Pelatiah Webster Perit (June 23, 1785 – March 8, 1864) was a prominent New York merchant and banker.

Early life

Perit was born on June 23, 1785, in Norwich, Connecticut and named after his maternal grandfather, Pelatiah Webster. He was the son of Capt. John Perit and Ruth Kellogg (née Webster) Perit. Among his siblings were John Webster Perit (married to Margaretta Dunlap), Maria Perit (wife of Charles Phelps Huntington), and Rebecca Hunt Perit (wife of Joshua Hubbard Lathrop). After his father died in 1795, his mother married Christopher Leffingwell in 1799. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

with the class of 1802.

Career

He served as president of the

Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York 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 ...

from 1853 to 1863, and was a commissioner of police in 1857. He served as president of the Seamen's Savings Bank, and was an original incorporator and director of the Bank of Commerce in New York.

Personal life

Perit was twice married. His first marriage was to Jerusha Lathrop, the sister of his brother-in-law, on September 6, 1809. After her death, he married Maria Coit (1793–1885) on October 8, 1823. Maria was a daughter of Daniel Lathrop Coit. In 1860, Perit had architect

Sidney Mason Stone Sidney Mason Stone (May 8, 1803 – August 10, 1882) was a prominent Connecticut architect and builder known for designs of churches, institutional buildings and residences. His creations incorporated Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival, Ro ...

design him a Renaissance Revival style

Italian villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...

in New Haven. Perit died at his

residence A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence may more specifically refer to: * Domicile (law), a legal term for residence * Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

in March 1864.

References

External links

Pelatiah Perit (1785-1864), B. A. 1802
at

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perit, Pelatiah 1785 births 1864 deaths Yale University alumni American bankers People from Norwich, Connecticut People from New Haven, Connecticut 19th-century American merchants