Robert C. Pruyn

Robert Clarence Pruyn (October 23, 1847 – October 29, 1934)[1] was an American inventor, banker, businessman, and politician.

Robert C. Pruyn
Leslie's Illustrated, June 15, 1901.
President of the National Commercial Bank and Trust Company
In office
1885–1931
Preceded byDaniel Manning
Succeeded byJacob C. Herzog
Personal details
Born
Robert Clarence Pruyn

(1847-10-23)October 23, 1847
Albany, New York, U.S.
DiedOctober 29, 1934(1934-10-29) (aged 87)
Albany, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Anna Williams
​
​
(m. 1873; his death 1934)​
RelationsGerrit Y. Lansing (grandfather)
ParentsRobert H. Pruyn
Jane Ann Lansing Pruyn
Alma materRutgers College

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[5] He also received M.A. and LL.D. degrees from Rutgers.[1]

Career

He was also active in the state militia, rising to the rank of Colonel.[6]

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.[7] He was credited for five patents involving puzzles, dominoes, and building blocks.[8] 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.[9]

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.[5] Coincidentally, Manning has succeeded Pruyn's father as president of the Bank. During his forty-one years as president,[10] 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.[11] 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.[5]

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.[5] 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.[12][13]

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.[14] Together, they were the parents of three sons and one daughter, including:[15]

  • Edward Lansing Pruyn (1875–1950), an artists who married Gladys Lillian Ericson (1900–1959).[16]
  • Ruth Williams Pruyn (1877), who married David Marvin Goodrich, and son Benjamin Goodrich (founder of the B. F. Goodrich Company),[17] in 1903.[18] They divorced and David married Frederic's ex-wife Beatrice in 1936.[19]
  • Robert Dunbar Pruyn (1879–1955), a Harvard graduate who married Rebecca C. Metcalf (1880–1943), a daughter of Frederic Wilder Metcalf.[13]
  • Frederic Pruyn (1881–1938), who married Beatrice Morgan, a daughter of William Fellowes Morgan Sr.,[20] in 1907.[21]

Pruyn died in Albany on October 29, 1934.[1] 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.[22][23] 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.[1]

A portrait of Pruyn by William Merritt Chase was owned for many years by the National Commercial Bank and Trust Co. in Albany.[24]

References
  1. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (30 October 1934). "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". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  2. Bielinski, Stefan. "Casparus F. Pruyn". exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov. New York State Museum. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  3. "Pruyn House". www.pruynhouse.org. Friends of Pruyn House. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  4. Albany Institute - Pruyn Family Papers Archived October 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). 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. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 227–228. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  6. Morgan Dix (1883). Memoirs of John Adams Dix. Harper & Brothers. p. 178. Robert Pruyn Judge Advocate General.
  7. "ToyHistory.com". ToyHistory.com. 1955-12-03. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  8. "ibid.". Toyhistory.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  9. "SchenectadyHistory.org". SchenectadyHistory.org. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  10. Times, Special to The New York (23 May 1931). "QUITS BANK PRESIDENCY.; R.C. Pruyn Heads Board of National Commercial in Albany". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  11. "Encyclopedia of Biography of New York". Darcisplace.com. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  12. Cuyler Reynolds (1906). Albany Chronicles. J. B. Lyon company, printers. p. 677. Robert Clarence Pruyn.
  13. Who's Who in New York City and State. L.R. Hamersly Company. 1914. p. 589. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  14. Bender, Matthew (1993). Albany Architecture: A Guide to the City. Mount Ida Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-9625368-1-6. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  15. Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Totten, John Reynolds; Forest, Louis Effingham De (1886). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 214. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  16. Foulke, Patricia; Foulke, Robert (2007). Adventure Guide to the Champlain and Hudson River Valleys. Hunter Publishing, Inc. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-58843-345-9. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  17. of 1898, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1913). Harvard College Class of 1898 Quindecennial Report. Harvard College. pp. 127–128. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  18. "New York Times" (PDF). New York Times. 1903-06-04. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  19. "MRS. BEATRICE PRUYN WED TO D. M. GOODRICH; Bride Sister of Mrs. Cleveland E. Dodge and W. F. Morgan Jr., Markets Commissioner". The New York Times. 19 November 1936. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  20. "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". The New York Times. 3 May 1943. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  21. "LONG BRIDAL PROCESSION.; Many Attendants for Morgan-Pruyn Ceremony To-day". The New York Times. 5 February 1907. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  22. "Adirondack Architectural Heritage - Santanoni History". Aarch.org. Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  23. "National Historic Landmark Nomination - Santanoni Preserve" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-18.
  24. Pisano, Ronald G.; Chase, William Merritt; Baker, D. Frederick (2006). William Merritt Chase: Portraits in oil. Yale University Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-300-11021-0. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
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