Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (Redirected from Saint Nicholas Society in the City of New York)
Saint Nicholas Day event held in 1892 by the Saint Nicholas Day Society in 1892 | |
Formation | 1835 |
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Headquarters | 150 East 55th Street |
Location | |
Website | www |
The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York is a charitable organization in New York City of men who are descended from early inhabitants of the State of New York. The organization preserves historical and genealogical records of English ruled New York and Dutch ruled New Amsterdam. The society has helped preserve the oldest historically landmarked buildings in New York City. The Society is financing the digitization of its colonial historical archives to be made publicly available at the New-York Historical Society.
Contents
History
Washington Irving, with the financial backing of John Jacob Astor and other prominent New Yorkers, organized the society in 1835 for historical and social purposes.
The group continues to hold regular dinners and meetings[1][2] and to pay for newspaper announcements when one of their members dies.[3] The annual dinner is usually addressed by notable speakers, with reports of speeches appearing in The New York Times. Speakers such as Mark Twain, President Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Kissinger, John D. Rockefeller Jr. , Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor John Lindsay, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller and Governor Thomas Kean. One famous speaker every year for 179 years. [4] In 1900 Mark Twain was an honored guest, he said "I find great improvement of the City of New York, some say it has improved because I have been away, Others and I agree with them, say it has improved because I have come back!" In 1852, Senator and Secretary of State Daniel Webster said, "Gentlemen, I deem it a great good fortune to pass a few minutes with you", "I am happy to be here", "I have raised my voice and swung my hat for forty years for Orange Boven." The colors of the society are orange and symbolic of the Dutch settlement of New York. The Society has held a spring dinner every year since 1848. The Paas Ball includes a presentation of Debutantes.
Governance
The Society has several Officers including President, four Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Historian, Genealogist, Assistant Genealogist, Chaplains, and Physicians. Members are appointed to a Board of Managers annually, and have three members for each Class or year who serve between a one and a five-year term.[5]
Membership
Members are men descended from men who lived in the State of New York prior to 1785.[6]
Notable members, speakers and award winners
Speakers and award winners - Governors, Mayors, Presidents, Authors, and Philanthropists.
- Mark Twain, author
- Daniel Webster, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State
- Theodore Roosevelt, president
- Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State
- John D. Rockefeller Jr., philanthropist
- Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City
- John Lindsay, mayor of New York City
- Brooke Astor, philanthropist
- William Paley, founder of CBS
- Walter Cronkite, broadcaster
- Tom Wolfe, author
- David Rockefeller, philanthropist
- Thomas Watson Jr., philanthropist
- Thomas Kean, governor
- David McCollough, author
Society members, past and present, include:
- Washington Irving, writer and founder of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York.
- Chauncey Depew, United States Senator.
- Cortlandt Irving
- William Watts Sherman, banker and socialite.
- Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States.
- George Roe Van De Water
- Cornelius Vanderbilt IIPre sident of the Society , owner of Railroads and The Breakers
- Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, first president was the 2nd largest land owner in NYC. He owned the 60 acre Bowery family Stuyvesant farm which he developed into residential housing from Houston Street to 23rd Street.
- John Jacob Astor, was also instrumental in the founding of the society.
- David Van Nostrand
- Pierre Lorillard IV
- Hamilton Fish
- George Goelet Kip
References
- ^ "Saint Nicholas Society". The New York Times. November 11, 1873. p. 8. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ^ "DUTCH DESCENDANTS DINE.; They Join in Celebrating for the Saint Nicholas Society". The New York Times. December 7, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
- ^ "Died". The New York Times. August 13, 1913. p. 9. Retrieved 25 November 2009. "It is with deep regret that announcement is made of the death of Cortlandt Irving, a member of this society, at his late residence, 122 East 62d St., on Aug. 8th, 1913."
- ^ "Taylor Advocates Policy of Isolation; Tariff and Taxes, Not Dry Law …". New York Times. December 8, 1931. Retrieved 25 November 2009. "Myron C. Taylor, chairman of the finance committee of the United States Steel Corporation, declared last night at the ninety-seventh annual dinner of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York..."
- ^ "Officers". Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
- ^ Youngs, Florence Evenlyn Pratt (1914). "Portraits of the presidents of the society, 1835-1914". The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York. Retrieved 24 December 2011.