Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/716

682 for which he paid a rent of $250 per annum, giving as a reference Jacob Clinch, whose daughter, Cor- nelia, he soon afterward married. The amount of the capital invested was about $3,000. The young merchant had a sleeping-room in the rear of his shop, and under these humble conditions was formed the germ of the mn-t extensive and lucrative dry- goods business in the world. In 1820 he removed to a larger store at 202 Broadway, and soon after- ward he again re- moved to 257 Broadway. He displayed a ge- nius for business, met with remark- able success from the first, and in 1848 had accu- mulated so much capital that he was enabled to build the large marble store on Broadway be- tween Chambers and Reade streets, which afterward was devoted to the wholesale branch of his business. In 1862 he erected on the block bounded by Ninth and Tenth streets, Broadway and Fourth avenue, the five- story iron building used for his retail business. This was said to be the largest retail store in the world at that time. Its cost was nearly S2.7~pO.- 000. About 2,000 persons were, employed in the building, the current expenses of the establish- ment were more than $1,000,000 a year, and the aggregate of sales in the two stores for the three years preceding his death amounted to about $203,- 000.000. Besides these two vast establishments, Mr. Stewart had branch houses in different parts of the world, and was the owner of numerous mills and manufactories. During the war his annual income averaged nearly $2,000,000, and in 1*00 he estimated it at above $1,000,000. In 1807 Mr. Stewart was chairman of the honorary commis- sion sent by the United States government to the I'ari- Kxposition. In March, 1869, President Grant appointed him secretary of the treasury; but his confirmation was prevented by an old law which excludes from that office all who are interested in the importation of merchandise. The presi- dent sent to the senate a message recommending that the law be repealed in order that Mr. Stewart might become eligible to the office, and Mr. st. w- art offered to transfer his enormous business to tru-tee.- and to devote the entire profits accruing during his term of office to charitable purposes: hut tin- law was not repealed, as it was believed that Mr. Stewart's proposed plan would not etl'ecl u- ally remove his disabilities. His acts of charity were numerous. During the famine in Ireland in 1846 he sent a ship-load of provisions to that coun- try and gave a free passage to as many emigrants a- the vessel could carry on its return voyage to this country, stipulating only that they should be able to read and write and of good moral character. After the Franco-German war he, sent to France a vessel laden with flour, and in 1871 he gave $50,000 for the relief of the sufferers by the Chicago fire. When Prince Bismarck sent him his photograph ting that of Mr. Stewart in return. In for- warded instead a draft for 50,000 francs for the benefit of the sufferers by the floods in Silesia, as he would not permit his portraits <>f any descrip- tion to be made, lie was also one of tin laru'-i contributors to the sum of $100,000 presented by the merchants of New York to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as an acknowledgment of his great services during the civil war. At the time of his death Mr. Stewart was completing, at the cost of $1.000,- 000, the iron structure on Fourth avenue between Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets. New York, intended as a home for working-girls, lie wa- a No building at Hempstead Plains. L. I., the town of Garden City, the object of which was to afford to his employes and others airy and comfortable houses at a moderate cost. Mr. Stewart's wealth was estimated at about $40,000,000. His real es- tate was assessed at $5,450,000, which did not in- clude property valued at more than $000,000 on which the taxes were paid by the tenants. He had no blood relatives, and by his will the bulk of his estate was given to his wife. He bequeathed $1,000,000 to an executor of the will appointed to close his partnership business and affairs. Many bequests were made to his employes and to other persons. He left a letter, dated '29 March, is;:;, addressed to Mrs. Stewart, expressing his intention to make provision for various public charities, by which he would have been held in everlasting re- membrance, and desiring her to carry out his plans incase he should fail to complete them. Unfor- tunately, his noble schemes of benevolence were "turned awry, and lost the name of action," and a large portion of his wealth passed to a person not of his name or lineage, verifying the words, " He heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them." After Mr. Stewart's death his mercantile interests were transferred by his widow to other persons, who continued the business under the firm- name of A. T. Stewart and Co., which was soon changed to E. J. Denning and Co. Mr. Stewart's residence, on the corner of Fifth avenue and Thir- ty-fourth street, a marble mansion, seen in the accompanying illustration, is perhaps the finest private house in the New World. His art-gallery, among the largest and most valuable in the coun- try, was sold at auction in New York in 1887. Two of his most im- portant paint- ings were pre- sented to the Metropol- itan museum of art. Theiv was no satis- factory por- trait 'of Mr. Stewart, and that from which the accompanying vignette is taken was painted after death by Thomas Le Clear. He was slight and iriaoeful. of medium height, with fair hair and complexion, and light-blue eyes. Repossessed fined tastes, a love of literature and art. and was fond of entertaining, which he did in a delight- ful manner. At his weekly dinners might be met men of distinction in all the various walks nf life from the emperor of Brazil and a Rothschild, to the penniless poet and painter. What wa- -aid of Stewart in the dedication of a volume pub- lished in 1874 was but the simple truth that he was "the first of American merchant- ami