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Joseph Sampson (October 16, 1794 – May 21, 1872) was a 19th-century American businessman and merchant. He was among the founding shareholders of Chemical Bank in 1823.

Early life

Sampson was born in Plympton, Massachusetts in 1794. He was the son of Rev. Ezra Sampson (1749–1823) and Mary (née Bourne) Sampson (1755–1812). His siblings included Ezra Jr., Isaac, Mary and Frances "Fanny". His father was a minister who graduated from Yale College in 1773.

Sampson traced his lineage to Abraham Sampson who had come to Plymouth Colony in 1629-1630 and also to original Pilgrims Miles Standish and John Alden.

Career

Sampson came to New York to work as an apprentice in the auction house of Boggs & Livingston founded in 1800. Sampson would work his way up through the firm which would later be renamed Thompson & Sampson in 1820 and then Joseph Sampson & Co. in 1830. This firm continued under different names into the 20th Century. Sampson was one of the founders of the Chemical Bank, subscribing to one tenth of the capital stock and asking to take more, but it was not thought wise to let any one hold more than that proportion. Already being a director of the Bank of Commerce, he did not serve as such in the Chemical Bank, but was always one of the leading advisers and directors of its policy, visiting it every day and consulting with its officers.

Sampson retired from business at a comparatively early age, but continued to take an active and leading part in the various companies and institutions with which he was connected as director. He was at the time of his death, in 1872, a director in the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, the Bank of Commerce, the New York Gas Light Company, and the Eagle Fire Company, in most of which, if not in all, he was the largest stockholder.

In 1840, Sampson acquired to the house built by the banker Samuel Ward III (father of Samuel Ward IV) at the corner of Broadway and Bond Street. Sampson paid $70,000 for this property, leading John Jacob Astor to remark that he "did not know that there was any one in New York who could afford to pay such a price for a residence".

Personal life

On June 25, 1831, Sampson was married to Adele Caroline Livingston (1810/3–1841). She was the daughter of Julia Adel Broome (1776–1844) and John Walter Livingston (1778–1860), a great-grandson of Philip Livingston. Adele's maternal grandfather was John Broome, who served as Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1804 to 1810, and her sister was Julia Livingston, who married the Rev. Henry Philip Tappan. His wife died approximately a week after she gave birth to their daughter:

• Adele Livingston Sampson (1841–1912), who married Frederic W. Stevens (1839–1928). In 1887, shocking society, she divorced Stevens and married Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1843–1917), who became the 4th Duke of Dino, making her the Duchess of Dino. They were divorced in 1903.

Sampson died on May 21, 1872, at his residence at 2 Bond Street in Manhattan.

Descendants

Through his daughter, Sampson was the grandfather of:

• Joseph Stevens, a Rough Rider;
• Mabel Ledyard Stevens (1872–1959), who married Count Micislas Orlowski (1865–1929), a Polish nobleman;
• Frances Stevens, who married the Count de Gallifet, and later, Count Maurice des Monstiers de Mérinville;
• Adele Livingston "Daisy" Stevens (1864–1939), who was married to Frederick Hobbes Allen (1858–1937), a prominent international lawyer who was the son of Elisha Hunt Allen (1804–1883), former U.S. Representative from Maine and the United States Minister to the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1856 until his death in 1883, and the grandson of Samuel Clesson Allen (1772–1842), a Senator from Massachusetts.

References

1. ^ Vinton, John Adams (1864). The Sampson Family: Genealogical Memoirs of the Sampson Family in America, from the Arrival of the Mayflower in 1620 to the Present Time. Henry W. Dutton & Son, distributed by Higginson Genealogical Books. pp. 56–57. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
2. ^ History of the Chemical Bank, 1823-1913. 1913.
3. ^ A century of banking in New York, 1822-1922. The Gilliss Press, 1922
4. Valentine's manual of old New York, Volume 12. Valentine's manual, inc., 1917
5. The old merchants of New York City, Volume 4. Thomas R. Knox & Co., 1885
6. ^ Broom, Letitia; Semans, Barbara Broome (2009). John Broome and Rebecca Lloyd: Their Descendants and Related Families 18th to 21st Centuries. Xlibris Corporation. ISBN 9781462811120. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
7. Semans, Barbara Broome; Broom, Letitia (2013). BROOME, LATOURETTE, AND MERCEREAU FAMILIES OF NEW YORK AND CONNECTICUT: 17th to 19th Centuries. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 83–85. ISBN 9781479773022. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
8. ^ "DUCHESS DE DINO IS DEAD IN PARIS; Former Wife of F.W. Stevens Was Once Prominent in New York and Newport Society". The New York Times. 20 July 1912. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
9. "THE STEVENS AFFAIR.; ITS CULMINATION CREATES A SENSATION IN NEWPORT". The New York Times. January 28, 1887. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
10. Winship, Kihm (30 October 2009). "The Livingstons of Skaneateles". kihm6.wordpress.com. Skaneateles. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
11. "MABEL STEVENS'S MARRIAGE.; GOWNS SHE HAS TO WEAR AND THE SPEECH THE MAYOR MADE". The New York Times. 29 December 1891. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
12. "DUCHESS DE DINO'S WEDDING". The New York Times. 17 December 1891. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
13. Americans Abroad | Paris Correspondence. National Courier, Vol. 4, Issue 6. 1914. p. 17. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
14. "COL. F. H. ALLEN, 79, DEAD AT NEWPORT; Former Pelham Manor Mayor Honored by Many Nations for World War Work LAWYER AND ECONOMIST Member of Group Organizing Lafayette Escadrille--Served With Colonel House Once in Diplomatic Service Received Honors Abroad". The New York Times. 4 December 1937. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
15. "ALLEN, Elisha Hunt - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
16. "ALLEN, Samuel Clesson - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 17 October 2017.

External links

• Adele Livingston Sampson at Find a Grave (Sampson's wife)

• 1790s births
• 1872 deaths
• American bankers
• People from Plympton, Massachusetts
• 19th-century American businesspeople