Representative Gurdon Saltonstall Mumford

Gurdon Saltonstall Mumford (January 29, 1764 – April 30, 1831) was a United States Representative from New York and an early leader in American finance. He was born in New London, Connecticut, on January 29, 1764, and was named in honor of his maternal grandfather, Gurdon Saltonstall, the 25th governor of the Connecticut Colony. He was the second son of David Mumford Sr., a descendant of Thomas Mumford, one of the earliest settlers in Rhode Island, and Rebecca Winthrop Mumford (née Saltonstall), a granddaughter of Governor Saltonstall. Mumford attended the common schools in his youth, receiving the basic education typical of the period.

Mumford’s early career was shaped by his close family connection to Silas Deane, the American envoy to France, who was married to his mother’s younger sister, Elizabeth Saltonstall. Through Deane’s influence, Mumford entered diplomatic service abroad and became a private secretary to Benjamin Franklin during the latter part of Franklin’s official residence in Paris as American minister to France. This experience placed him at the center of American diplomatic and commercial interests in Europe in the closing years of the American Revolution. In 1785, he returned to the United States with Franklin and settled in New York City, which was emerging as a leading commercial center of the new nation.

After establishing himself in New York, Mumford became associated with his brothers in the commission business in 1791, engaging in mercantile and brokerage activities that connected him to the city’s growing trade and financial networks. On November 2, 1793, he married Anna Van Zandt in the Reformed Dutch Church. They were the parents of at least two sons: Benjamin Franklin Mumford (1796–1817) and Tobias Van Zandt Mumford (1796–1875). Tobias later married Mary Oliver Manwaring of Philadelphia, and after her death, married Catherine Brooks of New York. Following the death of his first wife, Mumford remarried in 1810 to Letitia Van Toren. The couple resided at 23 Broadway in New York City and had several children, including Gurdon Saltonstall Mumford Jr. (1811–1870), who married Catherine A. Snow (b. 1819) in 1866; George Clinton Mumford (b. 1812), who died in infancy; Anne Letitia Mumford (b. 1812), who married John Osgood; Emma Letitia Mumford (1814–1879), who died unmarried; George Washington Mumford (b. 1814), who died in infancy; George Lafayette Mumford, who died in infancy; Mary Margarita Mumford (1826–1888), who married Aaron Price Ransom (1825–1893) in 1846; and Cornelia Matilda Mumford, who married George Warren Geer.

Mumford entered national politics in the early nineteenth century as a member of the Republican Party, then commonly known as the Democratic-Republican Party. In 1805, he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative-elect Daniel D. Tompkins. He represented New York during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents as the young republic faced challenges in commerce, foreign relations, and domestic development. Among his colleagues in Congress from New York were George Clinton Jr., Henry W. Livingston, Uri Tracy, Philip Van Cortlandt, and Killian K. Van Rensselaer, reflecting the diverse political and regional interests of the state.

Mumford was reelected to the Tenth and Eleventh Congresses and served three consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1805, to March 3, 1811. During his tenure, he contributed to the legislative process as a member of the Republican Party representing New York and took an active role in matters affecting trade and industry. He served as chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures during the Ninth Congress, a position that placed him at the center of debates over commercial policy at a time when the United States was grappling with European conflicts, maritime restrictions, and the development of its own manufacturing base. His service coincided with the administrations of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, when issues such as embargoes, neutral rights, and economic policy were of central concern.

After retiring from active political life at the close of the Eleventh Congress in 1811, Mumford turned his attention more fully to finance and commerce in New York City. In 1812, he was elected a director of the Bank of New York, one of the earliest and most prominent financial institutions in the United States. The same year, he served as a presidential elector and cast his electoral vote for DeWitt Clinton and Jared Ingersoll in the presidential election of 1812, reflecting his continued engagement in national political affairs even after leaving Congress. In 1813, he opened a broker’s office on Wall Street, further solidifying his role in the emerging financial district.

Mumford was one of the original founders of the New York Stock Exchange and became a leading figure in its early development. From 1818 to 1824, he served as the second president of the New York Stock Exchange, succeeding Anthony Stockholm. In this capacity, he helped guide the institution during its formative years, as New York increasingly supplanted other American cities as the nation’s principal financial center. Beyond his professional and political activities, Mumford was also active in civic and philanthropic circles. He was a member of the Société Française de Bienfaisance de New-York (the French Benevolent Society of New York), founded in 1806 to assist needy French and Swiss immigrants and to serve as a social organization for its members, reflecting his continuing ties to the French community and his earlier experience in France.

Gurdon Saltonstall Mumford died in New York City from a lingering illness on Saturday, April 30, 1831. He was interred in the Old Collegiate Dutch Church Cemetery. His life spanned the colonial, revolutionary, and early national periods of American history, and his career combined service in diplomacy, commerce, national legislation, and the early organization of American financial markets.