This Day in Jekyll History, June 29, 1840
On This Day in Jekyll History…
June 29, 1840 Jekyll Island Club Member Charles Stewart Maurice is born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
Charles Stewart Maurice, Image Courtesy of the Jekyll Island Museum
Charles Stewart Maurice was born to Charles Frazier Maurice - an educator who opened a private school which merged with the Mt. Pleasant Military Academy in Ossining, NY- and Cornelia Joline. Charles Stewart attended his father’s school and in 1858 entered Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, graduating in 1861 as Phi Beta Kappa and class Salutatorian. From there, he enrolled in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for marine engineering, taking sophomore and junior classes in one year.
In 1862 he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as 3rd Assistant Engineer until the end of the Civil War in 1865. Turning down an Assistant Professorship in Math at the U.S. Naval Academy, Maurice started his business career as an Engineer for the Lower Hudson Steamboat Company designing engines. He left in 1866 to open a Tannery in Athens, PA with his friend Eugene Underhill. In 1869 he sold out to his partner and returned to New York supplying lumber to the Oswego-Midland RR to build bridges.
In 1871 he formed Kellogg & Maurice, with partner Charles Kellogg, to build road and railway bridges. They became one of the pioneers in iron bridges and were the second company to build a steel bridge. Some of their bridges were; the Tombigbee River, 3rd Ave Elevated Railway in New York City, and spans in Nova Scotia and Brazil.
In 1884 Kellogg & Maurice merged with other firms to form the Union Bridge Building Co. with partners George S. Field, Edmund Hayes, Thomas C. Clarke, and Charles McDonald (Field, Hayes and Clark were also Jekyll Club members). Their bridges included; Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, NY, the Niagara Cantilever Bridge, the Ohio River Bridge at Cairo, IL, Mississippi River at Memphis, TN., and the Hawkesbury Bridge at New South Wales, Australia.
In 1869, Maurice married Charlotte Marshall. Their children were Archibald Stewart, George Holbrooke, Marian Bridge “Mamie”, Charles Frazier, Cornelia “Nina”, Charlotte Marshall, Margaret Stewart “Peg”, Albert Touzalin, and Emily Marshall. The family was very active in the Jekyll Island Club life, coming early in the season and staying late. In 1890, he built Hollybourne Cottage, which still stands today as a part of the Jekyll Island Club National Historic Landmark District.
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Tags: Charles Stewart Maurice, Hollybourne Cottage, jekyll island history, jekyll island museum
July 1st, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I am trying desperatealy to find some information on the old Bennis (spelling?) motel. My parents stayed there on their honeymoon 50 years ago next year and I’m trying to find a picture of it for their reception. The only thing I know was that it was downtown, my daddy didn’t have enough money to stay there, and that the manager “spotted” him enough to spend his honeymoom night there. What a great memory! Can anyone help me?