This Day in Jekyll History, July 24, 1850
On This Day in Jekyll History…
July 24, 1850, Jekyll Island Club Member John Claflin was born.
John Claflin, Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Museum
Born in Brooklyn, New York, John Claflin was the third son of five boys to Horace Brigham Claflin and Agnes Sanger. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College of NY in 1869 and started an extensive trip around the world. Even in later life he continued to be a world traveler, onetime crossing South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans in 1877.
Due to early deaths of two older brothers, John was called home to enter his father’s wholesale dry goods firm, H. B. Claflin & Co, becoming a Junior Partner in 1872 and President in 1885, upon his father’s death. He managed the firm until 1914. Using a work ethic of ten months work and two months vacation (usually in the Rocky Mountains), Claflin expanded the firm in both manufacturing and retail stores and he expanded the variety of goods sold. Working through a bankruptcy in 1893, Claflin used his personal fortune to keep the firm running. Reorganizing the H.B. Claflin & Co he consolidated his interest in dry goods into three holding companies: Associated Merchants Co., United Mercantile Co., and United Dry Goods Co., with thirty retail subsidiaries. He used modern techniques in sales, introducing “ready-to-wear’”, advertising, customer service and profit sharing. The panic of 1907 created financial difficulties and in 1914 the H.B.Claflin & Co. went into receivership. Claflin’s wife previously bought up some of the debt with her own money. John turned over his private fortune to meet creditor claims, including some of his wife’s, even though by law this would have been protected. The firm never recovered and was later liquidated. By 1915 the Claflin’s had recovered enough through wise investment of the wife’s money to buy back their NJ and Adirondack homes. John’s business talents were such that he was a director of numerous banks and insurance companies.
In 1890, Claflin married Mrs. Elizabeth Hopkins (Stewart) Dunn whose daughter Wilhemine, he adopted. They had three daughters of their own: Elizabeth “Bessie” Stewart , Agnes Sanger, and Mary Stewart. Claflin and his partner Edward E. Eames were invited to Jekyll by John E. DuBignon and Newton Finney as prospective purchasers of the island. Instead, Claflin loaned DuBignon $10,000 to buy other parcels and DuBignon wound up selling to the syndicate that became the Jekyll Island Club. Both Claflin and Eames became charter members. Claflin resigned his membership in 1912 due to financial difficulty but rejoined in 1921. In 1924 he bought “Mistletoe Cottage” from the Porter estate. He died in 1938 at his estate, “Lindenwold” in Morristown, New Jersey. Claflin was the last charter member of Jekyll Island Club to pass away.
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Tags: jekyll island club era, jekyll island club members, jekyll island history, John Claflin
