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=3 May 1943 |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190219/https://www.nytimes.com/1943/05/03/archives/w-f-morg-sr-cic-leer-dies-prominent-figure-in-the-cold-storaee.html |url-status=live }} in 1907.{{cite news |title=LONG BRIDAL PROCESSION.; Many Attendants for Morgan-Pruyn Ceremony To-day. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1907/02/05/archives/long-bridal-procession-many-attendants-for-morganpruyn-ceremony.html |access-date=10 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=5 February 1907 |archive-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528041318/https://www.nytimes.com/1907/02/05/archives/long-bridal-procession-many-attendants-for-morganpruyn-ceremony.html |url-status=live }}
Pruyn died in Albany on October 29, 1934.{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=ROBERT C. PRUYN, 87, FINANCIER, IS DEAD; Presidential 41 Years National Commercial Bank of Albany Was Chase Director Also. ON MANY OTHER BOARDS Advised Protestant Episcopal Church on Funds -- Friend of Late Theodore Roosevelt. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/10/30/archives/robert-c-pruyn-87-financier-is-dead-presidential-41-years-national.html |access-date=10 March 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=30 October 1934 |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190047/https://www.nytimes.com/1934/10/30/archives/robert-c-pruyn-87-financier-is-dead-presidential-41-years-national.html |url-status=live }} He was buried at the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York.
=Legacy=
He also established the 13,000 acre (53 km²) Santanoni Preserve on Newcomb Lake in the Adirondack Mountains upstate of New York, which is today a state park and National Historic Landmark.{{cite web |url=http://www.aarch.org/santanoni/history.html |title=Adirondack Architectural Heritage - Santanoni History |publisher=Aarch.org |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2014-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819084919/http://www.aarch.org/santanoni/history.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/86002955_text |title=National Historic Landmark Nomination - Santanoni Preserve |format=PDF |access-date=2014-08-18 |archive-date=2024-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190110/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/86002955_text |url-status=live }} After President William McKinley was shot in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, then vice president Theodore Roosevelt traveled to Buffalo to visit McKinley in the hospital. As it appeared that McKinley would recover, Roosevelt went on to Santanoni as Pruyn's guest; the two were old friends. When McKinley's condition worsened, Roosevelt left directly from Santanoni to Buffalo where he was inaugurated as the 26th President of the United States.
A portrait of Pruyn by William Merritt Chase was owned for many years by the National Commercial Bank and Trust Co. in Albany.{{cite book |last1=Pisano |first1=Ronald G. |last2=Chase |first2=William Merritt |last3=Baker |first3=D. Frederick |title=William Merritt Chase: Portraits in oil |date=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-11021-0 |page=155 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gka2twCr8SEC&pg=PA155 |access-date=10 March 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425190051/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gka2twCr8SEC&pg=PA155#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{find a Grave|97576358|Robert Clarence Pruyn}}
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Category:Rutgers University alumni
Category:Politicians from Albany, New York
Category:19th-century American inventors