William L. Bull

William Lanman Bull Sr. (August 23, 1844 – January 2, 1914) was an American banker who served as president of the New York Stock Exchange.

William L. Bull
President of the New York Stock Exchange
In office
1888–1890
Preceded byJames D. Smith
Succeeded byWatson B. Dickerman
Personal details
Born
William Lanman Bull

(1844-08-23)August 23, 1844
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 2, 1914(1914-01-02) (aged 69)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Sara Newton Worthington
​
​
(m. 1871)​
Children3
Alma materCollege of the City of New York

Early life

Bull was born on August 23, 1844, in New York City.[1] He was the seventh child and youngest son of Frederic Bull (1800–1871) and Mary Huntington (née Lanman) Bull (1804–1880).[2] Among his siblings were Elizabeth Atwater Bull (wife of merchant Augustus Oscar van Lennep),[3][4] Frederic Bull, and Anna Chester Bull.[5]

His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Atwater) Bull and Jireh Bull (a descendant of Rhode Island Governor Henry Bull) and his maternal grandparents were Peter Lanman and Abigail (née Trumbull) Lanman (a sister of U.S. Representative and Connecticut governor Joseph Trumbull). Through his mother, he was a first cousin of scholar Charles Rockwell Lanman.[5]

After receiving a preparatory education, he studied at the College of the City of New York, where he graduated in 1864.[2]

Career

After graduation, Bull began his business career by joining Edward Sweet & Co., a banking house founded in 1854 (with offices at the southwest corner of Wall and Broad Street) where his brother-in-law was the senior partner. In 1867, he became a partner, a position he held uninterruptedly for over forty-five years. The prominent firm became known as "a Vanderbilt and Rockefeller house" and E. H. Harriman did business for the firm when he was a broker.[6] Bull served as a director of several companies, including the Northern Pacific Railway, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.[2]

In 1869, Bull joined the New York Stock Exchange and was "one of fifty brokers who secured his membership for $1,000 a piece when the Stock Exchange was consolidated with the gold board."[6] He later became a member of the Exchange's board of governors and in May 1888, he was elected president of the Exchange,[7] and served two terms until he was succeeded by Watson B. Dickerman in 1890.

He retired from business in 1908.[8] Shortly after his death, Edward Sweet & Co., which was then at 34 Pine Street, was dissolved and its business taken over by Chandler Brothers & Co. of New York and Philadelphia. Sweet partner Lewis E. Waring became a partner in Chandler, although his fellow partners Frederic Bull (his son) and Louis Livingston (his daughter-in-law's brother) did not.[6]

Personal life

On February 15, 1871, Bull was married to Sara Newton "Tasie" Worthington (1850–1931). Tasie was the daughter of prominent businessman and inventor Henry Rossiter Worthington and Sara Jane (née Newton) Worthington (a daughter of Admiral Newtown of the U.S. Navy).[2] Together, they resided at 805 Fifth Avenue and were the parents of:

  • Frederic Bull (1871–1948),[9] who married his second cousin, Mary Helen Robinson in 1895.[10] They divorced on December 2, 1926, and six days later he married Susan Fish Dresser (1890–1929), daughter of D. LeRoy Dresser and niece of Edith Stuyvesant Gerry.[11] After her death, he married Corinne (née Howell) Strange (1880–1962), a widow of Albert Bruton Strange, in 1938.[9]
  • Henry Worthington Bull (1874–1958),[12] who married Maud Maria Livingston (1875–1962),[13] a daughter of Robert Cambridge Livingston and Maria (née Whitney) Livingston, in 1904.[14][15] Her niece, Phyllis Livingston Potter, was the wife of Fred Astaire.[13]
  • William Lanman Bull Jr. (1880–1912),[16] who married Matilda E. Heppenheimer, a daughter of Otto Heppenheimer,[17] in 1904.[18]

He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Mayflower Descendants, the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, the New York Zoological Society.[1] He was affiliated with the Century Association, Grolier Club, Union Club, Metropolitan Club, Republican Club, Ardsley Club, Church Club, City Club, Midday Club, Alpha Delta Phi, Manhattan Society, and the Phi Beta Kappa honorary fraternity.[2]

Bull died of heart disease on January 2, 1914, at his residence in New York.[19][8] After a funeral at Grace Church, he was buried in the family vault in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.[20]

References
  1. "WILLIAM L. BULL, FINANCIER, DEAD. Former President of Stock Exchange Was Also Patron of Art". New-York Tribune. 3 January 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  2. Cutter, William Richard (1913). New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 145–147. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  3. Adam, Thomas (2009). Buying Respectability: Philanthropy and Urban Society in Transnational Perspective, 1840s to 1930s. Indiana University Press. pp. 134–135. ISBN 978-0-253-00284-6. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  4. Schmidt, Jan (1998). From Anatolia to Indonesia: Opium Trade and the Dutch Community of Izmir, 1820–1940. Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul. pp. 103, 128, 130. ISBN 978-90-6258-083-5. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  5. Stone, Don Charles (1968). The Lanman Family: The Descendants of Samuel Landman of Boston, Massachusetts, 1687, with Data on the Boylston Family in England and America. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  6. "Banking, Financial and Legislative News". The Commercial and Financial Chronicle. National News Service. XCIX: 1728. December 12, 1914. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  7. "A Well-Named President.; William L. Bull Elected by the Stock Exchange Regulars" (PDF). The New York Times. 16 May 1888. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  8. "WILLIAM L. BULL DIES FROM HEART DISEASE. Was Prominent Banker and Broker and for Three Years President of Stock Exchange". The Evening World. 3 January 1914. p. 3. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  9. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (2 October 1948). "Frederic Bull, 77, Mining Ex-Official" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  10. Who's Who in New York City and State. L.R. Hamersly Company. 1914. p. 101. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  11. "SUSAN FISH DRESSER WEDS FREDERIC BULL; Quiet Ceremony at Home of Bride" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 December 1926. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  12. Times, Special to The New York (8 August 1958). "HENRY W. BULL, 84, EX-TURF CLUB HEAD" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  13. "$5.8 Million Will Decided". San Pedro News-Pilot. 4 September 1964. p. 3. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  14. Miller, Tom (September 8, 2017). "Daytonian in Manhattan: The Henry W. Bull House – 171 East 62nd Street". daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com. Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  15. Times, Special to The New York (7 December 1904). "Bull -- Livingston" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  16. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 June 1912. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  17. "W. LANMAN BULL, JR. WEDS. Took Miss Matilda E. Heppenheimer to Wife Two Weeks Ago". The Sun. 23 February 1904. p. 1. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  18. "BULL-HEPPENHEIMER" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 February 1904. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  19. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. January 4, 1914. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  20. "William L. Bull's Funeral" (PDF). The New York Times. January 5, 1914. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
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