Preserved Fish (; July 14, 1766 – July 23, 1846) was an American businessman who was a prominent

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

shipping merchant in the early 19th century. He was an early broker of the New York Stock & Exchange Board.

Early life

Preserved Fish was born in

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

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 ...

to blacksmith Isaac Fish and Ruth Grinnell Fish. His extended family, prominent in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, also gave rise to

Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American statesman who served as the sixteenth governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from ...

, governor, senator, and secretary of state, and

Stuyvesant Fish Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the Illinois Central Railroad. He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertai ...

. He was descended from Thomas Fish, who settled in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

in 1643. There were at least 10 other Fish family members with the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

given name ''Preserved'', whose lineages are often confused. The name is pronounced with three syllables: or ; it refers to being "preserved (saved) from sin". As a youth, Fish shipped to the Pacific on a

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Jap ...

, becoming its captain at the age of 21. He soon realized that fortune lay in selling

whale oil Whale oil is oil obtained from the blubber of whales. Oil from the bowhead whale was sometimes known as train-oil, which comes from the Dutch word ''traan'' ("tear drop"). Sperm oil, a special kind of oil used in the cavities of sperm whales, ...

, not in harvesting it.

Career

He prospered as a merchant in

New Bedford 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 (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

, Massachusetts, but had a political squabble and left for New York. He, along with

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 ...

, controlled a potent shipping firm named Fish & Grinnell – later

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 ...

mpany – which had its beginnings in his efforts to expand his whale oil market. In 1812, he became a director of Bank of America (unrelated to the current institution), founded after the charter of the

First Bank of the United States The President, Directors and Company of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a National bank (United States), national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress ...

was not renewed. He also was one of the 28 brokers of the New York Exchange Board, which later became the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

. After his resignation from Fish & Grinnell and a brief retirement from business, he served from 1836 to his death as President of the Tradesman's Bank as well as president of the Bank of America, which was unrelated to the current institution of that name. He was also involved with

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

: along with

Gideon Lee Gideon Lee II (April 27, 1778August 21, 1841) was an American politician who was the 60th Mayor of New York City from 1833 to 1834, and United States Representative from New York for one term from 1835 to 1837. Early life Lee was born in Amherst ...

, another banker, his faction controlled the Democratic Party in New York City at the time that the

Locofoco The Locofocos (also Loco Focos or Loco-focos) were a faction of the Democratic Party in American politics that existed from 1835 until the mid-1840s. History The faction, originally named the Equal Rights Party, was created in New York City as ...

reformers attempted, unsuccessfully, to take it over. He was one of the leaders in the movement opposed to

sabbatarianism Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...

in the United States.

Personal life

Fish was married three times. His first wife, Abigail Clark Fish, died in New Bedford while giving birth to a child who did not live. His second wife, Mary Polly Fish (Gerrish), died in New York City. He married his third wife, Mary Shepherd Fish, just four months later. None of Fish's children survived. However, he adopted a son named William Fish who reportedly died before his father did as "a disgraced man." William had one child who was in line to inherit most of Fish's property, on the condition that "the youth must renounce his mother on arriving at the age of twenty-one." In later life, Fish was a member of the Episcopal Church. He died on July 23, 1846, in New York. He is buried in the New York City Marble Cemetery. His obituary called him "a rough, obstinate, and eccentric man" but said he was "without guile" and "charitable", as well as a faithful friend.

References

External links

*
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Preserved 1766 births 1846 deaths American bankers American people in whaling American businesspeople in shipping Preserved Burials at New York City Marble Cemetery 19th-century American merchants People from Portsmouth, Rhode Island New York (state) Democrats