Charles Macalester

Background

Charles Macalester was born on February 17, 1798, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and was the son of Charles and Ann (Sampson) Macalester. His father was a prosperous merchant and ship-owner.

Education

Macalester received a good education, at Grey and Wylie's School in Philadelphia.

Career

During the War of 1812, Macalester entered his father's business. In 1821, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in a mercantile venture of his own. Returning to Philadelphia some years later, he soon became prominent in commercial circles there and in 1834, 1835, and 1837 was appointed a government director of the second Bank of the United States.

In 1835, Charles became a member of the firm of Gaw, Macalester & Company, bankers. Various political appointments were tendered him at different times, all of which he declined, preferring the independence of private life. In 1842, he visited England and there became acquainted with the American banker, George Peabody of London. He served for years as Peabody's agent and correspondent in Philadelphia and later as one of the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund.

Through shrewd purchase of real estate in Philadelphia and western cities, particularly Chicago, Charles accumulated a large fortune, of which he gave liberally to various charities. Chief among the objects of his philanthropy, perhaps, was the Philadelphia Presbyterian Hospital, of which he was one of the founders. In 1873, he gave a piece of property in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the establishment of an institution of higher learning which the trustees named Macalester College.

Macalester was a director of the Fidelity Insurance, Trust & Safe Deposit Company, and of other corporations, was a manager of and contributor to the Philadelphia Orthopaedic Hospital, and president of the St. Andrew's Society from 1864 until the year of his death.

In 1849, Charles retired from business and occupied himself with his private affairs and various trusts and executorships. He died suddenly from heart disease in Philadelphia.

Achievements

• Charles Macalester has been listed as a noteworthy financier, philanthropist by Marquis Who's Who.

Connections

Charles was twice married: first, in 1824, at Cincinnati, to Eliza Ann Lytle, and second, in 1841, to Susan Bradford Wallace. There were two children by the first marriage.

Father:

Charles Macalester, I

5 April 1765 - 29 August 1832

Mother:

Anna Sampson Macalester

August 1769 - 9 May 1854

Brother:

Norman Macalester

23 January 1814 - 25 January 1833

Brother:

Edward Macalester

17 September 1805 - 2 October 1866

Sister:

Margaretta Macalester Bacon

31 July 1787 - 19 July 1864

Sister:

Anna Maria Macalester Kintzing

10 August 1791 - 25 May 1864

Sister:

Isabella Macalester Slater

12 October 1793 - 4 January 1851

Sister:

Louisa McAllister Nevins

1807 - 16 May 1897

Sister:

Elizabeth Macalester Lathrop

2 July 1807 - 2 October 1892

Sister:

Emily Macalester Hopkins

3 December 1795 - 30 July 1885

Wife:

Susan Bradford Wallace Macalester

13 September 1807 - 18 April 1842

Wife:

Elizabeth Ann “Eliza” Lytle Macalester

1806 - 30 August 1835

Daughter:

Eliza Lytle “Lily” Macalester Laughton

1832 - 4 November 1891

Son:

Charles Macalester, III

1827 - 20 March 1873

References

• America's Successful Men of Affairs, Vol. 2: An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography (Classic Reprint)
• Americans of Royal Descent, Ed. by C.H. Browning