A. Kingsley Macomber
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King Macomber | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 7, 1874 |
| Died | October 6, 1955 (aged 81) |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York) |
| Occupation(s) | Adventurer, banker, land developer, rancher, racehorse owner/breeder, philanthropist |
| Spouse | Myrtle Harkness |
| Parent(s) | Henry Kirke Macomber & Amelia C. Collerd |
Abraham Kingsley "King" Macomber (March 7, 1874 – October 6, 1955) was an American adventurer, businessman, philanthropist, Thoroughbred-racehorse owner and breeder. He was born in Morristown, New Jersey, the second of the three sons of Henry Kirke Macomber, a medical doctor who moved his family to Pasadena, California, in 1883.
As a young man, in 1894 Kingsley Macomber explored parts of Central Africa at the invitation of American adventurer Frederick Russell Burnham. With Burnham and seven other Americans, he spent six months surveying and mapping in an area that today is known as Zimbabwe.
When hostilities broke out between the native Matabeles and the white intruders, Macomber escaped a massacre but then was caught in the Siege of Bulawayo. A small group of British and a few Americans held off attacks for two months at a hastily erected laager at Bulawayo until being rescued by the British military. Macomber soon left Africa and traveled to London, England, where he was honored with a fellowship in the Royal Geographical Society. In December 1896, he returned to the United States.
Kingsley Macomber's time in Africa led to a lifelong friendship with Frederick Burnham and years later in 1939, Burnham, Macomber and John Eagle gifted a natural history collection to the state of Arizona. Although largely African, the significant collection included artifacts gathered worldwide.
In 1899, in New York City, Kingsley Macomber married heiress Myrtle Harkness, the daughter of the wealthy Lamon V. Harkness, one of the largest stockholders in Standard Oil. The couple maintained residences on both coasts.[citation needed]
Business career
At the end of the nineteenth century, Macomber and a partner established a business that operated a coal mine in Gallup, New Mexico, and undertook prospecting and mining ventures in the Cascade and Pacific Coast ranges.
In 1902, Macomber became a founding owner and first president of the Los Angeles Trust Company, which, in 1905, became a part of a multi-bank amalgamation.[1]
In 1905, Kingsley Macomber, Henry E. Huntington, and William R. Staats developed the Oak Knoll subdivision in terrain between Pasadena and San Marino, California.[citation needed]
In 1906, Macomber purchased Rancho Cienega de los Paicines, a cattle breeding operation located in Paicines, California. He invested a great deal of money in a new home as well as stables to facilitate the introduction of Thoroughbred horses to the operation. He kept a private railcar at nearby Tres Pinos, which allowed him and his wife to travel to horse-racing venues throughout the country. After World War I, the Macombers made a chateau in France, at Carrières-sous-Poissy, their primary residence, and, in 1927, sold the Paicines ranch to Walter Murphy.[2]
