Samuel Ward

Samuel Ward (born in Rhode Island, May 1, 1786; died in New York City, November 27, 1839) was a United States banker.

Biography

His father was also named Samuel Ward. The father was a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a merchant afterwards. The son received a common school education, entered a banking house as clerk, and in 1808 was taken into partnership, continuing a member of the firm of Prime, Ward and King until his death. In 1838 he secured through the Bank of England a loan of nearly $5,000,000 to enable the banks to resume specie payments, and established the Bank of Commerce, becoming its president. He was a founder of the University of the City of New York and of the New York Temperance Society, of which he was the first president, and was active in organizing mission churches, a patron of many charities, and the giver of large sums in aid of Protestant Episcopal Churches and colleges in the west.

Family

In October 1812, he married Julia Rush Cutler (born in Boston, January 5, 1796; died in New York City, November 9, 1824). She was a sister of Rev. Benjamin Clarke Cutler, and, through her mother, a grandniece of Francis Marion. She was a poet, and one of her poems is preserved in Rufus W. Griswold's Female Poets of America (Philadelphia, 1848). Among their children were lobbyist Samuel Cutler Ward and poet Julia Ward Howe.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Ward, Richard". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1889.