Frederick S. Winston

He spent twenty-seven years as a prosperous merchant in the wholesale dry goods business on Pearl Street under his own name.^[1] In June 1853,^[5] he was elected president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, of which he had been a trustee since 1846,^[4] and served as president until his death in 1885 at age 79. "When he assumed the office of President, the assets of the company were about $2,000,000, and when he died the assets had swelled to $100,000,000, which is as forcible a comment as could be made upon the business capacity of the President."^[1] His tenure as president coincided with the Civil War, during which he honored the policies of all fallen Union soldiers while suspending policies south of the Mason-Dixon line.^[1]

Winston was instrumental in the construction of the Mutual Life Building at 34 Nassau Street, which was designed by architect Charles W. Clinton and was completed in 1884,^[6] and completed in twelve months, "a feat never before performed in his or any other land."^[1] The cornerstone for the building was set in May 1883 and was built on the site of the old Post Office which Mutual Life bought from the Government for $650,000.^[a] Mutual Life occupied the building until 1950 when it moved to 1740 Broadway and sold 34 Nassau to Guaranty Trust Company of New York for $7,525,000.^[6]

In 1833, he married Lucy Anne Cotton (1812–1886), a daughter of the James Cotton of New York. Together, they lived at 13 West 31st Street were the parents of six children, including:^[4]

• Gustavus Storrs Winston (1834–1899),^[7] a physician who served in the Union Army during the Civil War,^[b] and was medical director of the Mutual Life; he married Jeannie Louise Lewis in 1880.^[8]
• Mary Hoadley Winston (1835–1918),^[9] who married Harvey B. Merrill; they were the parents of Frederick Winston Merrill, William Winston Merrill and Seymour Winston Merrill.^[10][11]
• Frederick Mervyn Winston (1836–1866), the cashier of Mutual Life;^[12] he married Mary Louise Erben, a daughter of Henry Erben, in 1861;^[13] they were the parents of lawyer Frederick James Winston.^[14]
• James Cook Winston (1839–1890), who served with Gen. Butler in the Civil War at the Capture of New Orleans; he was a corresponding clerk for Mutual Life for 25 years.^[15]
• Joseph Sands Winston (1844–1868), who attended Columbia College; he died in Vienna.^[16]
• Sarah Cotton Winston (1846–1921), who married George Gilpin, son of John Ferris Gilpin of Philadelphia,^[17] in 1872;^[18] she died at Territet, Switzerland.^[19]

Winston died from a paralytic stroke on March 17, 1885, in Fernandina, Florida.^[1][20] After a funeral at the Calvary Episcopal Church, of which he was a warden, he was buried at New York Marble Cemetery in Manhattan. His widow died just under a year later on March 14, 1886.

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