Ambrose Kingsland

American politician

Ambrose Cornelius Kingsland (May 24, 1804 – October 13, 1878) was a wealthy sperm oil merchant who served as the 71st mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853. In 1851, he initiated the legislation that eventually led to the construction of Central Park.

Kingsland was born on May 24, 1804, in New York City. He was the son of Cornelius Kingsland (1768–1815) and Abigail (née Cock) Kingsland (1771–1854). His siblings included Daniel Cock Kingsland (b. 1798), Rebecca Kingsland Sutton (b. 1800), Jane Kingsland Rogers (b. 1802), Clara Ada Kingsland High (b. 1806). He was a member of the old New Jersey Kingsland family who had for nearly 200 years lived in and around Belleville, New Jersey. He was the uncle of William M. Kingsland, who owned 1026 Fifth Avenue.

A successful merchant, Kingsland built businesses in grocery dry goods, sperm oil, shipping and real estate. He held public office as the 71st mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853, the first mayor to be elected to a two year term.

Kingsland began his career in 1820, in partnership with his brother Daniel C. Kingsland, as a general merchant and commission business, D & A Kingsland, at 49 Broad Street, then 5 Broad Street. The business expanded into sperm oil and international trade. D & A Kingsland operated whaling ships and owned several noteworthy clipper ships, including Typhoon and Western World, operating the Empire Line between New York and Liverpool and the Third Line of New Orleans packets, and entering the China trade around 1850. The firm became D. A. Kingsland & Sutton in 1843, then A. C. Kingsland and Sons, located at No. 55 Broadway in lower Manhattan.

Kingsland was appointed a Commissioner of the Croton Aqueduct in 1848. During the year he held that position the Croton Aqueduct High Bridge commenced operation and the proposal was made to the city to purchase ground for a large new reservoir immediately north of the existing reservoir located at the center of Manhattan. This new reservoir was to become a factor in the creation of Central Park. In 1850 he was nominated as the Whig candidate for Mayor of New York. Kingsland had little political experience and had not previously held elective office. His nomination was part of a concerted initiative undertaken by New York’s business community to mobilize behind a “Union ticket” promoting the Compromise of 1850 as critical to New York’s future prosperity. New Yorkers’ apprehensions about the nation’s growing disunity, and Kingsland’s high standing in contrast with doubts about the integrity of his Democratic opponent, Fernando Wood, contributed to Kingsland’s election by almost 4,000 votes over Wood.

Through his son George, he was the grandfather of Helen Schermerhorn Kingsland (1876–1956), who married Augustus Newbold Morris (1868–1928) (the son of A. N. Morris), George L. Kingsland (1885–1952) and Ethel Welles Kingsland (1886–1967), who married Walter Anderton. Through his son Ambrose, Marjorie Kingsland, who married Viscount Robert de Vaulogé in the Church of St. Clotilde, Paris, and Muriel Kingsland, who married Captain Ivan Barrington White (d. 1947) of the British diplomatic service. Through his daughter Augusta Lovett, who married Herman LeRoy Jones, he was grandfather of Mary Jones who married William Bradford and Herman Jones who married Margaret Hone. Through his son Albert, he was the grandfather of Alberto Alexander Kingsland, Albert Harold Kingsland, and Henry C. Kingsland. Harold Lovett Kingsland who married Fernanda Modet y Cuadra, and Arthur Ambrose Kingsland, who married Constance I Vasselier.

A Hudson River waterfront park, Kingsland Point Park, in the Village of Sleepy Hollow, in Westchester County, still bears Kingsland's name, as does Kingsland Avenue in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, which he helped survey. There is also a Kingsland Avenue in the Baychester section of the Bronx.