Name/Title
Charles P. Williams and his FamilyEntry/Object ID
2019.404Description
A digital copy of a manuscript written by Sarah K. Torodash and published in 2004 about the life of Charles P. Williams and his family. This digital file was donated by Mary Thacher after being scanned at Charter Oak in May of 2019.
The manuscript is comprised of seven chapters, which are then further divided into subsections. A complete listing is below.
"While building his fortune as a whaling merchant and banker he was a conventional husband and father of three; in his retirement he managed a wide range of private investments and, after the death of his first wife, he alienated his first family by marrying a much younger woman who bore him two more children. He even gave himself a third life after his death by leaving a will that favored his younger children and perpetuated the antagonism between his two families for another forty years."
Chapter 1
Beginnings 1804-1825
Going to Sea
Codfishery Investments
Sealing
Whaling
Whaling Era Entrepreneurs: Mallory and Macy
Loyal Investors
Loyal Whaling Captains
The Ship Charles Phelps
The Coasting Trade
Investments in Coasting Vessels
Williams's Use of Coasters
Other Uses for Coasting Vessels
"Up for California"
A Sea Change: From Vessels to Banks and Railroads
Chapter 2
Banking
Loyal Associates: Hull and Pollard
Railroading
Connecticut's First Railroad
Drew and Vanderbilt
Charles P. Williams and the NYP&BRR
Problems with Steamboat Operators and Legislators
The Mystic Bridge Question
The 1852 Compromise
The New London and Stonington Railroad 1852-1856
The New Haven, New London and Stonington Railroad
The Hand on the Throttle
Giles Ward Outmaneuvers Himself
Exit Charles P. Williams
Chapter 3
Marriage
Investing in Real Estate
Property in Jersey City
The Hancox Connection
Family Life
Georgia
Chapter 4
Paris, Whistler and Whistler's Mother
Touring the Continent
Chapter 5
After the Tour
A Second Family
Closer Relations with the Babcocks
The Marine Bank of Chicago
Hugh T. Dickey
Benjamin F. Carver
A Change of Plans
Molly and Bessie
Judge Dickey's Cover-Up
A New Bank and a New Wife
Chapter 6
First Lieutenant Charlie Williams
Two of a Kind: B.F. Carver and J.Y. Scammon
Coddington's Grievances
Bessie and Ezra
A Checkered Career
Getting Acquainted with Ezra
The Chicago Breweries
Charles P. Williams and the Chicago Ale and Malt Company
Ezra vs. Coddington
The Ale Turns Sour
The Bitter End
Chapter 7
Life with Georgia
Beautifying and Refining Inside and Out
Daisy and Charlie
Benefactions
The Master of the House and his Servants
Contributions to Education
The Wadawanuck Young Ladies Institute
The Michigan Female SeminaryCollection
Digital Archive