Louis McLane Jr. (January 20, 1819 – December 13, 1905) was an American financier from a prominent Maryland family, who became a prosperous California forty-niner.

Early life

McLane was born on January 20, 1819, in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. He was one of thirteen children born to Catherine Mary "Kitty" (

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

Milligan) McLane and

Louis McLane Louis McLane (May 28, 1786 – October 7, 1857) was an American lawyer and politician from Wilmington, Delaware, Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware, and Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. He was a veteran of the War of 1812, a member of t ...

, who served as a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator,

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, Secretary of State in President Jackson's cabinet (until his resignation in 1834), and Minister to the United Kingdom. He later served as president of the

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. Among his siblings were

Robert Milligan McLane Robert Milligan McLane (June 23, 1815 – April 16, 1898) was an American politician, military officer, and diplomat. He served as U.S. minister to Mexico, France, and China, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 4 ...

(a U.S. Representative and

Governor of Maryland The governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

who served as Ambassador to Mexico,

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, and

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), Lydia (née McLane) Johnston (wife of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston), Allan McLane (president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company), James Latimer McLane (president of the National Bank of Baltimore and father of Baltimore mayor Robert McLane), and Juliette (née McLane) Garesché (wife of Peter Bauduy Garesché). His paternal grandfather was Col. Allan McLane of the

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Career

In 1835, at just sixteen years old, he left his classes at Newark College when he was appointed a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

in the U.S. Navy, serving aboard the USS ''Ohio'' from 1838 to 1840. McLean submitted his resignation of his commission as a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on January 20, 1850, to the

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. Secretary William Ballard Preston accepted his resignation on January 21, 1850.

Business career

Shortly after his marriage and resignation from the Navy, McLane left for

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and a career as a financier which was to take him away from his family many times during the next thirty years. He was a founder of the Safe Deposit & Trust Co. in 1864 and, during the 1850s, was Wells Fargo's first general manager in San Francisco. On November 1, 1866, he succeeded Danford N. Barney to become president of the Wells Fargo & Company Express, which he reorganized after its takeover of Holladay Overland. He was replaced by Ashbel H. Barney in 1869. McLane also served as the first president of Nevada Bank in 1875, which had been started by William S. O'Brien and James Clair Flood, who succeeded McLane as president in 1881. He returned to Baltimore in 1892. In his later years, he served as chairman of the executive committee of the Mercantile Trust Company of Baltimore and a director of many financial institutions.

Personal life

On June 12, 1849, McLane was married to Sophie Latimer Hoffman (1827–1907), daughter of Samuel Hoffman, a well known Baltimore merchant, and the former Elizabeth Rebecca Becker Curzon. Together, they were the parents of eight children, including: * Katherine Milligan McLane (1850–1927), who did not marry and lived with her sisters Sophie and Elizabeth. * Sophie Hoffman McLane (b. 1852), who died unmarried. * Elizabeth Curzon McLane (b. 1856), who died unmarried. * Louis McLane III (b. 1857), who moved to California around 1880 and also worked for the Wells Fargo Co.; he married Lizzie Evaline Blanchard of New York in 1887. * Samuel Hoffman McLane (1861–1890), who went to school in Croydon, England. * Emily McLane (b. 1864), who married E. Gittings Merryman of Cockeysville, Maryland. * Sally Jones Milligan McLane (1867–1963), who married lawyer David Kirkpatrick Este Fisher (his sister Louise married U.S. Senator William Cabell Bruce). * Charles Eugene McLane (1871–1941), who served as assistant secretary and treasurer of the Mercantile Trust and Deposit Company; he also served as president of the Maryland Jockey Club. McLane suffered a stroke of paralysis in October 1901, but he survived. After several years of ill health, he died on December 13, 1905, at 1101 North Charles Street, his residence in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. He was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

References

External links

McLane-Fisher Family Papers circa 1800-1905
at the Maryland Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:McLane, Louis 1819 births 1905 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American bank presidents People of the California Gold Rush Wells Fargo employees