# Colgate Hoyt > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colgate_Hoyt > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colgate_Hoyt.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgate_Hoyt > Source revision: 1319855067 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American businessman (1849-1922)}} thumb|right|Colgate and Lida Hoyt '''Colgate Hoyt''' (March 2, 1849 – January 30, 1922) was an American businessman active in the late nineteenth century. ==Early life== Hoyt was born on March 2, 1849, in [Cleveland, Ohio](/source/Cleveland%2C_Ohio). He was one of six children born to Mary Ella ([née](/source/n%C3%A9e) Beebe) Hoyt (1814–1890) and Dr. James Madison Hoyt (1815–1895), a Baptist minister, lawyer, businessman and author. Among his siblings was [Wayland Hoyt](/source/Wayland_Hoyt), who was also a Baptist minister and author. He was a descendant of Simon Hoyt, who landed in Massachusetts in 1628 and settled in [Windsor, Connecticut](/source/Windsor%2C_Connecticut), and Walker Hoyt, who was one of the first settlers of [Norwalk](/source/Norwalk%2C_Connecticut). Hoyt attended public schools in Cleveland before attending the [Phillips Academy](/source/Phillips_Academy) in [Andover, Massachusetts](/source/Andover%2C_Massachusetts). He abandoned school due to his father's ill health, going into this father's law offices, before entering real estate. ==Career== In 1881 he came to New York and became affiliated with [James B. Colgate & Co.](/source/James_Boorman_Colgate) ([James Boorman Colgate](/source/James_Boorman_Colgate) was his uncle by marriage) For many years thereafter, he was a prominent financier in New York on [Wall Street](/source/Wall_Street) who specialized in railroad transportation. He later became a partner of Colgate, Hoyt & Co. in which he was active in the organization and finance of many businesses. He was a director of the [Oregon Railway and Navigation Company](/source/Oregon_Railway_and_Navigation_Company), and one of the founders of [Everett, Washington](/source/Everett%2C_Washington), where a main street is named after him. Hoyt and Charles Colby advised [John D. Rockefeller](/source/John_D._Rockefeller), who they knew from the [Fifth Avenue Baptist Church](/source/Riverside_Church). Much of the capital used to build Everett, Washington came from Rockefeller's investments, apparently without his knowledge. Rockefeller naively trusted Hoyt and Colby largely due to their Baptist affiliation. According to Pulitzer prize-winning historian [Ron Chernow](/source/Ron_Chernow), drawing on [Frederick T. Gates](/source/Frederick_Taylor_Gates) memoir and other sources, the duo fleeced Rockefeller, which Rockefeller initially refused to believe. They left him with significant losses in speculative land, timber, and other industrial investments after exiting the investments themselves. The situation was uncovered by Gates who was asked to assess investment sites on his due diligence travels for Rockefeller's philanthropic efforts. Gates personally visited supposed investment sites in Alabama, Wisconsin, and Colorado. One of the visits was to an iron ore mine which Rockefeller believed was generating $1,000 per day in profit. In reality, he was losing that amount daily while Hoyt and Colby were ostensibly using their connections to inflate speculative activity in local real estate. Rockefeller, Gates, and possibly George Rogers (of Standard Oil) found that Hoyt and Colby had been sending statements with falsified or misleading financial values. Gates ultimately discovered around 20 "sick or dying corporations" in the scheme.{{Cite book|last=Chernow|first=Ron|title=Titan|publisher=Random House|year=1998|isbn=9781400077304|pages=367–372}} It is unclear whether Hoyt or Colby engaged in illegal activity and there is no evidence they originally planned to defraud Rockefeller, though their actions would likely be considered fraudulent by modern standards. It is also possible that one of the two men played a lesser role in the scheme. Rockefeller, known to be easy on family and friends, did not pursue legal remedies and Hoyt appears to have recovered professionally. ==Personal life== In 1873, he was married to Lida Williams Sherman (1853–1908), the daughter of [Charles Taylor Sherman](/source/Charles_Taylor_Sherman) and niece of [William Tecumseh Sherman](/source/William_Tecumseh_Sherman).{{cite news |title=Mrs. Colgate Hoyt Dead. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/09/16/104809908.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=16 September 1908}} Together, they were the parents of four children: * Anne Sherman Hoyt (1875–1951), who served with the [American Red Cross](/source/American_Red_Cross) in France during [World War I](/source/World_War_I).{{cite news |last1=TIMES |first1=Special to THE NEW YORK |title=Miss Anne S. Hoyt, of Notable Family |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/07/11/93194606.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=11 July 1951}} * Charles Sherman Hoyt (1879–1953){{cite book |last1=Broadwater |first1=Robert P. |title=William T. Sherman: A Biography |date=2013 |publisher=[ABC-CLIO](/source/ABC-CLIO) |isbn=9781440800610 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZteAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |access-date=8 November 2019 |language=en}} * Colgate Hoyt Jr. (1883–1963), a banker who served as administrative office of New York headquarters of the Selective Service.{{cite news |title=COLGATE HOYT, 80, BROKER, IS DEAD; Headed Draft Board Here Active as Yachtsman General's Staff Received State Honor |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/09/14/82149503.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=14 September 1963}} * [Elizabeth Sherman Hoyt](/source/Elizabeth_Sherman_Lindsay) (1885–1954),{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=Lady Lindsay |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/09/04/83777980.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=4 September 1954}} who married the British diplomat Sir [Ronald Lindsay](/source/Ronald_Lindsay), the fifth son of [James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford](/source/James_Lindsay%2C_26th_Earl_of_Crawford), in 1924.[https://web.archive.org/web/20081014062230/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761143,00.html "New Ambassador"], in ''Time'', 1 May 1939 After the death of his first wife in 1908, he was married to the former Katherine Sharp (1879–1972) at Wood Manse in [Greenwich, Connecticut](/source/Greenwich%2C_Connecticut), in 1912. Katharine, who was previously married to George Scott Cheeseman, was a daughter of Judge Solomon A. Sharp, a [California Assemblyman](/source/California_Assemblyman) and Senator.{{cite news |title=COLGATE HOYT WEDS MRS. K.S. CHEESMAN; Banker and Railroad Director Married to Widow at Wood Manse, Greenwich, Conn. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/07/21/100587522.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=21 July 1912}} In New York City, his residence was at 121 [Madison Avenue](/source/Madison_Avenue) and Hoyt's country estate was a 46-acre parcel known as Eastover that was located on New York's [Centre Island](/source/Centre_Island%2C_New_York).Spinzia, Raymond E. and Judith A. ''Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes.'' vol I. [College Station, TX](/source/College_Station%2C_TX), 2006. Hoyt died on January 30, 1922, at his home in [Oyster Bay, New York](/source/Oyster_Bay%2C_New_York).{{cite news |title=COLGATE HOYT DIES IN OYSTER BAY HOME; Head of Stock Exchange House Was Long Prominent as a Railway Financier. AN ORGANIZER OF M., K. & T. Former President of Ohio Society of New York to Be Buried in Cleveland, His Birthplace. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/01/31/109336515.pdf |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=31 January 1922}} After his death, his widow remarried to geologist Charles Page Perin in 1925. ==References== {{reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Commons}} *{{find a Grave|59973567}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyt, Colgate}} Category:1849 births Category:1922 deaths Category:Phillips Academy alumni Category:American railway entrepreneurs Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:Colgate family --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Colgate Hoyt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgate_Hoyt) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colgate_Hoyt?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.