![ParkMcCulloughHouse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/ParkMcCulloughHouse.jpg)
Trenor William Park (December 8, 1823 – December 13, 1882) was an American lawyer, political figure, and businessman. He was most notable as a founder of the
Republican Party in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and for his Republican leadership roles in Vermont, including member of the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
and the
Vermont House of Representatives
The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
.
Born in
Woodford, Vermont
Woodford is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 355.
Geography
Woodford is located in southern Bennington County, d ...
, Park studied law as a teenager, and attained admission to the bar at age 21, as soon as he was legally eligible. He practiced in
Bennington
Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...
until 1852. Park was also a businessman, and invested in lumbering and other ventures. In 1846 he married Laura Van Der Spiegle Hall, whose father
Hiland Hall
Hiland Hall (July 20, 1795 – December 18, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who served as 25th governor of Vermont and a United States representative.
Biography
Hall was born in Bennington, Vermont. He attended the common schools, s ...
had served as a
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
and
Governor of Vermont
The governor of Vermont is the head of government of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of 2 years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every ...
. In 1851, Hall was named Chairman of the
U.S. Land Commission that settled Mexican land titles after the annexation of California. He relocated to San Francisco, and Park went with him.
In California, Park practiced law and was a founder of the
Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park firm. He continued to pursue business opportunities, including real estate and mining, and became the manager of
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
's
Rancho Las Mariposas gold mine. Park faced temporary financial setbacks during the
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
, but recovered and became very wealthy. When the Republican Party was organized in the mid-1850s, Park won election as the first Chairman of the state party's Central Committee.
Park returned to Vermont in 1864, and continued to practice law and pursue investments in a variety of businesses while also maintaining a residence in New York City. He also served as a member of the
Vermont House of Representatives
The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
and Vermont's member of the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
. Park was a candidate for the 1874 Republican nomination for Governor but withdrew in favor of
Asahel Peck
Asahel Peck (September 1803May 18, 1879) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. He is most notable for his service as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court (1859–1874) and the 35th governor of Vermont from 1874 to 1876. ...
, who went on to win the general election.
A noted civic activist and philanthropist, Park's donations included Bennington's public library, the building and land for the Vermont Soldiers' Home, and the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
's Park Gallery of Art, which later became part of the university's
Robert Hull Fleming Museum
The Fleming Museum of Art is a museum of art and anthropology at the University of Vermont in Burlington. The museum's collection includes some 25,000 objects from a wide variety of eras and places. Until 2014, the museum was known as the Robert ...
. Park died at sea in 1882, and was buried first at
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
's
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...
, and later at Bennington's Old Cemetery.
Early life
Trenor William Park was born in
Woodford, Vermont
Woodford is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, Bennington County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 355.
Geography
Woodford is located in southern Bennington County, d ...
on December 8, 1823, the son of Luther and Cynthia (Pratt) Park. Park was named for Thomas Trenor, who fled Ireland after taking part in the failed
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...
and became a prominent
Bennington
Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...
businessman and friend of Luther Park. Trenor Park was raised in Bennington and began working at an early age, including selling candy and carrying letters to and from the Bennington post office.
[Henry Clay Williams]
''American Encyclopaedia of Biography''
1893, page 108
At age 15 Park became the proprietor of a candy store on Bennington's North Street, and at age 16 he began to
study law with
Bennington County
Bennington County is a county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,347. The shire towns (county seats) are jointly Bennington ("The Southshire") and Manchester ("The Northshire"), and the largest municipal ...
State's Attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...
Alanson P. Lyman, attaining
admission to the bar
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
as soon as he was legally eligible in 1844.
Park began a practice in Bennington, and maintained it until 1852, also becoming active in lumbering and other business ventures. On December 15, 1846, he married Laura Van Der Spiegle Hall, the daughter of
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
and
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Hiland Hall
Hiland Hall (July 20, 1795 – December 18, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who served as 25th governor of Vermont and a United States representative.
Biography
Hall was born in Bennington, Vermont. He attended the common schools, s ...
. They had three children Eliza, Laura and Trenor Luther Park.
Career in California
In 1851 Hall was appointed Chairman of the
U.S. Land Commission empowered to settle Mexican land titles after the annexation of California, and Park traveled to San Francisco with him.
He practiced law successfully, soon becoming a partner in the state's leading firm,
Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park. In 1855 Park played a key role in San Francisco's political reform movement by establishing the ''
San Francisco Bulletin
The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...
'' newspaper.
[Rossiter Johnson, John Howard Brown, editors]
''The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans''
1904 He also became active in several commercial enterprises, including real estate and mining, and managed the
Rancho Las Mariposas gold mine owned by
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
.
Park lost some of his investments in the
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...
, but eventually became very wealthy.
Originally a
Whig, at the founding of the
Republican Party, Park became an active member, serving as a delegate to several state conventions. When the state party was organized in 1856, Park was selected as the first Chairman of California's Republican State Central Committee. He served until 1860, when he was succeeded by William Sherman. In 1863 he was a Unionist candidate for the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
, narrowly losing election in the California legislature. In 1864 he was a California delegate to the
Union National Convention
The National Union Convention (also known as the Loyalist Convention, the Southern Loyalist Convention, the National Loyalists' Loyal Union Convention, or the Arm-In-Arm Convention) was held on August 14, 15, and 16 1866, in Philadelphia, Pennsylva ...
that nominated Republican President
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 ...
for reelection and Democrat
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
for vice president.
Return to Vermont
In 1864 Park returned to Vermont, where he incorporated the First National Bank of North Bennington, was an original investor in the
Central Vermont Railroad
The Central Vermont Railway was a railroad that operated in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.
It connected Montreal, Quebec, with New London, Conne ...
, and again speculated in several successful business ventures, including timber and mines. He also established a second residence in New York City. He served in the
Vermont House of Representatives
The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...
from 1865 to 1869. In 1868 he was a Vermont delegate to the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
that nominated
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
for president and
Schuyler Colfax
Schuyler Colfax Jr. (; March 23, 1823 – January 13, 1885) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House ...
for vice president. The same year, he was elected as Vermont's member of the Republican National Committee, serving until 1870.
In 1870 he was one of the founders of
Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to:
*Rutland (city), Vermont
* Rutland (town), Vermont
*Rutland County, Vermont
*West Rutland, Vermont
West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...
's Baxter National Bank, and he often continued to invest in partnership with the bank's president,
Horace Henry Baxter. In 1871 Park's daughter Eliza married
John G. McCullough
John Griffith McCullough (September 16, 1835 – May 29, 1915) was an American state legislator, businessperson and attorney. He served as Attorney General of California during the Civil War, and the 49th governor of Vermont from 1902 to 190 ...
, former Attorney General of California, who became active in several of Park's business ventures and later served as Governor of Vermont. Also in 1871, Park was an owner and promoter of the supposedly depleted
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
Emma Silver Mine.
English citizens invested millions of
pounds, and in 1876 and 1877 his partners and he were accused of defrauding the group that purchased the mine.
Park and his associates were acquitted in a nationally publicized April 1877 trial.
Park was a candidate for the 1874 Republican nomination for Governor, but withdrew in favor of the eventual nominee and general election winner, state
Supreme Court Justice
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme ...
Asahel Peck
Asahel Peck (September 1803May 18, 1879) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. He is most notable for his service as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court (1859–1874) and the 35th governor of Vermont from 1874 to 1876. ...
. The same year, Park purchased controlling interest in the
Panama Railway
The Panama Canal Railway ( es, Ferrocarril de Panamá) is a railway line linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Central America. The route stretches across the Isthmus of Panama from Colón (Atlantic) to Balboa (Pacific, near ...
and was elected its president, succeeding
Russell Sage
Russell Risley Sage (August 4, 1816 – July 22, 1906) was an American financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York. As a frequent partner of Jay Gould in various transactions, he amassed a fortune. Olivia Slocum Sage, his s ...
. During the rest of the 1870s he engaged in a well-publicized contest with rival financier
Jay Gould
Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...
for control of
Pacific Mail
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, the company that shipped cargo between the eastern and western United States by moving it overland across the
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama ( es, Istmo de Panamá), also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien (), is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country ...
. In 1881, Park sold his stock in the Panama railroad for $7 million (over $200 million in 2022).
Active in civic affairs, Park was a member of the committee that oversaw design and construction of the Bennington Battle Monument, and was a Trustee of the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
. His philanthropic donations included the Bennington Free Library (with Seth B. Hunt), and the building and land for the Vermont Soldiers' Home (again in conjunction with the Hunt family). He also donated the University of Vermont's Park Gallery of Art, the exhibits of which were later incorporated into the university's
Robert Hull Fleming Museum
The Fleming Museum of Art is a museum of art and anthropology at the University of Vermont in Burlington. The museum's collection includes some 25,000 objects from a wide variety of eras and places. Until 2014, the museum was known as the Robert ...
.
Death and burial
Trenor Park died on December 13, 1882, while aboard the ship ''San Blas'' between New York and
Aspinwall, Panama while ''en route'' to San Francisco. His funeral took place at New York City's Collegiate Reformed Church, and he was buried in Brooklyn's
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several bl ...
. Park was later re-interred at Bennington's Old Cemetery.
Legacy
His Bennington home, the
Park-McCullough House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and is open to the public.
Trenor Luther Park
Trenor Luther Park (1861–1907) studied at
Harvard University
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 was a successful businessman, yachtsman and golfer. He was married to
Julia Hunt Catlin (1864–1947). Trenor L. Park died during surgery for an intestinal ailment, and his friends and family believed his decline had been hastened by despondence over the death of his nine-year-old daughter Elliot, who had been killed in an accident earlier that year.
Laura Hall Park
Laura Hall Park (1858–1939) married Frederic Beach Jennings (1853–1920), a Bennington and New York City lawyer and businessman. They donated the site of their Vermont home to become the location of
Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
.
[John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth, editors]
''The Vermont Encyclopedia''
2003, page 55
References
Sources
* ''The Hoosac Valley: Its Legends and its History'', by Grace Greylock Niles, 1912, page 464
''Trenor Park: A New Englander in California'' by Virginia Bell, California Historical Society, 1981,
* ''Biography of Trenor W. Park, History of Bennington County, Vermont'', edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, 1889
* ''Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions of 1856, 1860 and 1864'', published by Charles W. Johnson, Minneapolis, 1893, page 248
Vermont state listings,
* ''Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont'', edited by Hiram Carleton, 1903, Volume II, pages 12 to 14
* ''Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of Vermont'', Jacob Ullery, 1894, Transcript Publishing Company, Brattleboro, pages 296 to 298
* ''Vermont: the Green Mountain State'', Walter Hill Crockett, 1921, Volume 4, pages 65 to 66
* ''One Thousand Men'', by Dorman B. E. Kent, published by Vermont Historical Society 1915, page 123
* ''The Vermont Encyclopedia'', by John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, and Ralph H. Orth, 2003, pages 53 to 54, 228
Letter as Chairman, Republican State Central Committee Trenor William Park, September 2, 1856, University of California Berkeley archives
* ''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'', published by James T. White and Company, 1892, Volume II, page 135
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Trenor William
1823 births
1882 deaths
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
People from Bennington, Vermont
Vermont lawyers
California lawyers
Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives
People who died at sea
Burials in Vermont
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American philanthropists
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century American businesspeople