John L. Loeb, Jr
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8896 Weathercock No72 8-10 9/2/10 3:25 PM Page 1 No. 72 Published by The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York FALL 2010 John L. Loeb, Jr. Awarded Medal of Winter Stated Meeting Merit at 175th Feast of St. Nicholas at the Coffee House: Literary Medalist “shall be celebrated on a day to be chosen by the Board of Officers.” Brian Jay Jones The Saint Nicholas Society Medal of Merit was awarded to The Honorable he Coffee House, at 20 West 44th John L. Loeb, Jr., former United States Street, was the venue for our Ambassador to Denmark, in recognition TWinter Stated Meeting on Thurs- of his service to the City of New York. For day, February 4, 2010. The building is example, when Fraunces Tavern was of course the home of the General Soci- damaged by a terrorist bomb in 1976, Mr. ety of Mechanics and Tradesmen, Loeb contributed substantially to the re- where the Saint Nicholas Society has its President Billick presents the Society’s construction efforts, and at that time a headquarters in room 508. One flight up, Medal of Merit to John L. Loeb, Jr. new gallery was installed there in com- on the sixth he 175th annual celebration of the memoration of his grandmother, Adeline floor, the Coffee Feast of St. Nicholas was held on Moses Loeb. As readers of The Weather- House has fitted TMonday, December 7, 2009 at the cock are well aware, Ambassador Loeb out a generous Union Club, 69th Street and Park Avenue. has been a member of our Society for space for a re- The event was a day after St. Nicholas’s many years (since October 4, 1976), and ception room day, December 6th, which fell on a Sun- has been a prominent figure on the New and dining hall, day. Our constitution provides that if York scene in celebration of colonial and with long ta- that date “shall fall on Saturday, Sunday Revolutionary traditions in New York. He bles, Windsor or a public holiday,” the anniversary Continued on next page chairs, and huge silver cande- labra—a most elegant and at Medalist Brian Jay Jones Pike Elected President at Annual Meeting the same time extremely congenial set- ting for our gathering. John Hilliard and pring was in the air as St. Nickers President John Milnes Baker, members of the and their guests convened for a Stephen B. Coffee House, were our hosts for Swrap-up of the 2009-2010 season Billick arranging the event at the clubhouse. seemed at the 3 West Club on May 20 where The speaker was Brian Jay Jones, au- to have both, they could look directly across to the thor of Washington Irving: An American but then he steeples of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Original (Arcade Publishing, 2008), re- was merely down on the hanging gardens of Rock- viewed in The Weathercock, No. 69 exercizing efeller Center from the terrace of the (Summer 2008), p. 5. Mr. Jones spoke the presi- Solarium Room. On this always pleas- of Irving’s youth, in which he had a de- dential ant occasion one saw friends every- cided preference for “the path of least prerogative. where and one noted with satisfaction resistance.” He was intended for a ca- that some of the tuxedoed gentlemen This writer reer in the law, and started working for bore a tell-tale flower in their lapel sig- has no clear Newly installed Mr. Hoffman, his future father-in-law. nifying that they were to be inducted recollection President Thomas F. Pike But when Irving’s fiancée, Matilda Hoff- during the stated meeting. The Society of the meal – what was consumed, how man, suddenly died, he was devastated can never cease to attract and recruit it was served, and whether it was any by her loss, and began also to be even new members. good. Stated Meetings are not about more disinclined for the law. He then Refreshing libations got the evening mere cuisine but camaraderie and, above turned to journalism and began working off to a great start. Soon it was time all, lots of drinks. This much can be rec- on Knickerbocker’s History of New for dinner and the crowd moved in- ollected of the May Stated Meeting: the York, published in 1809 with immense doors and maneuvered to seize the ta- wine never ceased to flow in abundance success. Mr. Jones detailed for us bles with the best views or maybe the even if former Chief Steward Brian A. some of Irving’s amusing promotional nicest people. At any rate, outgoing Continued on page 4 Continued on page 6 8896 Weathercock No72 8-10 9/2/10 3:26 PM Page 2 John L. Loeb, Jr. Continued from front page is a superb speaker, and gave an excellent address, in which he recalled his special fondness for the Saint Nicholas Society. Several of his ancestors had also been members. He fondly remembered how his grandmother had urged him to join the So- ciety, so as to keep up the family traditions. John Milnes Baker Jolanta Ilczuk John Mauk Hilliard, John L. Loeb, Jr. and Jill Spiller and Ogden Sutro and President Stephen B. Billick In commemoration of his grandmother, Ambassador Loeb has sponsored a hand- some commemorative volume (re- viewed elsewhere in this issue): An American Experience: Adeline Moses Loeb (1876–1953) and Her Early Ameri- can Jewish Ancestors (New York: Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, 2009). The order of festivities began with an Allison White Vadhan Jennifer Griffin and Michael L. Sivy, Peter J. Kimber invocation by John Mauk Hilliard, and Charles C. Lucas, Jr. Lewis S. Allen and Graham P. Sultan followed by the traditional toasts to Her Majesty Beatrix, Queen of the Nether- lands, by Stephen Bates Billick, President of the Society, and playing of the Dutch national anthem, “The Wilhelmus.”Past President Samuel Dunstan Williams then offered the toast to the President of the United States, followed by “The Star Spangled Ban- ner.” And John Baker gave the toast to M. David Sherrill and M.P. and Robert A. Naud Victor E. Stewart, Carol Stewart our beloved patron, St. Nicholas, “goed Charles C. Lucas, Jr. and Curtis M. Estes heilig man.” The stewards, led by Cody D. Consta- ble, Chief Steward, then carried aloft the historic Weathercock, an early gift to the Society by Washington Irving, while celebrants waved their dinner napkins to create a wind for it to sail along upon, until it came to rest at the podium, pointing northeast, to give the alert to an approach by hostile New Curtis M. Estes Hadley M. Nagel Elizabeth M. M. Jensen and escort Englanders. and Thomas F. Pike with escort A new feature of this year’s feast was the presentation of debutantes. Eliza- beth Monroe Meeker Jensen was pre- sented by her uncle, The Honorable Charles Carpenter Meeker, and her grandfather, Leonard Carpenter Meek- er, elected to membership in the Soci- ety, November 29, 1937. Hadley Marie Nagel was presented by her father Jon Nagel, and John McConville Shannon, George H. McNeely IV, Sharon Handler Pamela Bartlett, Leighton H. Coleman III former president of the Society, elected and John L. Loeb, Jr. and Ian H. Fraser February 5, 1990. Dancing continued throughout the evening enlivened by a pause for John P. T. Blake’s stirring recitation of the “Toast to Our Ancestors” delivered as always by John with tremendous panache and faultless memory for all those difficult Dutch names. Liddy Baker Terry Blake, Thomas F. Pike, Jr. Patricia Lambert and Jennifer Griffin and Alan G. Moore 2 8896 Weathercock No72 8-10 9/2/10 3:26 PM Page 3 St. Nick and the World of Margrieta van Varick s part of the celebration of the ry lived in the rural village of Flatbush lived and where she may have obtained 400th anniversary of Henry on eastern Long Island, a neighbor- some of the goods cited in the inventory. AHudson’s voyage and the lega- hood still known by that name in the Of particular interest is the way in which cy of Dutch culture in New York, the Borough of Brooklyn today. Margrieta’s life parallels the history of the Netherlands during the 17th century when Bard Graduate Center presented Dutch Born in Amsterdam in 1649, Margrieta a growing network of global trade and ex- New York between East and West: The spent several years at the other end of change fostered an expansion of wealth World of Margrieta van Varick. Dutch the Dutch colonial world in the Far and culture amongst the Dutch. New York offered an innovative ap- East, primarily in Malacca (present proach to exhibition practice by using day Malaysia) before returning to the Narrowing the curatorial lens to focus on the probate inventory of Margrieta van Netherlands with her minister hus- the Dutch presence in North America, Varick’s possessions compiled in 1696 band, Rudolphus. In 1686 she and her the exhibition subsequently considered as a means of examining life and cul- family crossed the Atlantic to settle in “Dutch New York.” This section consid- ture in colonial New York. There was Flatbush, where Rudolphus was minis- ered the history of the Dutch colony and much to appeal to members of the ter of the Dutch Reformed Church and the continuing strength and persistence of Saint Nicholas Society who gathered at where she opened a textile shop, hav- Dutch culture under English rule. When the Center’s West Side townhouse on ing brought with them an astonishing Margrieta van Varick arrived in 1686, 26 September 2009 to view the display.