12 of 14: George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook...., by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net
Following Background "Preface" below this 12 of 14 blogs covers Whittier, J.G. 2. to References: Books... "Maryland Resolution to George Peabody."
Background: "Preface" in 1 of 14 tells the why-when-where-how-findings-and-motives of the authors’ research on Franklin Parker’s doctoral dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” completed 1956 at George Peabody College for Teachers, adjoining Vanderbilt University, which on July 1, 1979, became Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville.
George Peabody, so well known in the 1850s-60s but since sadly neglected, was a significant 19th century figure as: 1-a Massachusetts-born merchant in the U.S. South: Riggs & Peabody, later Peabody & Riggs (1814-38), who imported dry goods and other commodities (worldwide) for sale to U.S. wholesalers. George Peabody then became: 2-a London-based merchant-banker, George Peabody & Co. (1838-64), who financed in part the B&O RR, the 2nd Mexican War Loan, the Atlantic Cable, and with J.S. Morgan as partner, was the root of the JP Morgan international banking firm. Finally, this merchant-turned-banker became: 3-the best known philanthropist of his time (1850s-60s), who founded the Peabody Homes of London for the working poor; in the U.S. 7 Peabody Libraries and Lecture Halls; the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore; three Peabody Museums at Harvard (Anthropology), Yale (Paleontology), and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (maritime history); and founder of the Peabody Education Fund for the South (1867-1914), basis for all later larger U.S. funds and foundations. End of Background.
Whittier, J.G. 2-Georgetown, Mass.: Mother's Birthplace. Georgetown, Mass., is 28 miles northeast of Boston, not far from GP's birthplace of Danvers (renamed Peabody since April 13, 1868), Mass. GP's mother, Judith (née Dodge) Peabody (1770-1830) was born there when it was called Rowley, Mass. GP's sister Judith Dodge (Peabody) Russell Daniels (1799-1879) lived in Georgetown, Mass., with her first husband, Jeremiah Russell, a lawyer. They married in 1831. Jeremiah Russell died May 2, 1860, in debt and with his affairs in disarray. GP took over Jeremiah Russell's debts (about $16,000) and, because Jeremiah Russell had handled family legal affairs, GP asked his Vt.-born friend, sometime agent, and fellow London resident genealogist Horatio Gates Somerby (1805-72), then visiting the U.S., to go over Jeremiah Russell's books. Sister Judith, a widow for two years (1860-62), married her second husband, Robert Shillaber Daniels (b.1791). Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 3-Split in the Congregation. GP used sister Judith's home on Main St. in Georgetown as his home while in Mass. during his second U.S. visit (May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867). During this visit GP decided to build a Memorial Church in Georgetown in memory of his and his sister Judith's mother. GP had this Memorial Church built because a split had occurred in the orthodox Congregational Church in Georgetown, Mass., in which Judith was a member and in which their mother had been a member. Some 85 parishioners differed with the pastor, the Rev. Charles Beecher (1815-1900), over doctrine. On Jan. 17, 1864, the dissenters formed a separate congregation, met in a small chapel, and had little money to build another church. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Whittier, J.G. 4-Sister Suggested Memorial Church. Judith sympathized with the dissenters, wrote her brother GP about what had occurred, and suggested that he might like to build a church in Georgetown in honor of their mother. Thus in May 1866, soon after he arrived in NYC from London (May 1, 1866), GP had a site selected and named a building committee (consisting of Judith's son and GP's nephew, George Peabody Russell [1835-1909], and a family friend, George J. Tenney). Ground was broken on June 19, 1866. The cornerstone was laid on Sept. 19, 1866. Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 5-GP's April 18, 1867, Speech. GP was to return to London May l, 1867. Georgetown citizens chose April 18, 1867, to bid him farewell. He asked particularly that schoolchildren be present. That afternoon, following introductions, GP said: "This reception is gratifying.... Here, since the earliest days of New England, my maternal ancestors lived and died. More of my family connections live here now than any other place. More than sixty years ago, I distinctly remember, a promised visit to Rowley was one of my brightest anticipations. Here my mother was born, she whom I loved so much, whose memory I revere. Here she passed her childhood and therefore these scenes are to me consecrated ground." Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 6-GP's April 18, 1867, Speech Cont'd.: "The church will soon be completed which will preserve my mother's name. While I have the most kindly feelings for all religious societies in this town, I will place this church under that affiliation in which she worshipped [Orthodox Congregational].... It is now and has always been my belief that nothing is as depreciating as unkindly feelings in matters of religious differences. In our country all religious denominations and political parties may enjoy their beliefs. The church and library now being built, I hope, will be an influence in this direction." Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 7-GP's April 18, 1867, Speech Cont'd.: "Religion and education should go hand in hand. The library and the church should assist each other in the great work of teaching men mortal and immortal things, of life here and life hereafter. No education is complete which does not extend to eternity. The buildings envisioned here, I earnestly pray, will fulfill this mission." "Now I turn to the children.... On you I rely for success in what I am attempting to do. The management of the church and library will in time fall to you. I pray that you use it as an instrument of great good.... Farewell." Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 8-GP's Restrictions Read at Dedication. The Peabody Memorial Church, Georgetown, Mass., was dedicated Jan. 8, 1868. After the invocation and scripture reading, the Rev. George W. Campbell of Bradford, Mass., read poet John Greenleaf Whittier's specially written poem entitled "Memorial Hymn." His poem was followed by the sermon. GP, Oct. 18, 1867, in London, sent a letter to be read. Judith (née Peabody) Daniels' son George Peabody Russell read GP's letter: "...In the building of this church my sister and I desire two things, to consecrate the memory of our mother and to build a house of worship to Almighty God in the Orthodox Congregational faith to which she belonged." "We convey this building to you subject to four conditions: that it always be called 'The Memorial Church' in memory of our mother; that it exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purposes; that the minister shall be chosen from the Orthodox Congregational Church; and that tablets be installed to commemorate our mother and your former pastor....." Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 9-Whittier Objected. When he learned of GP's restriction, that the church "exclude political and other subjects not in keeping with its religious purposes," Whittier objected. A New York Independent article entitled "A Marred Memorial," stated that the poem would never have been written nor the poet's name lent to the occasion had Whittier known of this restriction. Whittier published a similar statement in the Boston Daily Evening Transcript stating that he wrote the "Memorial Hymn" for the sole purpose of paying a brother's and sister's tribute to their mother. He thought this tribute was beautiful but had since learned with surprise and sorrow of GP's restrictions. Thus the matter ended. In 1866, GP gave $30,000 for a Peabody Institute Library in Georgetown, Mass. His well-intended Memorial Church gift in Georgetown, Mass., to honor his mother (cost $70,000), was among his lesser known and less appreciated gifts. Ref.: Ibid.
Whittier, J.G. 10-Career. John Greenleaf Whittier was born in Haverhill, Mass.; was a Quaker, abolitionist, fighter for peace, temperance, and woman's suffrage. He served in the Mass. legislature (1834-35). After the Civil War he turned from politics completely to poetry. His "The Barefoot Boy" is a perennial favorite. "Snowbound" is his most famous poem. Ref.: Ibid.
Wiesbaden, Germany. From Wiesbaden, Germany, early 1863, GP wrote his nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), then specializing in vertebrate paleontology at the Univ. of Berlin, to meet him in Hamburg in mid-May 1863. Marsh talked about developments in paleontology and the need for an endowed museum to find and reconstruct the antecedents and cultural history of man. Marsh influenced his uncle's later founding of three Peabody museums at Harvard and Yale universities, Oct. 8 and 22, 1866, $150,000 each; and at Salem, Mass., Feb. 26, 1867, $140,000. See: Marsh, Othniel Charles. Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Wilcocks, Charlotte Manigault (1821-75), was a Philadelphia belle who, after her parents died (father Samuel Wilcocks, death year unknown; mother Harriet Manigault Wilcocks died 1835 when Charlotte was 14), lived with her uncle Joseph Reed Ingersoll (1786-1868), successful Penn. lawyer and statesman; member of the Penn. Legislature and the U.S. Congress; and U.S. Minister to Britain during 1852-53. In London GP gave public dinners to introduce Minister Ingersoll, his wife, and his niece on Oct. 12, 1852 and May 18, 1853. GP also attended the opera and some social functions with Miss Wilcocks, causing press speculation about a romance and possible wedding. In a May 3, 1853, letter to Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran, GP dismissed press reports of a possible romance with Miss Wilcocks: "I have now arrived at an age [58] that throws aside all thoughts of marriage [although] I think her [Miss Wilcocks] a very fine woman." See: Ingersoll, Joseph Reed. Romance and GP.
Wilcoxon, Hardy C. (1921-96), was a GPCFT faculty member from 1966 and PCofVU Acting Dean during 1979-80 until the appointment of first PCofVU Dean Willis D. Hawley (b. 1938) during Oct. 15, 1980-89; succeeded by second PCofVU Dean James William Pellegrino (b. 1947) during 1992-Aug. 1998; succeeded by third PCofVU Dean Camilla Persson Benbow (b. 1956) from Aug. 1998. H.C. Wilcoxon, who attended the Univ. of Arkansas (B.A., 1947; M.A., 1948) and Yale Univ. (Ph.D., 1951), retired in 1986 to his native Ark. For details of PCofVU's six predecessor colleges and their nineteen chief administrators, See: PCofVU, history of. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Wilkes, the Trent Affair, and GP
Wilkes, Charles (1798-1877). 1-Illegal Seizure. On Nov. 8, 1861, Capt. Charles Wilkes of the Union warship San Jacinto illegally stopped the British mail packet Trent in the West Indies Bahama Channel and forcibly removed four Confederate emissaries on their way to seek recognition, arms, and credit from Britain and France. Taken into custody were James Murray Mason (1798-1871) of Va. and his male secretary, bound for Britain, and John Slidell (1793-1871) from La. and his male secretary, bound for France. See: Trent Affair.
Wilkes, Charles. 2-Furor over the Trent Affair. The seizure of Mason, Slidell, and their secretaries, and their incarceration in Boston Harbor's Fort Warren prison created a furor in Britain and France and exultation in the U.S. North. Angry recriminations over the Trent affair lasted well into 1862, making GP, his advisors, and trustees in London, postpone to March 12, 1862 announcement of the Peabody Donation Fund, a $2.5 million (total) gift for model housing for London's working poor. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilkes, Charles. 3-British-built Confederate Raiders. British upper and middle classes favored the Confederacy, whose Southern cotton was essential for British textile manufacture. Also, the Confederacy, without a navy, sent secret agents to buy British-built ships, which were then outfitted as Confederate warships. The British-built Confederate Alabama, for example, sunk 64 Union ships. Years later (1872), in international arbitration over the Alabama Claims, Britain paid the U.S. $15.5 million indemnity. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilkes, Charles. 4-GP-Trent Involvement. The seriousness of the Trent affair and other British-U.S. provocations worried GP and his advisors. Would the British government, press, and public reject his London housing gift? Britain demanded release of the four prisoners and an explanation. U.S. jingoism calmed. Pres. Lincoln's cabinet met Dec. 26, 1861, and disavowed Capt. Wilkes's action as unauthorized. The four Confederates were released on Jan. 1, 1862. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilkes, Charles. 5-GP-Trent Involvement Cont'd. Confederate emissary John Slidell's secretary was George Eustice (1828-72), both from La. George Eustice was married to Louise Morris Corcoran (1838-67), the only daughter of GP's longtime business associate William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888) of Washington, D.C. She was a favorite of GP, who had entertained Corcoran and his daughter, sometimes the daughter alone, on European trips. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilkes, Charles. 6- GP-Trent Involvement Cont'd. Another GP-Trent connection occurred when the Trent officer in charge of the mail, identified as Capt. Richard Williams, was asked at a dinner to explain what happened on the Trent. His version, published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, was that when the San Jacinto's Lt. Fairfax demanded to take Mason and Slidell into custody, they appeared before him with Slidell's daughter clinging to her father. When Lt. Fairfax tried to separate father and daughter, she slapped his face. The Daily Post article added that there was a contradiction to Capt. Williams' version from a Member of Parliament who "had the contradiction from George Peabody, the well known banker and merchant." Ref.: Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, p. 5, c. 1-2.
Wilkes, Charles. 7-Hanckel Affair. The article added information from a Mr. Allen S. Kanckel (his last name was, in fact, Hanckel), who claimed to have witnessed the Trent incident. He told the editor that Slidell's daughter did not slap Lt. Fairfax but "put her hand twice on his face to keep him back." The article ended with: "Mr. Kanckel adds, that Mr. Peabody, uninvited, called on Mrs. Slidell, and behaved ungentlemanly." The editor sent GP the news article along with Allen S. Hanckel's calling card. Hanckel wrote GP that the Daily Post editor had made a mistake, that it had been GP's partner, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90), who had burst uninvited into Mrs. Slidell's room. Hanckel added with an implied threat, "I shall certainly call upon you and hope to receive an explanation." Mr. Hanckel's visit did not materialize. The Trent affair had stirred many passions. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilkes, Charles. 8-Career. Born in NYC, Charles Wilkes entered the merchant service, was appointed a midshipman (1818), surveyed Narragansett Bay (1832-33), headed the Navy Dept. of Charts and Instruments (1833), and commanded a scientific flotilla of six ships which did research in the South Pacific and in the Antarctic. In the Antarctic, Wilkes Land is named for him. He also explored the Pacific Northwest waters, encircled the globe, and wrote Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition, five volumes and an atlas (1844) and edited other scientific works on the expedition (1844-74). After the Trent Affair, the Civil War's most serious foreign affairs crisis, he was made commodore in charge of operations against Confederate raiders in the West Indies (1862), but was recalled June 1863, and was court-martialed for disobedience and insubordination (1864). He was finally made rear admiral on the retired list (1866). Ref.: Wallace and Gillespie, II, p. 913, footnote 14.
Willard, Ashbel P. (1820-60), was governor of Indiana with whom GP spent the night of April 7, 1857, during GP's Sept. 15, 1856, to Aug. 19, 1857, U.S. visit. Born in Oneida County, N.Y, a graduate of Hamilton College (1842), he studied law, moved to Mich., Texas, Ky., and to New Albany, Ind., where he practiced law, served in the Ind. House of Representatives (1850-51), was Ind. lt. governor, and governor during 1857-60. Ref.: Sobel and Raimo, eds., p. 403. See: Visits to the U.S. by GP.
PEF Trustees First Meeting, Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C. 1-PEF Founding Meeting, Feb. 8, 1867. Ten of the 16 PEF trustees first met in an upper room of Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1867, to hear PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) read GP's Feb. 7, 1867, founding letter. A contemporary account, basis of later versions, stated: "Ceremonies were held in [trustee] Mr. [William Maxwell] Evart's room, and were very impressive. The distinguished party knelt in prayer delivered by [Ohio Episcopal] Bishop [Charles Pettit] McIlvaine [1799-1873]," also a trustee. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise for GP. PEF.
Willard's Hotel. 2-J.L.M. Curry's Account. J.L.M. Curry's later (1898) description of that scene: "Mr. Peabody addressed his Letter of Gift to sixteen gentlemen on the 8th of February, 1867, ten of whom were assembled in a little upper chamber of Willard's Hotel at Washington. Mr. Winthrop communicated the letter constituting them and their associates Trustees. Deeply sensible of the honor conferred, and of the responsibility and magnitude of the Trust, and realizing their dependence on the guidance and blessing of God, whose favor had been invoked by Bishop McIlvaine [a trustee], they received their credentials and the securities from the hands of Mr. Peabody himself, accepted the obligations prescribed, and inaugurated the work committed to them." Ref.: Ibid.
Willard's Hotel. 3-GPCFT Pres. B.R. Payne's 1916 Account. GPCFT Pres. Bruce Ryburn Payne's (1874-1937) Feb. 18, 1916, Founders Day speech described that first PEF trustee meeting dramatically: "There stand several governors of states both North and South; senators of the United States, Ulysses Grant and Admiral Farragut. Mr. Winthrop is called to take the chair. Mr. Peabody rises to read his deed of gift. They kneel in a circle of prayer, the Puritan of New England [R.C. Winthrop], the pioneer of the West, the financier of the metropolis [GP], and the defeated veteran of the Confederacy. [On] bended knee they dedicate this great gift. They consecrate themselves to its wise expenditure. In that act, not quite two years after Appomattox, is the first guarantee of a reunited country." Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Willard's Hotel. 4-U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson Called on GP, Feb. 9, 1867. On Feb. 9, 1867, Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75, 17th U.S. president during 1865-69), his secretary, Col. William George Moore (1829-93), and three others, called on GP at his Willard's Hotel rooms. With GP at the time were a-PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop, b-trustee Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873, Episcopal Bishop of Ohio), c-trustee William Aiken (1806-87, former S.C. governor); d- GP's business friend Samuel Wetmore (1813?-85), e-his wife, and f-their son; g-GP's nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), h-George Washington Riggs (1813-81), and three others. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Willard's Hotel. 5-U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson Called on GP, Feb. 9, 1867 Cont'd. Pres. Johnson took GP by the hand (GP was age 72 and often ill) and said that he thought he would find GP alone, that he called simply as a private citizen to thank GP for his PEF gift to aid public education in the South, that he thought the gift would do much to unite the country, that he was glad to have a man like GP representing the U.S. in England. Pres. Johnson invited GP to visit him in the White House. With emotion, GP thanked Pres. Johnson. He said that this meeting was one of the greatest honors of his life, that he knew the president's political course would be in the country's best interest, that England from the Queen downward felt goodwill toward the U.S., that he thought in a few years the country would rise above its divisions to become happier and more powerful. Ref.: Ibid.
Willard's Hotel. 6-Pres. Johnson's Impeachment Concern. Pres. Johnson faced hostile radical Republicans in Congress bent on impeaching him for his conciliatory policy toward the former Confederate states. To avoid impeachment, Pres. Johnson's political advisor, Francis Preston Blair, Sr. (1791-1876), advised a complete cabinet change: GP as Treasury Secty., Mass. Gov. John Albion Andrew (1818-67) as Secty. of State, Ohio Gov. Jacob Dolson Cox (1828-1900) as Interior Secty., U.S. Sen. Edgar Cowan (1815-85) of Penn. as Atty.-Gen., Adm. D.G. Farragut (1801-70) as Navy Secty., Gen. U.S. Grant (1822-85) as Secty. of War, and Horace Greeley (1811-72) as Postmaster Gen. Ref.: Ibid.
Willard's Hotel. 7-GP at the White House. On April 25, 1867, before his May 1, 1867, departure for London, GP called on Pres. Johnson in the Blue Room of the White House and they spoke of the work of the PEF. With GP were B&O RR. Pres. John Work Garrett (1820-84) and the 18-year-old son of Samuel Wetmore, William Boerum Wetmore (b. Dec. 7, 1849). GP told Pres. Johnson of young Wetmore's interest in being admitted to West Point and Pres. Johnson said he would do what he could for the young man. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Williams, Richard, was the British officer in charge of the mail on the British steamer Trent when it was stopped at the West Indies, Bahama Channel, Nov. 8, 1861, by Capt. Charles Wilkes (1798-1877) of the Union warship San Jacinto. For Trent officer Richard Williams' account of the incident published in the Liverpool Daily Post, Jan. 8, 1862, and its effect on GP, together with sources, See: Trent Affair. Wilkes, Charles (above).
Pallbearer of GP's Remains, Portland, Me., Feb. 1, 1870
Willis, William (1794-1870), was the prominent Portland, Me., lawyer, state senator, Portland, Me., mayor (1857), civic leader, historian, and businessman who, then age 76, a year older than the deceased GP, was a pallbearer of GP's remains, Feb. 1, 1870, the day they were taken from Portland by train to Peabody, Mass. William Willis's diary comments on the Portland reception of GP's remains. William Willis was born in Haverhill, Mass., moved to Portland, Me, with his father in 1803 at age nine, was later the law partner in Portland of William Pitt Fessenden (1806-69), was (without seeking office) a prominent candidate for governor of Me., was proudest of his historical work, Guide Book for Portland and Vicinity… (Portland, Me.: B. Thurston & J.F. Richardson, 1859). He also compiled "Smith and Deane's Journals, with Historical Notes." His prominent law partner, William Pitt Fessenden, was a state senator, a U.S. House member (1841-43), and U.S. senator (1854-69, except for June 1864 to March 1865, when he was Pres. A. Lincoln's Treasury Secty.). Ref.: (William Willis obituary): Daily Eastern Argus (Portland, Me.), Feb. 18, 1870. For extracts of his diary commenting on the Portland, Me., reception of GP's remains, see Death and Funeral, GP's.
Willis's Rooms,, King St., St. James's, London, was a suite of fashionable meeting rooms designed by Robert Mylne (1765) and named after its first proprietor, William Almack (an anagram of a Mr. Macall or McCaul). At his death (1781), Almack's was left to his niece, Mrs. Willis. As "Willis's Rooms" the restaurant with its meeting rooms was popular in GP's 32 years in London (1837-69) and lasted to 1890. In 1904 a new London social club adopted the name of Almack's. GP's much publicized July 4, 1851, dinner and dance, held in connection with the Great Exhibition of 1851, was at Willis's Rooms with the Duke of Wellington as guest of honor. Ref.: "Almack's," Vol. I, p. 711. . "Almack's Assembly Rooms," p. 20. See: "Almack's Assembly Rooms." Dinners, GP's, London.
GP's Wills
Wills, GP's. 1- Oct. 1827 Will. Three known GP wills were made in Oct. 1827, April 24, 1832, and Sept. 9, 1869. In his first known will dated Oct. 1827 before leaving on his first buying trip to Europe on Nov. 1, 1827, GP left: a-Mother: House and lot valued at $2,000 and Annuity (of $500) worth at maturity $10,000. b-Judith Dodge Peabody (oldest sister, 1799-1879): Cash and stock, $10,000. c-Mary Gaines Peabody (younger sister, 1807-34): bond of her husband Caleb Marsh, $1,500, and cash in bank, $8,500. d-Sophronia Phelps Peabody (sister, b.1809), $10,000. e-Jeremiah Dodge Peabody (younger brother, 1805-77), $10,000. f-Thomas Peabody (younger brother, 1801-35), $15,000. g-George Peabody (son of older brother David Peabody, 1815-32), $15,000. h-Sophronia Peabody (cousin, daughter of GP's paternal uncle John Peabody [1768-d. before 1826], $2,000. i-Charity: Orphaline Female School, Baltimore, $2,000. Baltimore General Dispensary, $2,000. Total 1827 estate, $85,000. Ref.: GP's wills are in the Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See: persons named.
Wills, GP's. 2-April 24, 1832, Will. GP's second known will of April 24, 1832, made before his third buying trip to Europe, kept the proportioned amounts in his 1827 will except that his mother had died. a-Oldest brother David Peabody was given $7,000 for the first time, b-younger brother Thomas Peabody was also given $7,000 (with the same proviso for David and Thomas that the amounts could not be attached by creditors). New additions in GP's 1832 will were: c-$2,000 for the infant school of Baltimore; d-$2,000 to Adolphus William Peabody (b. 1814), son of paternal uncle John Peabody, 1768-1827); e-$5,000 to South Parish, Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), Mass. for education; f-$2,000 to George Peabody Tiffany (son of Osmond Capron Tiffany, 1794-1851, intimate Baltimore merchant-friend); and g-$20,000 to Baltimore's Mayor and City Council to invest in education ($27,000 for education). Total 1832 estate, over $135,000. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named.
Wills, GP's. 3-Sept. 9, 1869, Last Will. GP's last known will of Sept. 9, 1869, requested burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. a-He left $11,000 (£2,200) to his office clerk Henry West or his wife Louise West; b-$5,000 (£1,000) to office clerk Thomas Perman or his wife Annette Emma Perman or to her child; $25,000 (£5,000) each to the British executors of his estate, c-Curtis M. Lampson (1806-85) and d-Charles Reed (1819-81); $5,000 (£1,000) each to the U.S. executors of his estate, e-Robert Singleton Peabody (1837-1904) and f-Charles W. Chandler (d. 1882); additional amounts to the g-Peabody Donation Fund of London for model apartments for the working poor; and to a h-Peabody Family trust, variously estimated from $1.5 million to $4 million. Ref.: Ibid. GP's wills are in the Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass. See: Death and funeral, GP's. Persons named.
Wilson, John Morrillyon (1783-1868). 1-Contacted by Thurlow Weed. Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), influential N.Y. state political leader and founder and editor of the Albany, N.Y. Evening Journal, was in London in Nov. 1861 as Pres. Abraham Lincoln's emissary to explain the Union cause and to urge Britain's neutrality in the U.S. Civil War. Weed spoke to GP on the origins and issues of the Civil War and asked GP's help in meeting British leaders. GP arranged for Weed's introduction to his friend Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869), MP for Belfast, Ireland. At Tennent's house Weed met and explained the Union side to such leaders as 1-Maj. Gen. John Wilson [believed to be John Morrillyon Wilson], 2-Lord Clarence Edward Paget (1811-95), 3-Foreign Secty. John Russell (1792-1878), 4-MP William W. Torrens, and others. Ref.: Wilson, XXI, pp. 588-589. See: persons named.
Wilson, J.M. 2-Career. J.M. Wilson was born in Whitchurch, Yorkshire, served in the Royal Navy (1798-1803), was wounded, for which he received a medal. He entered the British Army (1804), served in the War of 1812, won awards for bravery, was aide-camp to Maj. Gen. Riall, in Grenada, West Indies, was commandant, Chelsea Hospital, London [home for retired soldiers, built by Christopher Wren], from 1855, and died there. Ref.: Ibid.
GP & the Clothworkers' Co., London
Wilson, Josiah. (1793 or 94-1862). 1-Master of The Clothworkers' Co., London, July 2, 1862. Josiah Wilson was the Master of The Clothworkers' Co., one of London's ancient guilds, which gave GP his first honor in England, granting him honorary membership on July 2, 1862. This honor came some three months after press announcement of GP's March 12, 1862, letter founding the Peabody Donation Fund for building model apartments for London's working poor (total gift $2.5 million). See: Clothworkers' Co. of London.
Wilson, Josiah. 2-First of GP's British Honors. Britons, from the Queen downward, were surprised by GP's gift of housing. They were surprised that an American in their midst would give, for such a cause, in such a large amount, to a city and country not his own. This honor of membership in the medieval guild of the Clothworkers' Co. came eight days before GP was made a Freeman of the City of London on July 10, 1862. Other honors followed. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilson, Josiah. 3-Colorful Ceremony. GP, accompanied by longtime business friend Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), was present when Alderman of the City of London, Sir John Musgrove (1793-1881), moved "that the Freedom and Livery of the Company be presented to George Peabody, Esq." City of London Alderman John Humphery (d. 1863) seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. Josiah Wilson, Master of the Company, then referred to eminent men on whom the same honor had been earlier bestowed: Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) and Queen Victoria's husband Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61). Ref.: Ibid.
Wilson, Josiah. 4-GP's Speech. After the oath of a Freeman was administered, GP said: "I thank the honorable Company of Clothworkers'. This ancient company is well known in my country. My own countryman and friend, Robert C. Winthrop [1809-94] is a descendant of a past Master of this Company." GP then spoke about the progress his trustees were making on building model homes for London's working poor. GP was escorted through the Great Hall and the building and sat down with many guests for a large banquet. Ref.: Ibid.
Wilson, Philip Whitwell (1875-1956), was a journalist and former member of the British House of Commons. He wrote George Peabody, Esq., An Interpretation (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1926), in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of GPCFT, Nashville, in 1925. P.W. Wilson's biography was a carefully crafted work although not based on original sources. For other GP biographies, see Chapple, William Dismore. Hanaford, Phebe Ann. Hidy, Muriel Emmie. Parker, Franklin. Peabody, George, Biographies of.
GP’s Service in the War of 1812
Winder, William Henry (1775-1824). 1-Military Commander, War of 1812. William Henry Winder was military commander in the Georgetown, D.C., and Washington, D.C. area during the War of 1812 when GP served briefly as a private who drilled and trained but saw no action. W.H. Winder, born in Somerset County, Md., was a Univ. of Penn. graduate, a Baltimore lawyer, a Lt. Col. at the outbreak of the War of 1812 (March), a Brigadier Gen. (March 1813), and resumed law practice (June 1815). See: War of 1812.
Winder, W.H. 2-GP, Young Soldier. GP, then age 18, served 11 days as a private connected with Fort Warburton, Md. (July 15-26, 1813). There he first met older established merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853), who took him as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), and John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), original PIB planner, trustee. and GP's longtime friend and advisor. GP also served Oct. 5-7, 1814, while visiting Newburyport, Mass., in Capt. Joseph T. Pike's Co., Col. Merrill's Regiment (three days), or a total of 14 days. Ref.: Ibid.
Winder, W.H. 3-War of 1812 Veteran's Land Bounty. Years later, during his Sept. 1856-Aug. 1857 U.S. visit, GP visited longtime business associate and friend William Wilson Corcoran (1798-1888) in Washington, D.C., Feb. 14-23, 1857. With the help of Corcoran's colleague, Anthony Hyde, a justice of the peace, GP prepared affidavits to apply for a land bounty provided War of 1812 veterans by Act of Congress, March 3, 1855. GP's application requested the land bounty as a memento and not for profit. Ref.: Ibid.
GPCFT, Nashville
Windrow, John Edwin (1899-1984). 1-GPCFT Administrator. John Edwin Windrow was for nearly 60 years during 1923-84 a student, faculty member, and administrator under six GPCFT presidents. He was born on a farm in Eagleville, Tenn., was instructor of returned World War I veterans at Middle Tenn. State Normal College, Murfreesboro; taught at Clarksville High School, Tenn.; was high school teacher-principal-coach, Tullahoma, Tenn.; and studied at GPCFT (B.A., 1923-24; M.A., 1925; and Ph.D., 1937). Ref.: Crawford-a, pp. 19-21.
Windrow, J.E. 2-Wrote on J.B. Lindsley. J.E. Windrow's dissertation, supervised by Prof. Alfred Leland Crabb (1883-1979) was on Univ. of Nashville Chancellor John Berrien Lindsley (1822-97), and was published as John Berrien Lindsley, Educator, Physician, Social Philosopher (Chapel Hill: Univ. of N.C. Press, 1938). He served GPCFT as Alumni Secty. (1925-37 and 1943-69), Demonstration School Director (1937-47), Alumni Fund chairman (1969-74), editor for 40 years of the alumni magazine, Peabody Reflector (1925-37, 1943-69), and GPCFT first Archivist and Historian (1974-84). Ref.: Vaughn, pp. 10-12.
Windrow, J.E. 3-60 Years at GPCFT. At a dinner held in J.E. Windrow's honor, Nov. 5, 1982, celebrating his 60 years at Peabody, a $500,000 John Edwin Windrow Merit Scholarship Fund in Education and Human Development was given in his honor by one of his students, Arthur A. Smith (M.A., GPCFT, 1929, and Ph.D., Vanderbilt, 1933), retired senior vice president and economist at the First National Bank of Dallas. J.E. Windrow edited Peabody and Alfred Leland Crabb: The Story of Peabody As Reflected in Selected Writings of Alfred Leland Crabb (Nashville: Williams Press, 1977), consisting of A.L. Crabb's writings on Peabody's history published in the Peabody Reflector, 1939-41. Ref.: "John Edwin Windrow (1899-1984)," inside front cover. "'Mr. Peabody' Dr. Windrow Dies at 84," Tennessean (Nashville), May 28, 1984, pp. l-A-2-A. See: Crabb, Alfred Leland.
Windsor Castle, England. For Queen Victoria's 1-March 28, 1866, letter to GP and his April 3, 1866, reply; 2-her June 20, 1869, letter to him and his July 19, 1869, reply; and her cablegram on the centennial of his birth (Feb. 18, 1895), see Queen Victoria. For Queen Victoria's invitation for GP to visit her and rest at Windsor Castle (Oct. 30, 1869), see Death and Funeral, GP's. For her carriage and representation at his Westminster Abbey funeral service (Nov. 12, 1869), see Death and Funeral, GP's. For MP John Bright's (1811-89) dinner conversation with Queen Victoria about GP (Dec. 30, 1868), See: John Bright. For Royal Archive sources of letters to, from, and about GP, see Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, under References, British Library unpublished letters and documents.
Alabama Claims Affected GP's Funeral
Winslow
W, John Ancrum (1811-73) 1-Capt. of USS Kearsarge Which Sank CSS Alabama. John Ancrum Winslow was the U.S. Navy Capt. of the USS Kearsarge which engaged and sank the British-built Confederate raider CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, June 19, 1864. CSS Alabama and other British-built Confederate raiders sank many Union ships and cost Union lives and treasure. An international court (1872) required Britain to pay the U.S. $15.5 million in reparation. GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869, in London, amid the anger and furor over the Alabama Claims, affected the transatlantic return of his remains for burial in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Mass. See: Alabama Claims. Death and Funeral, GP's.
Winslow, J.A. 2-Alabama Furor Led to GP's Unprecedented International Funeral. Queen Victoria is said to have first suggested that GP's remains be returned to the U.S. on a royal ship. On Nov. 9, 1869, British PM William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98) said publicly: "With Mr. Peabody's nation we will not quarrel." The next day (Nov. 10, 1869) PM Gladstone's Cabinet offered HMS Monarch, Britain's newest and largest battleship as funeral vessel. British leaders first, then U.S. leaders not to be outdone, embarked on an unprecedented 96-day transatlantic funeral for GP, watched by thousands and read of by millions in newspapers. Respect for his philanthropies and his U.S.-British friendship efforts and the wish to ease angers over Civil War incidents (Trent, Alabama, others) were motives for the unprecedented funeral honors. Ref.: Ibid.
Winslow, J.A. 3-Career. John Ancrum Winslow, born in Wilmington, N.C., was appointed a U.S. midshipman (1827), served in the Mexican War, and was commissioned a Commander (1855). In the Civil War he first served with a flotilla on the Upper Mississippi (1861), was promoted to Capt. (1862), commanded the USS Kearsarge (1863-64), was promoted to Commodore and received congressional thanks for sinking the Alabama. He commanded the Gulf squadron (1866-67), was made a Rear Adm. (1870), was commander of the Pacific squadron (1870-72), and died in Boston. Ref.: Ibid. See: persons named. Cherbourg, France. Mallory, Stephen Russell. Semmes, Raphael Harwood.
Winter, Simon, was GP's valet (manservant) during the last months of GP's life, probably Sept. to Nov., 1869. One account of GP's last July 23-Aug. 30, 1869, visit to White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., mentioned GP and a manservant. Little is known about Simon Winter, who attended the dying GP at the home of Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson (1806-85), 80 Eaton Square, London. News accounts list him in a carriage in the funeral procession from Lampson's home to Westminster Abbey, Nov. 12, 1869. He also supplied GP's death certificate information to the General Register Office, Somerset House, London. See: Death and Funeral, GP's. Somerset House, London.
Winthrop, John (1588-1649), was an early governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and ancestor of Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94), who was GP's philanthropic advisor and the PEF Board of Trustees president.
GP’s Philanthropic Advisor R.C. Winthrop
Winthrop, Robert Charles (1809-94). 1-GP's Philanthropic Advisor, from 1866. Robert Charles Winthrop was GP's philanthropic advisor from May 1866 to GP's death on Nov. 4, 1869. He was also president of the PEF board of trustees (Feb. 7, 1867 to 1894).
Career of Robert Charles Winthrop
Winthrop, R.C. 2-Career. Robert Charles Winthrop was the Boston-born descendant of an early governor of Mass. Bay Colony (John Winthrop, 1588-1649). He was a statesman of prestige and probity, uniquely fitted to be GP's philanthropic advisor. A Harvard College graduate (1828), he studied law under Daniel Webster (1782-1852), served in the Mass. legislature (1835-41), where he was Speaker the last three years. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1842-50), was its Speaker during 1847-50, was appointed to complete Daniel Webster's U.S. Senate term (1850-51), and was a noted orator at both the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., cornerstone laying (1848) and dedication (1885) ceremonies.
Winthrop, R.C. 3-Career Cont'd. No longer seeking higher office after 1851, he gave his time to literary and philanthropic works, particularly to GP's philanthropy from 1866 onward, and to the founding (1886) of Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, Rockhill, S.C., later renamed Winthrop College, still a low-cost college. Moderate in the Civil War, he won acceptance in both North and South and moved easily in political, academic, and social circles. It was a bold act after the devastating Civil War for two northerners, GP to propose and finance the PEF (Feb. 7, 1867 to 1914), and Winthrop to help guide, this large effort to uplift the South by aiding public education in eleven former Confederate states, with W.Va. added because of its poverty.
Winthrop, R.C. 4-First Contacts with GP, 1847-52. R.C. Winthrop was in London in 1847 but missed meeting GP at that time. He knew of GP's $15,000 loan to the U.S. exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, the first world's fair, and of GP's Exhibition-connected U.S.-British friendship dinners (July 4 and Oct. 27, 1851). As a Mass. statesman he especially appreciated GP's first gift, the Peabody Institute Library in South Danvers (renamed Peabody, April 13, 1868), Mass., on June 16, 1852. See: Danvers, Mass., Centennial Celebration, June 16, 1852. Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Winthrop, R.C. 5-First Contacts with GP, 1847-52 Cont'd. Through Timothy Bigelow Lawrence (1826-69), who was secretary to his father, U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence (1792-1855), Winthrop sent GP a copy of a speech he gave at Harvard Univ. Winthrop's letter to T. Bigelow Lawrence, passed on to GP, read: "Mr. Peabody was absent from London, I believe, when I was there in 1847; at any rate I did not have the pleasure of meeting him. I venture however to send him through you a copy of my late address at Cambridge. His late liberality at Danvers proves that he is mindful of the cause of good learning in his native State." Ref.: T. Bigelow Lawrence to GP, Sept. 14, 1852, Peabody Papers, PEM, Salem, Mass.
Making of Philanthropist GP
Winthrop, R.C. 6-GP: Quiet American in London. The path to GP's post-1866 philanthropy, uniquely led by Winthrop, is here briefly noted. GP was little known except to commercial contacts and Baltimore, Md., friends (from 1814, age 19). In London after his fifth commercial trip to Europe (Feb. 1837 to his death, except for three U.S. visits), he still remained a little known merchant and securities broker for 14 years until 1851.
Winthrop, R.C. 7-Md.'s Fiscal Agent in London. GP entered the public arena in a small way between Feb. 1837 and 1848. As Md.'s agent to sell abroad the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal part of Md.'s $8 million bond issue for internal improvements (including the B&O RR), he was publicly critical of repudiation. His letters to Md. officials, published in the press, held that stopping interest payments on its bonds by Md. and eight other states, brought on by the Panic of 1837, gave foreign investors honest cause to malign all Americans. He urged states to resume interest payments retroactively, assured foreign investors that these payments would be resumed, and decided that he would not claim his $60,000 commission for selling Md.'s bonds. When the states recovered financially and Marylanders realized that GP had upheld their credit abroad, the Md. Legislature passed resolutions of praise to him. These, sent to him with the thanks of the Md. governor, were his first modest brush with praise and fame. See: Md.'s $8 Million Bond Sale Abroad and GP.
Winthrop, R.C. 8-GP Helpful to Visiting Americans. GP early told a few intimates (who probably listened in bemused skepticism) of his intent to found an educational or other useful institution in towns and cities where he had worked and lived. Despite business concerns and frequent illness, he increasingly helped U.S. visitors to London from New England, Md., and elsewhere. For many who came to him with letters of introduction, he got tickets to the Parliament, the opera, Botanical Gardens; corsages for the women; and performed banking and other needed services. See: Riggs, Sr., Elisha.
Winthrop, R.C. 9-Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. In Marsh before the May 1 opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, GP heard that the U.S. exhibitors were in a dilemma. They lacked congressional funds to decorate their rather large Crystal Palace exhibit area. With a polite note through U.S. Minister to Britain Abbott Lawrence, he offered, without guarantee of repayment, $15,000. This loan, repaid by Congress three years later, enabled over six million visitors to see U.S. industry and art to best advantage. See: Great Exhibition of 1851, London (first world's fair).
Winthrop, R.C. 10-July 4, 1851, Dinner. The U.S. exhibitors, many of whom later helped spread his fame, were invited to two Exhibition-connected GP-sponsored U.S.-British friendship dinners: July 4 and Oct. 27, 1851. Few knew that U.S. Minister Abbott Lawrence, aware of British anti-American prejudice, had warned GP that "the fashionables and aristocracy of London" would not attend his July 4, 1851, dinner and ball. But when GP got the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) as guest of honor (the man who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo), the dinner and ball for 800 guests were a huge success. Minister Abbott Lawrence sent GP his "...heartfelt thanks.... [You have] done that which was never before attempted." Ref.: Ibid. See: Corcoran, William Wilson. Dinners, GP's, London.
Winthrop, R.C. 11-Oct. 27, 1851, Dinner. Even more popular was GP's Oct. 27, 1851, U.S.-British friendship dinner to the departing U.S. exhibitors. He had the menu, toasts, proceedings, and speeches printed in a book for each guest. Beautifully bound copies printed on vellum were sent to U.S. Pres. Millard Fillmore (1800-74), Queen Victoria's husband Albert of Saxe-Co-burg-Gotha (Prince Albert, 1819-61), and other dignitaries. The New York Times described the dinner in two columns. The Canadian Quebec Gazette recorded: "For years there have been built up antagonism and recrimination. Suddenly a respected American, long resident in London...brings them together. The thing works and elicits applause and appreciation...." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 12-Praise from a Nephew. GP's social emergence and favorable press reports on his U.S.-British friendship dinners encouraged his philanthropic intent. His nephew, George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), wrote from Harvard where GP was paying for his college education: "Your parting entertainment to the American Exhibitors has caused your name to be known and appreciated on this side of the Atlantic.... In fact you have become quite a public character." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 13-Praise from W.W. Corcoran. To Washington, D.C., business friend William Wilson Corcoran's (1798-1888) letter: "You will make us proud to call you friend and countryman," GP replied (knowing that Corcoran, soon to donate the Corcoran Art Gallery to the nation, was already a much praised philanthropist): "However liberal I may be here, I cannot keep pace with your noble acts of charity at home; but one of these days I mean to come out and then if my feelings regarding money don't change and I have plenty, I shall become a strong competitor of yours in benevolence." Ref.: Ibid.
GP’s First Gifts
Winthrop, R.C. 14-First Gifts. Praise in the press prompted the Md. Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts to make GP an honorary member. He had also read of the Md. Institute's effort to raise funds for a school of chemistry. He sent Md. Institute Pres. William H. Keighler, Oct. 31, 1851, a $1,000 check for the chemistry school "as a small token of gratitude toward a State from which I have been mighty honored, and a City in the prosperity of which I shall ever feel the greatest interest." Invited but unable to attend the June 16, 1852, centennial celebration of his hometown of Danvers' separation from Salem, Mass., GP's letter from London, May 26, 1852, was read aloud to those assembled. His letter contained a $20,000 check for his first Peabody Institute Library, to which he gave a total of $217,600 and a sentiment: "By George Peabody, of London: Education--a debt due from present to future generations." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 15-Seeking Advice, Finding Trustees. The philanthropic impulse and purposes were GP's. Yet he consulted knowledgeable friends and sought to word his founding letters to guarantee future direction. He selected trustees carefully to carry out the long range purposes of each gift. In 1854 he urged visiting Baltimore leader Reverdy Johnson (1796-1876) to consult with Baltimoreans John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870), William Edwards Mayhew, and Charles James Madison Eaton (1808-93) about an institution for Baltimore. See: PIB. Persons named.
Winthrop, R.C. 16-PIB. Financial panic, trustee squabbling, and Civil War divisions (Md. was a divided border state) delayed the PIB for nine years from founding letter (Feb. 12, 1857) to dedication and opening (Oct. 25, 1866). It took GP's presence, tact, and goodwill to forestall legal action between two sets of trustees that would have killed the PIB at inception. Seeking advice and finding trustees was also GP's pattern in founding the Peabody Homes of London (March 12, 1862). See: PIB.
Winthrop, R.C. 17-Peabody Homes of London. The London gift idea went through several stages. It was Lord Shaftesbury, head of the Ragged School Union, who said that, even more than schools, the London poor's greatest need was apartments near their work. See: Peabody Homes of London.
Winthrop, R.C. 18-U.S.-British Clash over the Trent Affair. With plans laid and trustees selected, U.S. Civil War-generated antagonisms threatened GP's grand housing scheme. 1-On Nov. 8, 1861, in the Bahamas the captain of a Union ship illegally stopped the British mail ship Trent and removed and jailed four Confederate agents seeking arms and aid in England and France. This act brought northern jubilation and British anger (Pres. Lincoln had them released Jan. 1, 1862). Ref.: Ibid. See: Wilkes, Charles (above).
Winthrop, R.C. 19-U.S.-British Clash over CSS Alabama. 2-Without a navy of its own, Confederate agents secretly bought British-made ships, armed and outfitted them as Confederate raiders (CSS Alabama, others), which cost Union lives and treasure. Americans were angry and the British defensive. 3-U.S. Secty. of State William Henry Seward (1801-72) allegedly told the then Colonial Secty. (the Duke of Newcastle) that one way to end the U.S. Civil War and get the South to rejoin the Union was to start a war with Britain. Britishers were incensed at this "Newcastle story." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 20-GP Delayed London Housing Gift. Britain moved to a war footing and sent 8,000 troops to Canada in case of a U.S.-British war. GP and his trustees, unsure if his housing plan would be accepted in view of these hostilities, delayed its public announcement until March 12, 1862. He need not have worried. News of his gift swept London, captured England, echoed in the U.S., and reached the world press. Peabody housing trustee Sir James Emerson Tennent (1791-1869), who sent GP press notices, added: "...the press is only a faint echo of the voice of Society which is so forcibly in praise of an act so utterly beyond all precedent...." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 21-"I had not the least conception...." Ill, resting in Bath, England, with six years to live, GP received from a friend many newspaper clippings about his gift. He commented to the sender: "I had not the least conception it would cause so much excitement over the country." With the Civil War ended, GP prepared for his 1866-67 U.S. visit: to strengthen his institutes, soften serious PIB disagreements, See: it safely opened, and help bind Civil War wounds by aiding public schools in the former Confederate States. He needed a philanthropic advisor of stature and probity, acceptable to North and South. He approached Robert Charles Winthrop of Mass. Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 22-Thurlow Weed Recommended R.C. Winthrop. GP early bared his philanthropic dreams to Thurlow Weed, influential Whig Party and later Republican Party leader, former N.Y. state legislator, Albany, N.Y. Evening Journal owner, who guided the election of Pres. William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) and championed William Henry Seward's (1801-72) political career. Weed recommended Robert Charles Winthrop as best qualified to help guide GP's philanthropy. Subsequent events proved Weed to be right. See: Civil War and GP. Weed, Thurlow (above)
GP and Winthrop
Winthrop, R.C. 23-GP and Winthrop, 1866. On his May 1, 1866-May 1, 1867, U.S. visit, GP consulted Winthrop frequently: May 9, 1866, again in June, Sept., and Oct. 1866, and frequently thereafter. At the Oct. 1866 meeting in Winthrop's Brookline home, a Boston suburb, according to second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry (1825-1903), GP said to Winthrop: "'And now I come to the last,'...as he drew forth another roll [of papers] with a trembling hand. 'You may be surprised when you learn precisely what it is; but it is the one nearest my heart, and the one for which I shall do the most, now and hereafter,' and he then proceeded to read the rude sketch of the endowment for Southern education.'" See: PEF. PCofVU. Conkin, Peabody College, index.
Winthrop, R.C. 24-GP and Winthrop, 1866 Cont'd. Winthrop expressed amazement. He remembered GP's reply and quoted it in his Feb. 8, 1870, eulogy. GP's reply, later cut on the stone marker at his Westminster Abbey grave site: "Why, Mr. Winthrop, this is no new idea to me. From the earliest of my manhood I have contemplated some such disposition of my property; and I have prayed my Heavenly Father, day be day, that I might be enabled before I died, to show my gratitude for the blessings which He has bestowed upon me, by doing some great good for my fellow-men." Ref.: Ibid. See: Death and Funeral, GP's.
Winthrop, R.C. 25-Nephew O.C. Marsh, GP, and Science. GP had paid for nephew Othniel Charles Marsh's (1831-99) education at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., Yale College, Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, and German universities, enabling Marsh to become the first U.S. paleontology professor at Yale. With his eye on this professorship, nephew Marsh influenced his uncle's founding of the Peabody Museums at Harvard, Yale, and in Salem, Mass. Winthrop's help was needed particularly at Harvard, whose authorities wanted new money for the library or the arts. See: Science: GP's Gifts to Science and Science Education.
Winthrop, R.C. 26-Meetings on Peabody Museum, Harvard. Winthrop discussed the Harvard museum gift with GP, June 1, 1866, at the Tremont House, Boston; with GP's nephews, Yale Prof. O.C. Marsh and George Peabody Russell (1835-1909, Harvard class of 1856) at the Mass. Historical Society, June 4; and again with GP, June 17. Winthrop especially sought the advice and approval of leading U.S. scientist and Harvard zoologist Louis Agassiz (1807-73). Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 27-James Walker on Peabody Museum, Harvard. Winthrop also talked to Harvard's former Pres. James Walker (1794-1874, Harvard president during 1853-60), who said to Winthrop: "...When a generous man like Mr. Peabody proposes a great gift, we...had better take what he offers and take it on his terms, and for the object which he evidently has at heart.... There...will be, as you say, disappointments in some quarters. But the branch of Science, to which this endowment is devoted, is one to which many minds in Europe are now eagerly turning.... This Museum...will be the first of its kind in our country." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 28-Peabody Museum, Harvard, Founding Letter. Winthrop shared Pres. Walker's thoughts with GP on July 6, 1866. On Sept. 24 Winthrop again met with GP and his nephews, Prof. O.C. Marsh and G.P. Russell. On Sept. 28, 1866, Winthrop called the first meeting of trustees of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard. They accepted GP's gift of $150,000. His founding letter, dated Oct. 8, 1866, ended with these suggestions that: "...In view of the gradual obliteration or destruction of the works and remains of the ancient races of this continent, the labor of exploration and collection be commenced...as early...as practicable; and also, that, in the event of the discovery in America of human remains or implements of an earlier geological period than the present, especial attention be given to their study, and their comparison with those found in other countries." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 29-Anthropology at Harvard. Thus, GP's first thought of an astronomical observatory for Harvard, and second thought of a school of design (probably of art or architecture), became through the influence of nephew O.C. Marsh, a Yale man, the first U.S. museum of anthropology in the U.S. GP endowed it nine years after the discovery in 1857 in Prussia of the Neanderthal skull, which renewed interest in man's origins. Ethnological items, long collected but unexamined, were soon donated to the new Peabody Museum at Harvard by New England societies, including the Mass. Historical Society. Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 30-Walker on Science at Harvard. When the Mass. Historical Society's ethnological items were transferred to the Peabody Museum at Harvard, former Harvard Pres. James Walker said, "For a long time Harvard has exhausted her resources on the traditional liberal arts. The time has come for her to advance scientific knowledge. Mr. Peabody shows great wisdom in facilitating cooperation between the Massachusetts Historical Society and his Museum at Harvard through trustees of the latter who are prominent members of the former." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 31-Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale. The Peabody Museum of Natural Science at Yale Univ. soon followed (Oct. 22, 1866, also $150,000), where nephew O.C. Marsh and his mentors were jubilant. Earlier, when GP's endowment for Yale was certain and after the Conn. legislature had allocated federal Morrill Act funds (for science and engineering) to Yale's Sheffield Scientific School, one of Marsh's mentors had written him: "The fact is that Yale is going to be largely rebuilt, and all at once! The time of her renaissance has come!" Ref.: Ibid.
Peabody Education Fund (PEF)
Winthrop, R.C. 32-PEF's First Meeting (Feb. 8, 1867). GP's intent to aid public education in the South was strengthened when former S.C. Gov. William Aiken (1806-87) wrote him in despair on Jan. 25, 1867: "I think the South is ruined.... Nothing...can save the South from absolute want;... its destruction is certain." Winthrop helped select the first distinguished PEF trustees, 16 including himself. Ten of these trustees first met in an upper room, Willard's Hotel, Washington, D.C., Feb. 8, 1867. PEF trustee Pres. Winthrop read aloud GP's Feb. 7, 1867, founding letter. A contemporary account, basis of later versions, stated: "Ceremonies were held in [trustee] Mr. [William Maxwell] Evart's room, and were very impressive. The distinguished party knelt in prayer delivered by Bishop [Charles Pettit] McIlvaine." See: PEF.
Winthrop, R.C. 33-First Meeting, Curry's Version. Second PEF administrator J.L.M. Curry later (1898) described that first meeting: "Mr. Peabody addressed his Letter of Gift to sixteen gentlemen on the 8th of February, 1867, ten of whom were assembled in a little upper chamber of Willard's Hotel at Washington. Mr. Winthrop communicated the letter constituting them and their associates Trustees. Deeply sensible of the honor conferred, and of the responsibility and magnitude of the Trust, and realizing their dependence on the guidance and blessing of God, whose favor had been invoked by Bishop McIlvaine, they received their credentials and the securities from the hands of Mr. Peabody himself, accepted the obligations prescribed, and inaugurated the work committed to them." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 34-First Meeting, B.R. Payne's Version. GPCFT Pres. Bruce Ryburn Payne's (1874-1937) Feb. 18, 1916, Founders Day speech gave that scene some drama: "There stand several governors of states both North and South; senators of the United States, Ulysses Grant and Admiral Farragut. Mr. Winthrop is called to take the chair. Mr. Peabody rises to read his deed of gift. They kneel in a circle of prayer, the Puritan of New England, the pioneer of the West, the financier of the metropolis, and the defeated veteran of the Confederacy. [On] bended knee they dedicate this great gift. They consecrate themselves to its wise expenditure. In that act, not quite two years after Appomattox, is the first guarantee of a reunited country." Ref.: Ibid.
Winthrop, R.C. 35-U.S. Pres. Johnson. Press reports prompted U.S. Pres. Andrew Johnson (1808-75) to call on GP at his Willard's Hotel rooms [Feb. 9, 1867]; R.C. Winthrop and others were present). Taking GP by the hand, Pres. Johnson said he had thought to find GP alone, that he called as a private citizen to thank GP for his PEF gift, that it would help unite the country, and that he was glad to have GP representing the U.S. in England. GP thanked Pres. Johnson with some emotion and at length. Probably not mentioned was political advisor Francis Preston Blair, Sr.'s (1791-1876), plan that Pres. Johnson's might avert impeachment by a complete change of cabinet with GP as Treasury Secty. But loyalty to his cabinet kept Johnson from this course. Ref.: Ibid. See: Congressional Gold Medal and Resolutions of Praise to GP.
Winthrop, R.C. 36-PEF Needed a Policy and an Administrator. The PEF, first multimillion dollar U.S. foundation, faced a large task. 1-The eleven former Confederate states plus W. Va. were in economic, social, and political ruin. 2-All but Tenn. and W.Va. were under punitive reconstruction military rule. 3-None of the southern states had an adequate public school system. Of the sixteen PEF trustees, twelve of them were northern statesmen and four southern statesmen. None of them was a public school educator. Clearly, Winthrop and his fellow trustees needed an educational policy and an educational administrator. See: Sears, Barnas.
First PEF Administrator Barnas Sears
Winthrop, R.C. 37-Winthrop Met Sears. PEF trustee Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94) found such a person in an old acquaintance, Barnas Sears (1802-80), then Brown Univ. president. They met by chance in Boston, March 13, 1867, a few weeks after the PEF's founding. Winthrop asked Sears how the PEF might carry out its mission. Sears outlined a strategy which so impressed Winthrop that he persuaded the trustees to appoint Sears as the PEF's first administrator. See: PEF
Winthrop, R.C. 38-Sears's Career. Sears was born in Sandisfield, Mass., was a Brown Univ. graduate (1825, and its president, 1855-67), a graduate of Newton Theological Seminary (where he became an ordained Baptist minister from 1827, was later a professor and its president). He had studied in Germany, was a professor at what is now Colgate Univ., N.Y. (1831-33), and was the second Mass. Board of Education secretary (1848-55), succeeding Horace Mann (1796-1859). Ref.: Ibid.
Sears’s PEF Policy
Winthrop, R.C. 39-PEF Policy. Sears's policy proposals were 1-to aid existing public schools in larger towns to serve as models for other communities, 2-to require that PEF-aided schools become permanently tax-supported public schools under state control, 3-to require that PEF-aided schools meet ten months a year, 4-to have at least one teacher per 50 pupils, and 5-to assure that local citizens match PEF funds, if possible by two or three times the amount of PEF aid. 6-Sears set a scale of aid according to enrollment: $300 a year for a school enrolling up to 100 pupils, $450 for 100 to 150 pupils, $600 for 150 to 200 pupils, $800 for 200 to 250 pupils, and $
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