Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 3 - Группа авторов - Страница 72

Willis S. Paine was born in Rochester, New York, on the 1st of January, 1848. His father, Nicholas E. Paine, was born in the state of New Hampshire, and after attending Phillips Exeter Academy was admitted to the bar upon attaining his majority. Shortly afterward he removed to the state of Maine, and was appointed a member of the staff of Governor Fairchild, with the rank of colonel. He married, at South Berwick, Maine, Abby M. Sprague, who was a descendant of the ante-colonial Governors, Bradford and Prance, of Massachusetts Bay. His brother, Robert Treat Paine, was for many years one of the shining lights of the Boston bar. After marriage Colonel Paine removed to the city of Rochester, New York, where he was elected district attorney of Monroe county. He subsequently held the offices of mayor and president of the board of education of that city. Twenty-five years ago Colonel Paine bought the McKeel farm and a part of the Underbill farm at Yorktown and laid out a town site, which with the advent of the railroad became the locality now known as Yorktown Heights.

In 1885 Nicholas E. Paine and his wife Abby celebrated their golden wedding in true New England style, surrounded by their children, relatives of the family and cherished friends. In 1887 he departed this life, holding at the time of his death the presidency of the Dakota Railroad Company. He left a daughter, Mrs. Wallace Darrow, and two sons. The elder son was Oakman S. Paine, M. D., who served through the civil war with conspicuous gallantry and fidelity and was brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel for meritorious services. At the time of his death, November 8, 1891, he was the surgeon in chief of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the city of New York.

A biography of Mr. Darrow and children appears on the following pages.

The younger son, Willis S. Paine, entered the Rochester Collegiate Institute in the year 1862. When he graduated at this institution he was chosen valedictorian of his class. He continued his studies at the Rochester University, graduating with honor in the class of 1868. Before receiving his college diploma he became a law student in the office of Sanford E. Church, afterward chief judge of the court of appeals. In 1868 his father removed to New York city, and our young law student continued his studies in the offices of the late Charles A. Rapallo, also one of the judges of the court of appeals. In the spring of 1869 Mr. Paine was admitted to the bar, and for some time practiced his profession in the office of Judge Rapallo.

But another and very important field was soon to be opened to Mr. Paine, into which he was well qualified to enter and where he has won his highest laurels. In 1874, when the legislature passed a law authorizing the bank superintendent to cause an annual examination to be made of the trust companies of the state, Mr. Paine was appointed by the superintendent as one of the three examiners. It was a work in which from the first he took the deepest interest and showed the most careful and thorough research. The examination soon resulted in the closing of three trust companies in the city of New York, which owed depositors six million dollars. These depositors were subsequently paid in full, and the public press praised Mr. Paine for the successful accomplishment of this result. He also made the examinations of the same corporations the succeeding year.

In 1876 the doors of the Bond Street Savings Bank, one of the largest institutions of the kind in this country, were closed by order of the court. Mr. Paine's success as a lawyer and bank examiner was such that on the recommendation of the attorney-general and the bank superintendent he was appointed by Judge Landon, at Schenectady, as receiver of the insolvent concern.

Upon assuming the duties of the trust he began an investigation of the transactions of the bank from its beginning, and then decided to bring suits against the trustees for losses incurred for certain acts which, while not made with wrongful intent, were unauthorized by law. These suits were novel in their character and were stoutly defended, but the result justified his theory, inasmuch as the trustees paid him in settlement the sum of one hundred and thirteen thousand, five hundred dollars. The court recognized the services of Mr. Paine in that long and tedious warfare, in which so many nice legal points were involved, by stating " that the duties of this trust have been administered by the receiver with rare diligence, fidelity and discretion. " At the time of the failure of the bank a meeting of the depositors was held, and a committee of their number was appointed to look after their interests. Before the payment of the final dividend this committee met and passed a series of exceedingly laudatory resolutions referring to the manner in which the receivership had been conducted, and had the same engrossed and presented to Mr. Paine. So far as known this is the only instance of the kind in the history of these insolvent institutions — oftentimes quite the opposite feeling existing on the part of the creditors of such institutions toward the receivers.

Mr. Paine succeeded at the close of his receivership in paying the general creditors eighty-six and five-eighths per cent., while the preferred creditors were paid in full. The whole sum received and disbursed in the winding up of the affairs of the bank was nearly thirteen hundred thousand dollars. No other receivership of the twenty-three savings banks that failed in New York city and vicinity during 1873 and subsequent years paid so large a percentage: several paid less than twenty per cent. Upon his petition his accounts were examined by referees or by attorney-general deputies eight times, and each time the report presented to the court was of an encomiastic character, and in the order of closing the receivership Mr. Paine received " the thanks of the court for the faithful manner in which the duties of the trust have been discharged. "

In 1880 the legislature passed an act providing for the appointment of commissioners to make a compilation and revision of the laws of the state affecting banks and banking. William Dowd, the president of the Bank of North America, and Mr. Paine, having been appointed by Governor Cornell under this act, submitted a revision to the legislature in 1882, which was then adopted. The legislature of the following year gave a vote of thanks to Messrs. Paine and Dowd for their services. This was the first vote of thanks given by that body since the civil war. Both of the commissioners served without the slightest pay, and expended less than one-half of the sum appropriated by the legislature for their expenses; the balance now remains to their credit in the state treasury.

Governor Cleveland, in April, 1883, nominated Mr. Paine as superintendent of the banking department of this state. The nomination was unanimously and immediately confirmed by the senate. No office of its kind in the United States has more varied responsibility than that of the position of hank superintendent of the state of New York. The comptroller of the currency has the supervision of banks of deposit and discount only, while the former has, in addition to these, savings institutions, trust, mortgage and safe deposit companies, building and accumulating fund associations, the total resources of which aggregate over a thousand millions of dollars.

In the discharge of the duties pertaining to the office of superintendent of the banking department, Mr. Paine displayed a most creditable executive ability. His clear conception of what should constitute the practical workings of a correct system in the management of banks and other state moneyed institutions, and his skill and persistence in enforcing these rules and regulations caused his name to become a high authority through the country in this department.

As a writer Mr. Paine has contributed much useful information, tending to elucidate his favorite studies and investigations. His large work on " Banks, Banking and Trust Companies," the preparation of which was a difficult task, involving very arduous labor, is written in a masterly style — lucid in arrangement and thoroughly exhaustive of its subject — and is recognized as the standard work in New York financial institutions of every character. It has been commended by the press in high terms, especially the action of the author in doing the work without the smallest pecuniary compensation, directly or indirectly. The propriety of this action, in view of the fact that he was, when the book was published, at the head of the banking department of the state, while manifest, indicates nevertheless a delicacy not always found in public officials. The New York Times, in reviewing the book, says that "it covers the ground so completely as to be a library of reference. Everything bearing on the subjects treated, however remotely, is incorporated, and the banker needs no other work of reference to acquaint him with the requirements, the obligations, and the legal limitations of his business. The historical portion of the work is well worthy of study, showing, as it does, the reasons drawn from experience for the conduct of banking and other moneyed institutions. In making this compilation of the laws, and in explaining the causes that procured their enactment, Mr. Paine has subserved a good purpose. His work has been carefully and conscientiously done, and it cannot but be of great service. " A fourth edition of this work has been issued by Baker, Voorhis & Company. A treatise on the law regulating building associations has also been written by Mr. Paine, and is published by L. K. Strouse & Company.

Mr. Paine has also written largely for legal and financial magazines, and all his literary efforts bear the mark of a scholarly hand.

In April, 1885, President Cleveland offered Mr. Paine the position of sub-treasurer in the city of New York. This officer is the custodian of over one hundred and eighty millions of dollars, and the action of the president may be regarded as an unusually high compliment. In June, 1896, at its annual commencement, Manhattan College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

On the 5th of April, 1888, Mr. Paine married Miss Ruby S. Tilden, the daughter of the late Henry A. Tilden, of New Lebanon Springs, and a niece of ex-Governor Samuel J. Tilden. She departed this life December 20, 1896.

He was an early member oi the Bar Association of the city of New York, and has served upon some of its most prominent committees. He was largely instrumental in having the legislature, in connection with the transfers of titles to real estate in the city of New York, adopt the " block system;" and the general law providing for the incorporation and regulation of trust companies is wholly his work. He is also a member of the Tuxedo, Commonwealth, Metropolitan, the National Arts and Phi Beta Kappa Clubs of New York, and is the president of the Theta Delta Chi Graduate Association.

During the month of November, of the year 1889, Mr. Paine resigned the bank superintendency, having held the office nearly twice as long as any of his predecessors, to accept the position of president of the State Trust Company, a corporation which had been organized with a capital of one million dollars and with a surplus of five hundred thousand dollars. This corporation has been remarkably successful.

In the month of May, 1892, he resigned the presidency of the State Trust Company for the purpose of taking a trip around the world. He sailed during that month for Europe, and remained abroad about a year and a half. Upon his return he was tendered, by Governor Flower, the position of colonel upon the latter's staff, which was accepted by Mr. Paine. Colonel Paine subsequently became the first president of the Merchants Safe Deposit Company, in New York city, which position he still holds. He is a director in the American Surety Company, Metropolitan Savings Bank, State Trust Company and other corporations.