thumb|Macomb (1748–1831), an American merchant and speculator

Alexander Macomb (1748–1831) was an American fur trader, merchant and land speculator known for purchasing nearly four million acres from the state of New York after the American Revolutionary War. A Loyalist sympathizer, he operated from New York City after the war. His mansion in the city was used by President George Washington for several months in 1790 as the temporary president's mansion.

Macomb had already made a fortune on land speculation in North Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, and believed he would make more profit in New York. Unable to sell the New York land fast enough to meet his debts, however, he was sent to debtors' prison for a period and never regained his fortune.

Early life and education

Macomb was born in 1748 in Ballynure, a rural village in County Antrim in Northern Ireland to John Macomb, a merchant, and Jane Gordon, both of Ulster Scot descent. Alexander also had a younger brother William and sister. In 1755, the whole family moved to Albany in the colonial Province of New York, which was a center of fur trading with the Iroquois and other Native American tribes.

Macomb and his brother William also became merchants and fur traders, operating around the Great Lakes as far west as Detroit, which had been under British control since 1763 and made into the British province of Quebec since 1774. Given their colonial settlement, French-Canadian traders were more numerous in the west, and competition was fierce. On August 27, 1774, Phyn & Ellice, fur traders in Schenectady in the Mohawk Valley, sold its Detroit stock to the Macomb brothers and appointed them as its agents in that post. This was a notable success for 26-year-old Alexander and his younger brother.

The city was rapidly rebuilding after the war, and men of Loyalist leanings, such as Macomb, were generally not discriminated against. They had a large family. His namesake son Major General Alexander Macomb (1782–1841) had an illustrious military career, winning the Battle of Plattsburgh and serving as Commanding General of the United States Army from May 29, 1828, to June 25, 1841. He and five other Macomb sons served in the military during the War of 1812.

Their daughter Jane Macomb married Hon. Robert Kennedy, a Scotsman who was brother of the Marquess of Ailsa. The Kennedys' daughter Sophia-Eliza married John Levett of Wychnor Park, Staffordshire, England.

Their son John Navarre Macomb (March 7, 1774 – November 9, 1810) married Christina Livingston, granddaughter of Philip Livingston, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and Founding Father of the United States. John Navarre Macomb's children included Colonel John Navarre Macomb, Jr. (1811–1899). Macomb Jr's children included Montgomery M. Macomb (1852–1924), a career United States Army officer who attained the rank of Brigadier General.

When his wife Mary died in 1790, Macomb had 10 children living at home. The next year he married Janet Marshall Rucker, herself a widow. They had seven more children, including Elizabeth Maria Macomb (born January 7, 1795), who married Thomas Hunt Flandrau, the law partner of Aaron Burr. The Flandraus' eldest son was Charles Eugene Flandrau (1808–1903), a Minnesota political and judicial figure. He was the grandfather of Isabella Greenway (1886–1953), U.S. Representative from Arizona.

Macomb died in Washington, D.C. in 1831.

Further reading

  • David B. Dill Jr. (September 9, 1990) "Portrait of an Opportunist: The Life of Alexander Macomb". (September 16, 1990) "Macomb's Years in New York City: Wealth and Power". (September 23, 1990) "The Audacity of Macomb's Purchase" and Bibliography, Special to The Times. Watertown Daily Times.

See also

  • Alexander Macomb House (New York City)

Notes

  • Geo. H. Richards, Memoir of Alexander Macomb (NY: M'Elrath, Bangs & Co., 1833), 14.
  • Macomb's Mansion (mlloyd.org)