Charles M. Fry

Charles M. Fry
President of the Bank of New York
In office
1876–1892
Preceded byCharles P. Leverich
Succeeded byEbenezer S. Mason
Personal details
Born
Charles Meriwether Fry

(1822-04-24)April 24, 1822
Madison County, Virginia
DiedNovember 18, 1892(1892-11-18) (aged 70)
Manhattan, New York
Spouse
Elizabeth Wickham Leigh
​
​
(died 1892)​
Parent(s)Henry Belville Fry
Annie Clarke

Charles Meriwether Fry (April 24, 1822 – November 18, 1892) was an American banker.

Early life

Fry was born in Madison County, Virginia, on April 24, 1822.[1] He was the eldest son of Henry Belville Fry (1794–1836) and Annie (née Clarke) Fry.[2] Among his siblings were Kitty Fry (who married W. D. Fry of Madison), Maria Elizabeth Fry (who married William Thomas Sparks).[3] After his mother's death, his father married Lucy Clarke,[4] and had three more daughters, Sarah A. Fry (who married R. S. Thomas, Clerk of Madison County), Mary E. Fry (who married Jerry Garnett), and Clara H. Fry (who married Absalom G. Garnett).[5]

His paternal grandparents were Catherine "Kitty" (née Walker) Fry (a daughter of Thomas Walker of Castle Hill) and Joshua Fry (a son of the Rev. Henry Fry and grandson of Col. Joshua Fry, an adventurer and cartographer who collaborated with Thomas Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson).[2] His great-aunt, Clary Stubbs (née Walker) Hawes, was the mother of Richard Hawes, 2nd Confederate Governor of Kentucky and U.S. representative Albert Gallatin Hawes.[5]

Career

Fry moved to New York City in 1848. He was elected a director of the Bank of New York in 1874, the same year he was made vice-president of the bank.[6] On January 18, 1876, he was elected to succeed Charles P. Leverich as President of the Bank of New York.[6] In 1888, he wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times, claiming that the Bank "does not hold one dollar of C. G. Francklyn's paper nor has it ever lost a dollar by Mr. Francklyn."[7] He served in that capacity until his death in 1892 when he was succeeded by Ebenezer S. Mason.[8]

Personal life

Fry was married to Elizabeth Wickham Leigh (1824–1895), a daughter of U.S. senator Benjamin W. Leigh and, his third wife, Julia Wickham (a daughter of John Wickham).[9] Her elder half-brother, William B. Leigh, married Mary White Colston (a daughter of U.S. representative Edward Colston). Through William, she was an aunt of artist William Robinson Leigh.[10][a]

He died at 279 Lexington Avenue, his home in Manhattan (a four-story brownstone designed by Charles Buek at a cost of $50,500),[12] on November 18, 1892.[13] He was buried at Shockoe Hill Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ Elizabeth's nephew, William Robinson Leigh, married Ethel Traphagen, the founder of the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City. She was a daughter of New York State Senator William C. Traphagen and sister of John C. Traphagen, who was president of the Bank of New York from 1931 to 1948.[11]

References

  1. ^ Frye, George Walter (1966). Colonel Joshua Fry of Virginia and Some of His Descendants and Allied Families. p. 126. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia. R.T. Green. 1900. pp. 58–59. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  3. ^ Lineage Book. The Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1928. p. 109. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  4. ^ "CLARKE, Lucy to FRY, Henry B." archives.dc.gov. Office of the Secretary of the District of Columbia | DC Office of Public Records and Archives. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b Slaughter, Philip; Fry, Henry (1880). Memoir of Col. Joshua Fry, sometime professor in William and Mary College, Virginia, and Washington's senior in command of Virginia forces, 1754, etc., etc., with an autobiography of his son, Rev. Henry Fry, and a census of their descendants. [Richmond, Va., Randolph & English. pp. 52–53. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b Domett, Henry Williams (1884). A History of the Bank of New York, 1784-1884. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. XIII, 109, 116. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  7. ^ FRY, President, CHARLES M. (September 8, 1888). "THE BANK OF NEW-YORK". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  8. ^ "Ebenezer S. Mason". The New York Times. 22 September 1900. p. 7. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  9. ^ Watson, Walter Allen (1924). Notes on Southside Virginia. D. Bottom, superintendant of public printing. pp. 153–154. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  10. ^ Virginia Genealogies & Land Patents: Series of Articles from the Richmond Critic, 1888-9 & 1890. Brookhaven Press. 2001. ISBN 978-1-4035-0096-0. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  11. ^ "Ethel Traphagen Leigh Is Dead; Founded Fashion School in '23". The New York Times. April 30, 1963. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  12. ^ "20 West 130th STREET HOUSE, (Part of Astor Row), Borough of Manhattan. Built 1880-81; architect Charles Sue k" (PDF). s-media.nyc.gov. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  13. ^ "Obituary. | CHARLES M. FRY". The New York Tribune. November 20, 1892.
  14. ^ "Funeral Notice". The Times. November 23, 1892.