Moses Hicks Grinnell

Moses Hicks Grinnell (March 3, 1803 – November 24, 1877) was a United States Congressman representing New York, and a Commissioner of New York City's Central Park.

Early life

Grinnell was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. After attending public schools, he took his first paying job at the age of 15, working in a "counting room" in New York City.

Career

He became a successful merchant and shipper and was subsequently appointed as president of the New York Chamber of Commerce. However, unlike his brother Joseph Grinnell, who represented Massachusetts for four terms as a Whig, Moses did not stick to a single political party. He was first a Democrat, then became a Whig in the 1830s, was an "out-and-out Native American party man" the 1840s, and in the 1850s joined the newly founded Republican Party, for which he served as a presidential elector in 1856.

The pilot boat Moses H. Grinnell was built in 1850 for the Jersey pilots and designed by George Steers. It was owned by George W. Blunt. It was run down by the steamer Union on the Outer Middle Ground. The Grinnell ws the first pilot boat to show the fully developed long entry that was to become the New York schooner's trade mark.

In February 1860, president-elect Abraham Lincoln, on his way to Washington, D.C., visited the Manhattan home of Grinnell's daughter, whose father had invited many of New York City's most prominent businessmen to meet the first Republican president. Grinnell subsequently wrote Lincoln with introductions for others, becoming something of a conduit of political power, if not a wielder of such himself.

Grinnell was Collector of the Port of New York from March 1869 to July 1870, and the Port's Naval Officer of Customs from July 1870 to April 1871. Perhaps best remembered for his work as Central Park Commissioner during the early years of the urban park's design and construction.

Personal life

Moses Grinnell died in Manhattan on November 24, 1877. His funeral service was at the Unitarian Church of All Souls and he was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York.