Moses Hicks Grinnell (March 3, 1803 – November 24, 1877) was a

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

man representing New York, and a Commissioner of New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

Early life

Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on March 3, 1803. He was the son of Cornelius Grinnell (1758–1850) and Sylvia ( née Howland) Grinnell (1765–1837). His siblings included

Henry Grinnell Henry Grinnell (February 18, 1799 – June 30, 1874) was an American merchant and philanthropist. Early life Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts on February 18, 1799. He was the son of Cornelius Grinnell (1758–1850) and Sylvia ( ...

and

Joseph Grinnell Joseph Grinnell (February 27, 1877 – May 29, 1939) was an American field biologist and zoologist. He made extensive studies of the fauna of California, and is credited with introducing a method of recording precise field observations known as ...

. After attending public school, he took his first paying job at the age of 15, working in the counting room of a bank in New York City.

Shipping career

In 1815, his brother Joseph Grinnell helped to establish the shipping firm

Grinnell, Minturn & Co Grinnell, Minturn & Co. was one of the leading transatlantic shipping companies in the middle 19th century. It is probably best known today as being the owner and operator of the '' Flying Cloud'', arguably the greatest of the clipper ships. His ...

. Moses and his brother,

, became members of the firm in 1825. In 1830, Robert Bowne Minturn joined the firm and it became Grinnell & Minturn. The company stayed active until 1880. Grinnell became a successful New York merchant and shipper and was subsequently appointed as president of the

New York Chamber of Commerce The New York Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1768 by twenty New York City merchants. As the first such commercial organization in the United States, it attracted the participation of a number of New York's most influential business leaders, in ...

. The

pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to transport maritime pilots between land and the inbound or outbound ships that they are piloting. Pilot boats were once sailing boats that had to be fast because the first pilot to reach the incoming ship ...

''Moses H. Grinnell,'' was built in 1850 for the Jersey pilots and designed by

George Steers George Steers (August 15, 1819 – September 25, 1856) was a designer of yachts best known for the famous racing yacht ''America''. He founded a shipyard with his brother, George Steers and Co, and died in an accident just as he was landing a ma ...

. She was owned by George W. Blunt of New York. The Grinnell was the first pilot boat to show the fully developed long entry that was to become the New York schooner's trade mark. The shipping company is best known for owning the

clipper ship A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "Cl ...

'' Flying Cloud''. Grinnell bought her from

Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Canadian-born American designer and builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting clippers. Early life He was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne County, on Nova Scotia's ...

in 1851 for $90,000.

Political career

However, unlike his brother Joseph Grinnell, who represented

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

for four terms as a Whig, Moses did not stick to a single political party. He was first a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, then became a Whig in the 1830s, was an "out-and-out

Native American party The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s. The party was officially known as the "Native American Party" prior to 1855 and thereafter, it was simply known as the "American Party". ...

man" the 1840s, and in the 1850s joined the newly founded Republican Party, for which he served as a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

in 1856. In February 1860, president-elect

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, on his way to Washington, D.C., visited the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

home of Grinnell's daughter, whose father had invited many of New York City's most prominent businessmen to meet the first Republican president. Grinnell subsequently wrote Lincoln with introductions for others, becoming something of a conduit of political power, if not a wielder of such himself. Grinnell was

Collector of the Port of New York The Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, most often referred to as Collector of the Port of New York, was a federal officer who was in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at t ...

from March 1869 to July 1870, and the Port's Naval Officer of Customs from July 1870 to April 1871. Perhaps best remembered for his work as

Commissioner during the early years of the urban park's design and construction.

Personal life

Moses Grinnell died in Manhattan on November 24, 1877. His funeral service was at the

Unitarian Church of All Souls The Unitarian Church of All Souls at 1157 Lexington Avenue at East 80th Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1932 and was designed by Hobart Upjohn – Richard Upjohn's grandson – in the Neo-colonial ...

and he was buried in

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch ...

, Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Early life

Shipping career

Political career

Personal life

References

Further reading