John Gerard Coster (August 1762 – August 8, 1844) was a Dutch-American merchant who served as president of the

Bank of the Manhattan Company The Manhattan Company was a New York bank and holding company established on September 1, 1799. The company merged with Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank. It is the oldest of the predecessor institutions that eventually ...

Early life

Coster was born in August 1762 in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

. He was a son of John Henry Coster (d. 1776) and Anna Catherine (

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 ...

Vienecke). He was educated to be a physician under the tutelage of his brother Haro who was a well-know physician in the

British Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Career

After briefly living in

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, Coster came to the United States from

in the Netherlands shortly after the Revolutionary War and founded the family fortune with his brother through the mercantile firm, "Henry A. & John G. Coster". They became owners of numerous vessels and traded with the East and West Indies, and exported American commodities to Europe. In 1813, he was made a director of

, which had been founded by

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...

in 1799. In 1825, Coster was made president of the Manhattan Company, succeeding Henry Remsen upon his death. Coster was also a director of the Phoenix Insurance Company for many years.

Personal life

Coster was married to Catherine Margaret Holsman (–1847). Together, they lived in a house which he built at 539 Broadway, north of Canal Street, which was considered "one of the finest residences in New York." It was built by two of the most well-known architects of the day, Alexander Jackson David and Ithiel Town. They were the parents of twelve children, many of whom married into many prominent families including the

Schermerhorn Schermerhorn is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alkmaar, and lies about 9 km south of Heerhugowaard. History The village was first mentioned in the 14th century as Den Horn, and mean ...

s and Heckshers., including: * John Henry Coster, who married Adeline Boardman. * Maria Margaret Coster (1798–1835), who married Edwin Upshur Berryman. * Gerard Holsman Coster (b. 1808), who married Matilda Prime, a daughter of banker

Nathaniel Prime Nathaniel Prime (January 30, 1768 – November 26, 1840) was a New York broker and banker. Early life Prime was born in Rowley, Massachusetts on January 30, 1768. He was the son of Joshua Prime and Bridget Hammond Prime. In his early years, h ...

. * Henrietta Taletta Coster * Daniel Joachim Coster, who married Julia DeLancey (1806–1890), a daughter of Oliver Delancey. * Georgiana Louisa Coster (1815–1890), who married Charles August Heckscher. * Julia Christiana Coster (b. 1816), who married Jérôme Napoléon Frédéric Reubell (1809–1874), a son of Gen.

Jean-Jacques Reubell Jean-Jacques Reubell (Rewbell) (born August 12, 1777 in Colmar, died 24 January 1847) was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. Life After joining the French army he was appointed a second lieutenant on 23 April 1792. In 1796 he was alrea ...

and grandson of

Louis Pascault, Marquis de Poleon Jean-Charles-Marie-Louis-Felix Pascault, Marquis de Poléon ( – May 31, 1824) was a French-American aristocrat best known today for building Pascault Row in Baltimore. Early life Pascault was born in France the son of Anne Marie Pascault and Je ...

, in 1840. * George Washington Coster, who married Elizabeth Oakey, a daughter of merchant Daniel Oakey. * Henry Arnold Coster (b. 1820) * Charles Robert Coster * Alfred Jacob Coster * Rutgers Eugene Coster Coster died on August 8, 1844.

Descendants

Through his son Daniel, he was a grandfather of

Harry Coster Henry Arnold Coster ( – November 2, 1917) was an American clubman who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Coster was the son of Daniel Joachim Coster and Julia (née DeLancey) Coster (1806–1890), who married ...

, an American clubman who was prominent in New York Society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

. Through his daughter Julia, he was a grandfather of Henrietta Reubell (–1924), who was a prominent figure in Paris society known for hosting a lively salon at her apartment at 42 avenue Gabriel, including

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

Edith Wharton Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...

, and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coster, John Gerard 1762 births 1844 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States