James B. Mabon

James Brown Mabon (July 16, 1865 – March 10, 1941) was an American banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

James B. Mabon
President of the New York Stock Exchange
In office May 1912 – May 1914
Preceded by	Ransom H. Thomas
Succeeded by	Henry George Stebbins Noble
Personal details
Born	James Brown Mabon July 16, 1865 New Brunswick, New Jersey
Died	March 10, 1941 (aged 75) New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Elise Howell Smith ​ ​ (his death 1941)​
Children	5

Early life

Mabon was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey on July 16, 1865.[1] A son of Emiline (née Deas) Mabon and the Rev. Dr. William Van Vranken Mabon, a professor in the Theological Seminary.[2] Among his siblings was the Rev. Dr. Arthur Mabon,[3] and John Scott Mabon, Elisabeth Van Vranken Mabon, William Van Vranken Mabon, George Deas Mabon, and the Rev. Samuel Cliffton Mabon.[4][5]

Career

He began his career as an office boy with Brown Brothers, staying with them for many years before he formed a brokerage firm with his co-worker and close friend, William M. Kingsley, known as Kingsley, Mabon & Co., with offices at 45 Wall Street. Kingsley later retired from the firm and became chairman of the board of the United States Trust Company.[1]

From May 1912 to May 1914, he served as president of the New York Stock Exchange, where he became a member in 1891.[6] He served on most of the important committees of the Exchange in a period of twenty-nine years, and at various times was chairman and trustee of the gratuity fund, director and president of the New York Quotation Company, and director of president of the New York Stock Exchange Safe Deposit Company.[7] In 1912, he was questioned by Samuel Untermyer during the Pujo Committee's money trust investigation.[8]

On April 5, 1929, he resigned as a governor of the Exchange (where he had served since 1900), and in September 1931, after forty years on the Exchange, he sold his seat to Rudolph Nadel, who became a partner in Mabon & Co.[7] At the time of his death, he was the senior partner of Mabon & Co.[1] (later Mabon, Nugent & Co. and Mabon Securities Corp.)[9] and one of the oldest trustees of the Bank of New York.[10]

Personal life

On January 6, 1898, Mabon was married to Elise Howell Smith (1875–1961) at the Collegiate Church at West End and 77th Street in New York. Smith, a daughter of Judge Abel I. Smith, was a member of the Colonial Dames of America. They lived at 420 Park Avenue in Manhattan and had a country home in Norfolk, Connecticut.[2] Together, they were the parents of:

• James Brown Mabon Jr. (1899–1977),[9] who married Mary Frost, a daughter of Sterling Frost of St. Louis and Florence, at the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1929. She was a niece of Frederick A. Sterling, the American Minister to the Irish Free State.[11][12]
• Laura Mabon (1901–1979),[13] who married Harvey Childs III in 1921.[3][14]
• Janet Mabon (1904–1965), who married William W. Schott, the second chargé d'affaires in Budapest.[15]
• Kingsley Mabon, who married Martha Hall in 1938.[16]
• Lisa Van Vranken Mabon (c. 1918–1993), who married John Martin Trent in 1941.[17]

His portrait was painted by S. Seymour Thomas in 1922.[18]

Mabon died suddenly of a heart attack at his residence, 420 Park Avenue, in March 1941.[1][19] His widow, who was then living at 570 Park Avenue, died at Litchfield County Hospital in Winsted, Connecticut in May 1961.[20]

References

1. "JAMES MABON DIES; EXCHANGE EX-HEAD; President From 1912-14, Was Member 40 Years--Senior Partner in Company ESTABLISHED OWN FIRM Began Career in Wall Street as an Office Boy With Banking House of Brown Brothers" (PDF). The New York Times. March 11, 1941. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
2. "MABON--SMITH | Two Young People, Well Known in This City, Married Yesterday". The Daily Times. 7 January 1898. p. 8. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
3. "MISS MABON WEDS HARVEY CHILDS, 3D; Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.B. Mabon Married in Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas. BRIDE'S UNCLE OFFICIATES Miss Elise De Ronde Weds Augustus E. Bieser in Madison AvenuePresbyterian ,Church" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 May 1921. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
4. The Scarlet Letter: Annual Publication of the Greek Letter Fraternities [of Rutgers College]. 1888. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
5. America, New Brunswick (N J. ) Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in; Seminary, New Brunswick Theological; Demarest, David D. (1885). Centennial of the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in America. (Formerly Ref. Prot. Dutch church) 1784-1884. Board of Publication of the Reformed Church in America. p. 461. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
6. "NEW STOCK EXCHANGE HEAD; H.G.S. Noble Succeeds J.B. Mabon as President -- Other Officers" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 May 1914. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
7. "SEAT ON EXCHANGE TO GO AT $185,000; Arrangements Made for Sale at Lowest Price Since 1927 on the Big Board. $1,000 UNDER 1930 BOTTOM James B. Mabon, Once President, Will Quit Membership After Forty Years" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 September 1931. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
8. Currency, United States Congress House Committee on Banking and; Pujo, Arsène Paulin; Hayes, Everis Anson; McMorran, Henry (1912). Money trust investigation: Investigation of financial and monetary conditions in the United States under House resolutions nos. 429 and 504, before a subcommittee of the Committee on banking and currency. (In three volumes). Government print. off. p. 379. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
9. "Deaths" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 July 1977. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
10. "Bank Board Honors J.B. Mabon" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 March 1941. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
11. "MARY FROST TO WED IN PARIS ON MAY 13; James Brown Mabon Jr., Her Fiance and Relatives to Sail for France Today" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 May 1929. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
12. "JAMES B. MABON JR. MARRIED IN PARIS; New Yorker Weds Miss Mary Frost of St. Louis in Famous Church of St. Germain des Pres" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 May 1929. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
13. "CHILDS--Laura (nee Mabon)" (PDF). The New York Times. August 17, 1979. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
14. "Laura M. Childs, Executive, Weds Kenneth Saverin". The New York Times. 14 October 1984. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
15. "William W. Schott". The New York Times. 7 November 1981. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
16. "Miss Martha Hall to Be September Bride; Fiance Is Kingsley Mabon, a Yale Alumnus" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 August 1938. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
17. "LISA VAN V. MABON ENGAGED TO MARRY; To Be the Bride of John Martin Trent, Princeton Graduate" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 May 1941. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
18. "S.S. THOMAS'S PORTRAITS.; Those of Darwin P. Kingsley and James B. Mabon Completed" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 August 1922. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
19. "Deaths" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 March 1941. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
20. Times, Special to The New York (13 May 1961). "Mrs. James B. Mabon Sr" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2019.

External links

• James B. Mabon at Find a Grave