Sylvester T. Everett

Sylvester T. Everett (November 27, 1838 – January 13, 1922) was a U.S. financier.

Born in Liberty Township, Ohio, he worked on his father's farm until 1850. Everett moved to Cleveland in 1851 to work, first as a messenger and later as a cashier, at Cleveland's oldest banking house Brockway, Wason, Everett & Co (co-founded by his brother Dr. Henry Everett). Sylvester left Cleveland in 1858 to work at a bank in Philadelphia while helping settle the affairs of his uncle Charles Everett. He returned to Cleveland a year later to his banking house position. In 1868 he became a member of Everett, Weddell & Co. (previously Brockway, Wason, Everett & Co.).

Everett served seven terms, from 1869 to 1888, as Treasurer of the city of Cleveland. He was a prominent member of the Republican Party, being friends with President of the United States James Garfield who appointed Everett as U.S. government director of the Union Pacific Railroad. Everett played a part in Marcus Hanna being elected an Ohio delegate to the 1884 Republican National Convention and himself served as an Ohio delegate at the 1872, 1880, 1888 and 1896 Republican National Conventions.

Everett's involvement with transportation led him to help finance and build some of the first U.S. electric streetcar systems in Akron, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania. He served as Vice-President and Treasurer of the Valley Railway Company, completed in 1880, which ran between Cleveland and Akron. A train depot and surrounding community on the railway were named Everett. In 1876, he became president of Second National Bank later reorganized as the Union National Bank.

Everett married his second wife Alice Wade, granddaughter of Jeptha Wade, in 1879 after the death of his first wife Mary in 1876. Sylvester and Alice commissioned Charles F. Schweinfurth to come to Cleveland from New York City to build the Romanesque style Everett Mansion, started in 1883 and completed in 1887. In 1883 he was asked to resign as President of Union National Bank by Henry B. Payne at the request of the bank's directors. Everett had speculated in stocks, including the Northern Pacific Railway, with his own money, which was contrary to bank rules. He retained a financial interest in Everett, Weddell & Co. until 1883. It failed in 1884 amid later allegations by Horace Weddell that Everett and his brother had misrepresented the bank's solvency.

Bibliography

*Burke, James Francis "Official Proceedings of the Eleventh Republican National Convention" University of California (1896).
*Croly, Herbert David "Marcus Alonzo Hanna" The Macmillan Company (1912).
*Reese, John S. "Guide Book for the Tourist and Traveler Over the Valley Railway" Kent State University Press. (2002). ISBN 087338735X

External links

* [http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=EST Sylvester T. Everett biography]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0DE2DF113BE033A25750C2A9649D94629FD7CF New York Times News Article]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C04E7DB1538E033A25753C3A9649D94629FD7CF New York Times News Article]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B01E7D9143FE533A25751C1A9679D94659FD7CF New York Times News Article]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9502E4DC143FE533A25751C1A9619C94659FD7CF New York Times News Article]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E7DA1E3BE533A25754C0A9649D94619ED7CF New York Times News Article]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E7DA1E3BE533A25754C0A9649D94619ED7CF New York Times News Article]