Benjamin Pierce Cheney Jr. (April 8, 1866 – June 5, 1942), was an American business executive. He had extensive investments in railroad securities and served as a director of

Wells Fargo & Company Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and inter ...

and the

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

Biography

Cheney was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

on April 8, 1866, the eldest child of

Benjamin Pierce Cheney Benjamin Pierce Cheney ( ; August 12, 1815 – July 23, 1895) was an American businessman, and a founder of the firm that became American Express. Early life Cheney was born in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, on August 12, 1815, to Jesse and Al ...

and Elizabeth Stickney (Clapp) Cheney. His father was one of the pioneer expressmen of the United States. The younger Cheney prepared for college at English High School in Boston and with a private tutor. He received his BA degree from

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 high ...

in 1890. Until the death of his father in 1895 Cheney aided him in the management of his interests, which included the largest portfolio of railroad securities held in the Boston area.''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'', Vol. XXXII, p. 173. New York: James T. White & Company, 1945. Upon his father's death, he was elected to succeed him as a director of

. Having extensively studied railroad operations, Cheney was elected a director of the

and took an active part in the management of the Santa Fe system. Besides his directorships with Wells Fargo and the Santa Fe system, Cheney was a director of Manchester Mills,

Manchester, Massachusetts Manchester-by-the-Sea (also known simply as Manchester, its name prior to 1989) is a coastal town on Cape Ann, in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is known for scenic beaches and vista points. According to the 2020 populati ...

, and of numerous Boston banks and trust companies. He also served as president of the San Diego Land & Town Company, one of his father's old ventures. At one time he was a member of the Algonquin, Union, Boston Amateur Athletic and University clubs of Boston, the Metropolitan, Players and Harvard clubs of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, and the University Club of

San Diego California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. He was married at

Covington, Kentucky Covington is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, lies to its immediate north across the Ohio and Newport, to its east across the Licki ...

, on February 23, 1898, to

Julia Arthur Julia Arthur (May 3, 1869 – March 28, 1950)Although 1868 is accepted as the year of her birth, both ''The National Cyclopaedia of National Biography'' and ''Who Was Who in America'' give 1869 as the year. was a Canadian-born stage and film a ...

(née Ida Lewis), a noted actress. She was born at

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

, on May 3, 1868, the daughter of Thomas J. Lewis, a tobacco manufacturer, and Elizabeth (née Arthur) Lewis. The Cheneys made their home in Boston, with a summer estate on Calf Island. The couple were childless. In August 1899 Andrew Christeson was elected to succeed Cheney as a director of Wells Fargo. It is not said that Cheney had resigned, nor is any other information given in the meeting minutes. As a young man Cheney had taken part in amateur theatricals, and after his marriage he financed a number of professional productions, including a number that starred his wife at venues in Boston, New York City and elsewhere in the Northeast. She also appeared in ten silent films between 1908 and 1919. Her last screen performance was a benefit film to aid victims of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Julia Arthur Cheney made her last

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

performance in 1921, playing

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes que ...

opposite

Lionel Barrymore Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' A Free Soul'' (1931 ...

. The Cheneys were also patrons of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where they donated a number of antiquities. Cheney later suffered heavy financial reverses, and during the last years of his life he was no longer active in business. He died of thirst in the desert near

Kingman, Arizona Kingman is a city in, and the county seat of, Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It is named after Lewis Kingman, an engineer for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is located southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Arizona' ...

, on June 5, 1942. Julia Arthur Cheney died in Boston on March 28, 1950."Once-Famed Star, Julie Arthur, 81, Dies in Boston", United Press dispatch, March 29, 1950.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheney, Benjamin Pierce Jr. 1866 births 1942 deaths Wells Fargo Harvard University alumni Businesspeople from Boston