Hudson in 1905: Part 75

The following is an excerpt from the booklet Illustrated Hudson, N.Y., published in 1905.

RACE & JONES--(successors to Smith Thompson)--Fire, Plate Glass, and Accident Insurance Agents. Offices in the Farmers' Bank Building. This is the largest and most important insurance agency in the city, and has been in successful operation for the past forty years, and up to December, 1904, was under the management of Smith Thompson. Since that time the business of the house has been undertaken by one of Mr. Thompson's old bookkeepers, George E. Race, together with Morgan A. Jones. Both of these gentlemen are thorough students of the insurance business, and are destined not only to succeed to the business recently acquired, but also to increase continually its affairs. Some of the strongest insurance companies in America are represented by Messrs. Race & Jones, among which might be mentioned the following: Aetna, German American, Insurance Company of North America, Phoenix, American Fire Insurance Company, Royal Insurance Company, North British, Philadelphia Underwriters, Western, Germania Fire, Williamsburg City, Sun Fire, Fidelity Casualty, Norwich Union Fire Insurance Company, Metropolitan Plate Glass Insurance Company, Boston, Globe and Rutgers, and others. The offices of this agency are located at the above address, and are appointed in the most modern style. The company carry agency assets of over $125,000,000. Two clerks are employed to assist in the business of the firm.

Race & Jones, Insurance Agents--Offices in Farmers Bank Building

Gossips Note: Illustrated Hudson, N.Y. includes a picture of George E. Race's home: 516 Warren Street, one of the houses in what was then called Baker Row.

George Race had studied law and, as the entry indicates, had been a bookkeeper for the insurance firm of Smith Thompson. When he and Morgan Jones took over the insurance firm in 1905, Race would have been 41 years old. His partner, however, was only 25.

Morgan A. Jones, of course, was the rich young man, who had inherited a fortune from his father's manufactured soap company. In 1905, Jones was finishing up his dream house at 317 Allen Street, designed by Marcus Reynolds and inspired by the Jacobean and Dutch architecture Jones had seen while traveling in Europe.

The 1910 census gives some hint about the fate of the partnership. In 1910, the occupation of George C. Race is given as "Broker--Insurance." Morgan Jones' occupation, however, is listed as "Merchant--Mill Supplies."