Joseph Harvey Ladew Sr.

Joseph Harvey Ladew Sr. (April 10, 1865 – February 16, 1940) was one of the largest leather manufacturers in the world with Fayerweather & Ladew, and he was a yachtsman.^[1][2]

Joseph Harvey Ladew Sr.
Ladew and family circa 1913
Born	(1865-04-10)April 10, 1865 Shokan, New York
Died	February 16, 1940(1940-02-16) (aged 74) LeRoy Sanitarium Manhattan, New York City
Education	Columbia University
Known for	Fayerweather & Ladew
Partner	Daniel B. Fayerweather
Children	Joseph Harvey Ladew Jr. (April 1904-1942) Oliver Ladew (1906-1979)
Parent(s)	Harvey Smith Ladew I (?-1888) Rebecca Krom (?-1904)
Relatives	Edward R. Ladew, brother

He was born to Rebecca Krom (?-1905) and Harvey Smith Ladew I (?-1888) in Shokan, New York.^[3][4][5] He attended Columbia School of Mines in 1885 and left the program to join the family run Fayerweather & Ladew in Glen Cove, New York. The company was started by his brother, Edward R. Ladew in 1898.^[6] He became a partner in the company on February 1, 1889.^[4][7]

On November 27, 1901, he married Jennie Bennett House.^[8] They had two children: Joseph Harvey Ladew Jr. (1905-?) and Oliver Ladew (1906-1979). Ladew died at LeRoy Sanitarium in Manhattan.^[2]

Yachts

He had two yachts, both named Columbia built, the first built by Cramp Shipbuilding launched from Philadelphia on August 23, 1893.^[9][10] Turned over to the United States Navy for the Spanish–American War in 1898, the yacht was renamed the USS Wasp and was used in the blockade of Cuba. In 1909 the ship began a nine year long loan to the New York Naval Militia.^[11] The yacht was brought back into active naval service 7 April 1917 for World War I service and continued in naval service until decommissioned at Norfolk on 1 December 1919.

In 1898 he ordered a new yacht from the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey, for $200,000.^[12] The second Columbia, constructed in 1899 and delivered 1900, was designed for possible conversion to a naval auxiliary and modeled after the United States Coast Survey steamer Pathfinder that had been built in the same shipyard.^[13][14] In 1913 it was briefly impounded by the Japanese at Wakayama.^[15][16] That yacht served in World War I as HMCS Stadacona.

Notes

1. The National cyclopedia of American biography. 1910. When the senior Ladew died in 1888, a brother, J. Harvey Ladew, acquired an interest in the business and became a member of the firm. ...
2. "J. Harvey Ladew, Yachtsman, Dead. Wealthy Leather Merchant of This City Succumbs to Long Illness at Age of 73. His Yacht Seized In Japan. Entry Into a Closed Port on World Tour Also Caused the Arrest of All on Board". The New York Times. February 18, 1940. Retrieved 2009-11-29. J. Harvey Ladew, wealthy leather merchant, well-known yachtsman and member of an old New York family, died on Friday at the LeRoy Sanitarium, 40 East Sixty-first Street, after an illness of nearly four months. His age was 73
3. "Mrs. Rebecca K. Ladew". The New York Times. April 27, 1905. Retrieved 2009-12-05. Mrs. Rebecca K. Ladew. Ladew, the widow of Harvey Smith Ladew, who was for many years one of the ...
4. George Graham Lake. America's Successful Men of Affairs: An Encyclopedia of Contemporaneous Biography. Joseph Harvey Ladew, tanner, son of the late Harvey S. Ladew, a young man of good ability, was born in New York April 10, 1864 [sic].
5. US Passport application of 11 December 1912
6. "Edward R. Ladew Dead. He Was a Well-Known Leather Manufacturer. Member of Many Clubs". New York Times. August 31, 1905. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
7. Joseph Harvey Ladew. Columbia University. 1911.
8. "J. Harvey Ladew Weds. Miss Jennie B. House the Bride, After a Brief Courtship. Honeymoon Aboard a Yacht". The New York Times. December 26, 1901. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
9. "Launch of The Columbia. Mr. Ladew's Yacht Promises to be Among the Fleetest in These Waters". The New York Times. August 24, 1893. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
10. Colton, T. (September 30, 2014). "Cramp Shipbuilding, Philadelphia PA". T. Colton. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
11. Naval History And Heritage Command. "Wasp VII". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
12. "J. Harvey Ladew's Columbia Can Be Used as a Cruiser". New York Times. August 27, 1899. Retrieved 2009-11-29. J. Harvey Ladew, a member of the New York Yacht Club has had constructed at the Crescent shipyards, at Elizabethport, N. J., a yacht which is almost a duplicate of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer Pathfinder. The name of the new yacht is Columbia, and the cost $200,000.
13. Railroad Gazette (1899). "The Crescent Shipyard". Railroad Gazette. 43 (June 30, 1899). New York: 467–468. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
14. Colton, T. (September 30, 2014). "Bethlehem Steel Company, Elizabethport New Jersey". T. Colton. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
15. "J. Harvey Ladew and Guests Taken Into Custody; Vessel Pokes Nose Too Close to Port Fortifications; Obsolete Law Is Invoked in International Affair". Los Angeles Times. June 12, 1913. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
16. "Ladew Yacht Released". The New York Times. June 15, 1913. Retrieved 2009-11-29. As was expected, the so-called seizure by the Japanese authorities of the yacht Columbia, owned by J. Harvey Ladew of New York, has proved to be less alarming than newspaper accounts at first made it appear. The yacht has not been detained and the prosecution of its Captain has been dropped.