James Cunningham Bishop

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James Cunningham Bishop
Born(1870-05-13)May 13, 1870
DiedJune 1, 1932(1932-06-01) (aged 62)
Alma materHarvard University
Spouse
Abigail Adams Hancock
(div. 1913)
Children5
Parent(s)Heber R. Bishop
Mary Cunningham Bishop

James Cunningham Bishop (May 13, 1870 – June 1, 1932), son of New York capitalist Heber R. Bishop, was a banker.

Early life[edit]

Bishop was born on May 13, 1870, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York.[1] He was the son of Heber R. Bishop (1840–1902) and the former Mary Cunningham (1842–1905). Among his siblings were Mary Cunningham Bishop,[2] Elizabeth Templeton Bishop (wife of James Low Harriman, eldest son of Oliver Harriman)[3] Harriet Arnold Bishop[4] (wife of James F. D. Lanier),[4] Heber Reginald Bishop Jr.,[5] Francis Cunningham Bishop,[6][7][8] Edith Bishop,[9] (wife of Moses Taylor V, a grandson of Moses Taylor),[10][11] and Ogden Mills Bishop.[12]

He was a graduate of Harvard University.[1]

Career[edit]

After graduating from Harvard, Bishop became an associate member of Redmond & Co. of New York, a securities firm, in 1904. Beginning in 1916, he was a "heavy stockholder and officer" of the Welsbach Street Illuminating Company. At the time of his death, Bishop served as vice president and treasurer of the firm.[1]

He also served as a director of the Syracuse Lighting Company and held directorates or executive positions in the American Street Lighting Company, the Barron Collier Company, the Kitson Company, the Pennsylvania Globe Company, and the Automatic Lighting Company, as well as a group of Welsbach enterprises.[1]

Personal life[edit]

Bishop married Abigail Adams Hancock (1870–1949), niece of Winfield Scott Hancock, in 1891 and had five children. They divorced in 1913 in what was an early, high-profile divorce.[13][14][15] Bishop's attorney was Henry Waters Taft, brother of ex-president William Howard Taft.[16][17]

  • Mary Cunningham Bishop (1893–1980), who married John Damon Peabody (1883–1944),[18] a son of Charles A. Peabody Jr. and brother of Julian Livingston Peabody.[19][20]
  • Augusta Hancock Bishop (b. 1894), who married David Rives Sigourney (1893–1968), a descendant of William Cabell Rives, in 1917.[21]
  • Natalie Holmes Bishop (1898–1960), who married Charles Francis Choate III (1893–1930).[22]
  • Muriel Bishop (1901–1992),[23] who married Benjamin Rush.[24]
  • Abigail Hancock Bishop (1905–1997), who married Winthrop Donnison Hodges.[25]

On June 1, 1932, Bishop was found dead at the wheel of his car in his garage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the motor was running when he was discovered by a gardener, investigators concluded that the cause of death was heart disease rather than gas fumes.[26]

Descendants[edit]

Through his youngest daughter, Abigail, he is the great-grandfather of Fidelity Investments multi-billionaire Abigail Johnson.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "JAMES C. BISHOP DIES AT PHILADELPHIA HOME; Body of Utility Official Is Found by Employee at Wheel of His Car in Garage". The New York Times. 2 June 1932. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  2. ^ "MISS MARY C. BISHOP". The New York Times. 4 February 1948. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  3. ^ "MRS. J. L. HARRIMAN DIES IN BALTIMORE; Daughter of Organizer of First Elevated Railroads Here-Native of New York. LIVED IN PARIS FOR YEARS Husband Was Related to Late Railroad Financier – Sister Was Mrs. J. F. D. Lanier". The New York Times. 6 March 1934. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. ^ a b "NOTABLES MOURN MRS. H. B. LANIER; Artur Bodanzky Leads Chorus of Friends in Music From St. John Passion. ORCHESTRA MEN ATTEND figures in Music World Also Join Relatives in Tribute to the Founder of Group". The New York Times. 4 November 1931. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  5. ^ "Obituary – BISHOP". The New York Times. 17 February 1923. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  6. ^ "FRANCIS C. BISHOP DEAD.; Member of Old New York Family Dies at His Country Home". The New York Times. 3 September 1927. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  7. ^ "H. R. BISHOP'S SON TO WED.; Engagement of Francis C. Bishop to Miss Gertrude Pell Announced". The New York Times. 30 December 1905. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. ^ "MRS. FRANCIS C. BISHOP". The New York Times. 15 October 1953. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  9. ^ "MRS. NICHOLSON, 84, FINANCIER'S WIDOW". The New York Times. 9 January 1959. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  10. ^ "SOCIETY WEDDING IN NEWPORT.; The Marriage of Moses Taylor to Edith Bishop Solemnized Yesterday". The New York Times. 20 August 1896. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  11. ^ "G. J. G. NICHOLSON, INDUSTRIALIST, 79; Retired President of Alabama Coal Concerns and Former Wyoming Rancher Dies". The New York Times. 26 December 1950. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  12. ^ "OGDEN MILLS BISHOP" (PDF). The New York Times. September 23, 1955. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  13. ^ "W.J. Kinsley Gives Testimony to Help Mrs. Bishop in Divorce Action". The New York Times. May 28, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. Justice Goff, in the Supreme Court, began the trial yesterday afternoon without a jury of Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's divorce suit against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. Mrs. Bishop is receiving $10,000 a year temporary alimony pending the outcome of the trial of the suit.
  14. ^ "Water Bottled at Bishop Farm, Check Shows, Was Sent to Room" (PDF). The New York Times. May 30, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. A midnight meal check of the Hotel Astor, dated Dec. 28, 1912, was put in evidence yesterday before Supreme Court Justice Goff, who is hearing Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop's suit for divorce against her husband, James Cunningham Bishop, the banker. The check called for one quart of Orchard water, among its other items, to be delivered to room 622, occupied by a man and woman registered as Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Baer of Philadelphia.
  15. ^ "MURIEL BISHOP, 11, TO CHOOSE PARENT; Justice Golf Orders Banker to Produce Child Before Him Tomorrow". The New York Times. 3 June 1913. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. ^ "Guilty of Contempt of Court in Keeping Daughter with Her, Banker's Lawyer Argues" (PDF). The New York Times. March 29, 1913. Retrieved 2009-08-07. Henry W. Taft, brother of Ex-President Taft and attorney for James Cunningham Bishop, the banker who is being sued by his wife for divorce, appeared before Supreme Court Justice Platzek yesterday and argued that Mrs. Abigail Hancock Bishop be committed to jail for contempt of court in disobeying an order of Justice Hendrick which gave the custody of her daughter, Natalie, 15 years old, to her father pending the outcome of the divorce suit.
  17. ^ "BANKER'S EX-WIFE SUES TO OBTAIN HER ALIMONY; Mrs. Abigail H. Bishop Asks Court to Sequestrate Trust Fund Left to Former Husband". The New York Times. 18 September 1921. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  18. ^ "JOHN D. PEABODY, 61, LAW FIRM MEMBER; Attorney Once a Director of Fulton Trust Co. Dies in Massachusetts Home" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 August 1944. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  19. ^ Harvard University Class of 1906. Harvard University. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  20. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths PEABODY, JOHN DAMON JR". The New York Times. 8 February 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  21. ^ Leach, Josiah Granville (1910). Some Account of Capt. John Frazier and His Descendants: With Notes on the West and Checkley Families. Private Circulation. p. 35. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  22. ^ "WAR ADVANCES WEDDING.; Chas. F. Choate, 3d, to Marry Miss Nathalie Bishop Tomorrow". The New York Times. 13 June 1917. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  23. ^ "RUSH". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 23 June 1992. p. 6. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  24. ^ "Muriel B. Rush Is Bride of Douglas B. Gillespie". The New York Times. 9 May 1977. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  25. ^ "HODGES--Of Nahant". The Boston Globe. 9 April 1997. p. 26. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  26. ^ "JAMES C. BISHOP DIES AT PHILADELPHIA HOME; Body of Utility Official Is Found by Employee at Wheel of His Car in Garage". The New York Times. 2 June 1932. Retrieved 20 July 2017.