Prime, Ward & King

Last updated
Prime, Ward & King
Industry Financial
Predecessor Nathaniel Prime, Stock and Commission Broker
Prime & Ward
Prime, Ward & Sands
Prime, Ward, Sands, King & Company
Founded1796
Founder Nathaniel Prime
Defunct1847 (1847)
Headquarters42 Wall Street,
New York City
Key people
 Nathaniel Prime
Samuel Ward III
James Gore King
Samuel Cutler Ward

Prime, Ward & King was a prominent American investment bank in the 18th and 19th Century based in New York City.

Contents

History

In 1796, Nathaniel Prime organized "Nathaniel Prime, Stock and Commission Broker" at 42 Wall Street where he bought and sold bank stocks. [1] After opening the private bank, he allowed customers to deposit money and then loaned it out. [1]

In 1808, Prime brought in Samuel Ward III as a partner and the firm was renamed Prime & Ward. [2] In 1816, Joseph Sands, Prime's brother-in-law, was made a partner and the firm became Prime, Ward & Sands. [3] [4]

In 1823, Prime met with and, eventually, invited James Gore King became a partner upon his return from England. [5] King, a son of U.S. Senator Rufus King, had previously been affiliated with the firm of King & Gracie, founded in 1818 in Liverpool, England by King and his brother-in-law, Archibald Gracie, Jr. (the son of Archibald Gracie). King wound up the affairs of the house in England, returned to New York and became a partner of the house of Prime, Ward, Sands, King & Company on May 1, 1824, which at the time consisted of Nathaniel Prime, Samuel Ward, Joseph Sands, James G. King and Robert Ray (Prime's son-in-law). [6]

In 1826, after Joseph died the firm was again reorganized as Prime, Ward & King with the previous partners and including Edward Prime, Prime's son. [3] In 1832, Prime retired and was replaced as a co-partner in the firm by his son, Edward. [3] In 1839, Ward died and was replaced by his son Samuel Cutler Ward, who had joined the firm the previous year. [6] In 1844, King's son Archibald Gracie King joined the firm which already included Denning Duer, the son of William Alexander Duer and the elders King's son-in-law. [6] In 1846, King and his family left the firm and started James G. King & Son, which he operated until his death in 1853. [7] [8]

The firm stunned the financial world when it collapsed in September 1847, which some claim was caused by the younger Ward's "excessive speculation in commodities" and caused the bankruptcy of the Ward family. [9]

Services

Among their biggest clients was Baring Brothers, a British merchant bank based in London that was the world's second oldest merchant bank founded in 1762 and owned by the German-originated Baring family of merchants and bankers. [10]

In 1823, Baring bought Erie Canal bonds through the firm, causing other international investors to do the same. The success of the Canal bonds caused the firm to take the lead in financing American expansion out west. [1]

After the financial crisis of 1836 to 1837, the Bank of England in an effort to assist New York City banks in resuming specie payment, confided a loan of almost 5 million dollars of gold to the firm which was considered a remarkable sign of confidence. [2]

Timeline

The firm was known by various names throughout its existence, including: [7] [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton

Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, PC, of The Grange in Hampshire, of Ashburton in Devon and of Buckenham Tofts near Thetford in Norfolk, was a British politician and financier, and a member of the Baring family. Baring was the second son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, and of Harriet, daughter of William Herring.

James G. King

James Gore King was an American businessman and Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1849 to 1851.

William Denning

William Denning was a merchant and United States Representative from New York.

Matthew Clarkson

Matthew Clarkson was a colonial soldier and politician. Clarkson Street in Greenwich Village and the town of Clarkson in Western New York were both named after him.

Charles King (educator)

Charles King was an American academic, politician and newspaper editor. He succeeded Nathaniel Fish Moore to become the ninth president of Columbia College, holding the role from November 1849 until 1864.

Comfort Sands

Comfort Sands was an American merchant, banker and politician.

Archibald Gracie

Archibald Gracie was a Scottish-born shipping magnate and early American businessman and merchant in New York City and Virginia whose spacious home, Gracie Mansion, now serves as the residence of the Mayor of New York City.

Michael Ulshoeffer was a New York City lawyer, politician and judge.

Nathaniel Thayer Jr.

Nathaniel Thayer II was a United States financier, philanthropist, and the father of John Eliot Thayer II, an amateur ornithologist.

Nathaniel Prime

Nathaniel Prime was a New York broker and banker.

Thomas Heywood (1797–1866) was an English antiquarian. He was closely involved in the Chetham Society and its publications.

William Montgomery Vermilye American banker

William Montgomery Vermilye was an American banker and philanthropist.

Edward King (New York banker)

Edward King was an American banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange and president of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York.

William Bard was a lawyer and pioneer in life insurance who founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company.

Edward Prime was a New York banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

Ferdinand Sands

Ferdinand Sands was an American lawyer and heir.

Col. Washington Romeyn Vermilye was an American banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

John Gerard Coster was a Dutch-American merchant who served as president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company.

The National Bank of Commerce in New York was a national bank headquartered in New York City that merged into the Guaranty Trust Company of New York.

Archibald Gracie King was a prominent American banker.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Burrows, Edwin G.; Wallace, Mike (1998). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Oxford University Press. p. 445. ISBN   9780199741205 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Ward, John (1875). A Memoir of Lieut.-Colonel Samuel Ward, First Rhode Island Regiment, Army of the American Revolution: With a Genealogy of the Ward Family. New York. p.  1 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Barrett, Walter (1885). The Old Merchants of New York City. Thomas R. Knox & Company. p.  10 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  4. ↑ Wilkins, Mira (1989). The History of Foreign Investment in the United States to 1914 . Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p.  657. ISBN   9780674396661 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  5. ↑ "SAMUEL WARD PAPERS" (PDF). archives.nypl.org. New York Public Library . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 Hunt, Freeman (1858). Lives of American Merchants. Derby & Jackson. p.  189 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 Austin, Peter E. (2015). Baring Brothers and the Birth of Modern Finance. Routledge. pp. 215–216. ISBN   9781317314714 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Valentine's Manual of Old New-York. Valentine's Manual, Incorporated. 1917. p. 229. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Trent, James W. (2012). The Manliest Man: Samuel G. Howe and the Contours of Nineteenth-century American Reform. Univ of Massachusetts Press. p. 163. ISBN   978-1558499591 . Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Reason, James (1997). Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents. Ashgate Publishing Limited. p. 29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.