John Sergeant Cram
President of the New York Public Service Commission
In office
1911–1916
GovernorJohn Alden Dix
Charles Seymour Whitman
Preceded byEdward Bassett
Succeeded byTravis Harvard Whitney
President of the Dock Board
Personal details
BornMay 18, 1851 (1851-05-18)
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 18, 1936 (1936-01-19) (aged 84)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)
Beatrice Budd Cleland
1898
​
​
(m. 1903, died)​

​
​
(m. 1906)​
RelationsJohn Sergeant (grandfather)
John Sergeant Wise (cousin)
Richard Alsop Wise (cousin)
Alexander S. Webb (cousin)
H. Walter Webb (cousin)
William Seward Webb (cousin)
Parent(s)Harry Augustus Cram
Katherine Sergeant
EducationSt. Paul's School
Alma materHarvard College
Harvard Law School
Signature

John Sergeant Cram Sr. (May 18, 1851 - January 18, 1936) was president of the Dock Board and the head of the New York Public Service Commission.[1][2]

Early life

Cram was born on May 18, 1851, in New York City. He was the eldest son born to Harry Augustus Cram (1818–1894),[3] a lawyer,[4] and Katherine Sergeant (1825–1910).[5] His maternal grandparents were John Sergeant (1779–1852), a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, and Margaretta (née Watmough) Sergeant (1787–1869).[6]

His aunt, Margaretta Sergeant was married to Major General George Meade. Through his aunt, Sarah Sergeant, who married Governor of Virginia Henry A. Wise, he was a first cousin of politicians John Sergeant Wise and Richard Alsop Wise. His uncle was James Watson Webb, the United States Ambassador to Brazil, who married his father's sister, Laura Virginia Cram. Through Webb, he was a first cousin of Gen. Alexander S. Webb, railroad executive H. Walter Webb, G. Creighton Webb, and Dr. William Seward Webb, who married Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt, daughter of William H. Vanderbilt.[1]

Career

He was educated at St. Paul's School and graduated from Harvard College in 1872 and, later, Harvard Law School in 1875.[1] After graduation from Law School, he practiced law with his father at his father's firm.[7]

Cram was first appointed to the Dock Board by Mayor Thomas Francis Gilroy.[8] He was reappointed by Mayor Hugh J. Grant and during the Robert Anderson Van Wyck administration, he was appointed president of the Dock Board.[1][5]

In 1911, he was nominated by to the New York Public Service Commission by Governor John Alden Dix, with Dix stating:[9]

I know Mr. Cram to be a man of unusual of force and ability and of demonstrated courage and independence. He is a man who accomplishes results, the kind of man the New York City rapid transit situation needs at the present time."[9]

He was confirmed by the New York State Senate over the denunciation of State Senator Josiah T. Newcomb, a Republican who was opposed to the stronghold of Tammany Hall.[10] He was reappointed by Governor Charles Seymour Whitman, serving until 1916 when he was replaced by Travis Harvard Whitney.[2]

He was perhaps best known at the time of his death as the close friend and social advisor to Charles Francis Murphy, the late leader of Tammany Hall.[1]

Personal life

In 1898, he was first married at the age of 47 to the widow Georgiana Beatrice Budd (1875–1903), a daughter of Samuel Budd. She had previously married Clarence Benedict Cleland (1867–1895) in 1894.[11] The marriage to Mrs. Cleland was done without the knowledge his family, with whom he was residing at the time of his marriage.[11] Her father was a haberdasher who supplied Cram, and his fellow members of the exclusive Knickerbocker Club, with his clothing, was a mild scandal at the time for someone of his social prominence.[12]

On January 17, 1906, he married Edith Claire Bryce (1880–1960), the daughter of General Lloyd Stephens Bryce, the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands and Edith (née Cooper) Bryce.[13] Her mother was the only child of New York City Mayor Edward Cooper, himself the son of prominent industrialist Peter Cooper.[14][15] Her sister, Cornelia Elizabeth Bryce (1881–1960),[16] was married to conservationist Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946), the first Chief of the United States Forest Service under Theodore Roosevelt, in 1914.[17][18] Her brother, Peter Cooper Bryce (1889–1964),[19] was married Angelica Schuyler Brown (1890–1980), of the Brown banking family, in 1917.[20] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Henry Sergeant Cram (1907–1997), who married Edith Kingdon Drexel (1911–1934), the granddaughter of Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr. and George Jay Gould I, in 1930.[21] Cram later married Ruth Vaux, a granddaughter of Richard Vaux, after his first wife's death.[22]
  • Edith Bryce Cram (1908–1972), who married Arthur Gerhard in 1950.[23]
  • John Sergeant Cram (1910–1997)

He died at his residence, 9 East 64th Street in Manhattan,[24] on January 18, 1936, and was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.[1] His widow died in 1960.[25]

Descendants

His grandson, John Sergeant Cram III, was married to Lady Jeanne Campbell (1928–2007), the only daughter from the Duke of Argyll's first marriage.[26] She had previously been married to American writer Norman Mailer. Lady Jeanne and John had several children, including Cusi Cram (b. 1967), an actress, a Herrick-prize-winning playwright, and an Emmy-nominated writer for the children's animated television program, Arthur.[27][28]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "John Sergeant Cram Dies. Former President of the Dock Board and an Ex-Public Service Commissioner. Long A Tammany Figure. Member of Old New York Family. Was Close Associate of Charles F. Murphy". The New York Times. January 19, 1936. p. N9.
  2. 1 2 "T. H. Whitney To Get Cram's 5-Year Job. Gov. Whitman Announces He Will Make Secretary a P.S. Commissioner". The New York Times. Albany (published February 3, 1916). February 2, 1916. p. 20. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Funeral of Henry A. Cram". The New York Times. April 13, 1894. p. 8. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Commissioner Cram's Father Dead". The New York Times. April 10, 1894. p. 5. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 New York State's Prominent and Progressive Men: an Encyclopaedia of Contemporaneous Biography. New York Tribune. 1902. pp. 77–78. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Henry A. Cram's Will Filed". The New York Times. April 17, 1894. p. 4. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ The Brown Book: A Biographical Record of Public Officials of the City of New York for 1898-9. Martin B. Brown Company. 1899. p. 157. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  8. ↑ The New York Red Book. Williams Press. 1915. p. 71. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  9. 1 2 "Dix Appoints Cram to Utilities Board; 'I Alone am Responsible,' Says the Governor, in Naming Commissioner Bassett's Successor". The New York Times. Albany. June 2, 1911. p. 6. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Cram Confirmed; Harshly Assailed; Shopworn Office Hunter and Ally in Ice Trust Price Conspiracy, Declares Newcomb". The New York Times. Albany (published June 7, 1911). June 6, 1911. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 "J. Sergeant Cram a Benedict. He Married Beatrice Budd Cleland Over a Month Ago". The New York Times. October 9, 1898. p. 7. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "What is Doing in Society". The New York Times. October 10, 1898. p. 7. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "A Day's Weddings: Cram–Bryce". The New York Times. January 18, 1906. p. 9. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Mrs. Bryce's Estate Left to Family". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Mineola, Long Island. June 7, 1916. p. 8. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Mrs. Bryce Left $3,000,000. Husband and Son Principal Beneficiaries Under Will". The New York Times. Mineola, Long Island (published June 7, 1916). June 6, 1916. p. 13. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Mrs. Gifford Pinchot Is Dead; Widow of Governor Was 79; Ran for Congress Twice - Sought Husband's Post in Pennsylvania in 1934". The New York Times. September 10, 1960. p. 21. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Gifford Pinchot Weds Miss Bryce; Progressive Senatorial Nominee Marries Daughter of Gen. and Mrs. Lloyd S. Bryce. Quiet Nuptials at Roslyn; Col. and Mrs. Roosevelt, ex-Ambassador Bacon, and Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Garfield Among Guests". The New York Times. August 16, 1914. p. 15. Retrieved May 23, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (1881 - 1960)". fs.usda.gov. United States Department of Agriculture | Forest Service. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  19. ↑ Redmon, Michael (July 28, 2009). "The Bryce Estate". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Her Wedding is Hastened By War; Miss Angelica Schuyler Brown Marries Peter Cooper Bryce of Squadron A. A Quiet Home Ceremony; Guests Include Attendants Chosen for Church Nuptial;-Bridegroom Son of Ex-Minister to The Hague". The New York Times. April 8, 1917. p. 20. Retrieved July 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Edith Drexel Weds H. Sergeant Cram; Members of Two Prominent Families Married in St Bartholomew's. Society Fills the Edifice; Floral Decorations Elaborate--Bride Has Nine Attendants--Many Philadelphians Present". The New York Times. May 6, 1931. p. S29. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Henry Cram to Wed; Miss Ruth Vaux; Son of Mrs. J. Sergeant Cram of New York Is Affianced to Philadelphia Girl". The New York Times. October 8, 1936. p. 20. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Edith Bryce Cram is Wed in Chapel; Descendant of Peter Cooper Bride of Arthur Gerhard at Church of Heavenly Rest". The New York Times. March 26, 1950. p. 87. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Cram Buys 64th St. Site.; Vacant Plot Near 5th Av. Sold by James N. Hill". The New York Times. October 31, 1926. p. E19. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Mrs. J. S. Cram Of Peace House. Founder of Pacifist Group Dies. Urged Roosevelt to Mediate in World War II". The New York Times. February 29, 1960. p. 27. Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  26. ↑ Princeton Alumni Weekly. Princeton Alumni Weekly. 1964. p. 149. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  27. ↑ IMDb
  28. ↑ Small, Michael (August 3, 1981). "At 13, Cusi Cram Doesn't Kid Around; Already a Cover Girl, Now She's Scrubbing Up for the Soaps". People. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
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