Dean Richmond (1804-1866) was
Batavia, New York
Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population as of the 2020 census was 15,6 ...
's railroad magnate, director of the
Utica and Buffalo Railroad Company, First Vice President of the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
, and from 1864 to 1866, president of the New York Central.
He was born in the town of
Barnard, Vermont
Barnard is a town in Windsor County, Vermont. The population was 992 at the 2020 census.
The town has two unincorporated villages: Barnard and East Barnard, along with the hamlets of Newcombsville, Mountain Meadows, and Fort Defiance.https://w ...
, on March 31, 1804, and was a son of Hathaway and Rachel Dean Richmond. His father moved the family to
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
, where he was engaged in the early
salt industry
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantiti ...
. His father died when Dean was only fourteen years of age.
Richmond became involved with the passenger steamship business on the
Hudson River
The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
in 1834, and was a member of the
Hudson River Steamboat Association The Hudson River Steamboat Association was a cartel that operated passenger steamboats on the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York from 1832 to 1843. It successfully monopolized passenger steamboat traffic on the river between New York City ...
, a
cartel
A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
which sought a monopoly on passenger traffic between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Albany.
He expanded the salt business and, in 1842, he moved to
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
, where he established a
commission and transportation business. With these businesses, he became one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
region. He became a director in the Utica and Buffalo Railroad Company and with the completion of the direct line to Batavia, he took up his residence there. With the establishment of the New York Central Railroad Company in 1853, he was chosen the first vice-president of the company, and held that position until 1864, when he was elected president upon the retirement of
Erastus Corning
Erastus Corning (December 14, 1794 – April 9, 1872) was an American businessman and politician from Albany, New York. A Democrat, he was most notable for his service as mayor of Albany from 1834 to 1837, in the New York State Senate from 1842 ...
. He was also elected president of the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway
The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...
. He served as chairman of the Democratic State Committee from 1857 to his death in 1866. In the summer of 1866, after attending the State convention at Saratoga, he accompanied
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
on a trip to Washington and Philadelphia. After returning to New York, on August 19, 1866, he was stricken with illness and died on August 27, 1866. He was buried in
Batavia Cemetery
Batavia Cemetery is located on Harvester Avenue in Batavia, New York, United States. It opened in 1823 and contains over 8,000 graves, mostly from the 19th century. In 2002 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first of t ...
. The
Richmond Memorial Library, in Batavia, was a gift of Mrs. Mary E. Richmond, in memory of her son, Dean Richmond, Jr., who died in 1865.
In 1861, as President-Elect
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
made his way to Washington, D.C., the engine that pulled the train was ''The Dean Richmond''. In a gesture of bi-partisanship, Richmond, as chairman of the Democratic State Committee, boarded the train and had lunch with the Lincoln family as the train roared past Syracuse. On the leg of the journey from Albany to Buffalo the same engine that brought Lincoln to his inauguration pulled his funeral train. A
Great Lakes freighter
Lake freighters, or lakers, are bulk carrier vessels that operate on the Great Lakes of North America. These vessels are traditionally called boats, although classified as ships.
Since the late 19th century, lakers have carried bulk cargoes of ma ...
was also named after him.
[
]
The freighter itself became famous when it sank in Lake Erie near the town of
Dunkirk, New York
Dunkirk is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. It was settled around 1805 and incorporated in 1880. The population was 12,743 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Dunkirk i ...
, in the early morning of 14 October 1893.
References
External links
Mr. Lincoln and New York: Dean Richmond (1804-1866)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Dean
1804 births
1866 deaths
New York (state) Democrats
New York Central Railroad
People from Windsor County, Vermont
19th-century American Episcopalians
19th-century American businesspeople