John Clarke Lee (1804-1877)
of 14 Chestnut Street, Salem & Co-Founder of Lee, Higginson & Co., Boston
He was born at Tremont Place, Boston, Massachusetts. Orphaned by the age of five, he was brought up by the Rev. Rufus Anderson and the Pickering family, also spending time with his great-grandmother, Mrs Sarah (Pickering) Clarke, sister of U.S. Secretary of State Col. Timothy Pickering. He was privately educated in Salem before graduating from Harvard in 1823. Having initially studied law, he preferred to pursue a mercantile career and first went into partnership with John Merrick, and later William Sturgis. The partnership was dissolved in 1830 and Lee became a trustee and officer of the Salem Savings Bank, a director of the Exchange Bank and the Eastern Railroad Corporation, and briefly represented Salem in the Massachusetts General Court. In 1848, he co-founded the noted investment bank of Lee, Higginson & Co. with offices at 47 State Street in Boston. Retiring in 1862, he frequently travelled for pleasure in Europe.
The firm Lee, Higginson & Co. went on to help finance the growth of several iconic American companies such as General Motors, AT&T and General Electric. It eventually collapsed over the Swedish Match Scandal of 1932 having invested in a global match-manufacturing empire created by Ivar Krueger who turned out to be a major crook. The scandal was the catalyst for sweeping reforms of the U.S. securities and banking industries. After Lee, Higginson’s downfall, the head of its Chicago office, William McCormick Blair, co-founded the firm now known as William Blair & Company.
In 1826, Lee married Harriet, the only daughter of Joseph Warner Rose, of Antigua. They were the parents of ten children of whom nine (listed) survived to adulthood. In 1834, Lee built the Greek-Revival family home at 14 Chestnut Street (see images). After his widow died, it became home to their son, Francis, who died there in 1913. It remained in the Lee family until 1925 when it was purchased by the artist Frank W. Benson. Lee's close notable relations included: his great-uncle, U.S. Senator George Cabot; his half-sister's husband U.S. Senator Robert Charles Winthrop; his son-in-law Leverett Saltonstall II, Collector of Customs at Boston; and, another son-in-law, the banker Samuel Endicott Peabody.
The firm Lee, Higginson & Co. went on to help finance the growth of several iconic American companies such as General Motors, AT&T and General Electric. It eventually collapsed over the Swedish Match Scandal of 1932 having invested in a global match-manufacturing empire created by Ivar Krueger who turned out to be a major crook. The scandal was the catalyst for sweeping reforms of the U.S. securities and banking industries. After Lee, Higginson’s downfall, the head of its Chicago office, William McCormick Blair, co-founded the firm now known as William Blair & Company.
In 1826, Lee married Harriet, the only daughter of Joseph Warner Rose, of Antigua. They were the parents of ten children of whom nine (listed) survived to adulthood. In 1834, Lee built the Greek-Revival family home at 14 Chestnut Street (see images). After his widow died, it became home to their son, Francis, who died there in 1913. It remained in the Lee family until 1925 when it was purchased by the artist Frank W. Benson. Lee's close notable relations included: his great-uncle, U.S. Senator George Cabot; his half-sister's husband U.S. Senator Robert Charles Winthrop; his son-in-law Leverett Saltonstall II, Collector of Customs at Boston; and, another son-in-law, the banker Samuel Endicott Peabody.
