Marcellus Hartley

Marcellus Hartley

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Hartley
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/91369374/marcellus-hartley
• http://ycgg.org/marcellus-hartley-founder-of-the-union-metallic-car...

Hartley was an American arms dealer and merchant. He was appointed as an agent by the Union Army to purchase guns from Europe during the American Civil War. He later manufactured cartridges for breech-loading guns, owned the Remington Arms Company and diversified into other areas of commerce.

Early life

Hartley was the son of Catherine Munson and merchant Robert Milham Hartley, who was active in public health reform and the New York temperance movement.

Hartley was educated in New York and entered his father’s business at the age of seventeen as a clerk. After three years he moved to Francis Tomes & Sons, Maiden Lane, New York, and became involved with gun sales. In 1854, he started in business with partners Jacob Rutsen Schuyler and Malcolm Graham. They purchased goods in Europe and found a ready market in New York, with Hartley specializing in guns and ammunition. In 1857, a financial panic hit the country and many companies went under; the firm of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham survived and the following few years proved to be a boom period for them. In 1860, due to the threat of civil war, another panic hit the market. The company also had to defend itself in front of the grand jury when accusations were made against the partners of selling goods to the South.

Career

Civil War

As war approached it became apparent that there was a major shortfall in weaponry for the armies of the North, and procurement from across the Atlantic seemed the only answer. The Secretary of War sought advice on who could act on their behalf and the name of Marcellus Hartley was put forward. His knowledge of the industry and contacts in Europe made him the ideal candidate. For the purpose of his mission he was appointed to a status the equivalent of a brigadier-general and given access to an account at Baring Brothers. In addition to buying guns he was also instructed to block the sale of weapons to Confederate agents where ever possible.

Breech-loading rifles

When Hartley was a salesman traveling in the West in the 1850s, an acquaintance gave him a metallic cartridge as a souvenir. The majority of weapons at the time were muzzle loaded with paper cartridges. A metallic cartridge would enable rifles to be breech-loaded, but producing the ammunition had always been one of the stumbling blocks. Schuyler, Hartley and Graham purchased two small companies producing metal cartridges and started a business called the Union Metallic Cartridge Company that became highly successful due to various innovations that they introduced to the designs. Another purchase was the Bridgeport Gun Implement Company, that produced sporting guns and other sporting equipment.

United States Electrical Lighting Company

Hartley also became involved with the early development and application of electrical generation and supply. He invested heavily in the United States Electrical Lighting Company (USELC), working with inventors such as Hiram Maxim, and using the designs of Edward Weston[6] and Moses G. Farmer. USELC eventually became part of the Westinghouse Company with Hartley on the board of directors.

Remington Arms Company

In 1888 Hartley, in partnership with Winchester Arms Company, purchased the Remington Arms Company at auction from the receiver. Later Hartley bought out Winchester’s share of the business.

Partnerships

Along with Jacob H. Schiff, H.B. Claflin, Robert L. Cutting, and Joseph Seligman, he was a founder of the Continental Bank of New York in August 1870.

Hartley’s partner, Jacob Schuyler, retired in 1875; his share of the business was absorbed by the other partners and the company became Hartley and Graham. In 1899 Malcolm Graham died and the business passed into Hartley’s hands.

In later life he took interest in financial matters of several organizations, being a board member of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the International Banking Corporation, the American Surety Company, the Manhattan Railroad Company and many more.

On January 19, 1898, at elections for the newly formed North American Trust Company, the elected members of the executive committee included Hartley.

Family

Hartley’s family came from the north of England and included philosopher, David Hartley, whose son, David Hartley the Younger, was a signatory to the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the American War of Independence. He was also the first British politician to put the case before Parliament for the abolition of slavery in 1776. Another distant relative was James Smithson who provided the initial funding for the Smithsonian Institution.

Hartley married Frances Chester White in 1855. They had four daughters, Caroline - who died in infancy, Emma, and twins daughters Grace and Helen.

• Emma married Norman White Dodge, son of William Earl Dodge. Hartley lived at 232 Madison Avenue at the intersection of 37th Street and he gave Emma and her new husband the adjoining house. Emma died in 1881 after giving birth to their only child, Marcellus Hartley Dodge, Sr. He was raised by his grandparents and eventually became heir to the Hartley business and the largest part of the Hartley fortune.
• Grace married James Boulter Stokes, son of James Boulter Stokes Sr. Grace died in 1892. The two children from this marriage both died young.
• Helen married George Walker Jenkins, lawyer and politician. They had two daughters, Helen and Grace.

Marcellus Hartley died on January 8, 1902, whilst attending a business meeting. It appeared that he had just fallen asleep but could not be revived.
-----------------------------------------------------------
MARCELLUS HARTLEY DEAD
HE EXPIRES WHILE AT A MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN SURETY COMPANY.

While participating in an executive committee meeting yesterday afternoon of the American Surety Company at No. 100 Broadway, Marcellus Hartley's head fell forward, and before his associates realized what had happened Mr. Hartley's life was ended.

Sitting in the boardroom with him were Walter S. Johnston, William A. Wheelock, James A. Haydon, John J. McCook, Thomas F. Ryan, R. A. C. Smith and Henry D. Lyman. Barely had Chairman Johnston called the meeting to order when Mr. Smith said that Mr. Hartley, who was sitting opposite him, was dying. He expired in Mr. Smith's arms before his fellows could gain their feet. Dr. William R. Bross, of the staff of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, was summoned, but could do nothing. George W. Jenkins, a son-in-law and other relatives were sent for.

The funeral will probably be held at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church on Saturday morning. The burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery.

Marcellus Hartley was born in this city on September 23, 1828. He was a classmate of ex-Mayor Cooper at the old Thirty-seventh-st. school. He entered the counting room of Frances Tomes & Son, importers of guns. In 1854 he established the firm of Schuyler, Hartley & Graham, which continued until the retirement of Mr. Schuyler in 1876, when it was changed to Hartley & Graham. The name of the firm is now the M. Hartley Company. This house during the Civil War came into special prominence by supplying the loyal States with arms. Secretary of War Stanton appointed Mr. Hartley agent of the government, commissioned him brigadier general, and gave him power to buy all the guns in the European market and to prevent guns from falling into the hands of the Confederates.

Mr. Hartley was widely recognized in the community as an authority on financial and business affairs. He was a conspicuous figure in the Manhattan Railway Company. He was a director in many important companies, a list of which included the Bridgeport Gun Implement Company, of which he was president; the Remington Arms Company of which he was also president; the Union Metallic Cartridge Company, of which he was vice-president; the Western National Bank, District Telegraph Company, the American Ordnance Company, the Audit Company, of New-York; the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the Fifth Avenue Trust Company, the German-American Bank, the Lincoln National Bank, the Mercantile Trust Company, and the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. He was also a trustee of the American Deposit and Loan Company, and of the American Surety Company.

He was a member of the Union League Club, the Republican Club, the Essex County (N.J.) Country Club and the Lawyers' Club and the American Fine Arts and New-England societies, the Presbyterian Union, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. He was also officially identified with many charitable institutions. He was a benefactor of the Hartley House, in West Forty-sixth st., which was organized under the auspices of the New-York Association for the Improvement of the Poor and named in honor of his father.

Mr. Hartley married Miss Frances Chester White, daughter of the late Dr. Stephen Pomeroy White, of this city, by whom he had four children. But one of these survives him. She is the wife of George Walker Jenkins of Morristown, a lawyer, and president of the American Deposit and Loan Company. Another daughter married Norman White Dodge and her twin married James Stokes.

New-York Tribune, 9 Jan 1902

Daughter Helen married George W. Jenkins.
Daughter Grace married James Stokes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Beginning - Schuyler, Hartley, & Graham: The Original Gun Dealer

"Modern gun ordering looks quite a bit different from how consumers purchased firearms in the 1800s. Today, buyers can check a wide range of wholesalers, chain retailers, and large distributors to order a firearm which can be shipped to their local licensed dealer. In the old days orders were made by letter, telegraph, and even showing up in person to a number of East Coast firms. Individuals could order directly from firms, but many of the gun shops around the country also placed large orders. The largest wholesaler of the mid-1800s was a firm called Schuyler, Hartley, & Graham.

The partnership worked out of New York and had been founded in 1854 by Jacob Schuyler, Marcellus Hartley, & Malcom Graham. The founders took advantage of the Civil War to quickly grow their business. They recognized the potential for a long war and quickly began brokering supplies from Europe for Federal and state governments. The trio supplied everything from cannons to camp supplies and formed the foundation for a booming post war business.

When the Civil War ended the US government, along with state governments sold off much of their surplus stock of arms and equipment. The official agencies that had often paid premiums for the same supplies during war time, were now selling them at a major loss. This glut of surplus meant cheap goods for consumers, but made a tough market for dealers. SHG turned, in part, to foreign sales. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, they began receiving orders from the French government. The conflict in Europe consumed the arms surplus in the United States. It also established SHG as an international dealer. With their connections and experience, SHG stood ready to become the most prominent firearms dealer of the 19th century.

The McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West holds the existing sales records for SHG. These papers are a valuable resource, and can be viewed online. Researchers can study what kind of guns were being used in America at the time through these records. Herb Houze, Curator Emeritus of the Cody Firearms Museum, wrote a book on the subject titled, Arming the West. As the book, and SHG’s records show, the firm sold a wide variety of arms to meet the demands of Americans pushing westward in the late 1800s.

SHG sold everything from the latest lever actions to surplus military muskets over a half century old. One record from the 1890s shows a sale to St. Louis of a case of US Model 1822 Muskets. Government arsenals originally built these flintlocks and later converted many to percussion before surplussing them. Even among all the firearms advances of the 19th century, there was still enough demand to sell a simple musket. The guns, regardless of how advanced, and the company that sold them, are important parts of the history of the West."