Anson Phelps Stokes

Anson Phelps Stokes
Mr and Mrs Anson Phelps Stokes, about 1898.
Born	(1838-02-22)February 22, 1838 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	June 29, 1913(1913-06-29) (aged 75) New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	merchant, banker, publicist, philanthropist,

Anson Phelps Stokes (February 22, 1838 – June 28, 1913) was a wealthy American merchant, property developer, banker, genealogist and philanthropist. Born in New York City, he was the son of James Boulter and Caroline Stokes. His paternal grandfather was London merchant Thomas Stokes, one of the 13 founders of the London Missionary Society. His maternal grandfather, Anson Greene Phelps, was a New York merchant, born in Connecticut and descended from an old Massachusetts family.

Stokes’s early education was by tutors from the Union Theological Seminary who instructed him in mathematics, Latin and Greek. He then attended private schools in New York before joining the family business of Phelps, Dodge & Company in 1855 when he was 17. The company was a mercantile establishment founded in 1834 by his grandfather Phelps and his uncles, William Earle Dodge and Daniel James. His father James Stokes was also a partner at this time, having joined in 1847. The company began importing and trading in metal from England and exporting cotton in return, and eventually became a copper mining business. They also developed extensive interests in lumber, property and rail roads. In 1861, he became a partner in the company but left in 1878 to begin a banking business with his father and his father-in-law, Isaac Newton Phelps. The bank named Phelps, Stokes & Company, was disbanded when Stokes's father died in 1881. Stokes was also suffering from an eyesight problem at this time that threatened his vision. Despite this he was appointed temporary administrator of his father estate. The will was contested by James Stokes's daughter, Dora (Stokes) Dale, and her husband Henry and the matter was not settled until 1888.

Stokes purchased land in New York and developed the Stokes Building on Cedar Street in collaboration with I. N. Phelps Estates and his sisters. In 1895 he organised the Woodbridge Company, that owned property on William Street, John Street, and Platt Street. Land for Wyllys Building was bought for his son, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, whose architectural practise, Howells & Stokes, carried out the design. In 1902 Stokes organized the Haynes Company, which owned property on Front Street, Burling Slip and houses at New Brighton. Another of his property companies was called Dudley and set up to look after property in Liberty Street and William Street. After his death in 1913 these various property companies and others were consolidated by his sons and his long term financial advisor, John W. McCulloch, to form Phelps Stokes Estate, Inc. The names of the companies, Wyllys, Woodbridge, Haynes and Dudley reflected Stokes's interest in family genealogy, as they were all names of his or his wife's ancestors.