Chapter 88
Daniel K. Bayne became a.s.sociated with Henry Sheldon & Co., and later was a member of Simmonds & Bayne. He then returned to William Bayne & Co. and was senior partner at the time of his death in 1915. William Bayne, Jr., for many years one of the governors and a past-president and vice-president of the New York Coffee Exchange, and his brother, L.P.
Bayne, now conduct the business.
John T. Foley, now of the Commercial Coffee Co., began with Kirkland Bros. From there he went to Ezra Wheeler & Co., then to H.W. Banks & Co., Thompson, Shortridge & Co., and William Hosmer Bennett & Son.
Joshua Walker formed a partners.h.i.+p with James Stewart as Stewart & Walker. Since the retirement of Mr. Stewart some years ago, Mr. Walker has been in business alone.
Three other veterans of the trade are still in the harness: Louis Seligsberg, formerly of Wolf & Seligsberg, is now alone; Henry Schaefer has been at the head of S. Gruner & Co. since the death of Siegfried Gruner; Col. William P. Roome, who operated for some time as Wm. P.
Roome & Co., is now head of the coffee department of Acker, Merrall & Condit Co.
[Ill.u.s.tration: O.G. Kimball Boston
James C. Russell New York
James W. Phyfe New York
C.E. Bickford San Francisco
GREEN COFFEE TRADE BUILDERS WHO HAVE Pa.s.sED ON]
Gregory B. Livierato, who founded the business of Livierato Bros. at Port Said, with branches at Aden and Ma.r.s.eilles, and later at Hodeida and Harar, entered the green coffee trade of New York in 1855, although his L F Mocha marks had been introduced here many years before. He remained here for eighteen years, returned to his home in Cephalonia, Greece, in 1904, and died there in 1905. His nephew, B.A. Livierato, then a.s.sumed charge of the New York coffee business, which in 1913 became the Livierato-Kidde Co., with B.A. Livierato and Frank Kidde.
Benjamin Green Arnold, one-time "coffee king," first became well known as a member of Arnold, Sturgess & Co., afterward B.G. Arnold & Co. Mr.
Arnold was one of the incorporators, and the first president, of the New York Coffee Exchange. Francis B. Arnold, with Arnold, Sturgess & Co., later of Arnold, Mackey & Co., afterward Arnold, Dorr & Co., was a son of Benjamin Greene Arnold; and to him and to Major John R. McNulty belongs a great part of the credit for the organization of the New York Coffee Exchange. Major McNulty was with Minford, Thompson & Co., and then formed the firm of J.R. McNulty & Co.
Bowie Dash, a member of the famous Arnold-Kimball-Dash triumvirate, began with Scott & Meiser, later Scott, Meiser & Co., then Scott & Dash, afterward Scott, Dash & Co., and finally Bowie Dash & Co. Other well known men with this last company were L.F. Mason, A.C. Foster, S.L.
Swazey, L.J. Purdy, and John B. Overton.
Then there were: Rufus G. Story; Thomas Minford, Francis Skiddy, and George J. Nevers, of Skiddy, Minford & Co.; W.D. Thompson, of Minford, Thompson & Co., later L.W. Minford & Co., afterward Minford, Lueder & Co., Thompson, Shortridge & Co., later Thompson Bros., then Thompson & Davis; John Randall, with L.W. Minford & Co., later, with J.C. Runkle & Co.; Eugene and James O'Sullivan of Eugene O 'Sullivan & Co.
The following names figured prominently in the trade's early history: Charles Maguire, of James H. Taylor & Co.; George F. Gilman, organizer of the Great American Tea Co. and of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.; H.W. Banks, of Reeve, Case & Banks, afterward of Stanton, Sheldon & Co., later Sheldon, Banks & Co., and then of H.W. Banks & Co.; Henry Sheldon, of Stanton, Sheldon & Co., later Sheldon, Banks & Co.; and then Henry Sheldon & Co.; William McCready, with Small Bros. & Co., later with H.W. Banks & Co., and then with B.H. Howell, Son & Co., C.R.
Blakeman, with Gross, March & Co., afterward with Wm. Scott's Sons & Co.; William Scott, of William Scott & Sons, later Wm. Scott's Sons & Co., including George W. Vanderhoef, who later succeeded to the business under the name of George W. Vanderhoef & Co.; Christopher and Leander S.
Risley, of C. Risley & Co.; and Charles Naphew, with C. Risley & Co., later with Edwin H. Peck & Co.
[Ill.u.s.tration: William Bayne New York
George W. Crossman New York
George Westfeldt New Orleans
Wm. H. Bennett New York
THEIR RACE IS RUN, THEIR COURSE IS DONE]
Another group of old-timers includes: William Newbold, with Ezra Wheeler & Co., later alone; Augustus Ireland, with Ezra Wheeler & Co.; J.M.
Edwards, of Edwards & Maddux, later of J.M. Edwards & Co.; Frank M.
Anthony, of J.M. Edwards & Co.; H. Clay Maddux, one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange, of Edwards & Maddux; Baron Thomsen, of Thomsen & Co.; Gustave Amsinck, of G. Amsinck & Co.; James N. Jarvie, with Small Bros. & Co., later of Arbuckle Bros.; John C. Lloyd, of John C. Lloyd & Co., afterward with Arbuckle Bros.; John Small,
O'Shaughnessy, of O'Shaughnessy & Sorley, Mr. O'Shaughnessy later forming John W. O'Shaughnessy & Co., and Mr. Sorley going to Hard & Rand. Mr. Sorley was one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 112 FRONT STREET, NEW YORK, IN 1879
A group of old-time green coffee men, including R. C. Stewart, J.D.
Pickslay, Frank Williams, Charles P. Chapin, and Fred P. Gordon]
Special mention should be made of: Kirkland & von Sacks; A. Kirkland, one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange, with Small Bros. & Co., then with W.J. Kirkland as Kirkland Bros., and, upon the dissolution of that firm, with F.H. Leggett & Co.; Thomas Rutter & Co.; Teacle Wallace Lewis, with Rowland, Humphreys & Co., later head of the coffee department of Carter, Macy & Co., and still later, head of T.W.
Lewis & Co.; Abraham Sanger, of Sanger, Beers & Fisher, later Sanger & Wells; J.W. Wilson & Co.; d.y.k.es & Wilson; Peter, John, and Joseph J.
O'Donohue, of John O'Donohue's Sons; Joseph J. O'Donohue & Sons; Otis W.
Booth, of Booth & Linsley; A.G. Hildreth; James H. Kirby, of B.G. Arnold & Co., later of Kirby, Halstead & Chapin, afterward Kirby & Halstead; Major Henry D. Tyler; Thomas H. Messenger & Co.; Harvey H. Palmer, of H.H. Palmer & Co.; B. O. Bowers, of Wilson & Bowers, later Thompson & Bowers; and August Haeussler, first with C. Risley & Co., then with J.
H. Labaree & Co., and finally with the green coffee department of Geo.
H. McFadden & Brother.
John Hanley, with Carey & Co., later of Hanley & Kinsella, St. Louis; Robert C. Hewitt, Jr., who wrote one of the early books on coffee (_Coffee, its History, Cultivation, and Uses_, 1872), of Hewitt & Phyfe, later Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; James W. Phyfe of Hewitt & Phyfe, later Jas.
W. Phyfe & Co.; Daniel A. Shaw, of Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; B. Lahey, of Jas. W. Phyfe & Co.; and Winthrop G. Ray & Co.
These names, too, will live long in green coffee history: Reid, Murdock & Fischer, New York and Chicago; Charles A. and Watts Miller, and David Palmer, of D.J. Ely & Co., formerly D.J. & Z.S. Ely Co., New York and Baltimore; Harry Miller, with D.J. Ely & Co., later of Miller & Walbridge; Augustus Walbridge, of Smith & Walbridge, afterward Augustus M. Walbridge, Inc.; Clarence Smith, of M.V.R. Smith's Sons, later of Smith & Walbridge; Stevens, Armstrong & Hartshorn, later Stevens & Armstrong, then Stevens Bros. & Co., and finally Reamer, Turner & Co., including Abraham Reamer, Sr., and William F. Turner.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AT 87 WALL STREET, N.Y., YEARS AGO
Among the green coffee men in this picture are Clarence Creighton, John Enright, Chris Arndt, W. Lee Simmonds, John Ashlin, F. Loderose, Julius Steinwender, and Clinton Whiting]
[Ill.u.s.tration: WALL AND FRONT STREETS, NEW YORK, SPRING OF 1922
Looking up Wall Street from the East River. The first cross street is Front; beyond are to be seen the Munson, Stock Exchange, and Bankers'
Trust Company's buildings, with Trinity Church marking the Broadway gateway]
Other familiar old-time names were: George W. Pritchard, of George W.
Pritchard & Sons; Dayton & Co.; Dimond & Lally, later Dimond & Gardes; Arthur W. Brown; Robert Russell, of Russell & Co.; J. F. Pupke and Thomas Reid, of Pupke & Reid, later Eppens, Smith & Wiemann, afterward Eppens, Smith & Co., with William H. and Frederick P. Eppens; Joseph A.
O'Brien, with Pupke & Reid, and later in business for himself; R.P.
McBride, of the Union Pacific Tea Co.; Ripley Ropes; Saportas Bros.; Mayer Bros. & Co. of Hamburg, with Moses G. Hanauer, manager, and D.K.
Young and Herman Hanauer, salesmen; H.M. Humphreys, with J.W. Doane & Co., later with Arbuckle Bros.; Henry Nordlinger, of Henry Nordlinger & Co.; Charles Campbell, of W.R. Grace & Co.; D.A. DeLima, of D.A. & J.
DeLima, later D.A. DeLima & Co.; Henry Kunhardt and George F. Kuhlke, of Kunhardt & Co.; Boulton, Bliss & Dallett, later Bliss, Dallett & Co., general managers of the Red D line of steams.h.i.+ps; Prendergast Bros.; W.H. and George W. Crossman, of W.H. Crossman & Bros., later Crossman & Sielcken, with Hermann Sielcken, afterward Sorenson & Nielson; F. Probst & Co.; H. H. Swift & Co.; J.L. Phipps & Co.; James Bennett and Joseph Becker, of Bennett & Becker; and Arnold, Hines & Co. (Diamond A Mocha), later Arnold, Cheney & Company.
Honorable mention should be accorded: Samuel Wilde (Old Dutch Mills); John Phoenix, with Husted, Ferguson & t.i.tus, later of J.W. Phoenix & Co.; H.K. Thurber, of H.K. & F.B. Thurber & Co.; Michael Barnicle, with Walter Storm, later Storm, Smith & Co., then Abbey, Freeman & Co., then with Husted, Wetmore & t.i.tus, and finally alone; August Stumpp, of August Stumpp & Co.; J.K. and E.B. Place; Beards & c.u.mmings, later Beards & Cottrell, then S.S. Beard & Co.; Philip and Henry Dater, of Philip Dater & Co.; Hugh Edwards, of Edwards & Raworth; William Bennett, of Wm. Hosmer Bennett & Son; Kalman Haas, of Haas Bros.; J.C. Runkle & Co.; Thomas T. Barr and Fred T. Sherman, of Barr, Lally & Co., later T.T. Barr & Co.; Henry Hentz & Co.; Elmenhorst & Co.; A.S. Lascelles & Co.; D. Henderson (Harry) and John Wells, of Wells Bros.; G. Weyl & Co., later Norton, Weyl & Beven, and then Weyl & Norton; Warren & Co.; J.H.
Labaree & Co.; Schultz & Ruckgaber; Henry Eyre; Rowland, Terry & Humphreys, later Rowland & Humphreys; Bentley, Benton & Co.; Winter & Smilie; Weston & Gray; John S. Wright, one of the incorporators of the New York Coffee Exchange, of Wright, Hard & Co.; Watjen, Toel & Co.; A.
Behrens & Co.; "Steve" Matheson, of S. Matheson, Jr. & Co.; C. Wessels & Bros., later Wessels, Kulenkampff & Co., and finally Fromm & Co.; Julius Steinwender, of Steinwender, Stoffregen & Co.; Leon Israel, of Leon Israel & Bros.; Herklotz, Corn & Co.; Ponfold, Schuyler & Co.; Maitland, Phelps & Co., later Maitland, Coppell & Co.; F.H. Leggett, of F.H.
Leggett & Co.; Carhart & Brother; George W. Flanders, of George W.
Flanders & Co.; Jonas P. O'Brien; George S. Wallen, of George S. Wallen & Co.; Charles F. Blake, of Blake & Bullard; and Martin J. Glynn, of McDonald & Glynn, later Martin J. Glynn & Co., who had their office at Front Street and Old Slip for twenty-five years.
Three other names closely a.s.sociated with the early days of the New York green-coffee trade were: Glover, Force & Co., later Waterbury & Force, then W.H. Force & Co., and finally W.S. Force & Co., weighers and forwarders; Daniel Reeve, of Reeve & Van Riper, mixers and hullers; and John H. Draper & Co., auctioneers.
_Growth of the Leading Coffee Ports_
Twenty-two years ago, when the century opened, New York pa.s.sed over her docks a total of 676,000,000 pounds of coffee, which represented eighty-six percent of the total for the country. In 1920, juggling the figures a little, she imported 767,000,000 pounds, which was fifty-nine percent of the total. While she was thus practically marking time, she watched New Orleans run wild with an increase from 44,000,000 pounds to 380,000,000 pounds, or 763 percent gain; this meaning also the supplying of twenty-nine percent of the country's demands instead of five percent, while San Francisco in the same time jumped from 24,000,000 pounds to 137,000,000 pounds, or 470 percent gain, her share of the total trade now being ten percent instead of three percent in 1900. These gains, however, have not all been made at the expense of the city on the Hudson. In 1900, Baltimore was a close rival of New Orleans and was far ahead of all other ports except New York; but a decline in her imports began about 1903, and was so swift, that five years later her imports were almost negligible.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LOOKING SOUTH FROM WALL STREET INTO THE HEART OF THE GREEN COFFEE DISTRICT
On the left-hand corner is Hard & Rand's, opposite Leon Israel & Bros.'
building, and beyond are many other leading green coffee firms.]