Horace Brigham Claflin (December 18, 1811 – November 14, 1885) was an American

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

Early life and education

Born in

Milford, Massachusetts Milford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,379 according to the 2020 census. First settled in 1662 and incorporated in 1780, Milford became a booming industrial and quarrying community in the 19th c ...

on December 18, 1811, Horace Brigham Claflin was educated at the Milford Academy. He is a member of the

Claflin family The Claflin family are a Scottish American family of 17th century New England origins. The descendants of Robert Maclachlan of Wenham, Massachusetts, a Scottish soldier and prisoner of war from the Battle of Dunbar (1650) assumed to have belonged to ...

Career

After school he became a clerk in his father's store in Milford, and in 1831, with his brother Aaron and his brother-in-law Samuel Daniels, succeeded to his father's business. In 1832 the firm opened a branch store in Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1833 Claflin and Daniels secured the sole control of this establishment and restricted their dealing to dry goods. In 1843 Claflin moved to New York City. Claflin became a member of the firm of Bulkley & Claflin, wholesale dry goods merchants. In 1851 and in 1864 the firm was reorganized, being designated in these respective years as Claflin, Mellin & Company and H.B. Claflin & Company. Under Claflin's management the business increased so rapidly that the sales for a time after 1865 probably exceeded those of any other mercantile house in the world. The firm was temporarily embarrassed at the beginning of the American Civil War, on account of its large business interests in the South. The reputation of Claflin increased because of his promptness in paying off debts during the financial panic of 1873. Along with

Jacob H. Schiff Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...

Marcellus Hartley Marcellus Hartley (1827 – January 8, 1902) was an American arms dealer and merchant. He was appointed as an agent by the Union Army to purchase guns from Europe during the American Civil War. He later manufactured cartridges for breech-loading ...

Robert L. Cutting Robert Livingston Cutting (January 19, 1812 – February 25, 1887) was an American businessperson based in New York City. At one point president of the New York Stock Exchange, he was a co-founder of the Continental Bank of New York in August 1870 ...

, and Joseph Seligman, he was a founder of the Continental Bank of New York in August 1870.

Personal life

He died at Fordham, New York, on 14 November 1885.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claflin, Horace Brigham 1811 births 1885 deaths Horace Brigham Claflin People from Milford, Massachusetts American merchants Businesspeople from Massachusetts Milford Academy alumni 19th-century American businesspeople