View source for Balthazar P. Melick

{{Short description|American banker (1770–1835)}}
{{Infobox person
|name          = Balthazar P. Melick
|image         = Balthazar Melick founder of Chemical Bank.png
|image_size    = 160
|other_names   = "Baltus"
|birth_name    =
|birth_date    = {{Birth date|1770|10|26}}
|birth_place   = [[Lebanon Township, New Jersey]]
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|1835|11|20|1770|10|26}}
|death_place   =
|known_for     = Founder of [[Chemical Bank]],<br>Melick & Burger
|education     =
|alma_mater    =
|employer      =
|occupation    = [[Merchant]], [[Banker]]
|years_active  = 1783-1831
}}
'''Balthazar P. Melick''' (also known as Baltus) (October 26, 1770 &ndash; November 20, 1835), an American merchant and banker, was the founder of [[Chemical Bank]] in 1823.  Melick served as the first president of Chemical from 1823 to 1831.<ref name=chemical1913hist />
==Biography==
Melick who was born in [[Lebanon Township, New Jersey]] in 1770, started as an apprentice at a mercantile house at the age of thirteen.<ref name=NJ18thCentury>[https://archive.org/details/storyanoldfarmo00mellgoog Life in New Jersey in the eighteenth century].  Unionist-Gazette, 1889</ref>  In 1792, at the age of twenty-one he was admitted to a partnership and for many years he was a prosperous merchant in [[Greenwich Village]] in [[New York City]].  In 1795, he was listed as a "grocer" doing business at 183 Washington Street.<ref name=oldmerchants /><ref name=centuryofbanking />   Melick founded the commercial house of Melick & Burger, which owned trade vessels sailing in the Caribbean, doing much of its business with the island of [[St. Croix]].<ref name=NJ18thCentury /><ref name=oldmerchants />  The firm, which had its offices at 76 [[Washington Street (Manhattan)|Washington Street]], owned a ship known as "Chase"<ref>The "Chase" was a famous craft of that day, whose captain was David Rogers</ref> which afterwards was prominent in the sugar trade.<ref name=NJ18thCentury />
He became a Director in the [[AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company|Equitable Fire Insurance Company]], the Greenwich Fire Insurance<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AsMoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA448 The United States insurance gazette and magazine of useful knowledge].  Vol. 14, G.E. Currie., 1862, p. 448</ref> and the Union Marine and Life Insurance Company.<ref name=centuryofbanking>{{cite book |first1=Henry Wysham |last1=Lanier |author-link1=Henry Wysham Lanier |title=A century of banking in New York, 1822-1922  |year= 1922|page= 122 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3N0ZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA7-IA129 }}</ref>
Melick was also a noted member and secretary of the Black Friars Society, also known as the Friary, a music and social club.<ref name=oldmerchants>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AxIwAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA122 The Old Merchants of New York City].  Thomas R. Knox & Co., 1885</ref><ref name=centuryofbanking />
===Founder of Chemical Bank===
Melick founded the New York Chemical Manufacturing Company, the predecessor of [[Chemical Bank]] in 1823 together with John C. Morrison, Mark Spenser, Gerardus Post, James Jenkins, William A. Seely and William Stebbins.<ref name=chemical1913hist>[https://archive.org/details/historychemical00nygoog History of the Chemical Bank 1823-1913].  Privately Published by The Chemical National Bank, 1913</ref>  Melick and his partners used the manufacturing company, which produced [[chemical]]s such as [[blue vitriol]], [[alum]], [[nitric acid]], [[camphor]] and [[Potassium nitrate|saltpeter]], as well as medicines, paints, and [[dye]]s as a means to securing a [[State bank (United States)|bank charter]] from the New York State legislature.<ref>[http://www.scripophily.net/chemnatbanof.html scripophily.net - Retrieved November 8, 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728082633/http://www.scripophily.net/chemnatbanof.html |date=July 28, 2011 }}</ref>  During the 1820s, prospective bankers found that they were more likely to be able to successfully secure a charter if the bank were part of a larger business.  The following year, in April 1824, the company successfully amended its charter to allow Chemical to begin its banking practice.
Melick retired as president of the bank in 1831 in favor of John Mason, one of the richest merchants of his day in New York, and an early shareholder in the bank.<ref name=chemical1913hist />  Melick, who never married, died shortly thereafter in 1835.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melick, Balthazar P.}}
[[Category:1770 births]]
[[Category:1835 deaths]]
[[Category:American bankers]]
[[Category:People from Lebanon Township, New Jersey]]
[[Category:18th-century American merchants]]
[[Category:JPMorgan Chase people]]
[[Category:19th-century American merchants]]