Moses Hicks Grinnell (March 3, 1803 – November 24, 1877) was a shipper and businessman. He became a

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

man representing New York, and a

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

Early life

Grinnell was born in

New Bedford, Massachusetts New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. At the 2020 census, New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-l ...

, on March 3, 1803. He was the son of Cornelius Grinnell (1758–1850) and Sylvia (

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 ...

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 and Sylvia (née Howland) G ...

and

Joseph Grinnell Joseph P. 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 ...

. After attending public school, he took his first paying job at the age of 15, working in the

counting room A count room or counting room is a room that is designed and equipped for the purpose of counting large volumes of currency. Count rooms are operated by central banks and casinos, as well as some large banks and armored car companies that transpo ...

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 Robert Bowne Minturn (November 16, 1805 – January 9, 1866) was one of the most prominent American merchants and shippers of the mid-19th century. Today, he is probably best known as being one of the owners of the famous clipper ship, '' Fly ...

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, inc ...

. 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 ship, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were gen ...

'' Flying Cloud''. Grinnell bought her from

Donald McKay Donald McKay (September 4, 1810 – September 20, 1880) was a Nova Scotian-born American designer and shipbuilder, builder of sailing ships, famed for his record-setting extreme clippers. Early life McKay was born in Jordan Falls, Shelburne ...

in 1851 for $90,000 (~$ in ).

Political career

However, unlike his brother Joseph Grinnell, who represented

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

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

Native American party The American Party, known as the Native American Party before 1855 and colloquially referred to as the Know Nothings, or the Know Nothing Party, was an Old Stock nativist political movement in the United States in the 1850s. Members of the m ...

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

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

in 1856. In February 1860, president-elect

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

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

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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 ...

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. A street in the Bronx borough of New York City is named in his honor.

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 80th Street (Manhattan), East 80th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City was built in 1932 and was designed by Hobart Upjohn – Richard Upjohn's grandson &n ...

and he was buried in

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the cemetery, 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 of the ...

Sleepy Hollow, New York Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about ...

Early life

Shipping career

Political career

Personal life

References

Further reading