GENEALOGICAL NOTES CONCERNING THE BANKS AND ALLIED FAMILIES COMPILED BY JAMES LENOX BANKS PRIVATELY PRINTED NEW YORK I 1938 ·~( L!============.11) ~· GOLD MASONIC MEDAL Presented to Br Jarnes Hankes in 1790 "for his steady and upright conduct in the office of llt. WI Master." (In tlte possession of tlie compiler) PREFACE The compiler of these records and notes has been collecting the data contained herein over a period of many years, and has visited several of the places men­ tioned. Searches · have been made by and for him in this country and abroad . .Attention is called to the variation in the spelling of some names and in two or more instances of the same person, but this spelling follows the records as found. -~cknowledgment is made for the help of Mrs. Evelyn JVIarshall Suarez and Mr. Frederic Barnard in the cost of publishing this book, and to Mr. Alexander J. Wall for his help in editing it. .:.\'ot'ember 27th, 1937. CONTENTS .A.NCESTRY CH.A.RT . • facing page X PAGE DESCENDANTS OF JAMES BANKS • . • . 11 DESCENDANTS OF JOSEPH MOZIER . • . 33 DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM LENNOX . • 41 DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM CARMER . • 65 DESCENDANTS OF ARCHIBALD DIXON . • . • 75 DESCENDANTS OF GEORGE Hoaa . • 79 ROBERT LENOX IN POLITICS . • 85 JAMES LENOX OF NEW YORK . 91 D.A. VID SPROAT OF PORT l\fARY . • 101 MILNHOUSE . • • . 107 N E,v HAMBURGH, NE,v YoRK . 113 EPITAPHS . 123 •• Yll ILLUS TR.A~ TIO NS Gow ~L.\SONIC ~IEDAL, PRESENTED TO JAMES BANKS I~ 1790 Frontispiece PAGE SILHOUETTE OF WILLIAM BANKS BY JOHN MIERS, LONDON, 1807 13 WILLIAM BANKS, 1782-1848 . • 17 ISABELLA H. LENOX (MRS. WILLIAll BANKS), PAINTED BY GILBERT STUART ABOUT 1813 . 21 ISABELLA MOZIER, WIFE OF JAMES LENOX BANKS, ~I.D. 23 JAMES LENOX BANKS, M.D., 1832-1883 . 27 GENERAL ROBERT LENOX BANKS, 1828-1898 . 29 JOSEPH MOZIER, 1813-1870, PAINTED BY THOMAS BUCHANAN READ . 35 IsABELLA HooG (l\rlRs. JosEPH ~lozmR), BY EDWARD SHEFFIELD BARTHOLOMEW, RoME, 1853 . 37 ROBERT LENOX, PAINTED BY JOHN TRU:\IBULL ABOUT 1810-12 43 RACHEL CARMER (MRS. ROBERT LENOX), PAINTED BY JOHN TRUMBULL ABOUT 1810-12 47 ROBERT LENOX, PAINTED BY JOHN WESLEY JARVIS ABOUT 1830 51 RACHEL CARMER (MRS. ROBERT LENOX), PAINTED BY HENRY INMAN BooK PLATE OF ROBERT LENOX (ARMS OF LENOX AND SPROAT) 61 BooK PLATE OF JAMES LENOX BANKS, ~l.D .. 61 NICHOLAS CARMER, 1735-1807 67 ELIZABETH HAIR, 1771-1842, ,vIFE OF PERCIVAL HOGG . 81 JAllES LENOX, 1800-1880, PAl!\"TED BY CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE, R.A. 93 LENOX LIBRARY, FIFTH A VENUE, 70TH TO 71ST STREETS, ABOUT 1895 • . • • . 95 • IX P.\GE GATE\\"AY-'" 11Y FARlI AT THE 5 ~IILE STONE.'' THE ROBERT LENOX FAR)I AT FIFTH A.VENUE A.ND 72D STREET, FROlI A SKETCH :\!ADE IX APRIL, 1875 . 97 RESIDENCES OF l\IR. JA)IES LENOX, ~IR. J. FISHER SHEA.FE, AND DR. JA)IES LENOX BANKS, 53 - 57 FIFTH AVENUE, NE\\" YORK . 99 DAVID SPROAT, PAINTED IN 1788 103 J\fIL1'""HOUSE, KIRKCUDBRIGHT, SCOTLAND, PAINTED BY 1\-lAJOR GEORGE C0Lo,1e IN 1838 FOR JA.11Es LENNOX OF DALSKAIRTH 109 THE CEDARS, NEAR NEW HAMBURGH, N. Y., RESIDENCE OF JAMES LENOX BANKS, l\l.D. 115 ELLESSDIE CHAPEL AND ENTRANCE THE CEDARS, TAKEN IN 188-t 117 ·v IE". FRoll THE CEDARs • . 119 LENOX PLOT, KIRKCUDBRIGHT, SCOTLAND . 125 GRAVE OF JosEPH l\IozIER, PROTESTANT CE11ETERY, Ro11E, ITALY . 129 BANKS PLOT, WAPPINGERS FALLS, NE,v YoRK . 131 DESCEND_t\NTS OF JAl\iES BANKS William Banks' counting house in Ne,v York City was 102 Front Street ,vhich ,vas destroyed in the Fire of 1835 and all his papers and letters were lost. The fire burned over an area of some 50 acres of chiefly business property and destroyed all but three or four buildings within the area. About 67 4 buildings were consumed. The only reference to his father's family found among his papers since that date was in a copy of a letter in answer to one from a Mr. Banks of Liverpool. This letter ,Yas not found, but was a business letter and asked as to possible relationship. William Banks in his answer simply stated that the relationship was possible as his family came from the "North of England," but to what generation he referred and where he did not say. James, his father, may have been a shipping merchant, as was William, ,vho owned a part interest in one or two ships, as there is a book of James', entitled "The Ship Master's A.ssistant and Owner's Manual," published in London in 1788, ,vhich has "James Banks 1791" ,vritten in it. There ,vas a gold masonic medal presented to James Banks in 1790 in recognition of his "steady and upright conduct in the office of Right Worshipful Master." In an attempt to trace the Lodge presenting this medal assistance ,vas obtained from Col. E. ~1. L. Ehlers, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge in N e,v York, who 11 "~rote to Jfasonic _r\ntiquarians, ,vith the only result that there ,vere other medals of the same pattern in England-one of them in the Grand Lodge ~fuseum, London. A book of Common Prayer belonging to J runes' daughter l\faria, and "~ith her name ,vritten in it, has the following ,vritten on the cover: "James Banks, born January 1st, 1749." None of James' daughters ever came to this country and with one exception all died in France, where they had lived some years. William Banks was a shipping and commission mer­ chant and was a resident of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1804, or earlier. His firm at one time was Banks, Hitchins & Smithe, his partners being Richard James Cade Hitchins and his brother-in-law Henry Smithe. They were '' Mer­ chants, Factors & Agents." On trips to New York, London and other ports he always took his sextant, artificial horizon and day and night telescope so he could take his own observations, and for companionship his box of chess. All these are still in the possession of his family. When he married in 1823 a branch of the firm was established in New York, to be conducted by him in his o,vn individual name ,vith authority to dissolve the Copartnership, as related to the Ne,v York concern, ,vhenever he thought proper. He o,vned a storehouse and ,vharf at St. Georges, ,vhich ,vas the principal port of .Bermuda at that time, but the harbor later was ruined by coral gro,vth. As an illustration of depreciation in land values, principally from this cause, the cost of this ,vharf property ,vas $3,600; it ,vas valued in 1833 at 12 SILHOUETTE OF \YILLIAM BA~KS BY JoH~ MIERS, LONDON, 1807 Painted on plaster, pencilled with gold (Owned by the compiler) $2,500 and sold in 1910 for $600. It "-as held many years out of sentiment. "' ~Ir. and l\Irs. Banks moved to No. 5 Pearl Street early in 1826. This property ran through to No. 2 Bridge Street, on ,vhich ,vas the stable. It had been bought by Robert Lenox the previous December and a life -interest given to them and their children in fee. The house ,vas destroyed by fire in January, 1862. ~i\bout 18-10 they had moved around the corner to No. 16 State Street, on the Battery, ,vhere they lived until 18-16, ":-hen they moved to No. 72 Fifth Avenue, which Mr. Banks had built on the Northwest corner of 13th Street. This property was purchased in 1844 and had a frontage of 51 feet 7 inches on the avenue. Mr. Banks was President of the Moha,vk & Hudson R.R. The road was chartered by the Legislature of New York April 17, 1826. It began operation _,\ugust 10, 1831, bet,veen Albany and Schenectady, and ,vas the first railway in New York State and the second in opera­ tion in the United States. He ,vas a director of the Farmers Loan & Trust Co., the Merchants National Bank, and the executor and trustee of several estates in this country and Jamaica. He was naturalized in the Court of Common Pleas, Ne,v York, October 15, 1836. He died at his residence, No. 72 Fifth .A.venue, on December 3, 1848, and ":-as buried in his vault, No. 52, in the First Presbyterian Churchyard, Fifth _i\ venue and 12th Street, Ne,v York City. 15 FIRST GE:.'iER.4.TJO.\' 1 JA:\IES, born Januarv., 1, 1749 . He married- Elizabeth ---- Children: 2 W ILLIAl\I, born 1782, died 1848. 3 MARIA, born in London, died unmarried in Boulogne­ sur-1\Ier on July 2, 1837, aged 47 years. 4 BENJA~IIN, died unmarried. 5 AMELIA, born in London, died in Rennes, France, April 23, 1857, unmarried. Burial record gives her age as 57 years 8 months. 6 ELIZABETH, died July 30, 1865, in England; married Willian1 Brooks on June 7, 1810, at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden. 7 J\IARTHA, born in London, died in Rennes, France, May-!, 1870. Married James Greenough, born in Wigan 1788-93, died in Rennes 1871. SECOND GE1VERATION 2 WILLIAl\l, born 1782; died December 3, 1848. He married in Eastling, Kent, December 19, 1807, Emily, daughter of Henry and Ann Smithe of East­ ling. She died December 10, 1816. Her sister l\Iary in 1818 married John Walter 2d of Bear,vood, owner of the London Times. He married in Ne"'" York City December 2-1, 1823, Isabella Henderson Lenox. daughter of Robert Lenox. She ,vas born Febru­ ary 26, 1789, and died in Ne,v York City ~,.\ugust 7, 1866.