William Frederick Havemeyer

William Frederick Havemeyer. Owner of the Havemeyer Sugar Refinery and later Mayor of New York City.

William Frederick Havemeyer was the first of the
family born in the United States and the first important notable member of the
family. His parents immigrated from Germany and his father entered the sugar
refining industry and enrolled William in Colombia University. In 1828 with his
cousin Christian Frederick Havemeyer they opened W.F. & F.C. Havemeyer
sugar refining giving the Havemeyer family one of the first sugar refineries in
New York City. This partnership of the Havemeyer brothers was the start of the
very successful family business of sugar refining. However, W.F. Havemeyer
would retire from the business in 1842 in order to enter politics for the
Democratic Party with his role model being President Andrew Jackson. He became
president of the Bank of North America until 1845 when he ran in and won  the election for mayor of New York City. He
ran again in 1848 with the goal of improving conditions for immigrant workers
in the city and won by a wide margin. While William was running in politics,
his cousin Frederick Christian was running the family sugar refinery. The
Company was renamed Havermeyer & Elder Company and would grow rapidly. Eventually
Frederick would retire as well and leave the business to his two sons Theodore
and Henry Osborne Havemeyer.