Anson Stager

Anson Stager
Anson Stager
Born(1825-04-22)April 22, 1825
Ontario County, New York
DiedMarch 26, 1885(1885-03-26) (aged 59)
Chicago, Illinois
AllegianceUnited States of America
Union
Branch
Union Army
Service years
1861 - 1866
Rank
 Colonel
Brevet Brigadier General
CommandsMilitary Telegraph Department
Conflicts
American Civil War
Other workPresident of Western Electric Manufacturing Company

Anson Stager (April 20, 1825 - March 26, 1885) was the co-founder of Western Union, the first president of Western Electric Manufacturing Company and a Union Army officer, where he was head of the Military Telegraph Department during the American Civil War.[1][2]

Early Life

Anson Stager was born in Ontario County, New York to Henry Wade Stager and Elmira Stager (nee Anson).[3][4][2]

Career

At age sixteen, Stager began working as an apprentice on the Rochester Daily Advertiser [5] for a printer and telegraph builder named Henry O'Reilly of Rochester, New York. After the latter had a telegraph line constructed from Philadelphia to Harrisburg he placed Stager in operator positions in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and then at age 21 he was put in charge of the first Lancaster, Pennsylvania, office in 1846. In the spring of 1848, he was made chief operator of the "National lines" at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he made several improvements in battery and wire arrangement. In 1852, Stager was promoted to superintendent and also served as the first general superintendent of Western Union Company, newly consolidated in 1856.[6]

Civil War service

Following the outbreak for the American Civil War in April 1861, Stager was requested by Ohio governor William Dennison, Jr. to manage the telegraphs in southern Ohio and along the Virginia Line. Stager obliged and immediately prepared a cipher by which he could securely communicate with those who had the key (notably the governors of Illinois and Indiana). In October, he was called to Washington, D.C., and appointed head of the Military Telegraph Department, which oversaw government telegraphs in all departments.[7] In 1862 Stager was made a Colonel on the staff of Commanding General of the United States Army Henry Halleck.[2]

He remained in service until 1866, continuing to lead the department as civilian until September 1868; and was made a brevet brigadier general of volunteers for his war service.

Later career

In 1869, Stager moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he served as president of Western Electric.[2] He was also president of the Chicago Telephone Company and president of the Western Edison Company, and secured a consolidation of the two.[8][2] Following his move to Chicago he became the leading representative of the Vanderbilt family's business interests in the Midwest.[9]

During his term as President (and co-director) of Western Edison Light Co. he was a colleague of fellow Director Thomas Edison.[10]

Personal life

Marriage and descendants

In 1847 Stager married Rebecca Sprague;[2] the marriage produced five children, three of whom survived into adulthood:

General Stager became a widower after his wife Rebecca Sprague Stager died in October 1883.[11]

Residences

Stager commissioned the construction of a large mansion in Cleveland, Ohio at No. 3813 Euclid Avenue (then known as Millionaire's Row), which was completed in 1866. Purchase of the land and construction of the property cost Stager approximately $60,000, and the house continues to be known as the Stager-Beckwith House.[12]

The Stager-Beckwith House in Cleveland, Ohio - General Stager's home 1866 to 1869

The Euclid Avenue mansion was sold to businessman Thomas Sterling Beckwith in 1869, after which Stager moved his family to Chicago, where they initially lived at No. 672 Michigan Avenue. In 1878 Stager was the founding President of the exclusive Calumet Gentlemen's club in Chicago; the club initially leased a large house at No. 1733 Michigan Avenue as their clubhouse, situated on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Eighteenth Street. Stager subsequently purchased the house on behalf of a consortium of club members for $38,000 in December 1880.[13]

In May 1883 the Calumet Club relocated to a larger, purpose-built clubhouse on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Twentieth Street,[14] after which Stager purchased the former clubhouse building at 1733 Michigan Avenue. He subsequently demolished the building and commissioned Solon Spencer Beman to design a large private home, which was completed in late 1883.[11][15]

Following General Stager's death in 1885, No. 1733 Michigan Avenue was sold by his executors to wealthy building contractor William Boyden Howard for $70,000; the sale was finalised in May 1887.[16] The house was later leased by several members of the Vanderbilt family, headed by William Kissam Vanderbilt, for a six-month period during the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.[15]

Death and legacy

Anson Stager died at his home in Chicago on March 26, 1885.[17] His funeral was held at his home 28 March 1885; his pallbearers included Marshall Field, Joseph Russell Jones, Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank, Martin Ryerson Sr., and Robert Todd Lincoln (former US Secretary of War and son of President Abraham Lincoln).[18][2]

In April 1885 his estate was initially valued at $850,000 for probate in 1885 (equivalent to $25,400,000 in 2024); this amount included an estimated $125,000 of real estate and $725,000 of personal assets, including $262,000 worth of shares in the Michigan Telephone Company, $60,000 of Union Steel Shares, and $60,000 of Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. Shares. His fortune was divided equally between his three daughters.[19][20] Under the terms of Anson Stager's will his two eldest daughters Louise Stager Gorton and Annie Stager Hickox, aged 35 and 33 when their father died, were to receive half of their respective shares immediately, with the remaining half held in trust until they each reached the age of 40. Stager's younger daughter Ellen Sprague Stager, aged 19 when her father died, was to have her share held in a trust from which she would be paid the income, with one quarter vesting into her absolute ownership when she either married or turned 21, with a further quarter to be paid when she turned 30, and the remaining half vesting into her full ownership at the age of 40.[20]

The fortune which Stager amassed during his lifetime and subsequently bequeathed to his three surviving children enabled his daughter Ellen Stager to join the ranks of the American "Dollar Princesses" who married members of the British Aristocracy; in 1887 she was married to Lord Arthur Butler, younger brother and heir-presumptive of James Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde. Lord Arthur succeeded as Marquess of Ormonde in 1919, and Ellen became the Marchioness of Ormonde.[21] As Stager's two elder daughters Louise Gorton and Annie Hickox both died childless during the early 1920s, the bulk of his fortune eventually passed to Ellen and her descendants.[21][22][23][24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Biography at soyankee.blogspot.com". Archived from the original on 2011-08-27. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Israel, Paul (February 2000). "Stager, Anson (1825–1885), telegraph pioneer". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  3. ↑ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). "Stager, Anson" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  4. ↑ "Stager, Anson". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  5. ↑ Biography at pbwiki.com
  6. ↑ Cleveland Past and Present at fulltextarchive.com
  7. ↑ Biography Archived 2009-01-19 at the Wayback Machine at gordon.army.mil
  8. ↑ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. New York City, New York: J. T. White Co. 1910. p. 110.
  9. ↑ "Obituary: Death of Gen. Anson Stager, the Famous Electrician". Indianapolis Journal. Chicago (published 27 March 1885). 1885-03-26. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Western Editson Light Co". Chicago Tribune. 24 September 1882. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 "Obituary - Rebecca Sprague Stager". Chicago Tribune. 23 October 1883. p. 3. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Bair, Angelina (2 January 2024). "Stager-Beckwith House". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
  13. ↑ "Calumet Club - purchase of premises". Chicago Tribune. 6 December 1880. p. 8. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Calumet Club Reception - New Club-house". The Inter Ocean. 1 May 1883. p. 5. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 "By the Vanderbilts. Temporary Chicago Home leased by the New York Family (1733 Michigan Avenue)". Chicago Tribune. 11 February 1893. p. 1. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Sale of the Residence of the late General Anson Stager". Chicago Tribune. 22 May 1887. p. 6. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Obituary for Anson Stager". The Times-Union. 26 March 1885. p. 2. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Gen. Stager's Funeral". The New York Times. Chicago (published 29 March 1885). 1885-03-28. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "Millions of Money". The Daily Inter Ocean. Chicago. 16 March 1895. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. 1 2 "A nice fortune for three ladies". The New York Times. 18 April 1885. p. 1. Retrieved 24 August 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. 1 2 MacColl, Gail; Wallace, Carol McD. (2012). To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age. Workman Publishing Company. p. 74, 79. ISBN 978-0-7611-7198-0.
  22. ↑ "Automobile Club Sells its Property; Eight and Thirteen Story Buildings Purchased by Real Estate Operators". The New York Times. 22 June 1923. p. 17. ProQuest 103185961. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ↑ "Estates Appraised". The New York Times. 22 June 1923. p. 34. ProQuest 103183292. Retrieved 2023-12-18 – via Internet Archive.
  24. ↑ "Case 2520/1923". Surrogate's Court case files, ID: 2520/1923. New York City: Surrogate's Court, New York County.

Further reading

  • Robert Luther Thompson, Wiring A Continent, The History of the Telegraph Industry in the United States, Princeton University Press, 1947
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Anson Stager at Wikimedia Commons
  • Anson Stager at Find a Grave
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