Middletown transcript., 1895-02-23
GEORGE PEABODY.
The Greatest and Most Judicious of

The Greatest and Most Judicious of
Giyers.
The one huudredth anniversary of the
birth of George Peabody the greatest phil
anthropist was celebrated on Monday
throughout the county.
The house in which Mr., Peabody was
born is still standing on Washington street
in eabody, Mass, once known as Danvers
q notable local Landmark, which is an
nually visited by thousands. He was a
descendent of Lieut.. Francis Peabody, who
emigrated from st. Albans, Hertfordshire,
England, in 1885, and settled in Topsfeld,
then part Of Salem. His father was Thos.
Peabody, and his mother, Judith, daugh-
ter of jeremiah Dodge. He received his
education in the district schools of his ma
tive town, and it was while yet a school
boy that he earned his first dollar by tend
ing a refreshment booth on a celebration
tune subsequently acquired and distributed
He was grocer's cieik at the age of twelve
and so marked was his business ability
that at nineteen he was admitted into
partnership with Eliza Riggs, of Washing
ton, ID. c., in wholesale dry-goods busi-
ness, which was subsequently removed to
Baltimore. The house soon took rank
with the leading concerns of the country.
In 1887 he withdrew from it and, with
others, formed the firm of George Peabody
& Co., money brokers and merchants, with
headquarters in London, England. Four
teen years later he had accomplished the
object of his life. as far as the acquisition
of wealth was concerned. After negotiat-
ing loan of IS ,OoO, 900 by which the credit
of Maryland was saved, he deyoted to the
State his commission, amounting to $780,
900.
His benefactions aggregated $4,000, 900.
Among his gifts were $3,5OO.00O for South
ern Educational Fund; 50, ,O0O, 900 for estab.
fishing homes for the deserving poor in
London; 5000 600 to Peabody Institute, in
his native town; 81 ,000, 600 to the Peabody
Institute in Baltimore; s15O,O0O to Harvard
College, for all archaeological institute; a
like amount for similar object to Yale;
Sl50,0O0 for the Peabody Museum at Salem,
and his unparalleled generosity was further
manifested in the establishment of lib
rary in Thetford, VT. and a library and
church in Georgetown, his mothers birth
place. of an art school at Rome, Italy and
in numberless smaller benefactions. He
provided the means for fitting out DR..
Kane's ship for the second Arctic voyage
in search o. Sir John Franklin.
He refused a baronetcy and the Grand
Cross of the Order of the Bath from the
Queen of England, but accepted from her
portrait of herself, accompanied an auto
graph letter, both of which together with
gold medal voted him by Congress, are
preserved in fireproof recess in the Pea
body Institute in native town.
Mr.. Peabody died 1869 just after visit
to this country which was marked by his
immense benefactions, and two weeks
after statue of him had been unveiled by
the Prince of Wales in London His obse-
quies were held in Westminster Abbey,
where his body would have been inferred
but for his desire to be buried in his native
land beside his mother. The residue of
his fortune-$5. .oO0, ,OOO-was distributed by
will among his relatives.
LONDON, Feb. 1S.-In connection with
the one hundredth anniversary of the birth
of George Peabody the trustees of the fund
given by him for the erection of dwelling
houses for the working classes i'm London
report that the total amount of the fund is
now f1.140OOO (about S., zoe. .OO0.) Owing
to the benefaction of Mr.. Peabody 1900
rooms are now occupied by 10000 inmates.
The average rent of the rooms is 2s. I'd, per
week. The average weekly earning of the
head ofeach family among the inmates of
the rooms is 23s. 3d.