Schieffelin, William Jay (1866-1955)

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Jane Addams et al. to William Howard Taft, December 30, 1911

Paul Underwood Kellogg to Jane Addams, December 27, 1911

Edward Thomas Devine to Members of the Committee on Industrial Relations, May 23, 1912

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Birth Date

1866-04-14

Death Date

1955-04-29

Birthplace

New York

Biographical Text

William Jay Schieffelin was born to William Henry and Mary Jay Schieffelin, a descendant of Chief Justice John Jay. He attended Tivoli Columbia College School of Mines, graduating in 1887, and then attended Munich University, graduating in 1889. In 1896, he was a member of the Municipal Civil Service Commission. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, he was the captain and regimental adjutant for the 12th New York Volunteers. Schieffelin then worked as a chemist for the drug company Schieffelin & Co., where by 1903 he was vice president of the firm, and by 1906 he was president. He was involved in various religious and societies and social organizations, being a trustee of the Hampton Institute and of the Muskogee Institute, president of the Armstrong Association, manager of the American Bible Society, president of the American Church Missionary Society, and a vestryman at St. George’s Church in New York City. He was also president of the Citizen's Union in 1908, a fellow of the London Chemical Society, and a member of the American Chemical Society and Society of Chemical Industry. In addition, Schieffelin was a progressive member of New York City's Old Guard, an officer for the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, a member of the NAACP, serving as chairman of the Defense Committee for the Scottsboro Boys, and a supporter of the Woman's Suffrage movement.

Schieffelin married Maria Louisa Shepard in 1891. They had five children together. Schieffelin died in 1955.