George Foster Peabody
Encyclopedia
George Foster Peabody (July 27, 1852 in Columbus, Georgia
- March 4, 1938 in Warm Springs, Georgia
) was a banker and philanthropist.
. The Civil War, however, impoverished his family, and in 1866 they moved to Brooklyn
, New York
and young Peabody went to work in a wholesale dry goods firm, advancing rapidly.
. On May 2, 1881, Peabody became a partner in the new firm of Spencer Trask & Company. During the 1880s and 1890s this investment house took a leading part in financing electric lighting corporations, sugar beet and other industrial enterprises, and railroad construction in the western United States and Mexico. Peabody himself handled most of the firm's railroad investments, working in close association with William J. Palmer. He also became a director in numerous corporations. Peabody, his half brother William Foster Peabody and Spenser Trask amassed a great portion of their wealth from the Edison Electric Company. Trask served as president of Edison Electric Illuminating, and when J.P. Morgan—protege of New England businessman/philanthropist George Peabody—financier of Edison Electric, merged all into the General Electric Company in 1892, George Foster Peabody became a member of the GE board of directors.
in his book Progress and Poverty
, free trade, women's suffrage and government ownership of railroads. He was also active in the anti-war movement. He was also interested in education, particularly in the South and also particularly for African-Americans. He served as director of the General Education Board
, treasurer of the Southern Education Board and on the boards of trustees of the American Church Institute for Negroes, Hampton in Virginia
, Tuskegee in Alabama
, the University of Georgia
, and the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
, supported the Gold Democrats against William Jennings Bryan
in 1896, then switched to more moderate monetary reform as a member of the executive committee of the Indianapolis Monetary Convention in 1897. In 1904 and 1905 he served as treasurer of the Democratic National Committee
. Although he declined to run for political office, and declined President Wilson's offer of a place on the Federal Trade Commission, Peabody was an unofficial counselor to many government officials. From 1914 to 1921 he served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank
in New York.
, one of Virginia's historically black universities, where he established in the university library the Peabody Collection of rare materials on African-American history, one of the largest collections in the United States.
In 1901 Peabody donated land for Peabody Park
at the University of North Carolina
in Greensboro, North Carolina
.
near his boyhood home. In 1924 he invited his friend Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who had recently contracted a paralytic illness
) to visit the 90 degree Fahrenheit springs there, which Roosevelt eventually purchased and turned into the Little White House
and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, expanding it from a limited rehab center into a full-service center.
and Washington and Lee
Universities in 1903, and the University of Georgia
in 1906. This latter institution was the recipient of much of Peabody's philanthropy, including funds to build a fireproof building to house the university's library. He also donated land to help reorganize the State College of Agriculture, and founded the university's School of Forestry.
for excellence in radio
, and, since 1948, television
broadcasting, followed by World Wide Web
content in the late 1990s.
, where he spent most of each year. He was frequently a guest at Yaddo, the Saratoga estate of Spencer Trask and his wife, Katrina Trask
, and from both estates he developed a wide circle of influence, including many persons from the literary world, church, business, and government, who came to enjoy his gracious hospitality.
A lifelong bachelor, in 1920, eleven years after Trask's tragic death in a railroad accident, Peabody married his widow Katrina, and they lived at Yaddo until her death in 1922. Thereafter Yaddo became a great retreat for artists. Peabody continued to live on the estate, and in 1926 he adopted a daughter, Mrs. Marjorie P. Waite, a young woman whom he had come to know in connection with his civic and humanitarian activities and who aided him in them.
Peabody died in his home in Warm Springs, Georgia
.
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Muscogee County, Georgia, United States, with which it is consolidated. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 189,885. It is the principal city of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area, which, in 2009, had an estimated population of 292,795...
- March 4, 1938 in Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32 °C...
) was a banker and philanthropist.
Early life
He was born to George Henry Peabody and Elvira Peabody (née Canfield) as the first of four children. Both parents were native New Englanders of colonial ancestry. George Henry Peabody, who came from a line of merchants, bankers and professional men, had moved from Connecticut to Columbus, Georgia, where he ran a prosperous general store. After attending private school in Columbus, young Peabody spent a few months at Deer Hill Institute in Danbury, ConnecticutDanbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
. The Civil War, however, impoverished his family, and in 1866 they moved to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and young Peabody went to work in a wholesale dry goods firm, advancing rapidly.
Business career
In the evenings Peabody read extensively at the library of the Brooklyn Y.M.C.A, which he later called his "alma mater", and also took part in the activities of the Reformed Church in Brooklyn Heights, where he met and became good friends with young investment banker Spencer TraskSpencer Trask
Spencer Trask was an American financier, philanthropist, and venture capitalist. Beginning in the 1870s, Trask began investing and supporting entrepreneurs, including Thomas Edison's invention of the electric light bulb and his electricity network...
. On May 2, 1881, Peabody became a partner in the new firm of Spencer Trask & Company. During the 1880s and 1890s this investment house took a leading part in financing electric lighting corporations, sugar beet and other industrial enterprises, and railroad construction in the western United States and Mexico. Peabody himself handled most of the firm's railroad investments, working in close association with William J. Palmer. He also became a director in numerous corporations. Peabody, his half brother William Foster Peabody and Spenser Trask amassed a great portion of their wealth from the Edison Electric Company. Trask served as president of Edison Electric Illuminating, and when J.P. Morgan—protege of New England businessman/philanthropist George Peabody—financier of Edison Electric, merged all into the General Electric Company in 1892, George Foster Peabody became a member of the GE board of directors.
Social Activism
Peabody retired from business in 1906 to pursue a life of public service. Long interested in social causes, he supported such progressive ideas as the single tax as advocated by Henry GeorgeHenry George
Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...
in his book Progress and Poverty
Progress and Poverty
Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy was written by Henry George in 1879...
, free trade, women's suffrage and government ownership of railroads. He was also active in the anti-war movement. He was also interested in education, particularly in the South and also particularly for African-Americans. He served as director of the General Education Board
General Education Board
The General Education Board was a philanthropy created by John D. Rockefeller and Frederick T. Gates in 1902. Rockefeller gave it $180 million, which was used primarily to support higher education and medical schools in the United States, and to help rural white and black schools in the South, as...
, treasurer of the Southern Education Board and on the boards of trustees of the American Church Institute for Negroes, Hampton in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, Tuskegee in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
, and the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
Political Activities
From early in his life Peabody was interested in Democratic Party politics. In the early 1880s, he helped his close friend Edward Morse Shepard organize the Young Men's Democratic Club of Brooklyn, took a part in the 1892 presidential campaign on behalf of Grover ClevelandGrover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, supported the Gold Democrats against William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
in 1896, then switched to more moderate monetary reform as a member of the executive committee of the Indianapolis Monetary Convention in 1897. In 1904 and 1905 he served as treasurer of the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
. Although he declined to run for political office, and declined President Wilson's offer of a place on the Federal Trade Commission, Peabody was an unofficial counselor to many government officials. From 1914 to 1921 he served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank
Federal Reserve Bank
The twelve Federal Reserve Banks form a major part of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. The twelve federal reserve banks together divide the nation into twelve Federal Reserve Districts, the twelve banking districts created by the Federal Reserve Act of...
in New York.
Philanthropic Activities
Peabody served from 1884 to 1930 as a trustee of Hampton UniversityHampton University
Hampton University is a historically black university located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It was founded by black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association after the American Civil War to provide education to freedmen.-History:...
, one of Virginia's historically black universities, where he established in the university library the Peabody Collection of rare materials on African-American history, one of the largest collections in the United States.
In 1901 Peabody donated land for Peabody Park
Peabody Park
Peabody Park is a park run by the city of Memphis that offers a playground, aqua play , and the Raymond Skinner Center. The address of the Raymond Skinner Center is listed as 712 Tanglewood, but the park sits just behind the facility and is bordered by the streets Cooper and Higbee.-References:City...
at the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
in Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
.
Warm Springs, Georgia
After years of visiting the estate of his partner Spencer Trask in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Peabody agreed to succeed him in 1910 as chairman of the state commission set up to purchase and conserve the famous spa there, and in 1923 he acquired the property at Warm Springs, GeorgiaWarm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32 °C...
near his boyhood home. In 1924 he invited his friend Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who had recently contracted a paralytic illness
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness
Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness began in 1921 at age 39, when Roosevelt got a fever after exercising heavily at a vacation in Canada. While his bout with illness was well known during his terms as President of the United States, the extent of his paralysis was kept from public view. After...
) to visit the 90 degree Fahrenheit springs there, which Roosevelt eventually purchased and turned into the Little White House
Little White House
The Little White House, in the Warm Springs Historic District in Warm Springs, Georgia, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal retreat. He first came to Warm Springs for treatment of his paralytic illness, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on nearby...
and the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, expanding it from a limited rehab center into a full-service center.
Honorary Degrees
While his formal education was limited and he had no college degree, Peabody received honorary degrees from HarvardHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Washington and Lee
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
Universities in 1903, and the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
in 1906. This latter institution was the recipient of much of Peabody's philanthropy, including funds to build a fireproof building to house the university's library. He also donated land to help reorganize the State College of Agriculture, and founded the university's School of Forestry.
George Foster Peabody Awards
Perhaps Peabody's best-known legacy is the George Foster Peabody Awards, presented annually since 1941 by the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass CommunicationHenry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a college within the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States...
for excellence in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, and, since 1948, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcasting, followed by World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
content in the late 1990s.
Personal life
A tall man, in later years he developed a mane of white hair, and wore a heavy mustache and pointed beard, becoming known for his dignified and courtly manner. He maintained a mansion in Brooklyn, where he entertained lavishly. He also purchased a summer home known as Abenia at Lake GeorgeLake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
, where he spent most of each year. He was frequently a guest at Yaddo, the Saratoga estate of Spencer Trask and his wife, Katrina Trask
Katrina Trask
Katrina Trask , also known as Kate Nichols Trask, was an American author and philanthropist.- Life account :She was born Kate Nichols in Brooklyn, New York to George Little Nichols and Christina Mary Cole...
, and from both estates he developed a wide circle of influence, including many persons from the literary world, church, business, and government, who came to enjoy his gracious hospitality.
A lifelong bachelor, in 1920, eleven years after Trask's tragic death in a railroad accident, Peabody married his widow Katrina, and they lived at Yaddo until her death in 1922. Thereafter Yaddo became a great retreat for artists. Peabody continued to live on the estate, and in 1926 he adopted a daughter, Mrs. Marjorie P. Waite, a young woman whom he had come to know in connection with his civic and humanitarian activities and who aided him in them.
Peabody died in his home in Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs, Georgia
Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 478 at the 2010 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32 °C...
.
Further reading
- Who Was Who in America, Volume I: 1897–1942 (Chicago, 1942).
- David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, "Gold Democrats and the Decline of Classical Liberalism, 1896-1900," Independent Review 4 (Spring 2000), 555-75.
- Dorothy Orr. (1950). A History of Education in Georgia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
External links
- George Foster Peabody (1852–1938) and Peabody Park at UNCG - A biographical excerpt written by Louise Ware in the Dictionary of American Biography (23: 520–521, 1958)