Pelham Manor's Cortlandt W. Starr of Famed Jeweler Black, Starr & Frost
Cortlandt W. Starr, known by his friends as "Colonel" and also as "Cort," became a notable Pelham Manor resident and an important leader within the Pelham Manor Protective Club. He served as a Vestryman of Christ Church in Pelham Manor and was serving in that capacity at the time of his death in 1888. He also was elected as a member of the Pelham Manor Protective Club on November 29, 1884. He was elected to the Executive Committee of the Club at the annual meeting held on January 1, 1886 and was a member of the Executive Committee at the time of his death in 1888.
At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Pelham Manor Protective Club held in the home of Carles Merry on October 5, 1888, the Executive Committee adopted unanimously the following proclamation:
"Whereas our associate, the Treasurer of the Protective Club, Mr. Cortlandt W. Starr, was on the last Sabbath, September 30th suddenly called to his long home.
Resolved that we desire as the Executive Committee of the Club to place on record our tribute to his memory and an expression of our appreciation of his worth. Mr. Starr was one of our most valued and highly esteemed members. His hearty good humor, genial good fellowship, cordial sympathy and cooperation and sound sense attached us all to him. We are pained at his loss: we shall miss him from our deliberations, and it will be long before we shall become accustomed to his absence.
We extend to the family of our departed friend a respectful assurance of our sympathy and condolence and of our prayer that the 'God of all Comfort' may sustain them.
Resolved that these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of the Club, and that a copy be sent to Mrs. Starr."
Source: Records of the Pelham Manor Protective Club of Pelham Manor, N.Y., pp. 195-96 (1881-1891) (original leather-bound minutes book in the collections of the Westchester Historical Society).
Cortlandt Way Starr was born in New London, Connecticut on February 17, 1833. He was a son of Marcus Aurelius Starr and Elizabeth Griffing. When he was only a child, his family moved to Sag Harbor, Long Island where he spent his boyhood. As a youngster, his parents sent him to the Trinity School on Varick Street in New York City for his education. Upon his graduation, he got a job as a clerk with the jewelry firm then known as Ball, Black & Co. B y then, the firm already had a long and illustrious history in New York City. It traced its origins to a jewelry firm started by Isaac Marquand in 1810 known as Marquand & Company.
Starr became a dedicated and trusted employee of the jewelry firm. He actually lived in the retail establishment, working around the clock. He became bookkeeper of the firm. Then he graduated to the position of cashier.
Over the years, the firm evolved as new partnerships developed. According to a brief history of the firm, "[b]y 1860, Ball, Black & Company was the most famous jewelry store in New York City, designing for royal families and dignitaries in both Europe and the United States".
Mr. Starr's work at the firm was interrupted briefly in 1863 during the Civil War. He joined the Thirty-Seventh Regiment as an officer for a few months' service. During the entire time he served, the jewelry firm continued to pay him his salary as a "patriotic" gesture. Starr served as a sergeant, an adjutant, and a lieutenant during his war service.
Starr was present in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on July 1, 1863. That day Confederate Troops were converging on the little village of Gettysburg for what became a seminal battle of the War. In Carlisle that day, Confederate Troops led by Major General J. E. B. Stuart's Cavalry shelled downtown Carlisle. According to numerous accounts, Starr was saved from potential disaster when a Confederate shell fragment struck his rifle during the bombardment, shattering it but leaving him unscathed. He kept the rifle after the war and showed it proudly to those who visited his home. The shattered firearm reportedly was inscribed: "At the shelling of Carlisle, Penn., July 1, '63, while in the hands of C. W. Starr, first sergeant of Company I, 31st Regiment N. G., was struck by a piece of Rebel shell."
After his brief military service, the "Colonel" returned to Ball, Black & Co. Within a few years Starr married Lydia Brooks Cook, a daughter of Samuel A. Cook of New York City. The couple was married November 5, 1868 at Trinity Church by Rev. Sullivan H. Weston, D. D. Eventually the couple had three daughters: Fannie Ball Starr, who married Rev. Edward W. Babcock at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City on October 9, 1890; Mary Linn Starr, who married Rev. John Mills Gilbert at Trinity Chapel in New York City on April 27, 1899; and Georgia Elizabeth Starr.
According to one source, Ball, Black & Co. "went out of business" in 1876. See Obituary Notes, N.Y. Times, Oct. 2, 1888, p. 2, col. 1. That same year, Robert C. Black of Pelham Manor, Cortlandt W. Starr and Aaron Frost formed a partnership named "Black Starr & Frost" that succeeded to the interests of the old Ball, Black & Co. See id.
During the 1870s, Robert C. Black moved to Pelham Manor and, although it is not clear exactly when, his partner, Cortlandt Starr, seems to have followed within the next few years. He certainly was in Pelham Manor by 1880 when, according to news reports, his Pelham Manor home was burglarized. See Burglars in Westchester County, New-York Tribune, Oct. 1, 1880, p. 8, col. 1. As indicated above, Messrs. Black and Starr were significant members and important leaders in the Pelham Manor Protective Club, a precursor to organized the Village Government that developed upon incorporation of the Village of Pelham Manor in 1891.
According to some accounts, shortly before his death, Cortlandt W. Starr moved into a home in Residence Park, New Rochelle. The "Colonel" died in that home, suddenly and unexpectedly, on Sunday, September 30, 1888. According to his obituary, he died "of congestion of the lungs" and left a widow and three children. His widow, Lydia Brooks Cook Starr, died at Holy Cross Rectory in Troy, New York on September 13, 1911.
* * * * *
I have written before of Cortlandt W. Starr of Black, Starr & Frost, who lived in Pelham Manor. See:
Tue., Aug. 05, 2014: Obituaries of Cortlandt W. Starr of Pelham Manor, a Principal of Jewelry House Black Starr & Frost.
Thu., Feb. 09, 2006: Cortlandt W. Starr of Black Starr & Frost.
"MARRIED. . . .
STARR -- COOK. -- On Thursday, November 5th, at Trinity church, New-York, by Rev. Sullivan H. Weston, D. D., Cortlandt W. Starr to Lydia B., youngest daughter of Samuel A. Cook, Esq., of that city. No Cards."
Source: MARRIED. . . STARR -- COOK, Sag-Harbor Express [Sag-Harbor, NY], Nov. 12, 1868, Vol. X, No. 20, p. 2, col. 5.
"OBITUARY.
CORTLANDT W. STARR.
Cortlandt W. Starr, of Black, Starr & Frost, the well-known Fifth-ave. jewellers [sic], died suddenly at Residence Park on Sunday of congestion of the lungs. On Friday he was taken ill at his new home there, and from that time became rapidly worse until death ensued. He was born at New London in 1833, was graduated from the Trinity School, N.Y. city, and then accepted a clerkship with Ball, Black & Co. He was made bookkeeper and then cashier, and in 1876, the old firm gave way to the one of which he was member at the time of his death. During the rebellion Mr. Starr served as sergeant and then lieutenant in Company 1 of the 37th Regiment of New York. He had in his possession an old gun, badly shattered, which he was proud of and showed to all his visitors. The following inscription upon it tells its hisotry: 'At the shelling of Carlisle, Penn., July 1, 1863, while in the hands of C. W. Starr, first sergeant of Company 1, 37th Regiment, N. G., was struck by a piece of Rebel shell.' He was on his knees at the time. When the 37th was merged into the 71st Regiment he was made adjutant, and at the time of his death was a member of the Veteran Corps, and also of Lafayette Post G. A. R. Mr. Starr was a genial, whole-souled man, with hosts of friends, who will hear of his death with deep regret. A wife and three daughters survive him. The funeral services was held at Christ Church, Pelham, on Tuesday and on the following morning his remains were taken to New London for interment.
-----
[Communicated].
The funeral of the late C. W. Starr of the firm of Black, Starr & Frost, New York, was attended on Tuesday last, at the Pelham Priory church. Mr. Starr was very highly esteemed by all who knew him. The funeral was largely attended, especially by many of the veterans of the 71st Regiment N. Y. S. N. G., in which Mr. Starr formerly belonged, and the services at the church in Pelham were of a most impressive character. Mr. Starr leaves a widow and three daughters, who, having recently removed from Pelham Manor, were at the time of his death residents of New Rochlle. L."
Source: OBITUARY -- CORTLANDT STARR, The New Rochelle Pioneer, Oct. 6, 1888, Vol. XXIX, No. 28, p. 3, col. 5.
"Death's Work. . . .
Cortlandt W. Starr, of Black, Starr & Frost, the well-known fifth-ave. jewellers [sic], died suddenly on Sunday of congestion of the lungs. On Saturday he was taken ill at his new home at New-Rochelle, and from that time became rapidly worse until death ensued. He was born at Sag-Harbor in 1832, was graduated from Trinity School, this city, and then accepted a clerkship with Ball, Black, & Co. He was made bookkeeper and then cashier, and in 1876 the old firm gave way to thee one of which he was a member at the time of his death. During the Rebellion Mr. Starr served as sergeant and then lieutenant in Company I of the 31st Regiment of New-York. He had in his possession an old gun, badly shattered, which he was proud of and showed to all his visitors. The following inscription upon it tells its history: 'At the shelling of Carlisle, Penn., July 1, '63, while in the hands of C. W. Starr, first sergeant of Company I, 31st Regiment N. G., was struck by a piece of Rebel shell.' He was on his knees at the time. When the 31st was merged into the 71st Regiment he was made adjutant. Mr. Starr was a genial, whole souled man, with hosts of friends, who will hear of his death with deep regret. A wife and three daughters survive him. The funeral services will be held at Christ Church, Pelham, at 2 P. M. to-day. To morrow the body will be taken to New-London, where it will be buried in the family plot."
Source: Death's Work, The Sag-Harbor Express [Sag-Harbor, NY], Oct. 4, 1888, Vol. XXX, No. 11, p. 2, col. 3.
"Cortlandt W. Starr is Dead.
Cortlandt W. Starr, the well-known Jeweller [sic], whose Fifth avenue store has for years been patronized by the elite of this city, died suddenly yesterday at his residence at Pelham Manor. Mr. Starr was fifty-six years of age, and his courteous manner and pleasant ways had gained for him a host of friends, who will learn of his sudden taking off with deep regret.
The funeral will take place at 2 o'clock P. M. from his residence in Pelhamville to-morrow. Carriages will be in waiting at the station to meet the train which leaves the Grand Central Depot at 1.02 o'clock P. M."
Source: Cortlandt W. Starr is Dead, The Evening World [NY, NY], Oct. 1, 1888, p. 4, col. 3.
"CORTLANDT W. STARR.
I was inexpressibly shocked on receiving this morning the brief announcement of 'Cort' Starr's sudden death. When I last met him a few months ago he was in the vigor of healthful manhood, his spirits exuberant and his grasp vigorous and hearty. He had preserved into the meridian of life an exceptionably [sic] youthful appearance and manner and no one of his thousand acquaintances would have cherished for moment the thought that he was so soon doomed to meet the fell destroyer. He was, besides, systematic in his habits and careful of his personal health. He seemed to have all the prospects of a long and cheerful life.
Having known him as an intimate friend, and associates from the earliest days of our youth, I had learned through the experience of maturer years to love and esteem his many noble qualities of head and heart.
He was born in New London, Conn., but came when a mere child with his parents to Sag Harbor. In the old town, and at that time busy whaling port, we were school boys and playmates together. Shortly after he went to Trinity School in Varick Street, New York and I was sent to the Washington Institute on Murray Hill in the same city. There in the great metropolis, mere lads, away from home, and drawn together by mutual ties, we often met, and a friendship grew up which lasted unruffled by a single jar until severed by the unrelenting hand of death. In a year or so, young Starr went as a clerk or office boy into the great jewelry store of Ball & Co., then on the corner of Broadway and Murray Street. He slept in the store. It became his home and from that time until his death he remained with the firm and its successors. When they were on the corner of Broadway and Prince St. under the name of Ball, Black & Co., the establishment was an immense one, and he was the trusted Cashier filling the position with conscientious fidelity and zeal. His business career was temporarily interrupted at this period when during the war he went with his Regiment, the 37th N. Y. to the front on the invasion of Pennsylvania by Gen. Lee. His connection with the firm was not severed, they patriotically continuing his salary during his absence. He was a good disciplinarian and was promoted to a Lieutenancy and when the Regiment was mustered into the Seventy First he became the Adjutant of Veterans of the Regiment. He was also a member of Lafayette Post G. A. R. and among the soldiers he had many close and warm attachments. In 1874 he became a member of the firm of Black, Starr & Frost, successors to the old house, and their place of business was again moved up town and established on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 28th Street. Here the good name and reliable character of the firm was maintained with scrupulous guardianship. Here was given the constant active devotion of his business life, and here his pleasant greeting and courteous attention will be experienced no more forever by friends and patrons.
When we say that Cortlandt W. Starr was a whole souled, honorable gentleman, we but iterate the testimony of all who knew him. In his religious belief he was a consistent Churchman; in politics a conscientious Democrat; in business an example of integrity and faithful service; in society frank, open-hearted, cordial, unaffected. He was devoted to his family, loving and affectionate.
In the vigor and strength and promise of hopeful manhood he passed beyond the River. How fast the boys of forty years ago are falling by the wayside! To the remaining he leaves the benison of a pleasing memory which shall last until they too join the innumerable throng.
'Green be the turf above thee
Friend of my early days,
None knew thee but to love thee
None named thee, but to praise.'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2d, 1888. B. D. S."
Source: CORTLANDT W. STARR, The Corrector [Sag-Harbor, NY], Oct. 6, 1888, Vol. 67, No. 19, p. 3, col. 2.
"Died. . . .
STARR -- At New Rochelle, N. Y., suddenly, 30th ult. Cortlandt W. Starr, formerly of this place, in the 56th year of his age. Interment at New London, Conn."
Source: Died. . . . STARR, The Corrector [Sag-Harbor, NY], Oct. 6, 1888, Vol. 67, No. 19, p. 3, col. 2.
"Death of a Prominent New Yorker.
NEW YORK, Oct. 1. -- Cortlandt W. Starr, the well known jeweler, whose Fifth avenue store has for years been patronized by the elite of this city, died suddenly at his residence at Pelham Manor. Mr. Starr was 56 years of age, and his courteous manner and pleasant ways had gained for him a host of friends, who will learn of his sudden taking off with deep regret."
Source: Death of a Prominent New Yorker, The Paterson Morning Call [Paterson, NJ], Oct. 2, 1888, Vol. 13, No. 2, p. 6, col. 4.
"OBITUARY. -- Cortlandt W. Starr, a member of the jewelry firm of Black, Starr & Frost, of New York, died at his home in New Rochelle, suddenly, of congestion of the lungs, on Sunday evening."
Source: OBITUARY -- Cortlandt W. Starr, The Yonkers Statesman [Yonkers, NJ], Oct. 2, 1888, Vol. V, No. 1,502, p. 4, col. 3.
"Married.
-----
BABCOCK -- STARR -- On Thursday, October 9, at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York, by the Rector, Fannie B., daughter of the late Cortlandt W. Starr, to the Rev. Edward W. Babcock."
Source: Married -- BABCOCK -- STARR, The Evening Post [NY, NY], Oct. 11, 1890, p. 11, col. 4.
"MARRIED. . . .
GILBERT -- STARR -- On April 27, 1899, at Trinity Chapel, New York, by the Rev. Wm. H. Vibbert, D. D., assisted by the Rev. D. Parker Morgan, D. D., MARY LINN, daughter of the late Cortlandt W. Starr, to the Rev. JOHN MILLS GILBERT."
Source: MARRIED. . . . GILBERT -- STARR, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr. 28, 1899, p. 9, col. 2.
"Obituary Notes. . . .
Mrs. LYDIA BROOKS STARR, widow of Cortlandt W. Starr, died on Wednesday at the Holy Cross Rectory, Troy, N. Y. The funeral will be held from Trinity Church, this city, on Saturday and the interment will be at new London, Conn."
Source: Obituary Notes . . . Mrs. LYDIA BROOKS STARR, N.Y. Times, Sep. 15, 1911, p. 9, col. 5 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).
"DIED. . . .
STARR -- At Holy Cross Rectory, Troy, N. Y., September 13, 1911, Lydia Brooks, widow of Cortlandt W. Starr of New York."
Source: DIED. . . . STARR, The Troy Times [Troy, NY], Sep. 14, 1911, Vol. LXL, No. 69, p. 8, col. 4.
"Fifth Avenue Corner for Business Opposite St. Nicholas Dutch Church
-----
Black, Starr & Frost Erecting an Artistic Structure on the Southwest Corner of 48th Street -- Will be the Seventh Home of the Jewelry Firm Since Its Establishment Over a Century Ago -- Paid $700,000 for the Land, and Building Will Cost $250,000.
Within a few months active building operations will begin on the new structure to be erected for the jewelry firm of Black, Starr & Frost at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street. The firm now occupies the greater part of the building at the southwest corner of the avenue and Thirty-ninth Street, a building that was especially erected for its use in 1898. Yet within twelve years so great has been the commercial transformation of Fifth Avenue that a location still further to the north seems more suited to the business of the firm, and, although the concern has a lease on its present quarters until the Spring of 1913, it expects to be well settled in its new home at Forty-eighth Street early in 1912.
The new building has been designed by Carrere & Hastings. In style it will be Italian renaissance, and will be an artistic addition along somewhat exceptional lines in the business development of the avenue. The exterior will be entirely of white marble, and the interior handsomely finished and decorated. The building contract has been awarded to John Downey.
The new structure, which, by the way, will be the first business house that the firm has actually owned in its career of over 100 years, occupies one of the choicest locations in the upper Fifth Avenue commercial section, which has undergone such a radical change within recent years. The home of the late Charles T. Cook, the former President of Tiffany's, formerly stood on the corner, a plot 25.5 by 100. When the property was purchased, about a year ago, for a trifle over $500,000, the firm also bought the Boardman residence, at 2 West Forty-eighth Street, giving a plot for the new building of 25.5 feet on Fifth Avenue, 125 feet on the street, while the depth in the rear is 100.5 feet. In all, the land represents an investment of about $700,000. The building will cost about $250,000, so that the completed improvement will cost close to $1,000,000.
'We chose our new home site,' said Witherbee Black, Secretary and Treasurer of the company, 'because we believe that for the next twenty years or more Fifth Avenue north of Forty-second Street will be the great high-class retail centre of the city. It has already become the great art headquarters and to a large extent is the detail jewelry centre. For our class of business it seemed more desirable than south of Forty-second Street.'
When the firm moves it will be its seventh removal since its establishment in 1810. In the history of New York mercantile houses that of Black, Starr & Frost enjoys the unusual distinction of having recently rounded out 100 years of a successful business career.
A brief resume of the firm's various places of business is in itself an object lesson of New York's commercial growth. From 1810 to 1833 the firm was at 166 Broadway; from 1833 to 1848 at 181 Broadway; from 1848 to 1860 at 247 Broadway; from 1860 to 1876 at 565 and 567 Broadway. In the latter year the firm moved to Fifth Avenue, being at 251 Fifth Avenue from 1876 to 1898, and in 1898 the present quarters at 436 to 438 Fifth Avenue, at Thirty-ninth Street corner, were completed.
The firm of Black, Starr & Frost, as at present incorporated, consists of R. Clifford Black, President; William L. Rich, Vice President; Witherbee Black, Secretary and Treasurer. After its founding, on May 1, 1810, Erastus Barton was succeeded by Frederick Marquand, then Marquand & Barton, then Marquand & Bros., then Marquand & Co., who were succeeded in 1839 by Ball, Topkins & Black. Upon the death of Mr. Topkins, in 1851, the name of the firm became Ball, Black & Co.
In 1865 William D. Black and Elbert B. Monroe were admitted to the firm. In 1874 Ball, Black & Co. were succeeded by the firm of Black, Starr & Frost, whose members were Robert C. Black, Cortlandt W. Starr and Aaron V. Frost, and the business was carried on by these members until the incorporation, on Feb. 8, 1908.
The future Black, Starr & Frost building is in a section that still retains much of its old-time residential characteristics. Directly opposite is the St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, while on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street is Mrs. Harriet Goelet's home. At the lower end of the same block is Miss Helen Gould's house. Adjoining this is a new five story loft recently completed at 581 and 583 Fifth Avenue. The next two houses are owned respectively by Capt. Warren C. Beach and James B. Haggin; then comes a furniture store and the Goelet residence on the corner. Across the street, on the northeast corner of Forty-eighth Street, the Carlton House Company occupies offices in an abandoned residence, but the remaining houses in the block are still private homes, among the occupants being Mrs. Sarah M. Flower, James J. Coogan, Washington B. Thomas, and Thomas L. Watt. On the block above are the Belgravia, the Democratic Club, and the Buckingham Hotel.
On the west side of the avenue the Forty-seventh Street corner below the new Black, Starr & Frost building is occupied by the Windsor Trust Company's building. Adjoining this is the home of Arthur T. Sullivan and the remainder of the block consists of five and six story lofts. North of the church, toward Forty-ninth Street, is the home of Mrs. Russell Sage, at 604, and the Mrs. Mary R. Goelet home on the southwest corner of Forty-ninth Street."
Source: Fifth Avenue Corner for Business Opposite St. Nicholas Dutch Church -- Black, Starr & Frost Erecting an Artistic Structure on the Southwest Corner of 48th Street -- Will be the Seventh Home of the Jewelry Firm Since Its Establishment Over a Century Ago -- Paid $700,000 for the Land, and Building Will Cost $250,000, N.Y. Times, Jul. 10, 1910, p. 59, cols. 3-5 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link; image of building below appeared with this article).
"New Fifth Avenue Building for Black, Starr & Frost, Southwest
Corner of 48th Street, Carrere & Hastings, Architects." NOTE:
Click on Image to Enlarge.
Labels: 1888, Black Starr Frost, Cortlandt W. Starr, Obituary
posted by Blake A. Bell @ 5:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home