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Twenty-First President
1832-1835; 1837-1840.
The Twenty-first
President of Saint Andrew’s Society was Mr. David Hadden, one of the
leading merchants in the City of New York. He was the son of Alexander
Hadden, Baillie of Aberdeen, and Elspet Young, having been born at
Aberdeen, Scotland, on the 13th October, 1773, and died on the 3d June,
1856, at his residence in Lafayette Place, New York City, aged
eighty-three years.
His family had been
identified with the history of the county of Aberdeenshire, Scotland,
from remote times, and he was the first of his name to come to the
United States.
Mr. Hadden sailed from
Liverpool on the 23d September, 1806, on the packet-ship New Guide,
arriving at New York on the 18th November, 1806, after a voyage of
nearly two months.
Shortly after reaching
this country he established the business (house of David Hadden & Sons)
in Pine Street, which had a long and prosperous career and at this time
continues under the name of Hadden & Co., importers of raw silks and
mattings.
Identifying himself with
church and charitable work, Mr. Hadden served as Senior Warden of St.
Thomas’s Episcopal Church from its organization until his death in 1856.
He was elected a member
of Saint Andrew’s Society on 8th November, 1810, and admirably filled
the important offices of Manager, 1823-1826; 1827-1828; First
Vice-President, 1828-1832; and twice President, 1832-1835 and 1837-1840;
besides serving as a member of the Committee of Accounts, 1841, 1843,
1853; and the Standing Committee, 1842; 1852.
A fitting tribute to his
virtues as a man by one who was honored with his friendship and was a
fellow member of the Society, is as follows:
“Mr. Hadden was a man of
whom any society might have been justly proud. His mind, naturally acute
and practical, was cultivated by early education and foreign travel; his
judgment sound and discriminating; his manners cordial and unaffected:
his principles pure and unbending; and his whole nature kind, generous
and benevolent. As a merchant, he stood among the most eminent for
industry and promptitude, as well as for unswerving uprightness and
integrity.
After a long life of
prosperity, usefulness and honor, he has been gathered to his fathers,
leaving to his family the precious remembrance of his spotless name, and
to us the lesson of his bright example.”
He married on the 16th
May, 1809, at Flushing, Long Island, Ann Aspinwall, daughter of William
Smith Aspinwall and Mary Bostwick, by whom he had issue: (1) Isabella,
born 1810, who married Rev. Charles Jones; (2) William Alexander, born
1811; (3) Mary Aspinwall, born 1812; (4) Sarah Platt, born 1814; (5)
Margaret Frances, born 1815; (6) Anna, bom 1816; (7) John Aspinwall,
born 1818; (8) Eleanor, born 1820, who married Francis Jones, Jr.; (9)
Laura, born 1822; (10) David James, born 1825; (n) Elizabeth Farquhar,
born 1828.
The portrait of Mr.
Hadden has been copied from an admirable oil painting now in the
possession of his grandson, Mr. John A. Hadden, Jr. |
