Archibald Gracie

Archibald Gracie (June 25, 1755 – April 11, 1829) was a Scottish-born shipping magnate and early American businessman and merchant in New York City and Virginia whose spacious home, Gracie Mansion, now serves as the residence of the Mayor of New York City. In 1793, he moved back to New York and became a commissary merchant and shipowner (Archibald Gracie and Sons, East India Merchants). Gracie was a business partner of Alexander Hamilton and a friend of John Jay.

Gracie was a member of the Tontine Association, which supervised the trading of stocks. Gracie expanded his interests and became active in the banking and insurance industries. He was a director of New York's earliest savings bank New York Bank for Savings. He was an incorporator of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company and vice president of the New York Insurance Company, a director of the United States Bank and of the Bank of America. Together, they had several children, including:

Eliza Gracie (1790–1825), who married Charles King (1789–1867), the president of Columbia University, and the second son of U.S. Senator Rufus King Sarah Gracie (1791–1878), who married James Gore King (1791–1853), a U.S. congressman, and the third son of Rufus King Archibald Gracie II (1795–1865), who married Elizabeth Davidson Bethune (d. 1863) Esther Rogers Gracie (1801–1857), who married William Beach Lawrence (1800–1881), Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island Mary Ann Gracie (1805–1876), who married Judge Michael Ulshoeffer (1793–1881).

After the death of his wife, Gracie married Elizabeth Fitch. His marriage yielded ten children.

His granddaughter, Emily Sophia King (1823–1853), married Stephen Van Rensselaer Paterson (1817–1872), grandson of William Paterson (1745–1806), a U.S. Senator, Governor of New Jersey and Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gracie's great-grandson, Archibald Gracie IV (1858–1912), was a military officer and writer who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912. Coincidentally, one of Gracie IV's fellow travellers on the Titanic was John Jacob Astor IV, great-grandson of frequent Gracie Mansion visitor, and personal friend of Gracie I, John Jacob Astor.