Thomas Butler Coddington (1814-1886)

He was born at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, a descendant of William Coddington (1601-1678), the first Governor of Rhode Island. Orphaned by the age of seven, he was brought up by his uncle and grandmother. He came to New York City in 1830 and worked in the offices of James A. Moore. In 1835, he established T.B. Coddington & Co., at Broad Street, commission merchants in the metal business. In 1854, he extended his business by becoming an importer of bar iron and steel and established a house of the same name at Liverpool in England. Having lived at 41 Fifth Avenue, between 1869 and 1876 he lived in London before returning to New York. He was popular and his firm had the reputation of being one of the most successful of all those in the metal business. In 1837, he married Almira, daughter the Rev. Eliphalet Price of Dutchess County, New York. They were the parents of thirteen children of whom only four lived to adulthood (listed above) and only one of whom married: Fannie, Mrs Browning, who lived in and renovated Ca' Rezzonico, one of Venice's best-known palazzos on the Grand Canal.