Darius Ogden Mills

Darius Ogden Mills
Darius Ogden Mills
Born	September 25, 1825 North Salem, New York, United States
Died	January 3, 1910 Millbrae, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York
Occupation	Banker, investor, mining & railway executive, philanthropist
Religion	Episcopalian
Spouse	Jane Templeton Cunningham
Children	Ogden, Elisabeth
Relatives	Sister: Adeline Mills Easton

Darius Ogden Mills (September 25, 1825 – January 3, 1910) was a prominent American banker, philanthropist and, for a time, California's wealthiest citizen.^[1]

Biography

He was born in North Salem, New York and his early career was as a bank clerk and retailer. He joined the California Gold Rush in December 1848, and founded a bank in Sacramento. He never invested in gold mining or silver mining directly, as he considered mining to be too speculative. He rather started ancillary businesses that supported the mining industry, such as banks and railroads. He owned the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which was the only link from the Comstock Lode to the Central Pacific Railroad.

In 1864, he founded the Bank of California, which grew large in the 1860s and 1870s, but collapsed due to financial irregularities involving its chief cashier, William Chapman Ralston. Mills used his personal fortune to revive the bank and attract new investment, and within three years, the bank was again strong.

In 1854, he married Jane Templeton Cunningham with whom he had a son, Ogden and a daughter, Elisabeth, who married Ambassador Whitelaw Reid.

The mausoleum of Darius Ogden Mills

Mills bought part of Rancho Buri Buri and built an estate named Millbrae, which gave its name to the present town that grew up around it. The 150 acres (0.6 km²) of the original estate bordering San Francisco Bay were leased by his grandson Ogden L. Mills to be used for Mills Field, now known as San Francisco International Airport.

Later in life, Mills retired from banking, and returned to New York, where he participated in the development of a number of buildings in Manhattan, including 160 Bleecker Street, or "Mills House No. 1". His devotion to philanthropy involved sitting on the boards of a number of charitable and cultural institutions. He died of a heart attack in 1910 at his Millbrae home, leaving an estate worth $36,227,391.^[2][3]

His remains were returned to the East Coast for burial in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.^[3]

Legacy

A number of local institutions are named for him, including Mills Hospital, the Mills Estate housing subdivision, San Francisco's Mills Building, and Mills High School.

References

1. ^ Pecuniary Emulation by Gray Brechin.
2. ^ "D. Ogden Mills Dies Suddenly. Financier and Philanthropist. Father of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid Fortune Estimated at $60,000,000 Mr. Reid to Attend Funeral". Hartford Courant. January 5, 1910. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/763488932.html?dids=763488932:763488932&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+05%2C+1910&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=D.+OGDEN+MILLS+DIES+SUDDENLY&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2011-05-10. "Darius Ogden Mills, the financier and philanthropist and father of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, wife of the United States ambassador to Great Britain, died of heart disease at his winter home near this city last night, aged 84 years. Mrs. Reid, who came to California with her ..." 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Mrs. Reid and Ogden Mills Inherit All Save $400,000 Left to Public institutions". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9506E0DC1139E333A2575BC1A9679C946196D6CF. Retrieved 2011-05-10. "The will of Darius Ogden Mills was filed yesterday in the Surrogates Court. It was a comparatively short document, and with the exception, of six bequests to public institutions, divided the estate, which has been estimated at between $50,000,000 and $60,000,000, equally between his two children -- Ogden Mills and Elisabeth Mills Reid, wife of Ambassador Whitelaw Reid." 

Further reading

• November 27, 1898 New York Times feature article on Darius Ogden Mills
• January 4, 1910 Los Angeles Times obituary for Darius Ogden Mills

Persondata
Name	Mills, Darius
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 25, 1825
Place of birth	North Salem, New York, United States
Date of death	January 3, 1910
Place of death	Millbrae, California, United States