Duncan Campbell Pell (January 18, 1807 – January 16, 1874) served as the lieutenant governor of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, and Chairman of the State Senate in that state from 1865-1866.

Early life

Pell was born in New York City on January 18, 1807. He was the third of eleven children born to Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Shipley) Pell and

William Ferris Pell William Ferris Pell (September 1779 – October 28, 1840) was an American horticulturist. Early life Pell was born in New York in September 1779. He was the son of shipping merchant Benjamin Pell (–1828) and Marianna (née Ferris) Pell (1757-17 ...

. His father was a New York merchant from 1808 to 1840, who founded the famous auction firm of Pell & Company, and his brother,

Alfred Shipley Pell Alfred Shipley Pell (April 27, 1805 – May 21, 1869) was an American insurance executive who co-founded the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. Early life Pell was born in Westchester County, New York, on April 27, 1805. He was the second ...

, was a co-founder of the

Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (also known as Mutual of New York or MONY) was the oldest continuous writer of insurance policies in the United States. Incorporated in 1842, it was headquartered at 1740 Broadway, before becoming a w ...

. Pell studied at the

Litchfield Law School The Litchfield Law School of Litchfield, Connecticut, was the first independent law school established in America for reading law. Founded and led by lawyer Tapping Reeve, the proprietary school was unaffiliated with any college or university. (Whi ...

in 1826.

Career

He was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in Albany in 1828. Pell entered into a co-partnership with his father on January 23, 1831. He was also a commissioner with the Washington Marine Insurance Company. He was described as "the finest looking man of his day in

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

." In 1848, after approximately 17 years as a partner, Pell withdrew from D. C. & W. Pell & Co.,Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, 1848 likely a later iteration of W. F. Pell & Co. He was a member of the

Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York is a charitable organization in New York City of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York. Charles R. Mackenzie is the current president. The organization preserves ...

, having been elected on June 1, 1874, shortly before his death. Soon afterwards, he moved with to

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New ...

, where he would remain until his death. In 1865, he was elected with 10,815 votes (vs. 97 votes for Henry Butler of Warwick) to succeed

Seth Padelford Seth Padelford (October 3, 1807 – August 26, 1878) was the 31st Governor of Rhode Island from 1869 to 1873. Biography Padelford was born in Taunton, Massachusetts. He worked as a grocer, as well as serving on the City Council of Providence ...

as the

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island The current lieutenant governor of Rhode Island is Sabina Matos, who was sworn in on April 14, 2021, after Daniel McKee succeeded to the office of governor. The first lieutenant governor was George Brown. In Rhode Island, the lieutenant gove ...

under Gov.

James Y. Smith James Youngs Smith (September 15, 1809 – March 26, 1876) was an American politician and the 29th Governor of Rhode Island (May 26, 1863 – May 29, 1866). Early life Smith was born in Poquonock Village in Groton, Connecticut, to Amos D. Smith ...

. The 1870 census lists him as a retired merchant, with a net worth of nearly $400,000 (nearly $8 million today).

Personal life

In 1834, Pell was married to Anna Clarke (1817–1899), the daughter of Ann Low (née Carey) Cooper Clarke and George Hyde Clarke of

Hyde Hall Hyde Hall is a US neoclassical country mansion designed by architect Philip Hooker for George Clarke (1768–1835), a wealthy landowner. The house was constructed between 1817 and 1834, and designed with English and American architectural feat ...

, (a mansion on Lake Otsego said to have been the largest private home in the country). Her elder brother, George Hyde Clarke (1822–1889) was married to Maria Gregory. Together, they were the parents of: * Georgina Clarke Pell (1835–1851), who died aged 16. * Duncan Archibald Pell (1842–1874), who was a colonel in the Civil War on the staff of General

Ambrose Burnside Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American army officer and politician who became a senior Union general in the Civil War and three times Governor of Rhode Island, as well as being a successful inventor ...

. He married Caroline Plympton Cheever. * Leslie Pell-Clarke (1853–1904), who married Henrietta Temple, daughter of Emmet Temple, in 1876. Stricken with apoplexy, Pell died in Newport on January 16, 1874, at the age of 68. He was buried at

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair o ...

in Newport. His wife remained in Newport, residing at the corner of Mary and Clarke Streets in Newport.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pell, Duncan Lieutenant Governors of Rhode Island 1800s births 1874 deaths Pell family Politicians from New York City