William Henry Aspinwall (December 16, 1807 – January 18, 1875)
was a prominent American businessman who was a partner in the merchant firm of
Howland & Aspinwall Howland & Aspinwall was a merchant firm based in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s. It specialized in the Pacific Ocean trade, especially the importing of goods from China. It is best known for taking a pioneering role in the financing of clip ...
and was a co-founder of both the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company and
Panama Canal 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 P ...
companies which revolutionized the migration of goods and people to the Western coast of the United States.
Aspinwall was descended from, and related to, many prominent American families including the Roosevelts, Howlands, and Aspinwalls, that were heavily involved in the merchant trade business and politics, wielding vast power and ensuring wealth for generations.
Early life
William Henry Aspinwall was born on December 16, 1807 in Manhattan, New York. He was the third of seven children born to John Aspinwall (1774–1847) and Susan Howland (1779–1852).
His father, who traveled extensively,
was associated with the dry goods merchant firm of Gilbert & Aspinwall.
His younger sister, Mary Rebecca Aspinwall (1809–1886) was married to
Isaac Roosevelt, the grandfather of
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
His maternal aunt, Harriet Howland, was the third wife of Isaac's father,
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Ass ...
man
James Roosevelt
James Roosevelt II (December 23, 1907 – August 13, 1991) was an American businessman, Marine, activist, and Democratic Party politician. The eldest son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, he served as an official Secret ...
.
His maternal grandparents were Joseph and Lydia Howland.
The Howland family was descended from
John Howland, a signer of the ''
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the ''Mayflower,'' consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, a ...
''.
His cousin, Emily Aspinwall Howland, daughter of
Samuel Shaw Howland
Samuel Shaw Howland (August 15, 1790 – February 9, 1853) was a prominent American businessman who was a founding partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and an incorporator of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
Early life
Howland w ...
, was married to Henry Chauncey, the son of Henry Chauncey, Esq., of Alsop & Chauncey in
Valparaíso
Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
, and Lucy Wetmore Alsop,
the grandniece of
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
man
John Alsop
John Alsop Jr. (1724 – November 22, 1794) was an American merchant and politician from New York City. As a delegate for New York to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776, he signed the 1774 Continental Association.
Early life
Alsop was ...
.
[ Scott, Erving M. and Others, ''Evolution of Shipping and Ship-Building in California, Part I'', ''Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine, Volume 25'', January 1895, pp.5-16]
from quod.lib.umich.edu accessed March 10, 2015
His paternal grandfather, Captain John Aspinwall, was one of the most prominent shipmasters of the New York
merchant marine before the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
He was a member of the Aspinwall family who were well known in New York society and were descended from
William Aspinwall
William Aspinwall (1605 – c. 1662) was an Englishman who emigrated to Boston with the ''Winthrop Fleet'' in 1630. He played an integral part in the early religious controversies of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Life
Aspinwall as most of th ...
, who was among the first settlers of New England.
Another relation, Sir Algernon Aspinall, served as vice president and secretary of the
West India Committee
The West India Committee is a British-based organisation promoting ties and trade with the British Caribbean. It operates as a charity and NGO (non-governmental organisation). It evolved out of a lobbying group formed in 1780 to represent the inter ...
for forty years.
Career
After obtaining a "substantial education" at local private schools,
Aspinwall began working as a clerk for
G.G. & S.S. Howland, a merchant firm founded brothers
Gardiner Greene Howland
Gardiner Greene Howland (September 4, 1787 – November 9, 1851) was a prominent American businessman who was a founding partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and a co-founder of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
Early life
How ...
and
Samuel Shaw Howland
Samuel Shaw Howland (August 15, 1790 – February 9, 1853) was a prominent American businessman who was a founding partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and an incorporator of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
Early life
Howland w ...
, who were younger siblings of Aspinwall's mother Susan,
a position he held until 1832.
The firm imported high-status goods such as
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...
,
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from th ...
,
tea, and opium
from China, and sold them to Americans of means.
Howland & Aspinwall
In 1832, he became a partner in
Howland & Aspinwall Howland & Aspinwall was a merchant firm based in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s. It specialized in the Pacific Ocean trade, especially the importing of goods from China. It is best known for taking a pioneering role in the financing of clip ...
, along with his cousin William Edgar Howland, the son of founder Gardiner Howland. After assuming the presidency in 1835, he expanded trade to South America, China, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the East and West Indies. Howland & Aspinwall owned some of the most famous
clipper ships ever built.
In 1845, while the firm owned the ''Ann McKim'' which was regarded as the fastest ship afloat, it built the ''Rainbow'', which was even faster. The ''Rainbow'' was the high-tech racehorse of its day, and is considered to be the first of the extreme clippers. Instead of the bluff bow that was customary on ships up until that time, the ''Rainbow'' had a sharp bow, prompting on-lookers to joke that maybe she would sail better backwards. The next year, Howland & Aspinwall had the ''Sea Witch'' built, which set a speed record from China to New York which still stands.
Clipper ships sacrificed cargo capacity for speed, but in some markets, the fast service allowed their owners to charge premium rates (Tea from China tasted better if it was fresh, so the cargo on the first ship of the season to arrive in New York was worth more). Also faster speed meant that the vessel could complete more voyages in a given time period, which also helped make up for the diminished cargo capacity. The firm and its profits made Aspinwall very wealthy,
reportedly one of the richest men on the East Coast in the nineteenth century.
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
In 1840s, William's younger brother John Lloyd Aspinwall succeeded him as president of Howland & Aspinwall so he could devote his time to transportation around 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 1848, Aspinwall, along with Gardiner G. Howland and Henry Chauncey, founded the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, to provide service to California.
This turned out to be a rather good year in which to start a steamship line to California, since the
Gold Rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
started the next year. Howland & Aspinwall were also the recipients of a federal government subsidy to operate their trans-oceanic steamship line, against which they were forced to compete with the unsubsidized line owned by
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...
. The company's first vessel to make the trip was packed with passengers. Pacific Mail eventually became
American President Lines
APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including 9 U.S. flagged container vessels.
In 1938, ...
, which is now part of
Neptune Orient Lines
Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL) was a Singaporean container shipping company. It was founded in 1968 as Singapore's national shipping line, but was later sold as a subsidiary to French shipping company CMA CGM in 2016. On 1 October 2020, NOL ...
.
Panama Canal Railway
Following the Steamship Company, Aspinwall then promoted a railway in Panama. The project, which began in May 1850 and was later known as the
Panama Canal 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 P ...
, was the first
transcontinental railroad
A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...
in the Americas and was built to provide a shorter and more secure path between the United States'
East
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
and
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
Coasts.
When completed in 1855, the line was designated as an "inter-oceanic" railroad crossing as it connected ports on the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
and
Pacific Ocean
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 conti ...
s. The tropical
rain forest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...
terrain and outbreak of
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
and
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...
, rendered its five-year construction, at a cost of $8,000,000, a considerable engineering challenge, and required more than seven thousand workers drawn from "every quarter of the globe."
Later life and Civil War involvement
Aspinwall retired in 1856, but remained active as a philanthropist and spent considerable time improving his country estate near
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...
,
which was later sold by his son to
William Rockefeller, brother of
John D. Rockefeller, for $150,000 in 1886 and became part of
Pocantico Hills, New York
Pocantico Hills is a hamlet in the Westchester County town of Mount Pleasant, New York, United States.
The Rockefeller family estate, anchored by Kykuit, the family seat built by John D. Rockefeller Sr., is located in Pocantico Hills, as is the ...
.
He was elected as a fellow of the
American Society of Civil Engineers
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
on July 9, 1870.
Although he never held office, Aspinwall, an admirer of
George B. McClellan, was a participant at the "ill-fated"
Peace Conference of 1861
The Peace Conference of 1861 was a meeting of 131 leading American politicians in February 1861, at the Willard's Hotel in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the American Civil War. The purpose of the conference was to avoid, if possible, the seces ...
in Washington.
Later, after the outbreak of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
, Aspinwall and
John Murray Forbes were sent by the
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
,
Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878), nicknamed "Father Neptune", was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Although opposed ...
, on a secret mission to England to obtain their "interference in the building and outfitting of iron-clads then in course of construction by
Messrs. Laird"
intended for the
Confederate States Navy
The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the Navy, naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the Amer ...
. They were sent with millions of dollars in
U.S. Bond
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
s from the
U.S. Treasury. While Forbes and Aspinwall did not persuade the British to buy the ships, their interference forced the British to detain the ships and conduct a lengthy investigation, essentially cutting off the supply of ships to the Confederate Navy.
In 1866, he was a founder of the
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective me ...
, and of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, in 1869.
He owned works by
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contempora ...
,
Antonio da Correggio
Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...
,
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...
,
Bartholomeus van der Helst
Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613 – buried 16 December 1670) was a Dutch painter. Considered to be one of the leading portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, his elegant portraits gained him the patronage of Amsterdam's elite as well as th ...
,
Teniers Teniers is a Dutch language surname. It may refer to:
*Abraham Teniers (1629–1670), Flemish painter
*David Teniers the Elder (1582–1649), Flemish painter
*David Teniers the Younger
David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 De ...
,
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
,
Philips Wouwerman
Philips Wouwerman (also Wouwermans) (24 May 1619 (baptized) – 19 May 1668) was a Dutch painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes.
Life and work
Philips Wouwerman was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden Ag ...
,
Cuyp The surname Cuyp (sometimes spelled Kuyp) is shared by three painters who lived during the Dutch Golden Age:
* Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp (1594–1651 or 1652)
* his half-brother Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp (1612–1652)
* Jacob's son Aelbert Cuyp (162 ...
,
Ary Scheffer
Ary Scheffer (10 February 179515 June 1858) was a Dutch-French Romantic painter. He was known mostly for his works based on literature, with paintings based on the works of Dante, Goethe, and Lord Byron, as well as religious subjects. He was al ...
, Gerard, Dow,
Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
,
Adriaen Brouwer,
Gerard ter Borch
Gerard ter Borch (; December 1617 – 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg (), was a Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age. He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johan ...
,
Paul Veronese,
Mieris, and
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on ...
,
Romney,
Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and
Jean-Baptiste Madou.
Personal life
In 1830, Aspinwall was married to Anna Lloyd Breck (1812–1885).
She was the daughter of Catherine Douce (
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 ...
Israel) Breck (1789–1864) and George Breck (1784–1869), the brother of
U.S. Representatives
Samuel Breck and
Daniel Breck.
Anna was the sister of Rev.
James Lloyd Breck
James Lloyd Breck (June 27, 1818 – April 2, 1876) was a priest, educator, and missionary of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Breck is commemorated on April 2 on the Episcopal calendar of saints.
Early life and education
B ...
, an Episcopal missionary,
and Jane Breck, who married Aspinwall's brother John.
Together, William and Anna were the parents of:
* Anna Lloyd Aspinwall (1831–1880), who in 1850 married architect
James Renwick Jr.
James Renwick Jr. (born November 11, 1818, Bloomingdale, in Upper Manhattan, New York City – June 23, 1895, New York City) was an American architect in the 19th century. ''The Encyclopedia of American Architecture'' calls him "one of the most ...
(1818–1895),
the son of Margaret Brevoort and
James Renwick, an engineer, architect, and professor at
Columbia College.
*
Lloyd Aspinwall (1834–1886), who married Harriette Prescott D'Wolf (d. 1888), granddaughter of
James DeWolf
James DeWolf (March 18, 1764December 21, 1837) was a slave trader, a privateer during the War of 1812, and a state and national politician. He served as a state legislator for a total of nearly 25 years, and in the 1820s as a United States senat ...
.
* Rev. John Abel Aspinwall (1840–1913), who married Julia Titus (1841–1876). After her death, he married Bessie Mary Reed (1843–1915)
* Louisa Aspinwall (1843–1913), who married John Wendell Minturn (1839–1881), the son of merchant
Robert Bowne Minturn
Robert Bowne Minturn (November 16, 1805 – January 9, 1866) was one of the most prominent American merchants and shippers of the mid-19th century. Today, he is probably best known as being one of the owners of the famous clipper ship, '' Flyi ...
* Katharine Aspinwall (1847–1924), who married Ambrose Cornelius Kingsland (1835–1890), the son of
New York Mayor
The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...
Ambrose Kingsland
Ambrose Cornelius Kingsland (May 24, 1804 – October 13, 1878) was a wealthy sperm oil merchant who served as the 71st mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853. In 1851, he initiated the legislation that eventually led to the construction of Ce ...
.
William Henry Aspinwall died of a
myocardial infarction
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
on January 18, 1875 in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
He was buried at
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 blo ...
in
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
* '' ...
.
Legacy
The town of
Aspinwall, Panama (now
Colón), founded in 1850 and named after Aspinwall, on the on the western end of a treacherously marshy islet covered with
mangrove
A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...
trees, known as Manzanillo Island.
See also
*
Howland & Aspinwall Howland & Aspinwall was a merchant firm based in New York City in the 1830s and 1840s. It specialized in the Pacific Ocean trade, especially the importing of goods from China. It is best known for taking a pioneering role in the financing of clip ...
References
External links
*
*
Panama Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspinwall, William Henry
1807 births
1875 deaths
American merchants
Philanthropists from New York (state)
American railway entrepreneurs
American civil engineers
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
People from Briarcliff Manor, New York
Engineers from New York (state)
19th-century American philanthropists
19th-century American businesspeople