COLGATE
COLGATE
suddenlj' while preparing to conduct religious
services in a sclioolhouse, at the age of sixty-five
years. James Boorman was prepared for college
in schools in New York city and in Connecticut.
When sixteen years old he decided to abandon a
college course and devote himself to a business
life. He began as shipping clerk and rose to the
fOLOATE, LIBRARY -
position of book-keeper in the house of Boorman,
Johnston & Co. , importers. After seven years'
service as clerk he made a trip to Europe for the
benefit of his health and on his return in 1843
engaged in the wholesale dry goods business,
organizing the firm of Colgate & Abbe. In 1852
he associated himself with John B. Trevor as
Trevor & Colgate, dealers in stock and other
securities. In 1857 they added to the business a
tullion and specie department to which Mr. Col-
gate gave his personal attention. He helped to
organize and was for three years president of the
first gold exchange. In 1873 the firm name was
changed to James B. Colgate & Co., and the firm
was still in business on Wall street at the close
of the nineteenth century. In this long period
of existence, covering nearly half a century, it
never felt the effect of a panic so as to fail to
meet a single obligation. Mr. Colgate was a
close student of the principles underlying and
governing the financial dealings of the world and
was a strenuous advocate of the remonetization
of silver. His papers on this subject were very
widely read. When a clerk receiving fifty dol-
lars a year as salarj", he reserved a portion for
benevolent ijurj^oses and continued the practice
during his life. In 1869, with his partner, Mr.
Trevor, he built and presented to the Warburton
avenue Baptist church, Yonkers, N.Y., appro-
priate church buildings, and subsequently one
for the use of the colored Baptists of Yonkers.
To Madison university, of which institution his
father was an incorporator and he a trustee
from 1861, and president of the board of trustees
from 1864, he repeatedly contributed, not only to
its endowment but to its material equipment.
He erected Colgate academy and Colgate library
as a memorial to his parents. In 1890 the board
of trustees, with the consent of the alimmi, in
view of the benefactions of the Colgate family
for several generations, changed the name of the
institution to Colgate university. In 1891 Mr.
Colgate established the Dodge memorial fund in
memory of President Ebenezer Dodge. The
principal, §1,000,000, is held by three trustees,
and the interest is paid, one half to the uni-
versity and one half added to tlie principal. In
1903 he gave $100,000 more. To Colby academy,
New London, N.H. ; to Rochester university ;
to Peddie institute; to Columbian university,
Washington, D.C. ; to Rochester theological sem-
inary ; to Cook academy, and to numerous needy
churches and associations he was a liberal bene-
factor. Mr. Colgate was married in 1844 to S.
Ellen Hoyt of Utica, N.Y., by whom he had one
son, William Hoyt Colgate. Mrs. Colgate died
in 1846 and in 1851 he was married to Susan F.,
daughter of Gov. Anthony Colby of New London,
N. H. His children by this marriage were Mary
and James Colby Colgate.
COLGATE, Samuel, pliilanthropist, was born in New York city, N.Y., March 22, 1822; son of William and Mary (Gilbert) Colgate; grandson of Robert and Mary (Bowles) Colgate; and a descendant of Stephen Colgate of the count}' of Kent, England. He learned the business of soap making in liis father's establishment and suc- ceeded him, not only in the business, but also in carrying forward his great charitable and re- ligious benefactions. He was chairman of the board of education of Madison, (afterward Col- gate) university, and one of its most liberal patrons. He was a member of the finance committee of the American tract society ; presi- dent of the New York Baptist educational society, and of the Society for the suppression of vice, for eighteen years ; and for three years president of the Baptist home mission society. He gave to Colgate univei'sity over 40,000 pamphlets bearing on the history of the Baptist denomination. He died in Orange, N.J., April 23, 1897.
COLGATE, William, philanthropist, was born in HoUingbourn, Kent county, England, Jan. 25, 1783; son of Robert and Mary (Bowles) Colgate. He immigrated to America in 1795 with his parents, who fled from England to escape per- secution as avowed friends of the American revolutionists, and settled in Harford county, Md., removing subsequently to Delaware count}-, N.Y. In 1804, on attaining his majority, he apprenticed himself to a tallow-chandler in New York, and having acquired a thorough knowledge of the business, he established himself in that city and gained a wide reputation in the business world. He used his first earnings to pay for the
