Francis M. Bacon

American woolen manufacturer and banker

Francis McNeil Bacon (June 27, 1835 – September 21, 1912) was an American woolen manufacturer and banker.

## Early life

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Bacon was born on June 27, 1835, in Dorchester, Massachusetts.[1] He was the eldest child of Lory Baldwin Bacon (1806–1877) and Sarah Ann (née Hammond) Bacon (1810–1886).[2] Among his siblings were Sarah Walton Bacon and Louisa Fisher Bacon.

He was a grandson of Rufus Bacon of Sutton, who served with the Massachusetts militia during the Revolutionary War.[2] His Bacon ancestors "came from England in the early 1600s, landed near Cape Cod, and settled in Worcester County, Mass."[1]

Bacon was educated in public schools before graduating from Boston High School in 1853.[3]

## Career

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After graduating from Boston High School, he moved to New York City to "engage in the dry goods business."[3] In 1860, he became a partner in the form of Hurlbert, Von Volkenburgh & Co., and a year later organized the firm of Francis M. Bacon & Co.[4][5] The following year, because of ill health, he went to California. In 1873, he founded Haines, Bacon & Col, woolen commission merchants. In 1877, the firm became Bacon, Baldwin & Col, which continued after Baldwin's death in 1892 when it was renamed to Bacon & Co, and located at 92 Franklin Street in New York.[3]

He was a trustee in the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company and the Seamen's Bank for Savings and was a director in the Metropolitan Trust Company and the National City Bank of New York.[4]

## Personal life

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On November 24, 1862, Bacon was married to Margaret Rogers Gray (1839–1876), a daughter of Elizabeth Phillips (née Chapman) Gray and the Rev. Frederick Turell Gray of King's Chapel, Boston.[6] Before her death in 1876, they were the parents of five children:[2]

* Francis McNiel Bacon Jr. (b. 1864), who married Pauline Post.[7][8]
* Margaret Gray Bacon (1866–1933),[9] who Clinton Gilbert in 1899.[10][11] They divorced in 1921.[12][13]
* James Frederick Bacon (1867–1929),[6] a Columbia graduate who married Alice (née Lee) Miller,[14] a daughter of John Bowers Lee and former wife of Ralph G. Miller, in July 1912.[15]
* Elizabeth Chapman Bacon (1870–1873), who died young.[6]
* Rogers Hammond Bacon (1874–1962),[16] an 1899 graduate of Harvard Law;[17] he married Mabel (née Dean) Kalbfleisch, daughter of James Edward Dean and widow of Edward Kalbfleisch, in June 1912.[18][19]

After her death, he married Katherine Paris Storrow (1842–1917) in October 1879. She was a daughter of Thomas Wentworth Storrow and Sarah Sanders (née Paris) Storrow and a grandniece of author Washington Irving. Her sister, Julie Grinnell Storrow, was the wife of Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger.[20] Together, they were the parents of one child:[6]

* Wentworth Cruger Bacon (1880–1959),[6][21] who served in France during World War I;[22] he married actress Katherine La Salle Carpenter, daughter of Charles O. La Salle and former wife of Samuel Emlen Carpenter, in 1929.[23][24] She had acted opposite John Barrymore in Master Mind.[25]

He was a member of the Century Association, the Union Club, the Union League Club, the Players Club, the Merchants Club, the Church Club, and the Sons of the Revolution. In New York, their residence was at 20 West 10th Street.[4][26]

After a "lingering illness", Bacon died on September 21, 1912, in Ridgefield, Connecticut.[4] His funeral was held at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion on Sixth Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan.[27]

### Descendants

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Through his eldest son Francis, he was a grandfather of Francis McNeil Bacon III (who married photographer Antoinette Wood Frissell, sister of explorer Varick Frissell, in 1932),[28][29] and Pauline Bacon (who married attorney Harold Edward Herrick in 1918).[30][31]

## References

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1. ^ a b Society, Sons of the American Revolution New York State (1894). Yearbook. Sons of the American Revolution New York State Society. pp. 58–59. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
2. ^ a b c Revolution, Sons of the American (1915). National Year Book. Sons of the American Revolution. p. 226. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
3. ^ a b c The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. J. T. White. 1921. p. 437. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
4. ^ a b c d "FRANCIS McNEIL BACON DEAD.; Woolen Manufacturer, Banker, and Union Club Member". The New York Times. 22 September 1912. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
5. ^ Biographical Directory of the State of New York, 1900. Biographical directory Company (incorporated). 1900. p. 18. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
6. ^ a b c d e Baldwin, Thomas Williams (1915). Bacon Genealogy: Michael Bacon of Dedham, 1640 and His Descendants. Higginson Book Company. p. 332\. ISBN 978-0-8328-3011-2. Retrieved 25 July 2022. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
7. ^ of 1884, Harvard College (1780-) Class (1909). Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report of the Secretary. The Harvard University Press. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 25 July 2022.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
8. ^ "MRS. FRANCIS M'N. BACON". The New York Times. 9 July 1951. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
9. ^ TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (11 November 1933). "MRS. M. B. GILBERT Resident of This City Dies in Beverly Hills, Calif". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
10. ^ "Gilbert -- Bacon". The New York Times. 9 February 1899. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
11. ^ Register of the Colonial Dames of the State of New York, 1893-1913. Authority of the Board of managers. 1913. p. 105. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
12. ^ "CLINTON GILBERT MARRIES.; Broker's Wedding With Mrs. M.S. French Reveals Divorce". The New York Times. 19 July 1921. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
13. ^ "Motorsport Memorial - Margaret Perry". www.motorsportmemorial.org. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
14. ^ "Mrs. Ralph G. Miller (ca. 1875-1952)". emuseum.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
15. ^ "BACON-MILLER WEDDING; Mrs. Alice Lee Miller the Bride of James Frederick Bacon". The New York Times. 19 July 1912. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
16. ^ "ROGERS H. BACON, 88, OF LAW FIRM HERE". The New York Times. 22 May 1962. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
17. ^ Warren, Charles (1908). History of the Harvard Law School and of Early Legal Conditions in America. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 360. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
18. ^ "Mrs Mabel D. Kalbfleisch a Bride". The New York Times. 19 June 1912. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
19. ^ "MRS. ROGERS H. BACON; Served on Advisory Board for Vocational Studies in Schools". The New York Times. 19 September 1940. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
20. ^ "Mrs. Cruger, Novelist Julien Gordon, Dies: Widow of Col. S. Van. R. Cruger and ex-wife of Wade Chance, Wrote "Vampires"" (PDF). The New York Times. 13 July 1920. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
21. ^ Notes of a Conversation with Mrs. Wentworth C. Bacon, Millbrook, N.Y. Concerning the Storrow Family. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
22. ^ Benson, Albert Emerson (1920). Saint Mark's School in the War Against Germany. Priv. print, for the school. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
23. ^ "MRS. CARPENTER MARRIED.; Becomes Bride of W.C. Bacon in a Quiet Ceremony". The New York Times. 15 February 1929. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
24. ^ "KATHERINE LA SALLE IS VERY TEAR-STAINED; What With Her Nightly Grief in "The 13th Chair," She Has Wept Nearly as Much as Jane Cowl". The New York Times. 28 January 1917. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
25. ^ Times, Special to The New York (22 October 1924). "ACTRESS GETS DIVORCE.; Katherine La Salle Carpenter Wins Decree in Connecticut". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
26. ^ Club Men of New York: Their Occupations, and Business and Home Addresses: Sketches of Each of the Organizations: College Alumni Associations. Republic Press. 1902. p. 76. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
27. ^ "Died -- BACON". The New York Times. 24 September 1912. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
28. ^ "MISS A. W. FRISSELL ENGAGED TO MARRY; Her Betrothal to Francis M. Bacon 3d Announced by Her. Father, Dr. L. F. Frissell, SISTER OF LATE EXPLORER Her Fiancé, a Graduate of Oxford, Is a Member of the New York Stock Exchange". The New York Times. 2 August 1932. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
29. ^ "Toni Frissell, 81, Dies; A Noted Photographer". The New York Times. 20 April 1988. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
30. ^ Virkus, Frederick Adams; Marquis, Albert Nelson (1925). The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy: First Families of America. A.N. Marquis. p. 339. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
31. ^ "WEDS LIEUT. H.E. HERRICK.; Miss Pauline Bacon's Marriage to Naval Officer Is Hurried". The New York Times. 10 November 1918. Retrieved 25 July 2022.

## External links

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* Portrait of Mrs. Francis McNeil Bacon Jr., Bacon's daughter-in-law, Pauline Post Bacon, at the New-York Historical Society
* Portrait of Mrs. Ralph G. Miller (ca. 1875-1952), Bacon's daughter-in-law, Alice Lee Miller Bacon, at the New-York Historical Society

Authority control databases |

* Yale LUX

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