William Henry Aspinwall

Background

William Henry Aspinwall was born on December 16, 1807 in Manhattan, New York, United States. He was a posthumous son of John Aspinwall, merchant and son of a sea-captain.

His mother was Susan Howland.

Education

On receiving a common school training he was apprenticed to his uncles, G. G. and S. Howland, sons of a New London whaler, who had built up a leading business house in New York, which carried on a heavy trade with Mexico, England, and the Mediterranean countries.

Career

In 1832, Aspinwall was admitted as a partner with a fourth interest which meant an annual profit of about $15, 000. In 1837 the older men turned the business over to William Edgar Howland and Aspinwall with a capital of $200, 000. Howland and Aspinwall withstood the panic of that year, continuing to handle the largest general trading, exporting, and importing business of any house in New York.

The years following 1837 were treacherous ones for a newly established mercantile house. The credit for successful carrying on was probably due to the well-established reputation of the Howlands as much as to the executive ability and far-sightedness of their young successors.

At any rate, the firm retained its heavy trade with England and the Mediterranean lands and remained without a rival in the Pacific trade and scarcely an equal in the West and East Indies shipping. Favored by the president of Venezuela, Howland and Aspinwall had almost a monopoly of the American trade with that republic. With this and the Mexican business as an entering wedge, the concern made great strides in the Latin-American countries. Its fleet of clipper ships was well known in the chief ports; and its profits were rapidly making Aspinwall a leading merchant and capitalist of New York.

Affected by the gold fever of 1849-51, he resigned active leadership in the firm to enter the Pacific Railroad & Panama Steamship Company.

In 1850, largely through his efforts, the New York legislature granted a charter for the Panama Railroad incorporated at $1, 000, 000. He and his associates, Lloyd Aspinwall, a brother, Samuel W. Comstock, Henry Chauncey, and John L. Stevens, obtained from New Granada the privilege of building a railway across the isthmus, and within five years the forty-nine miles of road were completed under the engineers George M. Totten and John C. Trautwine.

In 1848, Aspinwall, Chauncey, Richard Alsop, the Howlands, and Edwin Bartlett founded the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, incorporated under a New York statute for twenty years. This was considered highly speculative for such a conservative investor as Aspinwall, and its failure was generally predicted. California gold soon decided otherwise.

Two years later, its capital was increased from $400, 000 to $2, 000, 000, so large were the returns from carrying by way of Panama men and supplies to California and gold back to the East. With the completion of the railroad, the Aspinwall interests had control of a through water-rail route from New York to San Francisco and a monopoly of the carrying trade until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad (1869).

During the Civil War, he was an active supporter of the Lincoln policies, a founder and vice-president of the Union League Club, and, along with John M. Forbes a secret emissary of the President to urge the British Government to stop the building and outfitting of iron-clad rams under construction at the Laird shipyards for the Confederacy.

By 1859, the railroad alone had netted about $6, 000, 000. When Aspinwall resigned the presidency of this corporation (1856), he was one of the richest men of New York.

After this time, Aspinwall was not actively engaged in business, though he or a representative of his house held a place on innumerable boards of directors of railroads, shipping concerns, banks, and insurance companies.

Indeed, Howland & Aspinwall had become more of a banking and brokerage than trading firm. Aspinwall never sought or held political office, though his interest in politics was keen. He was long a leader in the Chamber of Commerce, active in social life, a trustee of the Lenox Library, a charter member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1866), a patron of the drama and of fine arts, and owner of one of New York's finest art galleries, which he opened to the public.

His later years were spent in his town house, which his hospitality made a social center, in his show place near Tarrytown on the Hudson, and in extended travel. On his death, the wealthy old merchant could be described as a good man, generous if not open-handed, lenient to debtors, and willing to meet bankrupt merchants more than halfway.

Achievements

• Aspinwall became one of the richest men in New York who was a partner in the merchant firm of Howland & Aspinwall and was a co-founder of both the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Panama Canal Railway companies which revolutionized the migration of goods and people to the Western coast of the United States. The town Panama was named Aspinwall in his honor.

Works

More photos

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  • Panama Rail-Road Company: capital $1,000,000, with liberty to increase to $5,000,000.

    (Title: Panama Rail-Road Company : capital $1,000,000, wit...)

Connections

He was married to Anna Lloyd Breck, they had five children.

Father:

John Aspinwall

Spouse :

Anna Lloyd (Breck) Aspinwall

Daughter :

Louisa (Aspinwall) Minturn

Daughter :

Katharine (Aspinwall) Kingsland

Daughter :

Anna Lloyd (Aspinwall) Renwick

Sister :

Margaret Elizabeth (Aspinwall) Hodge

Sister :

Emily Phillips (Aspinwall) Woolsey

Sister :

Mary Rebecca (Aspinwall) Roosevelt

Sister :

Louisa Edgar Aspinwall

Brother :

John Lloyd Aspinwall

Brother :

George Woolsey Aspinwall

mother :

Susan (Howland) Aspinwall

Son :

Lloyd Aspinwall

Son :

John Abel Aspinwall