Eastern Financiers and Institutional Change: The Origins of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company and the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company

This article examines the establishment in the 1830s of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company and the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. Utilizing manuscript letters, company records, and government reports, the author contends that conservative financiers, exemplified by Isaac and Arthur Bronson of New York City, structured both firms in an effort to reform the speculative practices of commercial banks and to move capital into the agricultural sector, particularly in the West. The trust company's development also marked an important step in the financiers search for more efficient methods of capital mobilization and formation.