Russell Sage
Russell Sage (4 August 1816 – 22 July 1906) was a financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York, United States. As a frequent partner of Jay Gould in various transactions, he amassed a fortune, which passed to his second wife, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, when he died. She used the money for philanthropic purposes, endowing a number of buildings and institutions with his name, including Russell Sage College. The foundation she started, the Russell Sage Foundation, is still in operation.
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[edit] Early life
Sage was born at Verona in Oneida County, New York. He received a public school education and worked as a farm hand until he was 15, when he became an errand boy in a grocery conducted by his brother, Henry R. Sage, in Troy, New York. He had a part interest in 1837-1839 in a retail grocery in Troy, and in a wholesale store there in 1839-1857.
[edit] Political career
In 1841 he was elected an alderman, and he was re-elected to this office until 1848, also serving for seven years as treasurer of Rensselaer County. He was then elected to Congress as a Whig, and served, with re-election, from 4 March 1853 until 3 March 1857. He served on the Ways and Means Committee. Sage was the first person to advocate, on the floor of Congress, the purchase of Mount Vernon by the government. Subsequently he settled in New York City and engaged in the business of selling puts and calls and privileges[1] on Wall Street.
On 7 May 1867, Sage's first wife died of stomach cancer. In 1869, Sage was involved in a legal case concerning the usury laws in New York state, in which he was accused of being the leader of a usury group. He was convicted and fined $500, but his jail sentence was suspended. Later that year, Sage married his second wife, Olivia Slocum.
[edit] Financial career
Sage bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1874, and thereafter was known as a financier. At the same time he became interested in railroads, and secured stocks in western roads, notably the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, of which he was president and vice-president for twelve years. By disposing of these investments, as the smaller roads were absorbed by trunk-lines, he became wealthy.
In his later years he was closely associated with Jay Gould in the management of the Wabash Railway, St. Louis and Pacific, Missouri Pacific Railroad, Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway, the American cable company, the Western Union telegraph company and the Manhattan consolidated system of elevated railroads in New York City, in all of which corporations he was a director. Sage was for many years closely connected with the affairs of the Union Pacific Railroad, of which he was a director. He was a director and vice-president in the Importers and Traders' National Bank for twenty years, and also a director in the Merchants' Trust Company and in the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York City.
[edit] Assassination attempt
In 1891, Henry L. Norcross, carrying a bag concealing dynamite, entered Sage's New York office at 71 Broadway, claiming that he had an important matter to discuss with Sage concerning railroad bonds. Norcorss gave Sage a letter that contained a demand for $1,200,000, which he declined to pay. The dynamite fell on the floor and exploded – Norcross was killed, Sage was hurt, and William R. Laidlaw, Jr., a clerk for John Bloodgood and Co. who happened to be there in Sage's office, was severely injured. Subsequently, Laidlaw sued Sage, alleging that Sage had used him as a human shield between him and Norcross. Disabled for life, Laidlaw aggressively pursued his lawsuits, winning $25,000 on the second trial and $43,000 on the fourth trial, but was tenaciously rebuffed by Sage. Laidlaw never received a cent and for many years had to rely on his sisters for support.
[edit] Personal life
Paul Sarnoff, in his biography of Russell Sage, depicts his second marriage as loveless and possibly never consummated, having been arranged for appearance's sake after Sage's affairs had become known.[2]
Sage was a member of West Presbyterian Church (New York City) at 31 West 42nd Street, which later merged with Park Presbyterian to form form West-Park Presbyterian (New York City).[3]
[edit] Death and legacy
In 1906 Sage died and left his entire fortune of about $70 million to his wife, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage (1828–1918), who subsequently devoted a major portion of these funds to philanthropy. Olivia arranged for leading architect Ralph Adams Cram to design a church, the Russell Sage Memorial Church, and for Louis Tiffany to decorate it with a large memorial stained glass window.[4] The church is located in Far Rockaway, Queens, where the family had a summer home, and was built in 1908. In 1907 she established the Russell Sage Foundation, and in 1916 she founded Russell Sage College in Troy. In addition she gave extensively to the Emma Willard School and to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).[5]
Sage is buried alone in a mausoleum in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy; his wife, Margaret, decided to be buried with her parents in Syracuse, New York. The mausoleum is of a Greek style and is intentionally unnamed. To the left of the memorial is a bench which contains a relief of Medusa on the center of the back, complete with snakes as hair.[6]
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Privileges were options sold over the counter in nineteenth century America, with both puts and calls on shares offered by specialized dealers. Their exercise price was fixed at a rounded-off market price on the day or week that the option was bought, and the expiry date was generally three months after purchase. They were not traded in secondary markets.
- ^ Sarnoff, Paul, Russell Sage: The Money King, Ivan Obolensky, Inc., New York, 1965.
- ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. "Designation List 425"
- ^ Merrill Hesch (July, 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Russell Sage Memorial Church / First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=7399. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
- ^ Although there are two buildings named "Russell Sage" at RPI, one (Russell Sage Dining Hall) is actually named after Sage's nephew Russell Sage II See: "Sage Dining Hall" on the RPI website
- ^ "Oakwood Cemetery: History". Troy Cemetery Association. http://www.oakwoodcemetery.org/history.php#graves. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
- Bibliography
- Gustavus Myers, History of the Great American Fortunes, volume iii, (Chicago, 1910)
- Not the Rensselaer Handbook
- Paul Sarnoff, "Russell Sage: The Money King," Ivan Obolensky, Inc. (New York, 1965)
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. - Russell Sage at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
This article incorporates [edit] External links
- Russell Sage profile at the Internet Accuracy Project
- Russell Sage (1816–1906) entry at The Political Graveyard
- Russell Sage at Find a Grave
| Preceded by John L. Schoolcraft |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 13th congressional district March 4, 1853 – March 3, 1857 |
Succeeded by Abram B. Olin |
