Morris Robinson (businessman)

This article is about the American business executive. For other people, see Morris Robinson (disambiguation).

Morris Robinson
President of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York
In office 1842–1849
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Joseph B. Collins
Personal details
Born	Morris Robinson (1784-09-02)September 2, 1784
Died	May 5, 1849(1849-05-05) (aged 64) New York City, New York
Spouse	Henrietta Elizabeth Duer ​ ​ (m. 1813; died 1839)​
Relations	Beverley Robinson (grandfather) Susanna Philipse (grandmother) Ranald Slidell Mackenzie (grandson) Alexander Slidell MacKenzie (grandson) Frederick Philipse Robinson (uncle) Thomas Henry Barclay (uncle)
Parent(s)	Beverly Robinson Anna Dorothea Barclay

Morris Robinson (September 2, 1784 – May 5, 1849) was an American businessman from a family of prominent Loyalists; Robinson was a founder and the first president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York.

Early life

Robinson was born on September 2, 1784. He was a son of Lt.-Col. Beverly Robinson, a United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia, and Anna Dorothea Barclay.[1] Among his siblings were elder brother, Beverley Robinson, who married Frances Duer (and elder sister of Morris' wife Henrietta),[2] and Roxanne Robinson, who married Joseph T. Mabie.[3]

His paternal grandparents were merchant Beverley Robinson and Susanna Philipse (the eldest surviving daughter of Frederick Philipse II, 2nd Lord of Philipsburg Manor). Among his large extended family was uncle Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, a prominent Loyalist.[4] His maternal grandparents were the Rev. Henry Barclay, rector of Trinity Church, and Mary Rutgers Barclay.[5][6] His uncle was Thomas Henry Barclay, Speaker of the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia.[1]

Career

In 1841, Robinson and Alfred Shipley Pell,[a] who had worked for the Mutual Safety Insurance Company, decided to form a life insurance company with Robinson as president.[8][9] They received a charter for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York from the state of New York for The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York on April 12, 1842, and opened the doors for business less than a year later on February 1, 1843. Robinson served as president of Mutual Life until his death in May 1849 after which he was succeeded by Joseph B. Collins.[10]

Personal life

On December 1, 1813, Robinson was married to Henrietta Elizabeth Duer (1790–1839), a daughter of Continental Congressman William Duer and Lady Catherine Alexander Duer (a daughter of Sarah (née Livingston) Alexander and William Alexander, Lord Stirling).[11] Among her siblings were Justice William Alexander Duer and jurist John Duer.[1] Together, they were the parents of:[6]

• Catherine Alexander Robinson (b. 1814), who married Alexander Slidell-Mackenzie, son of bank president John Slidell and brother of U.S. Senator John Slidell and Jane Slidell (wife of Commodore Matthew C. Perry), in 1835.[12]
• Henry Barclay Robinson (b. 1816), who married Cather Elizabeth Hudson, daughter of Joseph Hudson, in 1845. After her death in 1846, he married Maria Antoinette Winthrop, a daughter of Thomas C. Winthrop, Esq. in 1855.[12]
• Susan Phillipse Robinson (b. 1818), who married Dr. George M. Odell in 1862.[1]
• Frances Duer Robinson (1822), who married Edward Jones in 1841.[1]
• Harriet Duer Robinson (b. 1828), who married Albert Gallatin II, son of James Gallatin (president of the Gallatin National Bank) and grandson of Albert Gallatin (the 4th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom and France), in 1849.[13]

His wife Henrietta died in 1839. Robinson died in New York City on May 5, 1849, and his funeral was held at St. Thomas Church.[14][15]

Descendants

Through his eldest daughter, he was a grandfather of Gen. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie (1840–1889) and Lt.-Com. Alexander Slidell MacKenzie (1842–1867).[1]

References

Notes

1. Alfred Shipley Pell was a nephew of William Ferris Pell, and a first cousin of Lt.-Gov. Duncan Pell and Robert Livingston Pell, all descendants of Thomas Pell, 1st Lord of the Pelham Manor.[7]

Sources

1. 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. pp. 107–109. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
2. Jasanoff, Maya (15 February 2011). Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 418. ISBN 978-0-307-59530-0. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
3. Jackson, Kenneth T.; Keller, Lisa; Flood, Nancy (1 December 2010). The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press. p. 987. ISBN 978-0-300-18257-6. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
4. McGill, John (1956). The Beverley family of Virginia: descendants of Major Robert Beverley, 1641-1687, and allied families. R.L. Bryan Co. pp. 998–999. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
5. Bielinski, Stefan. "Henry Barclay". exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov. Retrieved October 27, 2017.
6. Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: Who They Are And Who They Are Not,--And Some Other Barclays. R. G. Cooke. p. 117. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
7. "Neighbors". academic2.marist.edu. Marist College. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
8. Stalson, J. Owen (1942). Marketing Life Insurance: Its History in America. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
9. "A Card". The New York Times. 24 June 1853. p. 8. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
10. Clough, Shepard Bancroft (1946). A Century of American Life Insurance; A History of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, 1843-1943, by Shepard B. Clough. New York City: Columbia University Press. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
11. 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.
12. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1879. p. 119. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
13. "OBITUARY.; CAPT. JEREMIAH BRIGGS. JAMES GALLATIN. WHO OWNS THE TRIBUNE..." The New York Times. May 30, 1876. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
14. "DIED". The Evening Post. 7 May 1849. p. 3. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
15. 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. Retrieved 15 March 2022.