Chapter XV

The writer of these Recollections would be a very arrogant person were he to assume that they were perfect, or in every particular correct, or that they tell everything that could be told about any one merchant or firm. Thirty years ago is a long time to recollect.

I frequently am reminded of errors. A friend points them out. I correct as soon as I have a chance, and it may not be amiss here to state, that any errors that the reader may discover in this book will be cheerfully corrected in future editions. A note addressad to the author, will be attended to.

Among the recent deaths is Benjamin Welles, of Boston, aged eighty years. He was a son of Samuel Welles, and was born in 1780. Benjamin Welles was a companion of and traveled in Europe with Washington Allston in 1804. Mr. Benjamin Welles was a cousin to Hon. John Welles; and in 1816 they became partners in Boston under the firm of John & Benjamin Welles, and acted as active agents in the United States to Welles & Co., the great Paris bankers, until the 31st of August, 1841, when Mr. Samuel Welles died.

There is not an importer in New York, who does not remember that banking house. For twenty-five years at least it was without a rival, and issued credits to an almost unlimited extent. When the panic of 1837 occurred in New York, and almost everybody failed, there was at one time due Welles & Co., beween two and three millions of dollars. Sam Welles came over himself to try and arrange this enormous indebtedness, leaving his Paris business in charge of his wife, Mrs. A. Welles. He often did so. He stopped at the Globe Hotel in Broadway, then kept by Blançard.

He settled promptly with every creditor at his (the creditor's offer), whether it was ten cents or fifty cents on a dollar. When such an offer was made Mr. Welles insisted upon its being paid cash, or to be secured in the most ample manner by real estate. In this way, a large amount of real estate came into his possession. He had much in Brooklyn. The property he unfortuntely sold before it commenced rising. In many cases Mr. Welles had to pay off previous mortgages before getting possession, and thus realized nothing. His loss was $600,000 by Now York creditors.

In the case of Chapman & McNulty, very large creditors of Mr Welles, that concern cheated him fearfully. They gave him property in Buffalo. It was mortgaged 820,000 previously. Also in Bedford they had played the same game, and Mr. Welles let the property go by default.

H. Hollis Hunnewell, the former partner of Welles & Co., and who married a daughter of John Welles, is worth several millions of dollars. He has a country seat at Natick, about eighteen miles from Boston. It is unequalled in the United States. Mr. H. is executor of the estate of John Welles.

Ben Welles, one of the firm, who died last month, left a vast property. He entailed it as far as to his his grand children. He left one son, Benjamin Welles, who married a Miss Schermerhorn. He resides at Islip, Long Island. One of the daughters of Ben Welles married John O. Sargent. Another a Perkins, and another Russel Sturgis, Jr.

In New York there was a very capable man named E. Thayer, who aided Mr. Welles to settle up his business in this country. Mr. Thayer had been many years a confidential clerk in the Boston house of J. & B. Welles, but came to New York, and is still extensively engaged in business here.

Madam Welles the wife of Samuel Welles above alluded to was one of four beautiful sisters named Fowle, born in Watertown, Massachusetts, it gave rise to the following popular couplet:

"The Fowles of Watertown Is the Fair of every town."

One of the Misses Fowle married Captain Charles Smith of Lowell. Their son changed his name to Davenant, and is now one of the most distinguished lawyers in Boston.

One sister married Mr. Britton, and was mother to Lloyd L. Britton, the proprietor of the Everett House. Another sister married Mr. Timothy Wiggin, the great London banker for many years. (Every one will recollect the three great W.'s, or three great American banking houses abroad, viz.—Welles & Co., Paris; Wiggins, and Thomas Wilson & Co., London. American losses brought down flat the two last named. Another sister married Mr. Samuel Welles. He died in 1841, leaving behind only one child, a son named Samuel.

Madame Welles, sometime after the death of her husband, married, and is now the wife of the Marquis Lavalette, the present Ambasssdor of the Emperor Napoleon at Constantinople. She is a very remarkable woman even now, and it is said that during her first husband's lifetime it was to her he owed the suggestions that enabled him to make some of his most successful financial combinations.

For the last three or four years of his life, Gracio & Sargent were his agents in New York. Mr. H. W. Sargent was his nephew, and when he gave up business ha married Miss Olmsted, the only child of Frank Olmsted, who owned, while he lived, the now celebrated building occupied by Barnum for his museum. That property now belongs to Mr. Sargent.

In reference to the property of Frank Olmstead. His first wife was a Miss Wykoff. Old Alderman Wykoff was the grandfather of Mrs. Henry W. Sargent. The first Mrs. Olmstead died in Italy; his second wife was a Widow Douglass, and she gets a portion of the rent of the American Museum. It is $10,000 nett per annum.

Just before Alderman Wykoff died, his son Henry failed, and the old gentleman altered his will, and made Henry W. Sargent trustee for his son Henry's portion, and Mr. Sargent paid off all young Wykoff's debts.

Henry W. Sargent gets a fine income from property left him by his father, who married a sister of John and Sam Welles. Old Sargent was a portrait painter; he died fifteen years ago, very well off, indeed.

Another son of the old painter was John Turner Welles Sargent. He married the only daughter of George Phillips Parker, a great beauty and belle twenty years ago, when she and her parents made their home occasionally at the old Carlton House. Her aunt, Mrs. Boardman, left her $132,000 not long ago. Mr. and Mrs. John T. Sargent are at present in Europe.

The position of a Paris banker in reference to New York importers of French goods is something after this fashion. The New York agent writes that A B C wish a credit opened to a silk house in Lyons, or in Paris, for 100,000 francs. Welles & Co. are satisfied and agree to it. The goods are shipped, and sometimes a bill of lading to "order" is taken to Havre, and the advance of Welles & Co. has to be received before the bill of lading is handed over to the New York house. But this is often done. A house in good standing in New York, order as many goods as they please, and Welles & Co. pay the cost. The New York importers then remit at their convenience. In tins way, a very large amount would soon accumulate. The business was a profitable one. By leaving money on this side, a higher rate of interest was obtained, and if the New York house was regarded as A No. 1, all went on smoothly until a panic occurred. So it was in 1837. Thirty millions of property were destroyed in December 1885, by the great fire. It was not felt so greatly at the moment as it was in the two succeeding years. In 1837, all the commercial difficulties culminated, and merchants failed, not singly but in platoons. Among other houses, was the firm of Manice, Gould & Co. They were very heavy importers and occupied a large store in William street, opposite the Merchants Exchange. They failed owing Welles & Co. an immense amount.

When old Sam Welles reached New York, he addressed a note to D. F. Manice, requesting him to call upon him at the Globe Hotel. Manice complied.

"Well, sir, what are you going to do about the large amount you owe my house?" said Mr, Welles.

"I'll give you thirty cents on the dollar," was the reply of Mr. Manice, very carelessly, as though he didn't care a fiddler's curse whether old Welles accepted it or not.

Mr. Welles looked at his customer for a moment and then replied promptly:

"I accept your offer, sir, and the sooner the matter is settled and off my mind, the better I shall like it."

Manice was not a man or a merchant who cared a straw whether he made money by successful business, or by a successful failure and settlement with creditors. He was neither scrupulous nor conscientious. His motto was "get money—honestly if you can, and if not, get money anyhow." He acted up to it.

After all was squared up, and the creditor was about leaving the room at the Globe Hotel occupied by the great banker, Mr. Manice turned to him and said:—

"By the way, Welles, suppose you come up and dine with me at my house on Thursday."

"Damn his impudence," thought Mr. Welles, but he replied:—

"Very well, sir, I will."

He went up and dined with Manice. Welles had seen and been at some superb dinners in Europe, but never had sat down to a more magnificent set-out than was made by his creditor, who diddled him out of tens of thousands of dollars. A servant in white kids stood behind the chair of each guest. The dinner service was of solid silver. Mr. Welles appeared pleased, and so he was, for when he reached his hotel, he met a friend, and told him, "I never made a more fortunate settlement than with that man Manice; if he had not settled with me when he did, I would have settled with him to-day for five cents on the dollar. His 'cheek' is beyond belief. To give a grand dinner with money robbed from me, and then invite me to it!"

Such conduct killed old Welles. He had many other customers. I may give some of their names in future chapters. It broke the banker's heart. He died not long after, and did not know the full extent of the rise of Brooklyn property that he had taken for debts.

The combination agents and business connections of Welles & Co. were very extensive. As they made large advances on goods in France that had to be shipped from Havre, Mr. Welles established a commercial house at Havre, under the firm of Welles & Greene.

The partner was J. B. Greene, of Boston. They rereived packages from Paris and all parts of France and Germany to be forwarded to New York in the Havre Packet Line. The business of forwarding was immense. The consul's certificate had to be attached to all invoices, and the fees of that consulate were second only to Liverpool.

Welles & Greene also did a very large commission business from the United States, especially in cotton, rice, &c, from the Southern Atlantic cities. They had agents in all parts of the Union.

No American traveler went upon the continent without a letter of credit from Welles & Co. The Boston brothers were members of the great Paris firm. All are dead now.

J. B. Greene, of the firm of Welles & Greene, was from New Hampshire. The successors of Welles & Co. are the following firm:

VAN DEN BROEK BROS & CO. AMERICAN BANKERS, 60 Chaussee D'Autin .... Paris.

FRED VAN DEN BROEK,
JOHN VAN DEN BROEK,
CHAS. G. GREENE.
Ebenr. Thayer, Agent, (3 Nassau St. & 18 Wall St.,) New York.

That Charles G. Greene is no connection of old J. B. Greene, except by marriage. He is a son of the famous Charles G. Greene, the Boston Post editor, and married the second daughter of J. B. Greene.

Frederick Van Den Broek married Charlotte, the eldest daughter of J. B. Greene. These two daughters held interests in the firm of Greene & Co., bankers, Paris, on account of their father's death. That house suspended in 1857.

Then, John Van Den Broek, the brother of Fred, came from Batavia, Island of Java, and opened the new house, putting in it a cash capital of one million of francs.

The Van Den Broek family in Java have an income from their estates of $300,000 annually. They are immensely rich.

E. Thayer is still their agent in New York, as he formerly was of Welles & Co.

In a former number I have spoken extensively of Fitch & Co., of this city, and of Fitch Brothers & Co., of Marseilles. This house was one of the connections of Welles & Co., and an immense business was done through Fitch Brothers & Co. All drafts for advances made to shippers who consigned goods to the United States, or ordered goods shipped from Marseilles, passed through Welles & Co.

So too all drafts in the United States to make advance to parties shipping to Marseilles, were made upon Welles & Co. The banking commission is small, but when the monstrous sums are considered, this small commission makes an enormous income every year. It is well it is so. Were it not, no European house could stand the awful wipes it gets occasionally by New York failures. It has ever been so, and ever will be so.

The most risky business in the world is that of giving credits in New York, whether it be the banker who gives a line of credit of half a million to a house in the importing trade, or the grog seller who trusts his three-cent customer. It is a losing business, is the New York credit business.