Horace Leslie Hotchkiss

Background

Hotchkiss was born on March 27, 1842 in Aubum, New York. He was a descendant of Samuel Hotchkiss who settled in New Haven, Connecticut, about 1641, the son of Clark Beers and Caroline (Bennett) Hotchkiss.

Education

He received his schooling at the Albany Academy.

Career

when he was fourteen years old he went to New York, where he became a clerk in the old American Exchange Bank at 50 Wall St. During the Civil War he served in the United States navy, participating in the battle of Mobile Bay. In 1867 he was one of the organizers of the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, serving as its secretary and treasurer until 1871, and was active in promoting the success of the stock quotation ticker, invented in 1867 by E. A. Calahan, a telegraph operator, the rights to which were acquired by the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company. He also organized the American District Telegraph Company in 1871 and assisted in developing the Exchange Telegraph Company of London, England, in 1873. In this company he continued as a director until the time of his death.

After resigning as treasurer of the Gold & Stock Telegraph Company, he interested himself in financial undertakings, becoming a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1874. He inaugurated the system of branch offices of New York Stock Exchange firms, running a telegraph wire from his firm's office at 30 Broad St. over the housetops uptown to the Fifth Avenue Hotel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-third Street. Among his many promotions was the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, which was organized in 1886 and continued in existence until 1891, during which period about $4, 000, 000 was expended in an unsuccessful attempt to build a canal. He was also a director of the Standard Assets Company, the Cotton Gathering Corporation, the Cotton & Harvesting Machine Company, and was actively interested in a number of other business corporations. He remained active in financial undertakings.

His death occurred at San Antonio, Tex. , when he was in his eighty-eighth year.

Achievements

• Horace Leslie Hotchkiss is remembered as a prominent financier and promoter.

Religion

In religion he was a Christian Scientist.

Politics

In politics he was a Republican.

Membership

He also took a prominent part in the Grant Memorial Association, acting for some time as its treasurer.

An enthusiastic sportsman, he was particularly interested in promoting golf in the United States. He organized both the Senior Golf Tournament and the United States Senior Golf Association, of which he was the honorary president. He was a former vice president of the Union League Club and a life member of the New York Yacht Club.

Connections

He was twice married: on June 26, 1867, to Clara Taylor of Stamford, Connecticut, who died in 1921; and on October 28, 1922, at the age of eighty, to Lucy May Johnson, a former teacher at Fort Worth, Tex.

Father:

Clark Beers Hotchkiss

1796–1857

Mother:

Caroline Bennett Hotchkiss

1803–1889

Spouse:

Clara Taylor Hotchkiss

1843–1921

Spouse:

Lucy May Johnson

References

• Who's Who in America 1928 - 1929 - Vol. 15: A Biographical Dictionary Of Notable Living Men And Women In The United States