Elias Cornelius Benedict nicknamed Commodore (January 24, 1834 – November 22, 1920) was a New York City banker and yachtsman. He specialized in the gas and rubber industries. He was president of the Commercial Acetylene Gas Company and of the Marine Engine Company. The

Benedict Fjord Benedict Fjord is a fjord in Peary Land, northern Greenland. To the north, the fjord opens into the Lincoln Sea of the Arctic Ocean. The fjord was named by Robert Peary in honor of New York banker and yachtsman E. C. Benedict, one of the prominen ...

in Greenland was named after him by

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

Early life

He was born in 1834 in Somers, New York. His father, Henry Benedict (1796–1869), was a Presbyterian clergyman. His mother was Mary Betts Lockwood (1799–1885), daughter of Captain Stephen Lockwood, of

Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...

. Among his siblings was Henry Martin Benedict, Sarah Jane (

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 ...

Benedict) Taylor, and Elizabeth (née Benedict) Mead.

Career

At fifteen in 1849, he joined the banking house of Corning & Co., New York. In 1857 he opened his own stockbroker's office on Wall Street. During the United States Civil War he and his brother organized the Gold Exchange Bank. Benedict was close with President Grover Cleveland, and it was on Benedict's yacht, the ''

Oneida Oneida may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy * Oneida language * Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York * Oneida Na ...

'', that Cleveland had his secret surgery to remove a cancerous growth from his jaw in 1893. Benedict commissioned the architects Carrère and Hastings to build an estate on the peninsula at

Indian Harbor Indian Field is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is in the southern part of the town, on a peninsula between Indian Harbor to the west and Cos Cob Harbor to the east. It exte ...

in Greenwich, Connecticut. In later life Benedict was Commodore of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club.Herreshoff Marine Museum Chronicle (pdf)
/ref> EC Benedict Estate in Greenwich CT

Personal life

In 1859, he married Sarah Hart, daughter of Lucius Hart of New York. Together, they had four children: * Frederick Hart Benedict (1860–1901), who married

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...

's daughter, Jennie Louise; she died after complications from childbirth, along with their child aboard the Benedict yacht ''Oneida'' while on their way to see Henry Flagler in

St. Augustine, Florida St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...

, and Frederick was killed not many years later in an automobile accident near West Point. * Martha Benedict (1862–1957), who married stockbroker Ramsay Turnbull in 1891. * Helen Ripley Benedict (1865–1936), who married the architect

Thomas Hastings Thomas Hastings may refer to: *Thomas Hastings (colonist) (1605–1685), English immigrant to New England *Thomas Hastings (composer) (1784–1872), American composer, primarily of hymn tunes *Thomas Hastings (cricketer) (1865–1938), Australian cr ...

. * Louise Adele Benedict, who married Clifford B. Harmon. He had been ill for more than a year when he died on November 22, 1920, at his estate in Greenwich.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedict, Elias Cornelius 1834 births 1920 deaths People from Somers, New York Businesspeople from New York City