The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-08
IN MEMORIAM.
Action On the Death Of the Late
John Z. Dewitt.


to the Services and Character of the
Late President
At meeting of the Board of Directors
of the Union Mutual Life Insurance
Company held on September 6, 1893, the
following action was taken:
Mr.. Drummond reported the following
minute as a tribute to the memory OF
our late president, and, on motion OF MT.
Moves, it was voted that the same be
spread upon the records and copy
forwarded to the family of Mr.. Dewitt
and that the Directors, Officers and EN-
ployes of the company be invited to wear
a suitable mourning badge for the period
of thirty days from the date of his death.
The announcement of the death OF our
president, John Evert Dewitt, has
brought to us such a crushing weight
of sorrow, that words are utterly made
quate to give it expression.
Mr. Dewitt is believed to have been d
descendant of the family to which John
Dewitt, the grand pensionary OF Holland,
belonged His ancestors in some lines
came to this country soon after 1850, and
were residents of New York city When
the Revolution came, ten of his ancestors
took an active part in 1T.
He was the son of Cornelius W. and
Charity H. (Van Gaasbeek) Dewitt, and
was born i'll Milford, Pennsylvania,
August 4, 1889.
He passed the early yearssof his life in
New York city, moved to Boston, Mass,
in 1876, and from thence to Portland,
Maine, in 1881, where he continued to
reside up to the time of his death, which
occurred in Chester, Mass, ON the thirty
first day of August, 1858, in consequence
of an accident on the Boston & Albany
railroad.
i L. E 1,
he was thrown upon his own re-
sources at an early age Indeed, his lifes
work began at the age of fourteen years,
when he left his home and went to New
York city and became clerk, which
position he occupied up to about 1861.
During the war he held a responsib BILE
position as clerk to a leading merchant
in New York city.
After dissolving connection with him,
Mr. Dewitt engaged in the business Of Life
Insurance. and became canvassing
agent for the Phoenix Mutual Life In
surance Company of Hartford, Conn,
in which capacity he achieved. great
success.
His reputation was such that he was
soon called to the Presidency Of the
United States Life Insurance Company
of New York city, which position he held
until 1876. During the early part of
that year there was occasion to elect a
President of this Company, and after a
careful examination and inquiry, Mr..
Dewitt was unanimously elected
Director and President on the twenty
eighth day of July, 1876, and entered at
once upon the discharge of the duties Of
the office.
While this company was chartered by
the State of Maine, it had been allowed
to have it's principal office in Boston,
but in 1881 it was deemed advisable by
President Dewitt, and his immediate
associates, that the claim of this State to
have the company removed to Maine
was we'll founded, and no opposition
was made to the legislation enacted for
that purpose. AS matter of course
the removal necessitated substantial
reorganization Of the company, inasmuch
as its affairs could not be properly adj
ministered by Directors resident in Mass
achuSettS.
In April, 1884, the company moved to
Portland, Maine, was reorganized,- and
under Mr.. DeWitt's successful presidency
has continued to increase in prosperity
and to extend the scope of its business.
The community, not bounded by city
or even state lines, will universally de-
plore the untimely death of a citizen
whose services have been SO beneficial,
and gave such promise of greater value
in the future; but to us, us who shared in
his labors, his death is not only an in
describable, loss, but brings with it an
intense personal grief.
He was SO devoted to the interests of
this company, that he based his hopes
and expectations of fame upon its sue
cess; word spoken against it was to
him personal affront, while the APP
proval of those whose approval was
worth having, always gave him pleasure
1t was ever fist in his thoughts and
no consider AGions of his own pleasure,
comfort OF even health, were allowed to
interfere with any effort which he
deemed necessary for its welfare. It has
TRANSFERRED that in the Providence of God,
he has sacrificed his life in response to
sudden and unexpected call for his ser
vices in it's behalf. He literally "died
with the harness on.
He was a man of indomitable and I'M
firing energy, and intense, and almost
restless, activity. He possessed quick
perceptions and a marvellous memory of
details, especially in all matters relating
to his business. His promptness was
proverbial; careless delay in meeting a
business engagement was, in his eyes,
sin against business rules and gentleman
ly courtesy, and almost an offence
against good morals. In word, no one
will except to the statement that as a
thoroughly. trained, fully equipped, able
man Of. business he had no superiors,
anu Low OIuopios In "etS o "'SNAH ASsSN-o>
of men,"
But he did not run in a rut; deeply in
terested in the public prosperity, and
especially in that of his adopted state
and city, in spite of the engrossing cares
of his particular business, he found time
to participate in other enterprises, in
which his knowledge of affairs, and his
sound Judgment commanded the respect
and confidence of all who were associated
with him. He never was a merely
nominal" officer, he assiduously per-
formed the duties of every position to
which he was called, and would never
accept one to which he could not give the
time for an intelligent understanding
OF it's affairs, and a proper discharge
of it's responsibilities.
He had made financial matters study
and SO familiar was he with the in
ternal affairs and outside relations of the
corporations of the country, that bis judg-
ment in relation to their securities was
almost unerring. His opinion was Of
ten sought, and invariably commanded
the respect of the ablest financial men OF
the nation.
OF genial disposition, with keen
sense of the humorous, he was one of the
most delightful of companions, when the
cares of business had been laid aside.
Though he had been denied the adj
vantages of a liberal education, from his