Henry Winsor was the eldest son of Thomas and Welthia (Sprague) Winsor,
and was born in Duxbury, Mass., December 31, 1803.
[Illustration: Henry Winsor & signature]
He began his business education in the office of Mr. Joseph Ballister,
on Central Wharf, in Boston, at the age of sixteen; subsequently taking
a position in his father's office, with whom his uncles, Phineas and
Seth Sprague, became associated, where he remained until his father's
death, in 1832.
On the twenty-ninth of May, in that year, he was married to Miss Mary
Ann Davis, the eldest daughter of Mr. James Davis, here-inbefore
sketched.[15] She was born in Boston, December 3, 1808, and died there,
from an accident, September 27, 1881.
A business venture on his own account resulted disastrously from certain
operations during the Eastern land speculation of 1835, into which he
was drawn.
Still later he was, by appointment of the Court, employed as assignee in
the settlement of estates under the National Bankrupt Act of 1841; then
became a member of the firm of Phineas Sprague & Co., until, in 1852, he
removed to Philadelphia to take charge of a steamship line about to be
established.
This line, under his wise, careful, and energetic management, proved a
complete success. Beginning with two steamers of five hundred tons each,
it has been gradually expanded until it has now a fleet of seven
steamers, aggregating nine thousand tons, running from Philadelphia to
Boston, to Providence, and to Fall River. It was incorporated in 1872
as the Boston and Philadelphia Steamship Company, of which Mr. Winsor
was president from that time until his death.
His business capacity and sterling integrity were soon recognized in
Philadelphia, where he became prominent in every effort to advance the
public good. The confidence reposed in him was indicated by the numerous
positions of trust to which he was invited--as a member, and for many
years president, of the Harbor Commission; a vice-president of the Board
of Trade; a director of the Bank of North America, of the Insurance
Company of North America, of several coal and iron mining companies, and
a manager of the Western Savings Fund Association. He was also a member
of the Centennial Board of Finance, to whose labors much of the success
of that great exposition was due. In all these he did his full portion
of the work, bringing to it his sound judgment and his matured wisdom.
He indulged to some extent his taste for writing. Some of his sketches
were published in _Littell's Living Age_. He printed more than one
volume. They are now all out of print, however, excepting "Montrose and
other Biographical Sketches," issued anonymously from the press of Soule
& Williams, in Boston, 1861. A number of incomplete discussions on
financial and economic subjects were found among his papers. A critic
writes that "he exhibited much grace of style, elegance of diction, and
erudite knowledge."
One who had known him for a long time in connection with some of his
public trusts, says:[16] "He was tenacious of his opinions, and they
were always formed after thought. He was not easily shaken in his views,
but a more just man never lived, and if convinced he was in the wrong he
instantly gave way. Never swerved by personal preference, he did his
own thinking and arrived at his own conclusions."
This, however, was a description of him away from his home. Those who
knew him more intimately, socially, and in his family, received a
warmer, more tender, and loving impression of him. His disposition was
so sweet,--no other word will express it as well,--his temperament so
equable, that the perplexities of business and the trials of life, of
both which he had a full share, neither disheartened nor soured him in
the least. He bore misfortunes and suffering without a murmur. A mistake
affecting him, if frankly acknowledged, would pass without reproof, and
the error would be readily condoned; but any deception or
dishonesty--the abuse of his confidence--moved his indignation
intensely.