Peter Harmony
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Peter Harmony | |
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| Born | May 13, 1777 Vilagarcia de Arousa, Galicia, Spain |
| Died | July 12, 1851 New York |
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Peter Harmony was an American merchant and banker of Spanish origin. He was involved in many business enterprises in New York, including the construction of Harmony Mills in Cohoes, New York.
Biography
Pedro Regalado Ximeno García was born in Vilagarcia de Arousa, Galicia, Spain on May 13th 1777.[1] He was the son of Francisco Ximeno de la Riva, an administrator for the marquess of Vilagarcia, and Antonio Garcia.
Harmony was naturalized American in 1805, when he adopted their last name Harmony. He inherited the brothers' fortunes upon their deaths, and founded the trading house Peter Harmony & Co, which operated out of 63 Broadway, currently the location of the American Express Building in Manhattan. He traded with his brother Francisco, also a successful merchant, who ran a trading house in Cadiz, and had extensive business relations with Spain and Cuba[2].
In 1836, he founded the Harmony Manufacturing Company, and opened cotton mills in the town of Cohoes.[3] The mills were powered by the water stream of the recently built Erie Canal. The mills failed to make a profit and were subsequently sold to two New York businessmen, Thomas Garner, and Alfred Wild, in 1850.[4] After its sale, Harmony Mills became, in 1872, the largest cotton mill complex in the world.
Peter Harmony was also the owner of the Brig Malek, a boat which was detained and seized by a United States vessel after its captain was found to be engaging in piracy. Harmony sued the US Government to reclaim the ship's cargo which had been confiscated. He eventually lost the case after the US Supreme Court ruled against him.[5]
Harmony was also a known slave trader, which was protested by the British consul to New York James Buchanan in 1841[6]. In 1846, he was thought to be worth around $1,500,000,[7] making him part of what was then the small group of millionaires of early 19th century New York.
He died on July 12th 1851, in New York, and was buried in St. Patrick's Old Cathedral.[8]
References
- ↑ https://betiloelpuerto.org/patrimonio/bodegas-harmony-i-los-origenes/
- ↑ The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York: Being an Alphabetical Arrangement of the Names of the Most Prominent Capitalists .... (1846). United States: Pub. at the Sun office.
- ↑ Walkowitz, Daniel (1978) Worker City, Company Town: Iron and Cotton-Worker Protest in Troy and Cohoes, 1855-84. University of Illinois Press. p. 51.
- ↑ Vogel, Robert M. (1973). "Report of the Mohawk-Hudson Area Survey". Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology (26): 1–210. doi:10.5479/si.00810258.26.1. ISSN 0081-0258
- ↑ https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/43/210
- ↑ Accounts and Papers. (1842). United Kingdom: (n.p.).
- ↑ The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York: Being an Alphabetical Arrangement of the Names of the Most Prominent Capitalists .... (1846). United States: Pub. at the Sun office.
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216960940/peter-ximeno-harmony
External links
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