Augustus Rodney Macdonough

Augustus Rodney Macdonough (November 20, 1820 – July 21, 1907) was an American lawyer, newspaper editor, and Secretary of the Erie Railroad for twenty-five years.

Augustus Rodney Macdonough
21st President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York
In office
1875–1876
Preceded byJames Monroe McLean
Succeeded byWilliam Montgomery Vermilye
Personal details
Born(1820-11-20)November 20, 1820
Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.
DiedJuly 21, 1907(1907-07-21) (aged 86)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Frances Brenton McVickar
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(m. 1846; died 1846)​
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ParentsThomas Macdonough
Lucy Anne Shaler Macdonough
Alma materYale University
Harvard Law School
Known forSecretary of the Erie Railroad

Early life
Portrait of his father, Commander Thomas Macdonough, by Gilbert Stuart.

Macdonough was born on November 20, 1820 at Middletown in Middlesex County, Connecticut and was named after his father's friend, Caesar Augustus Rodney.[1][lower-alpha 1] He was the seventh of ten children born to Commander Thomas Macdonough (1783–1825) and Lucy Anne (née Shaler) Macdonough, who were wed on December 12, 1812. His father was known for his role in the Barbary War and the War of 1812 where he was commanded the United States Navy,[3] and was hailed as the hero of the Battle of Lake Champlain.[1] Among his siblings was Thomas, who died young; Dr. James E. F., who died unmarried; Mary, who died young; Charles Shaler and William, twins; Thomas; Frances, who died young; and Charlotte.[1]

His paternal grandfather was Thomas Macdonough Sr., a Revolutionary War officer who lived near Middletown, Delaware. Her maternal grandparents were Nathaniel Mould Shaler and Lucretia Ann (née Denning) Shaler (herself the daughter of U.S. Representative William Denning and sister-in-law of William Alexander Duer).[1]

Macdonough was educated in Utica, New York before attending Yale University,[4] where he graduated in 1839.[5] He was a student of law at Harvard Law School in 1842.[6]

Career

After being admitted to the bar, he practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri from 1842 to 1848. Shortly before his wife died, they moved to New York City where he continued to practice law until 1873.[5] MacDonough was recording secretary of the New York City Bar Association from 1870 to 1874.[7] After leaving the bar, he served on the board of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company for twenty-five years including as Secretary after its reorganization under president Hugh J. Jewett and serving until 1896.[8]

Beginning with his election at the age of thirty-one on November 6, 1852, Macdonough was a member of the Century Association in New York for fifty-five years.[9] In 1875, he became the 22nd President of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York,[10] a charitable organization in New York City of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York.[5]

Personal life

On June 10, 1846, Macdonough was married to Frances Brenton McVickar,[11] who died less than seven months later on December 6, 1846.[1]

Macdonough was also interested in literature and was considered a "master of classical and modern languages."[5] He was also an accomplished author and poet, who wrote, A Magdalen of the Dresden Gallery,[12] and edited a daily newspaper titled The Spirit of the Fair, which ran from April 5, 1864 to April 23, 1864.[13]

By 1853, he owned the painting of his father by Gilbert Stuart (c. 1815 – c. 1818), from his brother Charles Shaler MacDonough, which he lent it to the Washington Exhibition in New York. After his death, Augustus bequeathed the painting to his nephew, Rodney MacDonough, who left it to his children and was eventually owned by Andrew W. Mellon and is today part of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.[14]

Macdonough died on July 21, 1907 at his home, 353 West 57th Street in New York City.[15] After a funeral at the Indian Hill Chapel conducted by Rev. H. B. Vanderbogart of the Berkeley Divinity School, he was buried at Indian Hill Cemetery in Middletown.[16]

References
Notes
  1. Caesar Augustus Rodney was a lawyer from Wilmington who was a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Minister to Argentina.[2]
Sources
  1. Macdonough, Rodney (1909). Life of Commodore Thomas Macdonough, U. S. Navy. Fort Hill Press, S. Usher. p. 246. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  2. "RODNEY, Caesar Augustus - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  3. "A. R. MacDONOUGH DEAD. Son Of Man Who Commanded A U.S. Fleet in 1814". The Baltimore Sun. July 23, 1907. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. University, Yale (1910). Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College: Deceased During the Academic Year ... Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company. p. 849. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  5. Youngs, Florence Evelyn Pratt; Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1914). Portraits of the Presidents of The Society, 1835-1914. New York, NY: Order of the Society. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  6. A Catalogue of the Students of Law in Harvard University, from the Establishment of the Law School to the End of the Spring Term in the Year...: 1836, 1839, 1842, 1845, 1848, 1851. Harvard University. 1836. p. 25. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  7. "Presidents and Officers". nycbar.org. New York City Bar Association. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  8. Mott, Edward Harold (1901). Between the Ocean and the Lakes: The Story of Erie. J.S. Collins. p. 478. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  9. "AUGUSTUS R. MACDONOUGH Lawyer/Railroad Centurion, 1852–1907". centuryarchives.org. Century Archives – The Century Association Archives Foundation. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  10. Charter, Constitution and By-laws of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. 1913. p. 74. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  11. Macdonough, Rodney (1901). The Macdonough-Hackstaff ancestry. Press of S. Usher. p. 513. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  12. Stedman, Edmund Clarence; Cortissoz, Ellen Mackay (Hutchinson) (1891). A Library of American Literature from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. Webster. p. 547. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  13. Madison, Robert D. (1991). "Cooper, Slavery, and the Spirit of the Fair". jfcoopersociety.org. Presented at the 8th Cooper Seminar, James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, July, 1991: United States Naval Academy. Retrieved 3 May 2019.CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. "Commodore Thomas Macdonough". www.nga.gov. National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  15. "Augustus R. Macdonough" (PDF). The New York Times. July 22, 1907. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  16. "MIDDLETOWN". Hartford Courant. July 25, 1907. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
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