Robert Lenox Banks (1828-1898)

of Albany, New York; Secretary of the New York Central Railroad

He was born in New York City and graduated from Princeton (1848). Through his second wife's family connections, Robert was appointed Secretary and and Assistant-Treasurer of the New York Central Railroad. He was also connected with the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroads. He served as as Quartermaster-General and Aide-de-Camp to New York Governor John T. Hoffman. He was Alderman of Albany (1868), Deputy Sheriff for Albany County (1869) and in 1880 was nominated for Mayor of Albany but didn't run for election. He was President of the Albany branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; the Albany YMCA; the Albany Humane Society; the Princeton Club; and, the Albany City Curling Club. He was Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Albany Rural Cemetery and a member of the Albany Park Commission, the Eastern New York Fish & Game Protective Association, the Adirondack Forestry Commission of New York State, the Fort Orange Club, the Masons, and the Albany Historical and Art Society. In 1857, he married Emma Rathbone Turner and they had one son. In 1877, he married his second wife, Mary deCamp Corning, daughter of Rear-Admiral John deCamp and widow of Edwin Weld Corning (nephew of Erastus Corning, President of the New York Central Railroad). The had one daughter together.

Parents (2)

William Banks

Shipping & Commission Merchant, New York City

1782-1848

Isabella (Lenox) Banks

Mrs Isabella Henderson (Lenox) Banks

1789-1866

Spouses (2)

Emma Rathbone (Turner) Banks

Mrs Emma Rathbone (Turner) Banks

1835-1866

Mary (deCamp) Banks

Mrs Mary (deCamp) Corning, Banks

1843-1935

Children (2)

Robert Lenox Banks, Jr.

of 717 Myrtle Avenue, Albany, New York

1864-1922

Mary (Banks) Moore

Mrs Mary deCamp (Banks) Moore

1878-1964