Benjamin Pierce Cheney, Jr.

Benjamin Pierce Cheney, Jr. (April 8, 1866 – June 5, 1942), was an American business executive. He had extensive investments in railroad securities and served as a director of Wells Fargo & Company and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.

Cheney was born in Boston in 1866, the eldest child and only son of Benjamin Pierce Cheney and Elizabeth Stickney (Clapp) Cheney. His father was one of the pioneer expressmen of the United States. The younger Cheney prepared for college at English High School in Boston and with a private tutor. He received his BA degree from Harvard University in 1890.

Until the death of his father in 1895 Cheney aided him in the management of his interests, which included the largest portfolio of railroad securities held in the Boston area. Upon his father's death, he was elected to succeed him as a director of Wells Fargo & Company.

Having extensively studied railroad operations, Cheney was elected a director of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and took an active part in the management of the Santa Fe system.

Besides his directorships with Wells Fargo and the Santa Fe system, Cheney was a director of Manchester Mills, Manchester, Massachusetts, and of numerous Boston banks and trust companies. He also served as president of the San Diego Land & Town Company, one of his father's old ventures. At one time he was a member of the Algonquin, Union, Boston Amateur Athletic and University clubs of Boston, the Metropolitan, Players and Harvard clubs of New York City, and the University Club of San Diego California.

He was married at Covington, Kentucky, on February 23, 1898, to Julia Arthur (born Ida Lewis), a noted actress. She was born at Hamilton, Ontario, on May 3, 1868, the daughter of Thomas J. Lewis, a tobacco manufacturer, and Elizabeth (Arthur) Lewis. The Cheneys made their home in Boston, with a summer estate on Calf Island. The couple were childless.

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