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Alexander Lafayette Chew

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American businessman

Alexander Lafayette Chew (October 4, 1824 – November 19, 1911) was an American banker.

Early life

Chew was born on October 4, 1824, in New Orleans, Louisiana, where his father served as collector of the port of New Orleans. He was one of six children of Beverly Chew (1773–1851) and Maria Theodora (née Duer) Chew (1789–1837). Three of his siblings married into the Kennedy family of Louisiana and his eldest sister, Lucy Ann Chew, married their cousin, U.S. Representative William Duer. During the Marquis de Lafayette's 1824 visit to the United States, his father hosted the French statesman at their New Orleans home. Young Alexander was born shortly thereafter and Lafayette became godfather of the boy, giving the family an "ornate silver teapot inscribed with the infant's name."

His paternal grandparents were Ann (née Fox) Chew and Col. John Chew Jr. (1740–1799), who served in the Continental Army. His maternal grandparents were Continental Congress delegate William Duer and Lady Catherine Alexander. Among his Duer relatives were uncles William Alexander Duer and John Duer, both prominent Judges. His mother was also a cousin to Edward Livingston, the United States Senator from Louisiana.

He attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York, beginning in 1840.

Career

In 1863, he was a founder of the First National Bank of Geneva. Three years after it was formed, Chew, his father-in-law Phineas Prouty, Corydon Wheat, his brother-in-law Thomas Hillhouse and Thomas Raines (later New York State Treasurer) bought out the bank and made Chew President. Shortly after he became president, First National built their headquarters on the southeast corner of Seneca and Exchange Streets in Geneva. By 1890, the Bank had assets totaling more than $370,000,000. Chew served as its president until his death in 1911. The bank was reorganized as the Geneva Trust Company in 1919.

Chew also served as a trustee of Hobart College for forty-two years and a vestryman and warden of Trinity Church in Geneva.

Personal life

On January 10, 1849, Chew was married to Sarah Augusta Prouty (1825–1912), a daughter of merchant Phineas Prouty and Margaret Van Vranken. Sarah's sister, Harriet Prouty, was the wife of New York State Comptroller Thomas Hillhouse and her brother was Phineas Prouty. Together, they were the parents of:

  • Beverly Chew II (1850–1924), a banker and well-known book collector who married Clarissa Tainter Pierson, a daughter of the Rev. Job Pierson and granddaughter of U.S. Representative Job Pierson, in 1872.
  • Harriet Hillhouse Chew (1851–1919), who married Dr. Ernest Cleveland Coxe, son of Bishop Arthur Cleveland Coxe.
  • Phineas Prouty Chew (1854–1935), a printing press manufacturer who married Marguerite Pistor in 1879.
  • Thomas Hillhouse Chew (1856–1932), who never married.
  • Alexander Duer Chew (1858–1927), cashier of the International Pump Co. who never married.
  • Katherine Adelaide Chew (1861–1924), who married Samuel Cooper Winship, a son of Maj. Oscar Fingal Winship.
  • Theodora Augusta Chew (1863–1874), who died young.
  • Lillian Chew (1868–1931), who married George Wilder, vice president of the Central Bank of Rochester.

Chew died in Geneva on November 19, 1911. His second son Thomas succeeded him as president of the First National Bank of Geneva and served as president until his own death in 1932.

Descendants

Through his youngest daughter Lillian, he was a grandfather of composer Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (better known as Alec Wilder).

References

Notes
  1. Lady Catherine Alexander (1755–1826), was the second daughter of Sarah (née Livingston) Alexander and Gen. William Alexander, the claimant of the Scottish earldom of Stirling, and a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Sources
  1. Daughters of the American Revolution (1905). Lineage Book, Vol. 20. The Society. pp. 130–131. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  2. ^ Weeks, Lyman Horace (1898). Prominent Families of New York: Being an Account in Biographical Form of Individuals and Families Distinguished as Representatives of the Social, Professional and Civic Life of New York City. Historical Company. p. 193. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  3. ^ Stone, Desmond (25 April 1996). Alec Wilder in Spite of Himself: A Life of the Composer. Oxford University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-19-535728-8. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  4. Duer, William Alexander (1847). The Life of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, Major-General in the Army of the United States During the Revolution: With Selections from His Correspondence. New Jersey Historical Society. p. 265. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  5. Browning, Charles Henry (1891). Americans of Royal Descent: A Collection of Genealogies of American Families Whose Lineage is Traced to the Legitimate Issue of Kings. Porter & Costes. p. 123. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  6. ^ Prouty (Proute) Genealogy. C. H. Pope. 1910. pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-0-598-99860-6. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  7. ^ "Currency, Finance and the Civil War". historicgeneva.org. Historic Geneva. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  8. Treasury, United States Comptroller of the (1890). Annual Report. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 230. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  9. Dept, New York (State) Banking (1920). Annual Report of the Superintendent of Banks Relative to Savings Banks, Investment Companies, Safe Deposit Companies and Licensed Lenders ... p. 440. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  10. Hillhouse, Margaret Prouty (1924). Historical and Genealogical Collections Relating to the Descendants of Rev. James Hillhouse. T. A. Wright. pp. 223, 298. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  11. "BEVERLY CHEW.; Was Famous as Collector of Books and Manuscripts". The New York Times. 22 May 1924. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  12. Chronicle. Historical Society of Michigan. 1977. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  13. "PHINEAS CHEW DEAD; OF PIONEER ANCESTRY; His Father Lafayette's Godson --Former Treasurer of Robert Hoe Printing Press Concern". The New York Times. 2 January 1936. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  14. "MARRIED -- Barstow--Chew". The New York Times. 26 October 1901. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  15. ^ "THOMAS H. CHEW DEAD; GENEVA (N.Y.) BANKER; Philanthropist and Member of Old Family -- Trustee of Hobart and William Smith Colleges". The New York Times. 4 March 1932. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  16. "Deaths -- CHEW". The New York Times. 17 July 1927. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  17. The Rand McNally Bankers' Monthly. Rand McNally & Company. 1909. p. 306. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  18. "Alexander Lafayette Chew". The New York Times. 19 November 1911. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  19. "GENEVA CHURCH COLLEGE GIVEN ESTATE SHARES. Hospital, Kin Also Benefit by Terms of T. H. Chew's Will". Democrat and Chronicle. 20 March 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  20. Wilson, John S. (25 December 1980). "Alec Wilder, Composer, 73, Dead; Wrote Songs and Classical Works; 'Let Uniqueness Be Unique' Also Admired by Jazzmen Made Others Laugh Returned to Study at Eastman Home Was the Algonquin". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
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