Background
Moses Hicks Grinnell was a son of Captain Cornelius and Sylvia (Howland) Grinnell, and younger brother of Joseph and Henry Grinnell. He was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, the United States on March 3, 1803.
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Moses Hicks Grinnell was a son of Captain Cornelius and Sylvia (Howland) Grinnell, and younger brother of Joseph and Henry Grinnell. He was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts, the United States on March 3, 1803.
Moses Hicks Grinnell obtained his education at the New Bradford Academy and received a commercial training in his father’s office.
Moses Hicks Grinnell in 1821 entered the employ of William R. Rotch & Company of New Bedford, who were importers and were also interested in the whaling business. His industry and ability enabled him to acquire in a short time an intimate knowledge of the shipping-trade, and he made several voyages as supercargo in the vessels of the firm, visiting Brazil and Europe.
In 1824 he went to New York and became associated with Fish & Grinnell, whale-oil merchants, of which firm his brother Joseph was a partner.
In 1825, on the retirement of Preserved Fish, he and Henry Grinnell entered the firm, which then became Fish, Grinnell & Company, but on January 1, 1829, Joseph Grinnell retired and the two continuing brothers joined with Robert B. Minturn, establishing the firm which later became Grinnell, Minturn & Company.
Hitherto operations had been confined to the commission trade, but now the firm entered the shipping business and Moses Hicks Grinnell assumed charge of the new development. Imbued with an ardent desire to see the United States marine again participating in world-wide commerce, he devoted himself with single-minded pertinacity to this object.
The firm became agents for a line of packet ships between London and New York and then commenced building its own ships. Wherever trade prospect offered, Grinnell, Minturn & Company’s vessels penetrated.
In 1850, when Henry Grinnell retired from the firm its commercial reputation was second to none in New York, and to Moses Hicks's inspiration and ingenuity this was in great part due. Grinnell continued to participate actively in the management of the shipping firm until 1861.
His business energies, however, extended to other corporations, including the Phoenix Bank, the Sun Mutual Insurance Company, and the Institution for the Savings of Merchants’ Clerks, of all of which he was at one time president.
He was also president of the Chamber of Commerce from 1843 to 1848, a commissioner of charities and corrections from 1860 to 1865.
In March 1869 President Grant appointed him collector of the port of New York, a position which he retained till July 1870. He then served as naval officer of customs until April 1871, when he finally retired from public life. In later years possessed of great wealth, Grinnell was always a munificent but unostentatious donor to charities, both public and private.
He contributed, with his brother Henry, to the planning and fitting out of the second Franklin Expedition under Kane (1853-55), and assisted generously in relief work during the period of the war, but the full extent of his benefactions was never known.
He was a member of the original Central Park Commission.
On the outbreak of the Civil War he unhesitatingly championed the Union cause, joined the Union Defense Committee, and rendered great services, financial and otherwise, to the administration. Throughout his life he took an active interest in national affairs and was elected in 1839 as a Whig representative of New York to the Twenty-sixth Congress, serving till March 31, 1841. He later became a Republican and in 1836 was a presidential elector on the Fremont ticket.
He was a member of the original Central Park Commission.
Quotes from others about the person
“Mr. Grinnell, though white-haired, shows scarcely any encroachment of age. His ruddy complexion, clear eye, erect figure and elastic step betoken firm health and a constitution as robust as ever. Every lineament of his frank face speaks a liberal soul. . .. His friends are legion, his word a bond’’
Moses Hicks Grinnell was married twice: in 1826 to Susan H. Russell, daughter of Gilbert Russell of New Bedford; and in 1836 to Julia Irving, a niece of Washington Irving.