George Austin Morrison (November 30, 1832 – February 26, 1916) was an American merchant, banker and industrialist.

Early life

Morrison was born on November 30, 1832, at Mondynes in the parish of Fordoun,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was a son of Alexander Morrison and Christian (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Lyall) Morrison, a relative of the Lyalls, Austins and Burns, all "old and well-established Aberdeenshire families". Morrison first attended the parish school at Fourdon, then Aberdeen Grammar School, before being sent to reside with his maternal uncle, George Lyall, at age sixteen. Lyall was a general merchant in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

with a branch of his business at

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Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Career

After learning the merchant business in the house of his uncle, he left his uncles home, 99 Union Street, Aberdeen, and went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1852 and joined George Moore's firm, Groucock, Copestake, Moore & Co., one of the leading mercantile houses, which was located in Bow Yard, London. Morrison stayed with the firm until 1856 when he moved to

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to become the head of one of the departments in Cochran & Company, a wholesale dry gods house, led by Thomas Cochrane. In New York, he was the European buyer for the firm, crossing the

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twice a year (over 110 times), and was admitted as a partner in 1865. In 1869, when the firm was reorganized as Cochrane, McLean & Co., he left and started his own firm with John Herriman, known as Morrison, Herriman & Co. George was involved in the new house, which was a wholesale dry goods business including lace, linen and white goods, for twenty years until it was dissolved in 1889. After his retirement from the merchant business, he became involved with the banking, industrial and railroad businesses. He served as a director of the Third National Bank and the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1895, he became president, and later chairman of the board of directors, of The American Cotton Oil Company (a predecessor company to

Bestfoods Hellmann's and Best Foods are American brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, sauce, salad dressing, condiments and other food products. They have been owned by the British multinational company Unilever sinc ...

, now part of

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), which was one of the original 12 industrials comprising the

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in 1896. He retired from the company in 1911 but remained a member of the executive committee in an advisory capacity until his death in 1916. After his death, Clarence M. Woolley, president of the American Radiator Co., was elected to succeed Morrison as a director of the American Cotton Oil Co.

Social and club life

Morrison was a life member of the New-York Historical Society and the

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, a fellow of the

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, a member of the

New York Chamber of Commerce The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, in ...

, the

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, the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

, the

New York Botanical Gardens The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

, the

Holland Lodge Holland Lodge No. 1 AF&AM is the oldest Masonic lodge in Texas and a founding subordinate member of the Grand Lodge of Texas. The lodge was originally chartered by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana on 27 January 1836, making it older than the Republic o ...

of the State of New York, the St. George's Society, the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinction ...

, the Metropolitan Club, the Lawyers' Club and the New York Yacht Club. In November 1864, he was elected a member of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York, becoming a life member in 1881. From 1884 to 1889, he was a manager, from 1889 to 1893, he served as first vice-president, and from 1893 to 1895, as president of the society.

Personal life

On May 26, 1863, he married Lucy Anne King (1844–1891). Lucy, who was born in New Lebanon, New York, was the daughter of Eseck Clarke King and Sarah Coe (née McCullen) King. Together, they lived at 10 East 54th Street and were the parents of: * George Austin Morrison Jr. (1864–1916), a

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

graduate who married Magdalen S. Worden. * Charles King Morrison (1867–1920), also a Harvard and Columbia graduate who married Mildred Horsten Hoag, daughter of Dr. William E. Hoag. His wife died in 1891 and Morrison died at

The Kenilworth The Kenilworth is a luxury 12-floor co-operative apartment building in Manhattan on the Gold Coast of Central Park West, located at 151 Central Park West, at 75th Street. Named for the 12-century Kenilworth Castle, construction on the resident ...

, his residence in New York City, on February 26, 1916, and his funeral was held at his then residence, 151 Central Park West. His eldest son, and namesake, died shortly thereafter on November 29, 1916. Neither of his sons left children, therefore the Morrison name in this branch of the family became extinct upon his second son's death in 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, George Austin 1832 births 1916 deaths Scottish emigrants to the United States American bankers Presidents of the Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York People from Fordoun 19th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American merchants