Business; Capitalists and financiers -- United States; Speculation; Wall Street (New York, N.Y.)
Drew made his debut in Wall Street in 1844, just thirteen years prior to
my first appearance on the boards of this financial theatre, and he was
quite a war horse in speculation when I entered the arena. He formed a
partnership with his son-in-law, a Mr. Kelly, and Nelson Taylor, as
stock brokers and bankers. Their business was large and their credit
good. The firm continued for ten years, until it was dissolved by the
death of his partners. Drew then became one of the most daring and
successful operators in Wall Street.
Drew was married at the age of 25 to Roxana Mead, a farmer’s daughter,
by whom he was the father of three children, William H., Josephine, who
died in infancy, and Catharine, who was married to the Rev. W. I. Clapp,
a Baptist clergyman, who died and left his widow in good circumstances.
So there were very little grounds for “Uncle Daniel’s” dread that he
should probably die in miserable destitution, as it seems that his two
surviving children were very kind to him. His wife died in 1876.
Drew was a member of St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church of New York
for several years. He contributed large sums to various religious and
educational institutions, but like Wilkins Micawber, he usually paid the
money in notes, which appeared in the schedule of his liabilities when
he had lost his large fortune, and had become bankrupt. He founded the
Drew Seminary at Carmel, for young ladies, at a cost of $250,000. He
built the Drew Theological Seminary, at Madison, New Jersey, also at a
cost of $250,000, and endowed it with a similar amount. He only paid the
interest on the latter. He increased the endowment fund of the Wesleyan
University, at Middletown, Conn., and the Concord Biblical Institute. He
added $100,000 to the endowment fund of Wesley University, but only paid
the interest on that also. These appear in the schedule, in the list of
his unsecured claims. He owned several large grazing farms in Putnam
county, but they were heavily mortgaged.
Drew had some intention of returning to his old home after the
bankruptcy proceedings in 1876, to spend the remainder of his days there
among his grandchildren. This desire shows that there was something
inherently soft and good, after all, in his avaricious nature, and
reminds me of the touching lines of Cowper on the same subject:
“Be it a weakness, it deserves some praise,
We love the play place of our early days,
The scene is touching, and the heart is stone,
That feels not at the sight, and feels at none.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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