James Jewett Stillman was an American businessman who invested in land, banking, and railroads in New York, Texas, and Mexico.

Biography

The son of Elizabeth Pamela Stillman (née Goodrich) and Charles Stillman

Charles Stillman

Charles Stillman was born in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, to Capt. Francis Stillman and Harriet Stillman. He arrived in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 1828 and established himself as an entrepreneur...

, James Stillman was born in Brownsville, Texas

Brownsville, Texas

Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...

. Charles Stillman had significant business interests which James acquired in 1872. He expanded those to control of sixteen Texas banks and a significant land holdings in the Rio Grande Valley

Rio Grande Valley

The Rio Grande Valley or the Lower Rio Grande Valley, informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas...

, particularly Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...

 and Kerrville, Texas

Kerrville, Texas

Kerrville is a city in Kerr County, Texas, United States. The population was 20,425 at the 2000 census. In 2009, the population was 22,826...

. Along with
W. H. Harriman, Jacob Henry Schiff and William Rockefeller

William Rockefeller

William Avery Rockefeller, Jr. , American financier, was a co-founder with his older brother John D. Rockefeller of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. He was the son of William Avery Rockefeller, Sr. and Eliza Rockefeller.-Youth, education:Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York,...

 he controlled the most important Texas railroads (including the Texas and Pacific Railway

Texas and Pacific Railway

The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California....

, the Southern Pacific Railroad

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

, the International-Great Northern Railroad

International-Great Northern Railroad

The International – Great Northern Railroad was a railroad that operated in the U.S. state of Texas. It was created on September 30, 1873, when International Railroad and Houston and Great Northern Railroad merged....

, the Union Pacific Southern Railway, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway

St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway

The St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway was a 200-mile railroad that operated from Brownsville, Texas to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston. It passed through small southeast Texas communities such as Robstown, Corpus Christi, Bay City, and Harlingen as well as the Rio Grande Valley.-History:Uriah...

, and the Mexican National Railroad) and the National City Bank of New York

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

.

In 1876 Stillman supported Porfirio Díaz

Porfirio Díaz

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...

's overthrow of the government of Mexico by the Revolution of Tuxtepec.

Legacy

He is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, having left an enormous fortune.
His oldest son, James A. Stillman

James A. Stillman

James Alexander Stillman was a chairman of Citigroup whose messy divorce grabbed tabloid headlines in the Roaring Twenties.Stillman was born in New York City and graduated Harvard University in 1896...

, also served as president of National City Bank of New York

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

. Stillman was related to even greater wealth by marriage: his two daughters, Sarah Elizabeth Stillman and Isabel Goodrich Stillman, married the sons (William Goodsell Rockefeller

William Goodsell Rockefeller

William Goodsell Rockefeller was a director of the Consolidated Textile Company.-Biography:He was the third child of Standard Oil co-founder William Rockefeller and his wife, Almira Geraldine Goodsell...

 and Percy Avery Rockefeller

Percy Avery Rockefeller

Percy Avery Rockefeller was founder and vice president of Owenoke Corporation. He was a board director of Air Reduction Company, American International Corporation, Atlantic Fruit Company, Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Bowman Biltmore Hotels Company, Cuba Company,...

 respectively) of business associate and friend, and senior executive of Standard Oil

Standard Oil

Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

, William Rockefeller

William Rockefeller

William Avery Rockefeller, Jr. , American financier, was a co-founder with his older brother John D. Rockefeller of the prominent United States Rockefeller family. He was the son of William Avery Rockefeller, Sr. and Eliza Rockefeller.-Youth, education:Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York,...

. His grandson, James Stillman Rockefeller

James Stillman Rockefeller

James Stillman Rockefeller was a member of the prominent U.S. Rockefeller family.-Personal life:A paternal grandson of William Rockefeller, his maternal grandfather James Stillman and uncle James Alexander Stillman served as president of the National City Bank of New York, now Citibank...

, served as president of National City from 1952 to 1959 and chairman from 1959 to 1967.

Further reading

• John K. Winkler, The First Billion: The Stillmans and the National City Bank (New York: Vanguard, 1934).
• Texas Handbook

External links

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