Henry G. Stebbins

Henry G. Stebbins, Congressman from New York

Henry George Stebbins (September 15, 1811 – December 9, 1881) was a U.S. Representative from New York during the latter half of the American Civil War.

Life

Henry G. Stebbins was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut to John Stebbins and Mary Largin. The sculptress Emma Stebbins was his sister. After moving to New York he married Sarah Augusta Weston on October 8, 1831. They had five children: Henry Gerald Stebbins (born and died in 1832), Fanny Juliet Stebbins (born October 12, 1834), Mary Emma Stebbins (born January 1, 1837 and died in 1865), Cora Stebbins (born June 17, 1839) and Charles Henry Stebbins (born May 12, 1841).

Stebbins became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1833 representing the firm S. Jaudan & Co. He was the President of the Exchange for three periods: 1851-52, 1858–59 and 1863-64.^[1] In 1859 he founded the brokerage firm Henry G. Stebbins & Son. In September 1847 he was elected colonel of the Twelfth Regiment, a commission he didn't accept until 15 May 1848.^[2]:88–89 He was commander of the regiment when it figured prominently in the Astor Place Riot and resigned in 1855.^{[2]:92, 95}

Stebbins was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1863, until his resignation on October 24, 1864. He was a member of the Ways and Means Committee.^[3] Stebbins was appointed president of the Central Park Commission and served as Commodore of the New York Yacht Club. On 7 January 1868 he was elected president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway.^[4] He was also a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History ^[5] and president of the Arcadian Club,^[6] the Dramatic Fund Association and the Academy of Music.

Stebbins died in New York City December 9, 1881 and was interred in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Notes

1. Presidents of the Stock Exchange
2. Souvenir of the Annual Reunion, 1894, with Historical Sketch of the Twelfth Regiment, etc. (1894).
3. Gold currency and funded debt: A letter to the Hon. Henry G. Stebbins, M. C., of Committee of Ways and Means (New York:Mohun, Ebbs & Hough, 1864), p. 3
4. Henry V. Poor, Manual of the Railroads of the United States for 1868-1869 (New York:1868), p. 406.
5. The First Annual Report of the American Museum of Natural History (New York:1870), p. xiv.
6. The Reception of Peter Cooper by the Arcadian Club on his Eighty-fourth Birthday (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1874), p. 3.

References

• Henry G. Stebbins at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2009-04-24
• familysearch.org Accessed January 22, 2009
• Death of Henry G. Stebbins Accessed January 23, 2009

External links

• "Henry G. Stebbins". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2009-04-24.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.