Harry Balfe

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Harry Balfe
(around 1909)

Harry Russell Balfe (born August 22, 1860 in Newburgh , New York , † April 22, 1944 in La Jolla , San Diego ) was an American entrepreneur and company director in the food industry and later horse breeder.

Life

Balfe's father Columbus Balfe (1816-1870) came from County Meath, Ireland . The mother, Harriet Matilda, née McKay (1836–1912), was born in New York. His brothers became bankers at Newburgh Savings Bank , founded in 1852, where Thomas Francis Balfe (1857–1927) was president from 1909 and Frederick Columbus Balfe (1860–1933) was finance director. Ultimately, in 2007 the bank was absorbed into the Citizens Financial Group, which is part of the RBS Group .

Mineral water production

He himself worked as a cowboy for ten years . Then he embarked on a commercial career and earned millions as a producer of mineral water.

Austin, Nichols & Co.

The Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse , which was the company's headquarters from 1915.

In 1909 he became a partner in the food wholesaling and canning company Austin, Nichols & Company, founded in 1879 . At that time, the company was the global market leader in the field of food import, food production and food wholesale. In the company he worked his way up from sales manager to president. Under his leadership, the company moved to new headquarters in the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse in 1915 and sold $ 40 million worth of goods in 1920 . In 1923 he retired.

Further corporate and management activities

Balfe was considered one of the most prominent food wholesalers in the United States in the early 20th century, and for a time was considered the highest paid grocer in the United States.

He was active in several companies that had to do with the food supply. For example, he was president of Seafoam Baking Powder , a New York baking powder manufacturer , Camden Land Improvement Company in Camden , South Carolina , his company Balfe Contracting, and held senior positions at other organizations. He has entered into several public-private partnership agreements at the international, national, state and local levels. Among other things, he was responsible for the food supply of the government district of Ellis Island from 1905 to 1908 . The "Commissary" was mentioned in the press as a worldwide model company. In the first year he sold an average of 6,000 meals a day. Plates with the initials "HB" can still be found on Ellis Island today. During World War I he supplied the US armed forces with food and had a US $ 3 million supply contract with the Russian government.

Balfe has also served as chairman of the National Civic Federation , executive director of the Childsworth Company, the New York Ophthalmic Hospital, and Socorro Mines in New Mexico . "

Consulting activities

He was considered a close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt . The latter also consulted Balfe regarding the assessment of the food supply for the 40,000 workers and employees on the Panama Canal . Balfe also accompanied Secretary of War William Howard Taft on his last visit to Panama.

The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau also sought Balfes' expertise in the food supply for the people and the armed forces during the First World War, as did the British War Minister Kitchener .

Horse breeding

From 1919 he bought three properties in Clovis , including a ranch. There he bred horse racing horses ( English thoroughbred ) which won several prizes. Will Rogers and other polo athletes bought horses from him. Many of his horses' prizes are on display in Balfe's private museum on the ranch , along with travel souvenirs, Indian cultural objects and relics from the settler days of the Wild West .

The "Balfe-Ranch" with its own racecourse enjoyed national fame. Many celebrity friends were guests on the property, including Fred MacMurray , Jack Holt , James Stewart , Myrna Loy , Edmund Lowe and Gary Cooper . The Clovis Horse Show Association contributed to the traditional rodeo event, the Clovis Festival, with a horse show from 1935. The ranch had its own airfield, then the only privately owned one in California.

In 1939 he sold the 1,000-  acre ranch with more than 20 buildings in the San Joaquin Valley , which also grew fruit and wine, to actor Victor McLaglen , who first organized the local rodeo festival in 1941.

Memberships

Balfe was a member of the Chamber of Commerce , the Union League Club , the Crescent Athletic Club and the Arkwright Club , among others .

family

Harry R. Balfe jun. (center) and wife Veronica (right) with Mrs. R. Isham (Marion Gaynor; daughter of William Jay Gaynor ; left)

He had three sons with his wife May Adams (1869–1951).

Harry Russell Balfe junior (1891-1965) served in World War I as a Captain and the World War II as a Major of the Air Force . He was vice president and director of the New York food brokerage firm Ashenfelter & Balfe and a member of the board of governors of the New York Stock Exchange . His daughter Veronica from his first marriage to Veronica Gibbons (1892-1958) married the actor Gary Cooper .

His son Thomas Wentz Balfe (1893-1962) was among other things Vice President of the National Distillers Products Corporation , which was taken over in 1987 by Jim Beam .

The youngest son Raymond Adams Balfe (1895-1969) was a well-known New York bridge player.

literature

  • Harry Balfe ; in: Historical Souvenir of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, State of New York . New York Commercial, New York City 1909. p. 179.
  • Wendy Nettles; Randy Baloian: Evaluation of the Historical Significance of the Balfe Ranch . Fresno County, California 2007.
  • Harry Balfe Ranch near Fresno ; in: Clarence Fielden Jones: Economic Geography . H. Holt 1935. ( online )

Web links

Commons : Harry Balfe  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Year of birth can also be found with 1861 or 1862 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Harry Russell Balfe , RootsWeb.
  2. ↑ a b Marriage to Rocky: 1933–1934 (English); in: Jeffrey Meyers: Gary Cooper: American Hero . Cooper Square Press, 2001.
  3. ↑ John Hilton Balfe , California Biographies.
  4. ↑ Newburgh Savings Bank ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.fdic.gov archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
  5. ^ Frederic Bliss Stevens: History of the Savings banks association of the state of New York, 1894-1914 .
  6. ↑ US Banks: Newburgh Savings Bank , LandOfFree.
  7. ↑ a b c Harry Balfe, 83, died; retired Grocery Executive , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 24, 1944. p. 7.
  8. ^ A b Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse , City of New York (NYC).
  9. ↑ a b Big Concern admits Sugar overcharge; President of Austin, Nichols & Co. Defends Increased Bills to Retailers. ... , The New York Times, January 6, 1918.
  10. ↑ a b c d e f Harry Balfe ; in: Historical Souvenir of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, State of New York , New York Commercial, New York City 1909. p. 179.
  11. ^ Balfe, Head of big Grocery Co., quits , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 27, 1923. p. 2.
  12. ↑ a b c d Harry Balfe , cagenweb.com.
  13. ^ Statistics in Immigration , The Lewis County Democrat, July 12, 1906, p. 1.
  14. ↑ a b Letters and documents of Harry Balfe, 1837-1935.
  15. ↑ a b c d Peg Bos: Let's talk Clovis' - The 1919 Balfe Ranch , Clovis Roundup, February 13, 2014. p. 10.
  16. ^ Article in The Fresno Been, October 23, 1935. ( p. 17 ).
  17. ↑ a b Clovis Rodeo ; in: Catherine Morison Rehart: The Valley's Legends & Legacies , Volume 1, Quill Driver Books 1996. p. 284
  18. ^ Civil Airports of California , aerofiles.com.
  19. ^ McLaglen purchases fine Ranch Property , Spokane Daily Chronicle, Nov. 9, 1939. p. 12.
  20. ^ Macias House ; in: Historical Sights in Old Town Clovis , Clovis. P. 2, point 26.
  21. ↑ Olympic aquatic Star to Wed Food Broker , Jamestown Evening Journal, September 17, 1930. p. 24.
  22. ↑ Engaged , The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 9, 1930. p. 12.
  23. ^ Gary Cooper , in the Titi Tudorancea Encyclopedia.
  24. ↑ Veronica Cooper Converse Widow of Gary Cooper, 86th The New York Times, March 7, 2000, accessed June 2, 2015 .
  25. ↑ See web link to Find A Grave.
  26. ↑ Timelines: National Distillers , Whiskey ID.
personal data
SURNAME Balfe, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balfe, Harry Russell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur, board member and horse breeder
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: August 22, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Newburgh , New York
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 1944
Place of death La Jolla , San Diego