3

CAVEAT EMPTOR

In which vast tributes are paid to the life of the “Merchant Prince” upon Stewart’s death, lavish funeral, and interment in St. Mark’s Cemetery. Although Stewart bequeaths all his assets to his wife, Cornelia, and names his friend and confidant, Judge Henry Hilton, only as executor of his estate, Hilton seizes upon the opportunity, incorporating a new firm to run Stewart’s wholesale, retail, and manufacturing concerns. The new head of all operations: Henry Hilton.

A. T. Stewart died on April 10, 1876, at seventy-two years of age from a bladder infection and peritonitis—an infection caused by an inflammation of the lining of the abdominal cavity.

His funeral was an elaborate event, befitting a man of his wealth and stature. The pomp and circumstance surrounding it was equal to that of the death of an American statesman, and Stewart had become a statesman of sorts—a leading light in the development of an American economic institution: the department store.

STEWART has been a moral power in the commercial history of the United States, whose value it would be difficult to overestimate. The success of his system of plain dealing produced so many imitators that it is to-day the rule instead of the exception among the leading dry-goods merchants of our great cities.

—New York Timeseditorial, April 11, 1876

If Stewart’s funeral was a lavish event, he had no hand in planning it. That honor fell to others, including his widow, Cornelia, and his closest business and personal friend, Judge Henry Hilton. His final resting place—the family vault in St. Mark’s Churchyard—was an obscure and humble spot, devoid of any extravagant trappings, an undistinguished grave in the Bowery section of New York City. He was buried in the family vault alongside his two children and his mother. The vault was inconspicuous and close to a dozen feet underground.

THE DEAD MILLIONAIRE

MR. STEWART’S LIFE AND DEATH.

The Funeral To-Morrow—The Remains

To Lie In State—Mr. Stewart’s City

Property—His Art Gallery—Scenes

About The Family Residence.

All yesterday the remains of the late Alexander T. Stewart lay in the Lace Room, in which he died, at the family residence in Fifth avenue. The preparations for the funeral have not yet been completed, but the services will be held to-morrow at 11 A.M. in St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal Church, and will be conducted by the Pastor, Rev. J. H. Rylance, assisted by Bishop Potter. The remains will then be deposited in the family vault, in St. Mark’s Churchyard.

—New York TimesApril 12, 1876

Stewart’s body was placed on ice and lay in state in the Lace Room at the Marble Mansion. Several photographs were taken, and a plaster cast of his face was made. Cornelia Stewart remained in seclusion for much of the day under a doctor’s care. Judge Hilton and George Hamill, the undertaker, made the funeral arrangements. It was decided that Stewart would be buried in a plain oak casket with gold handles and moldings. The interior of the casket was lined with white satin, and on the lid was a large silver plate inscribed with the words:

ALEXANDER T. STEWART

Born Oct 12th, 1803

Died April 10th, 1876

The casket was enclosed in a cedar box and lined with a thick sheet of lead. It would be buried in the Stewart family vault at St. Mark’s Church located on the corner of Second Avenue and Stuyvesant Street. The churchyard contained the family vaults of many of New York City’s most well-known families, including that of the city’s most illustrious citizen, Peter Stuyvesant, who died in 1675 and was known as the “late Captain General and Governor in Chief of New Amsterdam.”

The Stewart family vault was on the same eastern side of the churchyard, a dozen or so yards from Stuyvesant’s vault, and was marked by a small, flat stone with the names of the deceased and the number 112, hardly a notable or recognizable resting place for the “Merchant Prince of Manhattan.”

Despite his great wealth, Stewart remained an unassuming figure to the end. His million-dollar mansion on Fifth Avenue and his two enormous and lavish stores were, it seemed, for him a lasting testament to his wealth, fame, and good fortune. In death he sought humble, eternal obscurity.

1. Full name of the deceased, Alexander Turney Stewart; 2. Age, seventy-two years, five months, twenty-nine days; color, white; 3. Married; 4. Occupation, merchant; 5. Birthplace, Lisburn, Ireland; forty-six years in the United States; How long resident in this City, forty-six years; 7. Father’s birthplace, Ireland; 8. Mother’s birthplace, Ireland; 9. Place of death, Thirty-fourth street, corner of Fifth avenue, Twenty-first Ward; 10. If a dwelling, by how many families living separately occupied, One, (second floor) 11. I hereby certify that I attended deceased from March 19, 1876 to April 10, 1876; that I last saw him alive on the 10th day of April, 1876; that he died on the 10th day of April, 1876, about 1:30 o’clock P.M., and that the cause of his death was: First, (primary) Cystitis; second, (immediate) Peritonitis; place of burial, St. Mark’s Church; date of burial, April 13, 1876; undertaker, G.W. Hamill, No 26 Third avenue.

—A. T. Stewart’s death certificate, signed by Dr. E. E. Marcy and received by the deputy register of vital statistics, April 12, 1876

A.T. STEWART’S FUNERAL

SERVICES AT CHURCH AND HOUSE

The Body Lies In State At The Fifth

Avenue Residence—A Magnificent

Floral Display—The Short Service

At The House—An Imposing Funeral

Procession.

—New York TimesApril 14, 1876

Since St. Mark’s could not accommodate what Hilton and Hamill projected would be an enormous crowd, it was decided that mourners would need tickets to attend the service. The tickets would be distributed to dignitaries, associates, and employees first, while others wishing to attend would be required to file an application for whatever was left over after the initial distribution. The front pews of the church were reserved for family, relatives, business associates, and prominent guests, including Governor Samuel Tilden of New York, who would also serve as a pallbearer.

Stewart’s funeral was conducted in accordance with the rituals dictated by the Episcopal Church. There was a service at the house followed by a church service. There was a display of flowers at the house, where the body lay in state, and at the church. Some of the most distinguished men and women in New York and from across the country attended the service at Stewart’s palatial home.

Around 8 a.m. on the day of the funeral, a long line of current and former employees came to the house to pay their respects. Some were assigned various duties in the house and were identified by an armband of black and white rosette on their left arms. Two employees were stationed at the foot of the stairs leading into the house. Two more were stationed halfway up the staircase and others at the entrance itself.

A crowd of thousands congregated outside the Stewart mansion, along both sides of Thirty-fourth Street. A police squad of forty uniformed officers lined the street leading to the main entrances. No one was allowed to pass through the police line without a ticket issued by the Stewart family.

At 9 a.m. the doors to the mansion were opened, allowing those who came to pay their respects to enter in single file, orderly and quiet, with the police and ushers checking tickets. For more than an hour, the crowd streamed through the doors of the mansion, filling it to capacity. The floral display adorning the coffin measured seven feet long and four feet wide. The mass of flowers included fresh white roses, lilies, orchids, and ivy. At the base of the arrangement were the initials, A.T.S., spelled out in violets on top of a bed of pure white lilies. At the head of the coffin was a four-foot-high harp made of flowers with a floral cross next to it.

The coffin was covered with purple velvet and lined with white satin. The edges of the velvet drape were hemmed with a four-inch band of gold. Gold-plated rods were affixed to both sides of the coffin along with gold handles on the sides and end. A bouquet of white flowers rested on top of the coffin at the base of a plain gold cross.

Bishop Horatio Potter held a brief solemn service, after which mourners filed past the coffin, paying their respects. The coffin was then removed from the house and transported by hearse to St. Mark’s Church.

The hearse was a long black carriage with gilded edges, drawn by a team of black horses in gold harnesses. The plain, dark carriages of the mourners followed the hearse. Altogether, there were about sixty-five carriages in the procession from the Stewart mansion to St. Mark’s.

The ticketed mourners were allowed inside the church, quickly filling eight hundred seats among the pews and standing in rapt attention along the back of church once the seats were all occupied. Four hundred tickets had been issued to employees. President Grant, who had been scheduled to attend, sent his regrets and offered his condolences to Mrs. Stewart. Pressing matters of state took precedence for the chief executive.

Bishop Potter and his assistants met the cortege at the front door of the church around 12:15 p.m. Stewart’s coffin was taken to the front of the church, where it was once again placed in a great sea of flowers and wreathes. Among the pallbearers, besides Governor Tilden, were Governor Alexander Rice of Massachusetts, former Governors John Adams Dix and Edwin Morgan of New York, U.S. Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, and several prominent New York judges. The pallbearers were seated in the first pew. Once they were seated, Judge Hilton escorted Mrs. Stewart down the center aisle. She wore a black dress and cloak, and her face was covered in a dark veil. Hilton and the widow Stewart were followed down the aisle by other family members, including her brother, Charles Clinch, and his wife.

When the funeral cortege had completely settled into their seats, the service was begun by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Rylance, followed by Bishop Potter and finally the Rev. Dr. Stephen Tyng Jr. As part of the Episcopal service, the church sexton threw a handful of dirt onto the coffin.

What was startling to those in attendance was the absence of any sermon. Most expected an oration about Stewart, his life, and his many accomplishments, even if a brief one. But no sermon was given. Following the service, the congregation sang the hymn “Rock of Ages,” and the illustrious cadre of pallbearers took Stewart’s coffin from the church. Judge Hilton stepped from his pew holding his arm out for the widow Stewart to take, but she didn’t move. Everyone waited. Mrs. Stewart sat frozen in her pew for several moments until finally she rose to her feet, took Hilton’s waiting arm, and followed the coffin out of the church. Stewart’s remains were taken to the family burial vault in the nearby churchyard cemetery. There, Bishop Potter said a short benediction before the pallbearers and family mourners dispersed. Mrs. Stewart, still leaning on Hilton’s arm, was the last to leave.

ALEXANDER T. STEWART

The dramatic completeness of a successful mercantile career has never been better exemplified than in the life of A.T. Stewart. There is very little romance about it, and through all its stages there run the homely qualities of shrewdness, thrift, and perseverance, mingled with just enough of boldness and original enterprise to raise the man above the rank of the plodding and cautious merchant who bears a competency instead of a magnificent fortune. … His life is a standing proof of the efficacy of honesty, industry, and well-directed intelligence in laying the foundation of vast wealth. The man who has amassed the largest fortune ever accumulated within the span of a single life was simply a hard-working, careful merchant, with a decided talent for organization and a somewhat rare faculty for taking a firm grasp of petty details as of broad and general principles. … There was no gambler’s luck in the methods of actions which expanded the five thousand dollars of 1822 into the forty or fifty millions of 1876. … His dealings with opponents have been characterized as harsh and pitiless, but that was because he looked on commercial competition as a system of warfare in which the longest purse and the best directed energy were as much entitled to their reward as the most skillful strategy or the most approved weapons of destruction. If the few suffered from such a system, the many were the gainers.

—New York Times editorial, April 11, 1876

TRIBUTE FROM GARDEN CITY

A meeting of the citizens of the town of Hempstead, Long Island, in which Garden City is included, was held yesterday afternoon in the Town hall in the village of Hempstead. Resolutions of regret at the death of Mr. Stewart were adopted, and a deputation to attend his funeral was appointed.

—New York Times April 13, 1876

Sympathy and regrets at the death of Stewart were tempered with the sobering reputation he had among many New York City businessmen who viewed him as a monopolist. An editorial appearing in the April 12 edition of the New York Times, simply titled “Monopoly and Competition,” depicted Stewart as a ruthless monopolist who was merciless when dealing with his competitors and believed in cornering every market in which he had dealings. According to the editorial, “… he seemed to regard business as a species of warfare, in which the strongest was the surest of winning, and he realized keenly the advantage of having full control of so much of the field as he could occupy …

“Those who came in conflict with him in his endeavors to carry out his plans could expect no mercy, and received none, and his successes were not embittered, or at least they were not prevented, by the fact that they involved the necessity of the failure of others.”

At the time of his death, Stewart’s only partner in his great retail and wholesale empire was William Libbey, who had been with him for longer than twenty years. Although a partner, Libbey did not share in the profits but merely drew a salary—a generous salary, but just a salary nonetheless.

Stewart left nothing in his will for charity, a surprising and disappointing revelation to many New Yorkers. Stewart named his widow, Cornelia, Libbey, and Hilton as executors of his great estate. The will, dated March 27, 1873, instructed the executors to liquidate his massive business concern. Hilton was bequeathed one million dollars for the purpose of carrying out these final wishes. The will directed Hilton to “exercise a sound discretion in bringing my said partnership affairs to termination.” Stewart had been prompted to prepare his will because of his failing health. Three years later, the liquidation of the massive retail empire was not carried out as Stewart had directed. It was ultimately liquidated, many years later, but by then, the business was a mere skeleton of its former self. Stewart left all his property to his wife and her heirs. He left a variety of gifts and legacies, totaling one hundred thousand, to twelve people who served him in his business, and he bequeathed a total of $15,500 to be shared among his household servants. He left a twelve-thousand-dollar annuity to his sisters-in-law, Sarah and Rebecca Morrow, and free use of the home they lived in at 30 East Thirty-ninth Street. He left an equal sum of ten thousand dollars to Charles Clinch, Anna Clinch, Julia Clinch, Emma Clinch, and Sarah Smith, all relatives of his wife. He also left to Anna, Julia, and Emma Clinch, the maiden sisters of his wife, the free use of the house they lived in at 115 East Thirty-fourth Street. He requested that all employees who had been with his company for twenty years receive one thousand dollars and those with ten years of service, five hundred dollars. Although he alluded to his intention to fund various charities, he made no mention of which charities he meant and left the selection and amounts to be determined by his wife. All and all, Stewart’s will was a general disappointment to everyone, except of course his widow and one Judge Henry Hilton.

“The will of Mr. Stewart, which was filed in the Surrogate’s Office on the day after, the funeral:

1. Bequeathed all the property and estate of the testator to his wife, Cornelia M. Stewart, her heirs and assigns forever.

2. Appointed Henry Hilton to act for the testator, and in behalf of his estate, in managing, closing, and winding-up his partnership business and affairs, and empowered him in respect thereto as fully as the testator was authorized to do by the articles of copartnership of the firm of Alexander T. Stewart & Co.

3. It bequeathed to said Henry Hilton $1,000,000.

4. It revoked and annulled all other wills, and appointed as executors, Cornelia M. Stewart, Henry Hilton, and William Libbey. This was signed March 27th, 1873, and witnessed by William P. Smith, of Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue; W. H. White, of 228 Fifth Avenue; E. E. Marcy, M.D., of 396 Fifth Avenue.”

This was followed by a codicil bearing the same date, in which the following legacies were bequeathed:

“To George B. Butler, the sum of $20,000; to John M. Hopkins, the sum of $10,000; to A. R. P. Cooper, the sum of $10,000; to Edwin James Denning, the sum of $10,000; to John B. Green, $10,000; to George H. Higgins, $10,000; to Henry H. Bice, $5,000; to John De Bret, $5,000; to Robert Prother, $5,000; to Henry Dodge, $5,000; to Hugh Connor, $5,000; to William Armstrong, $5,000; ‘each of whom have long and faithfully served me in my business affairs.’ Also to William P. Smith, $5,000; to William Lynch, $2,500; to Martha Turner, $2,500; to Rebecca Turner, $2,500; to Sarah Turner, $500; to James Cummings, $1,000; to Edward Thompson, $1,000; to Michael Riorden, $500; ‘all faithful servants of my house.’”

—Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, Vol. 1, 1876

In a letter he left for his wife, Stewart directed her to rely on Hilton in all matters regarding his estate as well as any contributions to charities he neglected to include in his will. Because the letter to his wife was not a binding legal document, no vast contributions to charities ever materialized, at least not immediately.

Cornelia Stewart had relied on her husband’s good judgment for her whole life and had no mind or inclination toward his business concerns. Knowing full well the trust her husband placed in Hilton, she conveyed her own trust to Hilton. For the remainder of her life, she relied on Hilton in all matters, both business and personal; that is, except for one—the recovery of her husband’s stolen body.

Besides being Stewart’s legal advisor, Hilton had been Stewart’s closest friend and confidant. Although there were few who didn’t surmise that Hilton would become the executor of Stewart’s will, no one ever suspected that he would become the heir to Stewart’s fortune.

Henry Hilton’s career was founded on his friendship with Alexander Stewart and the vast fortune Stewart accrued through his visionary business acumen. Hilton proved to have none of Stewart’s business savvy, and in fact, his lack of business and public relations know-how and his reckless management ultimately led to the demise of Stewart’s once great retail empire and the total dissipation of his fortune.

Except for his close relationship with Stewart, Hilton had an unremarkable career. He was born in Kingston, New York, in 1821, eighteen years after Stewart was born. After being admitted to the bar, he went to work in the law offices of Judge W. W. Campbell, a firm that Stewart used as part of his growing business concerns. But it wasn’t his association with Campbell’s law firm that led to Hilton’s long and close relationship with Stewart. It was his marriage. In 1849, Hilton married Ellen Banker, the second cousin of Cornelia Stewart. Through this marriage Hilton made the acquaintance of Stewart and his wife.

Hilton’s role in the affairs of Alexander Stewart began early in his life, as Stewart came to view the attorney as much more than just legal counsel. Stewart and his wife often expressed their view that Hilton was more of a son than an advisor, a role Hilton was more than happy to assume. In both public and private affairs, Hilton made himself indispensable to the aging merchant and his wife. He became the master of ceremonies for the Stewart family’s social endeavors. Despite all his wealth, Stewart had never been able to master the fine art of social graces expected from a man of his means, and he relied on Hilton’s expertise in these matters.

On his deathbed, Stewart reportedly told his wife that the entire extent of his business interests should go to Hilton.

I especially appoint Henry Hilton of the City of New York to act for me and in behalf of my estate in managing, closing, and winding up my partnership business and affairs, and I empower him in respect thereto as fully as I may or can, or am authorized to in and by the articles of co-partnership of the firm of Alexander T. Stewart & Co. I further authorize and direct the said Hilton, while so acting in behalf of my estate and in my place and stead, to exercise a sound discretion in bringing my said partnership affairs to a termination and discharging all obligations connected therewith, trusting to his judgment that he will so act in respect thereto as to avoid in so far as can be avoided any unnecessary loss to those connected with me in business. For which service, and as a mark of my regard, I give to aid Hilton $1,000,000.

—from the last will and testament of Alexander Turney Stewart

In a letter attached to the will, Stewart wrote to his wife: “Our friend Judge Hilton will, I know, give you any assistance in his power, and to him I refer you for a general understanding of the various methods and plans which I have at times with him considered and discussed.”

Henry Hilton had served as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He had a commanding presence, which more than made up for his lack of knowledge pertaining to the law. He was striking in appearance and in possession of the finest of manners.

This was in stark contrast to the man who had called upon him as his closest and most trusted advisor, Alexander Stewart. What Stewart had in great business acumen, he completely lacked in outward appearance and social graces. Stewart was modest and unassuming in dress. Quiet, polite, even shy in most social circumstances, he lacked confidence in his manners and in dealing with the social etiquette of the times. Hilton was tall and robust, flamboyant in his dress and demeanor. Stewart was short in stature, thin, and pale. Hilton sported a shock of wavy chestnut hair and a dark mustache, while Stewart was balding and wore wispy tuffs of muttonchop sideburns. Where Hilton relied steadfastly on a gold pocket watch that hung from his vest pocket on an exquisite gold chain, Stewart preferred to rely on public timepieces, mantle pieces, and publicly displayed clocks throughout the city to keep track of the hour. In the worlds of business, finances, social graces, and appearance, Alexander Turney Stewart and Henry Hilton were exact opposites. And so they were inseparable.

The only thing the two men did have in common was their ancestry. Stewart was born in Lisburn, Ireland, on October 12, 1803. Hilton was born in October 1821 in New York to a Scottish-Irish father and a Scottish mother.

Hilton had three brothers, all of them professionals. His oldest brother, James, was a lawyer and later became a judge in Iowa. His brother Joseph was a doctor and served as the New York City coroner. His brother Archibald became a prominent lawyer in New York. Henry Hilton was admitted to the New York bar in 1846 and established a meager practice in the city.

After serving five years as a judge, Hilton was defeated in his reelection bid. He resumed his law practice, starting the firm of Hilton, Campbell, and Bell. Hilton maintained an office within the firm and also had an office within Stewart’s retail business.

Following the Civil War, when Stewart threw his support behind the presidential campaign of Ulysses S. Grant, Hilton served as his political intimate, working behind the scenes to help elect Grant. It was during this period that Stewart and Grant became close friends.

Hilton slowly began to involve himself in the day-to-day operations of Stewart’s retail business. In 1873, he accompanied Stewart to Europe to assist in the reorganization of the overseas operations. During this time Stewart awarded Hilton full power of attorney, allowing him to act on his behalf in all matters pertaining to his national and international operations.

It was not merely Stewart’s will that caused a sensation in social and business circles in New York and beyond. On April 14, 1876, less than a day after Stewart’s magnificent funeral, Cornelia Stewart announced that she had signed over her husband’s entire business to Henry Hilton in exchange for the one million dollars that her husband had bequeathed to Hilton. Hilton and William Libbey then agreed to carry on the business of the late Merchant Prince under a new partnership. The stunning announcement flew in the face of Stewart’s explicit written wishes that Hilton liquidate the businesses. The news of the new partnership and subsequent continuation of A. T. Stewart & Co. sent shockwaves through the business, legal, and social communities.

Know all men by, &c., that I, Cornelia M. Stewart, of the City of New York, widow, have made, constituted and appointed, and by these presents do make, constitute and appoint Henry Hilton, of said City, my true and lawful attorney, for me and in my name, place, and stead, with full power and authority to do all and every act or thing that I might or could do in reference to my estate, real or personal; to make, sign, seal, and execute and deliver any covenant, deed, or other instrument in writing for me and in my name, that I might or could do; to transfer any stocks, bonds, securities, or other real and personal property, as fully as I might or could do; to make and execute any agreement or contract relating to or affecting any of my estate, real or personal, as fully as I might or could do; to collect, demand and receive all sums of money due to me, and to compromise any such claim or demand, and, on such composition or receipt of the same, full acquittance and discharges to give and grant in my name, and to appoint agents or attorneys under him, and to revoke the same when necessary. And generally to do all and every act or thing relating to or concerning my real or personal estate that I may or could do, giving and granting unto my said attorney full power and authority to do and perform all and every act, anything whatsoever requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as I might or could do if personally present, with full power of substitution and revocation, hereby ratifying and confirming all that my said attorney or his substitute shall lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof in witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and seal the 14th day of April, in the year of one though sand eight hundred and seventy six.

Cornelia M. Stewart.

—document filed with the New York City Registrar’s Office, April 14, 1876.

It was obvious to anyone that Hilton’s arrangement was in direct conflict with Stewart’s last wishes. Still, no one protested. What wasn’t obvious was that Hilton would drain Stewart’s business dry and obliterate its mark on New York City.

Meanwhile, most people assumed that Hilton had readily turned over his one-million-dollar inheritance to Cornelia Stewart. However, there was never any record of Hilton doing so. In essence, he not only kept the one million dollars left to him by Stewart, but he managed to take control of Stewart’s entire forty-million-dollar empire.

At the time of his death, the value of Stewart’s wholesale and retail enterprises was approximately twelve million dollars doing approximately forty million dollars worth of business annually. The sale and liquidation of the Stewart empire would have brought in twice as much as the twelve million it was worth, but the sale never materialized. Instead, Hilton assumed operational control over a national and international business.

If Cornelia Stewart had any misgivings, she did not express them. But the arrangement left her bereft of cash, and all her future personal expenditures had to come from Hilton. There was never any indication that Hilton refused any of her requests. However, it is important to note that all her expenses were charged to interest-bearing loans. In other words, Cornelia Stewart was borrowing her own money, at a price.

Hilton announced to the press that it was his intent and the intent of Mrs. Stewart to carry on with those charitable works started by the late Alexander T. Stewart and to finance others. The only two charities Hilton publicly committed to were the Working Women’s Hotel in New York City and an undisclosed religious project planned for Garden City. There was a public outcry over the lack of specifics regarding the potential charitable works being considered by Hilton and the widow Stewart, and in an effort to stem the tide of criticism, Hilton announced the distribution of the paltry sum of about $120,000 in total donations to a variety of charitable organizations in the city. This merely fanned the flames. One hundred twenty thousand dollars was a negligible amount considering the vast fortune Stewart had left behind. Soon, the plans for the religious project at Garden City grew into a full-blown charitable enterprise calling for the construction of an ornate Episcopal cathedral along with boarding schools for boys and girls and a rectory for the Episcopal bishop. The cathedral would cost millions, and for the time being, news of the endeavor quelled any further outrage regarding the size of the charitable contributions Hilton and Cornelia Stewart had made.

A. T. STEWART & CO.

The New Firm—Articles Of Copartnership

Between Judge Hilton And Mr. Libbey.

This is to certify, 1. That we, Henry Hilton and William Libbey, both of the City and State of New York, have this day formed a copartnership for the purpose of conducting a general mercantile business in the City of New York and in the cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Paris, Lyons, Manchester, Bradford, Nottingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Berlin, Chemnitz, and elsewhere in the United States and in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and on the Continent of Europe and in other foreign countries. 2. That the principal place of said partnership will be in the City of New York. 3. That said business will be conducted under the firm name of A. T. Stewart & Co., which firm name it is hereby certified, will be continued in use by Henry Hilton and William Libbey, of the City and State of New York aforesaid; the said Henry Hilton being the assignee and grantee of Cornelia M. Stewart, devisee and legatee under the last will and testament of Alexander T. Stewart, late of the City of New York, now deceased, as to all the interest of said Alexander T. Stewart in the late firm of A. T. Stewart & Co., which firm had business relations with foreign countries.

Witness our hands and seals this 14th day of April, A.D. 1876.

HENRY HILTON

WILLIAM LIBBEY

—New York TimesApril 16, 1876

THE BUSINESS TO BE CONTINUED

An Important Statement By Judge Hilton—The Various Employees Resume

Work This Morning

The TIMES reporter called last evening on Judge Henry Hilton, one of the Executors of the late Mr. A.T. Stewart’s will, for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent the business and various enterprises of the deceased merchant would be conducted hereafter. Judge Hilton said there would be no change whatsoever in the extent or manner of carrying on the business in the two dry-goods stores and their various branches. He had visited the retail establishment yesterday, and given instructions to the various heads of departments to proceed with the transactions of business in their several departments precisely as they did before Mr. Stewart’s death. “To-morrow,” said he, “9,600 employes will resume work where they left off last Monday.” In connection with his business Mr. Stewart had fourteen factories in operation, which will not be limited in their functions.

Along with maintaining the entire retail operations, Hilton continued on with work started by Stewart at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga. Hilton awarded contracts for the reconstruction of the hotel.

—New York TimesApril 15, 1876

Alexander Stewart was dead and buried, and Henry Hilton was on his way.