Brayton Ives

Brayton Ives, athlete, soldier, financier, was born in Farmington, Connecticut, in 1840. He graduated from Yale in 1861, and soon enlisted for the war, the next year being made Colonel of the First Connecticut Cavalry, at the age of twenty-two. He led his men in many battles, Harrison’s Landing, Beaver Dam, Reams Station, Five Forks, Sailor’s Creek, and bore his part in Sheridan’s operations in the Shenandoah Valley. He was subsequently brevetted for gallantry in action.

The war over, Ives devoted his energies to business. He became a stock-broker, and was active in the establishment of the New York Stock Exchange. In 1876 he was Vice-President of the Exchange, its President in 1878, and a member of its governing committee for thirteen years. In 1889 he left the active life of Wall Street for the presidency of the Western National Bank, and subsequently was President of the Northern Pacific Railroad, of the Metropolitan Trust Company, and other business enterprises. He was also a collector of ceramics and Japanese swords, of rare books and manuscripts.

Henry Osborn Taylor
1915 Century Association Yearbook