During 1879 and 1880, the Seney Syndicate linked together several short railroads in Ohio , Indiana , and Illinois to form the Lake Erie and Western Railroad .
20-686: The Seney Syndicate was headed by George I. Seney , a New York banker. Eastern members of the Syndicate included the successful speculators John T. Martin, Edward H. R. Lyman, Alexander M. White, and Walston H. Brown. The westerns members appear to have been dominated by Calvin S. Brice , a 35-year-old Lima, Ohio , attorney who had been instrumental in the formation of the Lake Erie and Western Railroad . Also from Ohio were members Charles Foster , then Governor of Ohio ; Dan P. Eells of Cleveland ; and General Samuel R. Thomas of Columbus, Ohio . The members of
40-582: A donation of land and a frame church to the Methodist Church, a gift valued at $ 10,000, located a short distance east of the intersection of Church and Wesley streets. The church was dedicated on June 27, 1880. In 1849, Seney married Phoebe Augusta Moser (1833–1904), a daughter of Samuel H. Moser and Lucinda ( née Vail) Moser. Together, they lived at 4 Montague Terrace in Brooklyn and were the parents of ten children, including: Seney died of heart disease at
60-497: A region of frontier timberland along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior . Its successor line was the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway . The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette (DM&M) Railroad was built in 1879–1881 by Detroit businessman James McMillan , Francis Palms, and their venture-capital partners. Unlike many U.S. railroads, the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette
80-713: The Grand Hotel on Broadway and 31st Street in New York City on April 7, 1893. Through his daughter Jane, he was a grandfather of Jane Seney Plummer, who married Grant Barney Schley Jr., a son of Grant B. Schley , in 1902. They divorced in 1922, Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Gertrude Alison Sheldon (1888–1969), who married Samuel Stevens Sands of S.S. Sands & Co. in 1910. After his death in 1913, she married financier Richard Whitney in 1916. When Dakota Territory representative (and later South Dakota senator) Richard F. Pettigrew traveled east in
100-557: The Metropolitan Bank in New York City, Seney was situated to become a financier of newly chartered railroads. The Bank failed, however, in 1884. This permanently shadowed the remainder of Seney's life and career. He was forced to sell most of his art collection in auctions held in 1885, and in 1891. Charters organized or financed by Seney, and his Seney Syndicate , included the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway and
120-606: The Metropolitan Museum of Art . The donation included works by George Inness and Francis Davis Millet . Seney was born in 1826 in Newtown (now called Elmhurst, Queens) in what was then Queens County, Long Island. He was the son of Jane Augusta ( née Ingraham) Seney (1800–1871) and Robert Seney (1797–1854), a graduate of Columbia College who became a Methodist minister and preached in Astoria (in present-day Queens ). He
140-740: The Nickel Plate Road . Seney's financial career reached its height in October 1882 when the Seney Syndicate sold the Nickel Plate to New York Central interests for $ 7.2 million in gold. Seney's bank was a financial backer of the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad , a developer of real estate in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan , and the railroad named one of its depots after
160-463: The University of Georgia . Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad The Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad was a land grant railroad that was built and operated briefly (1881–1886) in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan . Incorporated in 1879, the 151.9-mile (244.5 km)-long railroad began operations in 1881. It was intended to help the economic development of
180-568: The Hocking Valley coal fields and it crossed the Lake Erie and Western at Fostoria, Ohio . George I. Seney George Ingraham Seney (May 12, 1826 – April 7, 1893) was a New York City banker, art collector, and benefactor. He was the father of symphonic music executive Mary Seney Sheldon . He is best remembered for amassing a substantial collection of pre-Impressionist 19th-century European and American paintings, some of which he gave to
200-539: The McMillan family for $ 1.05 million. In December of the same year, the McMillan interests folded the Mackinaw and Marquette Railroad into the consolidated Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway. The former DM&M main line became a key component of the new Upper Peninsula railroad. Although the 1886 bankruptcy meant that the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad's common shareholders lost their entire investment,
220-651: The New Yorker. The depot became the logging town and resort village of Seney, Michigan , and the regional name gave birth to the Seney National Wildlife Refuge . In 1871, Seney acquired the Hampton House boarding house in Bernardsville, New Jersey from Francis Oliver, feeling the home and area could be developed and attract even more visitors to the area. He renamed it Highland House and began to expand
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#1732854723539240-572: The Syndicate from Illinois included Columbus R. Cummings and William B. Howard, both men with experience with the construction and the management of railroad properties. In addition to controlling the Lake Erie and Western Railroad , the Seney Syndicate controlled the 2500-mile East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad , the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Railway and the Ohio Central Railroad . The Ohio Central extended from Toledo, Ohio , to
260-480: The house the property that ultimately became a luxurious destination hotel. The Highland House would later become the prestigious Somerset Inn. Over time, the Inn grounds would cover over 850 acres and could accommodate up to 500 guests. The main part of the Inn was five stories tall and had grand views. It was noted also that there were "no marshy swamps, so there weren't mosquitos." Warmed by steam, equipped with elevators, and
280-512: The late 1870s to find investors for a flour milling venture in Sioux Falls, South Dakota , Seney was interested and helped bankroll the Queen Bee mill, which ruins still stand above the city's namesake falls. An island a short distance upstream was a popular gathering spot in the city's earlier days, and it was soon renamed Seney Island (however, the island later disappeared after the river's channel
300-401: The recipient of 1,327,042 acres (5,370.35 km ) of Upper Peninsula real estate, the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette was not a financial success. It declared bankruptcy in summer 1886, and was allowed by its creditors to continue business under the temporary name of the Mackinaw and Marquette Railroad . In the foreclosure sale October 1886, the bankrupt railroad and its assets were sold to
320-531: The reputation of company president James McMillan does not appear to have suffered thereby. In 1889 the Michigan legislature elected him to the United States Senate . While the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Railroad did not survive very long, several of its owners and their friends immortalized themselves on the map of Michigan. McMillan's friend and DM&M partner John Stoughton Newberry gave his name to
340-634: Was a descendant of Joshua Seney , who represented Maryland in the Continental Congress , and Frances "Fanny" ( née Nicholson) Seney (a daughter of James W. Nicholson , who was one of the first commodores in the United States Navy ). His uncle, Joshua Seney Jr. was the father of Judge Henry William Seney. After studying at Wesleyan University , he completed his baccalaureate education at New York University , graduating in 1846. He lived for much of his life in Brooklyn. As president of
360-637: Was altered to increase the flow to a hydroelectric plant built just north of the mill). In 1881 Seney endowed the construction of what is now Seney Hall at Oxford College of Emory University . In the same year he was a key founder and backer of what became the NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. He also provided $ 10,000 for the construction of today's Seney–Stovall Chapel in Athens, Georgia , now part of
380-742: Was built from west to east. Its main line stretched from its namesake city, Marquette, Michigan , to the Straits of Mackinac at St. Ignace, Michigan . The railroad itself did not reach Detroit, but offered service thither through its part ownership of the Mackinac Transportation Company , a railroad car ferry service that shuttled railroad cars across the Straits of Mackinac to the DM&;M's partner lines in Mackinaw City, Michigan . Despite being
400-613: Was lighted by gas. On May 6, 1908, just a few weeks before the season opening, a fire broke out and the Inn burned down, leaving the 20 chimneys and little else. After the fire, the land was eventually subdivided and sold off. Seney was also instrumental in the creation of the Somerset Hills County Club, the relocated Essex Hunt Club, and the Somerset Hills Bridal Path Association. George was a founding member of St. Bernard's Church . In 1880, Seney gave
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