{{short description|American lawyer}}
{{infobox officeholder | image = | office = President of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company | caption = | term_start = 1830 | term_end = 1847 | predecessor = ''Inaugural holder'' | successor = Morris Franklin | birth_date = {{birth date|1778|04|04}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1853|10|17|1778|04|04}} | death_place = Staten Island, New York, U.S. | alma_mater = Columbia College | parents = Samuel Bard<br>Mary Bard | spouse = {{marriage|Catherine Cruger<br>|October 7, 1802}} | children = 14, including John Bard | relations = }} '''William Bard''' (April 4, 1778 – October 17, 1853) was a lawyer and pioneer in life insurance who founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company.
==Early life== Bard was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1778. He was the son of cousins, Mary (née Bard) Bard and Samuel Bard, a prominent doctor who was a founder of Columbia University's medical school and physician to George Washington.<ref name="BardArchives">{{cite journal |last=Hirsch |first=Felix |date= October 1941 |title=The Bard Family |journal=Columbia University Quarterly |location=Bard College Archives, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY }}</ref> His younger sister, Eliza, was the wife of John McVickar, the First Rector of St. James Church in Hyde Park and professor at Columbia University.<ref name="DCHS1938">{{cite book |title=Year Book of the Dutchess County Historical Society |date=1938 |publisher=Dutchess County Historical Society |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cspAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA79 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
His paternal grandparents were Suzanne (née Valleau) Bard,<ref name="vanderbiltgarden">{{cite web |title=The Bard Era (1764-1821) {{!}} |url=http://www.vanderbiltgarden.org/bardera |website=www.vanderbiltgarden.org |publisher=F. W. Vanderbilt Garden Association, Inc. |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en |archive-date=12 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812200730/http://www.vanderbiltgarden.org/bardera |url-status=dead }}</ref> a granddaughter and heiress of Pierre Fauconnier, and John Bard, a friend of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin who had invested in Hyde Park, then a 3,600 acre plantation.<ref name="Wilder2014">{{cite book |last1=Wilder |first1=Craig Steven |title=Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781608194025 |page=229 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2einBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA229 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
William graduated from Columbia College, in 1798 and began the study of law under Judge Maturin Livingston, the former Recorder of New York City.<ref name="BardArchives"/>
==Career== After his marriage in 1820, they moved to Hyde Park where his father had transferred a large portion of his estate, together with a considerable fortune that his wife received from her grandmother, Madame du Nully of San Croix. Around 1826, Bard sold their estate in Hyde Park to David Hosack (the doctor who tended to the fatal injuries of Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804) and moved to Manhattan, before eventually settling in Staten Island where he purchased a large piece of property becoming the first of his family to reside on Staten Island. There he built a large house in West New Brighton, located on the north shore of the island, at Bard Ave. (which was named for him) and Delafield Place. He was offered the position of president of Columbia College, but declined the offer.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/>
He later founded the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, which was the first insurance company in New York,<ref name="Brooks1996">{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Charles E. |title=Frontier Settlement and Market Revolution: The Holland Land Purchase |date=1996 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=9780801431203 |page=209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d0Iue35b7PUC&pg=PA209 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and served as its first president.<ref name="NYL1831">{{cite book |title=Report of the New-York Life Insurance and Trust Company; made to the Chancellor of the State of New-York, March 29, 1831 |date=1831 |publisher=New York Life Insurance and Trust Company |page=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQNhVyZ7j-AC&pg=PA24 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> After his retirement in 1847, he was succeeded by Morris Franklin, who served as president from 1848 until his death in 1885.<ref name="NFObit1885">{{cite news |title=MORRIS FRANKLIN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1885/10/23/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html |access-date=12 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=23 October 1885}}</ref>
==Personal life== 175px|thumb|Coat of Arms of William Bard On October 7, 1802, Bard was married to Catherine Cruger (1781–1868) at Trinity Church in Manhattan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hvmag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=8258&url=%2FHudson-Valley-Magazine%2FMarch-2011%2FBard-College-A-150-Year-History%2F&mode=print |title=| Bard College: A 150 Year History |publisher=Hvmag.com |access-date=2016-06-15 |archive-date=2016-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401115146/http://www.hvmag.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=8258&url=/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/March-2011/Bard-College-A-150-Year-History/&mode=print |url-status=dead }}</ref> Catherine was the daughter of Ann (née du Nully) Cruger and Nicholas Cruger (brother of Henry Cruger),<ref name="1898SVRCruger">{{cite news |title=COL. S. V. R. CRUGER ACCUSED.; John Bard Says that He Has Held Back Money Due Him Under His Wife's Will. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/02/06/102104993.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=6 February 1898}}</ref> a slave-trader in St. Croix, West Indies.<ref name="Wilder2014"/> Together, they were the parents of fourteen children,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Their children that died in infancy were: Mary Bard (b. 1807), Catharine Bard (b. 1809), Nicholas Bard (b. 1816), Bertram de Nully Bard (b. 1817), Cruger Bard (b. 1823), and Nathaniel Pendleton Bard (b. 1825).<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/>}} eight of whom lived to adulthood:<ref name="Helffenstein1911">{{cite book |last1=Helffenstein |first1=Abraham Ernest |title=Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants: With Some Account of the Allied Valleaux |date=1911 |publisher=Press of S. H. Burbank & Company |page=95 |isbn=9780598995292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s45JAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA95 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
* Samuel Bard (1803–1883), who died unmarried.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/> * Anne Bard (1804–1834), who married Edward Prime (1801–1883),<ref name="Hall1895">{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Henry |title=America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York |date=1895 |publisher=New York Tribune |page=527 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5wMAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA527 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> son of Nathaniel Prime, in 1827.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/> * Caroline Bard (1806–1883), who died unmarried.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/> * Susan Bard (1812–1838), who married Ferdinand Sands (1806–1839),<ref name="Johnson1990">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Dale T. |title=American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection |date=1990 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9780870995972 |page=193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=od6eLeOkdkcC&pg=PA193 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> a grandson of Comfort Sands.<ref name="Davenport1919">{{cite book |last1=Davenport |first1=Charles Benedict |title=Naval Officers; Their Heredity and Development |date=1919 |publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84iJ59R4CMwC&pg=PA195 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Schnurmann2018">{{cite book |last1=Schnurmann |first1=Claudia |title=A Sea of Love: The Atlantic Correspondence of Francis and Mathilde Lieber, 1839-1845 |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004344259 |page=812 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KKNyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA812 |access-date=12 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> * Eliza Bard (1813–1902), who married Rufus King Delafield (1802–1874), brother of merchants Richard Delafield and Edward Delafield.<ref name="RDObit1930">{{cite news |title=RICHARD DELAFIELD, BANKER, DIES AT 76; Chairman of Board of National Park Bank Succumbs at Tuxedo After Long Illness. MEMBER OF NOTED FAMILY He Was President of Bank for 22 Years and Official or Director of Other Corporations. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/08/05/102143680.pdf |access-date=12 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=5 August 1930}}</ref> * William Henry Bard (1815–1834), who died unmarried.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/> * John Bard (1819–1899), who founded Bard College with his wife, Margaret Taylor Johnston (1825–1875), daughter of merchant John Johnston and sister of John Taylor Johnston, founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/> * Mary Bard (1821–1847), who married Arthur B. Morris.<ref name="Helffenstein1911"/>
Bard died on October 17, 1853, at his home on Staten Island. He was buried in the family vault in St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery. His widow, Catherine, died on October 14, 1868, also in Staten Island. Their Staten Island estate in the Livingston neighborhood, which was later owned by their daughter Eliza, became the Staten Island Cricket Club.
==References== ;Notes {{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
;Sources {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{find a Grave|178985811}}
{{New York Life Insurance Company}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bard, William}} Category:1778 births Category:1853 deaths Category:Lawyers from Philadelphia Category:New York Life Insurance Company Category:19th-century American lawyers Category:Lawyers from New York City Category:Columbia College, Columbia University alumni Category:People from Livingston, Staten Island