James Orville Bloss: September 30, 1847-December 15, 1918

Biography of Intimate Companion of John William Sterling

See also:

John William Sterling and James Orville Bloss, 1870-1918

Claude M. Gruener and Rick Wagner: Introduction, Research on John W. Sterling and James O. Bloss

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Leslie's History of the Greater New York: Encyclopedia of New York Biography and Genealogy

BLOSS, JAMES ORVILLE, head of the firm of J. O. Bloss & Company, cotton merchants, was elected President of the New York Cotton Exchange in 1892, and again in 1893, having previously, in 1890, been elected its Vice-President, and almost continuously since 1866, having been a member of its Board of Managers. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, is a trustee of the India Rubber and Gutta Percha Insulating Company, and a director of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway Company, and has been a director of the Third National Bank. He was active in opposing the anti-option bill in Congress and quietly instrumental in establishing the plan of deliveries of cotton on contract by means of warehouse receipts and certificates of grade. Born in Rochester, N.Y. September 30, 1847, he is the son of the late James Orville Bloss and Eliza Ann, daughter of Roswell Lockwood and Thalia Oviatt, and is descended from Edmund Bloss, of an old family of Suffolk, England, who became one of the prominent men of Watertown, Mass., where he was admitted a freeman in 1639. Coming to New York City at eighteen years of age, Mr. Bloss for six years was with Norton, Slaughter & Company, banking and commission; then with Woodward & Stillman until 1875; with John Chester Inches as partner became then head of the cotton firm of Bloss & Inches; from 1881 to 1891 was a member of Gwathmey & Bloss, and since the latter date has been head of his present firm. He is a member of the Union and Metropolitan clubs.

Prominent Families of New York (1897)

p. 66 on James Orville Bloss

Mr. James Orville Bloss was born in Rochester, N. Y., September 30th, 1847. Early in life, he determined to devote himself to business pursuits, and with that end in view secured a thorough business training. When he arrived of age, having settled in New York, he became a cotton merchant and has followed that business with success. In 1892, he was elected president of the New York Cotton Exchange and reelected to that honorable position in the following year. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and a director of the Third National Bank. Although actively engaged in business for many years, he has found time and opportunity for extensive travel abroad. He is unmarried and resides in East Forty-seventh Street. His clubs are the Metropolitan and the Union League.

The early American origins of his family clearly meant much to Bloss, who had carefully traced his family's genealogy. The above paragraph opens with the following:

JAMES ORVILLE BLOSS

AMONG the early settlers of Watertown, Mass., were Edmund Bloys, or Bloss, Robert Jennison and James Cutler. From these pioneers, as well as from other early Colonists of New England, Mr. James Orville Bloss is descended.

Edmund Bloss, the first American ancestor of the family, was admitted a freeman of Watertown in 1639, and was one of the leading men of that place. He was a native of England and came of an old Suffolk family. His first wife, Mary, died in 1675, and he afterwards married Ruth Parsons, daughter of Hugh Parsons. He died in 1681, having been born in 1587. Ruth Parsons was a niece of Joseph Parsons, who, with his brother Hugh, was settled in Springfield before 1636. The brothers came originally from Devonshire, England. Richard Bloss, of the second American generation, was born in England in 1623 and took the oath of fidelity in Watertown in 1652. He died in 1665. His wife, whom he married in 1658, was Micael Jennison, daughter of Robert Jennison, who was a freeman of Watertown in 1645 and owned many acres of land there. Robert Jennison came to this country with his brother,William Jennison, as a follower of Governor John Winthrop. William Jennison became prominent in early Colonial affairs, was a freeman of Watertown in 1630, frequently a selectman of the town, a representative to the General Court and Captain of the train band. The New England families now bearing the name are all descended from Robert Jennison.

Richard Bloss, grandson of Edmund Bloss, the pioneer, was born in 1659 and removed from Watertown to Killingly, Conn., in middle life, being a freeman of that place in 1690. He married, in 1688, Ann Cutler, daughter of James and Lydia (Wright) Cutler, of Cambridge Farms, now part of the town of Lexington, Mass. Her father was born in 1635 and died in 1685. He was a farmer and a soldier in the War with King Philip's Indians. His wife, whom he married in 1665, was the widow of Samuel Wright and daughter of John Moore, of Sudbury. The paternal grandfather of Ann Cutler was James Cutler, who was born in England in 1606 and settled in Watertown in 1634, being one of the original grantees of that place. Tradition says that his wife, Anna, was a sister of the wife of Captain John Grout. About 1651, he removed from Watertown to Cambridge Farms.

James Bloss, 1702-1790, of Killingly, Conn., was the great-great-grandfather of Mr. James Orville Bloss. The great-grandparents of Mr. Bloss were James Bloss, of Hebron, Conn., who was born in Killingly and died in New Rochelle, N. Y., in 1776, and his wife, Elizabeth Clough, 1733-1803, daughter of Jonathan and Mary Clough. James Bloss was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and his son, Joseph Bloss, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was also a Revolutionary soldier, being in the detachment of troops that was on duty at the execution of Major Andre. Joseph Bloss was born in Thompson, Conn., in 1759 and died in 1838. His wife was Amy Kennedy, who was born in Milton, Mass., in 1768, daughter of Andrew Kennedy, 1729-1788, and Amy Wentworth, 1732- 1802. The father of Mr. Bloss was James Orville Bloss, Sr., of Rochester, N. Y., who was born in Alford, Mass., in 1805 and died in Rochester in 1869. His wife was Eliza Ann Lockwood, 1810-1880, daughter of Roswell Lockwood, 1783-1863, and Thalia Oviatt, 1787-1873.

TIMELINE

Listed in reverse chronological order.

1918, December 18

Funeral Service: Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

1918, December 15

Died at the Metropolitian Club, New York City.

1907, April 14-17

Member, General Committee, National Arbitration and Peace Congress, New York, April 14th to 17th, 1907, Andrew Carnegie, President.

1898

Leslie’s History of the great New York includes Bloss bio

1892

elected President of the New York Cotton Exchange

1893

Elected President of the New York Cotton Exchange. Picture and description in: “New York, The Metropolis - Its Noted Business and Professional Men”. Copyright 1891 - The New York Recorder 1893. Page ?

1891-1898 (etc?)

J. O. Bloss & Company, cotton merchants,

1890

elected Vice-President, New York Cotton Exchange

1881-1891

member of Gwathmey & Bloss

c. 1875-1881

with John Chester Inches as partner; became then head of the cotton firm of Bloss & Inches

c. 1871-1875

Woodward & Stillman

1866

member, Board of Managers, New York Cotton Exchange, almost continuously since 1866

1865-1871

Coming to New York City at eighteen years of age, Mr. Bloss for six years was with Norton, Slaughter & Company, banking and commission;

1847, September 30

Born in Rochester, N.Y. September 30, 1847; he is the son of the late James Orville Bloss and Eliza Ann, daughter of Roswell Lockwood and Thalia Oviatt, and is descended from Edmund Bloss, of an old family of Suffolk, England, who became one of the prominent men of Watertown, Mass., where he was admitted a freeman in 1639.

Bibliography, Alphabetical

Bloss & Company, J. O.: cotton merchants, 1891-1898 (etc?)

Bloss & Inches (see also Inches): c. 1875-1881--with John Chester Inches as partner; became then head of the cotton firm of Bloss & Inches

Bloss, James O. “Bloss Genealogy,” Register 41 (1887): 298–99. <Investigate, analyze Bloss's interest in genealogy.>

Bloss, James O. Genealogy. Printed for private circulation [by] D. Clapp & Son in Boston, 1887. 25 pages.

Bloss, James O. Genealogical and chronological chart of the kings and queens of England. [New York: s.n., 1905] One copy in New York Public Library. World Cat search April 3, 2011.

Chamber of Commerce, NYC (or U.S.?): member, no date

Cotton deliveries: he was quietly instrumental in establishing the plan of deliveries of cotton on contract by means of warehouse receipts and certificates of grade.

Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway Company: a director, no date

Drawing, Painting, Photograph, Sculpture: No visual representation of Bloss has been discovered as of October 27, 2010. Why is a visual representation hard to find?

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 55 Street near 5th Avenue: 1918, December 18, funeral service

Garver, John Anson. John William Sterling: Class of 1864 Yale College, A Biographical Sketch (New Haven: Yale Univerity, 1929).

Gwathmey & Bloss: member, 1881-1891

Holland. Obituary of James O. Bloss, Wall Street Journal, December 21,1918, p.2). [Comments on Bloss and Sterling relationship. Mentions other obituaries. Research!]

Inches, John Chester Inches: c. 1875-1881--with John Chester Inches as partner; became then head of the cotton firm of Bloss & Inches

India Rubber and Gutta Percha Insulating Company: trustee, no date

Leslie’s History of the great New York (1898): includes Bloss bio

Metropolitan Club (NYC): member

National Arbitration and Peace Congress, New York, April 14th to 17th, 1907. Andrew Carnegie, President. Bloss was a member of the General Committee.

New York Cotton Exchange: manager (1866-), president: 1890, 1892, 1893

New York Times: [Bloss death notice.]

New York Times. "$15,000,000 Sterling Bequest to Yale." July 17, 1918, p. ?, col. ?. [Mentions Bloss.]

Norton, Slaughter & Company (banking and commission): 1865-1871 (age 18 to 24)

Prominent Families of New York (1897): p. 66 on James Orville Bloss

Third National Bank: a director, no date.

Rochester, N.Y.: birthplace (1847). Interned in (1918).

Sterling, John William. [Manuscript journal, Yale University Archive. Mentions Bloss.]

September-October 1862:"I slept with Jim Mitchell last night an."

October 2, 1872: notes that Bloss is coming to Sterling's boarding house, to stay in an upstairs room;

May 4, 1873: says "Bloss and I are busy house hunting and have arranged to go to 21 West 25th Street."

Last Will and Testament. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University.

Stokes, Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes. {Manuscript memoir of Sterling.] Yale University Manuscripts and Archives.

Union League Club: member

U.S. Census, 1890: shows Sterling and Bloss living together at 221 East 47th Street, with an African American butler and houskeeper, and two white servants (U.S. Census, 1900, ED 744, p. 1). They moved in 1902 to 912 Fifth Avenue, a mansion commissioned by Sterling and designed by society architect Bruce Price.<SOURCE?>

U.S. Congress: he was active in opposing the anti-option bill, no date

Vanderlip, Frank A. "Farm Boy to Financier". Saturday Evening Post, February 9, 1935, Vol. 25?, PP MISSING.[Mentions Bloss.]

Vanderlip, Frank A. and B. Sparks. From Farm Boy to Financier. N.Y. Appleton Century N.Y., 1935. [12 mentions of Sterling, several of Bloss, called "Blossie".

Woodward & Stillman: c. 1871-1875

Yale Alumni Magazine. "Historian [Jonathan Ned Katz] Suggests Sterling Was Gay". May 2003.