John McVickar Jay

John McVickar Jay

• John McVickar Jay Wikipedia Page
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Jay was an American lawyer and diplomat, son of William Jay and a grandson of U.S. Chief Justice John Jay.

He graduated from Columbia College in 1836, and read law in the office of Daniel Lord, Jr. He was born to fortune, having inherited valuable real estate in the city of New York, and was able to devote his fine intellect mainly to public affairs. He was a Republican and an active advocate of the abolition of slavery. An address delivered by him in 1856, on “America Free or America Slave” was circulated by his party as a campaign document. During the Civil War, he aided in the formation of the National Union League and later became one of the founders of the Union League club of this city and its president 1866-70 and again in 1877. Appointed by President Grant as Minister to Austria in 1869, he had the good fortune to negotiate treaties of benefit to his country7. Mr. Jay was a favorite speaker upon public occasions and contributions from his pen were always welcomed by the magazines and newspapers.

Under Governor Cleveland, Mr. Jay was appointed one of three commissioners to put in operation the civil service laws of the State, and his associates Messrs. Richmond and Schoonmaker, both Democrats, elected him chairman of the commission. It was he who, pursuant to the request of a meeting of Americans in Paris in 1869, suggested to the Union League club the establishment of an Art Museum in New York. This project, carried out by the members of the club, resulted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mr. Jay married in 1837 Eleanor, daughter of Hickson W. Field, and their children are Col. William Jay, the lawyer; Eleanor, widow of Henry G. Chapman; Mary, wife of William H. Schietfelin; and Anna, wife of Lieutenant General von Schweinitz of the Royal Prussian Army.

Col. William Jay is president of the Coaching and Meadow Brook Hunt clubs, a vestryman of Trinity Church, a governor of the Knickerbocker Club and director in The Continental Trust Co., and lieutenant colonel by brevet in the volunteer army of the United States.

Biography

He was born in New York City, graduated at Columbia College in 1836, and was admitted to the bar three years later. He early became intensely interested in the antislavery movement, and while still in college (1834) was president of the New York Young Men's Antislavery Society. He was active in the Free Soil Party movement, presided at several of its conventions, and was once its candidate for Attorney General of New York. In 1854 he organized the series of popular meetings in the Broadway Tabernacle and the next year was prominently identified with the founding of the Republican Party. From 1869 to 1875 he was the United States Minister to Austria-Hungary. In 1877 Secretary Sherman appointed him chairman of the special commission to investigate Chester A. Arthur's administration of the New York Custom House. In 1883 Gov. Grover Cleveland appointed him the Republican member of the New York Civil Service Commission, of which he later became president. He published many books and pamphlets on slavery and other issues and, in 1889, was president of the American Historical Association.

Works

"Jay, John". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1892. Both his grandfather and he himself are covered in this article he wrote.
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JOHN JAY, lawyer, born in New York city, June 23, 1817, died in New York City, on May 5, 1894. His father was William Jay, lawyer, judge and author, and his grandfather, John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States.

The subject of this memoir graduated from Columbia College in 1836, and read law in the office of Daniel Lord, jr. He was born to fortune, having inherited valuable real estate in the city of New York, and was able to devote his fine intellect mainly to public affairs.

He was a Republican and an active advocate of the abolition of slavery. An address delivered by him in 1856, on "America Free or America Slave" was circulated by his party as a campaign document.

During the Civil War, he aided in the formation of the National Union League and later became one of the founders of the Union League club of this city and its president 1866-70 and again in 1877.

Appointed by President Grant as Minister to Austria in 1869, he had the good fortune to negotiate treaties of benefit to his country. Mr. Jay was a favorite speaker upon public occasions and contributions from his pen were always welcomed by the magazines and newspapers.

Under Gov. Cleveland, Mr. Jay was appointed one of three commissioners to put in operation the civil service laws of the State, and his associates Messrs. Richmond and Schoonmaker, both Democrats, elected him chairman of the commission.

It was he who, pursuant to the request of a meeting of Americans in Paris in 1869, suggested to the Union League Club the establishment of an Art Museum in New York. This project, carried out by the members of the club, resulted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Mr. Jay married in 1837 Eleanor, daughter of Hickson Woolman Field, and their children are Colonel William Jay, the lawyer; Eleanor, widow of Henry G. Chapman; Mary, wife of William H. Schieffelin; and Anna, wife of Lieutenant General yon Schweinitz of the Royal Prussian Army.

Colonel William Jay is president of the Coaching and Meadow Brook Hunt clubs, a vestryman of Trinity Church, a governor of the Knickerbocker Club and director in The Continental Trust Co., and lieutenant colonel by brevet in the volunteer army of the United States.