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James A. Stillman

American businessman (1873-1944)

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ15452043 ↗
Source-derived summary

James Alexander Stillman (August 18, 1873 – January 13, 1944) was a president of National City Bank.

Biography

James Alexander Stillman was born on August 18, 1873, in New York City to James Jewett Stillman (1850–1918) and Sarah Elizabeth Rumrill. His paternal grandfather was Charles Stillman (1810–1875), the founder of Brownsville, Texas. He graduated Harvard University in 1896.

Career

In 1918, his father who was chairman of National City Bank of New York died and the younger Stillman engaged in a fight with Frank A. Vanderlip to control the company. Eventually in 1919, Vanderlip quit and Stillman became chairman. His father's estate was estimated at $45,000,000. While he was chairman, he urged temperate speech and urged people not to do or say anything that causes excitement while discussing general conditions of the country.

He served as chairman for three years until personal issues relating to a divorce with his wife caused him to resign. In 1921, Stillman sold 5,000 city lots in Brownsville, Texas that were part of his grandfather's estate, with estimates putting their value upwards of $1,500,000.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “James A. Stillman” as american businessman (1873-1944). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around James, Stillman and American.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1873, 1944, 1850, 1918—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1873-08-18. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with James, Stillman and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “James A. Stillman”, the useful work is to connect “american businessman (1873-1944)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15452043. VIAF identifies the subject as 86318092. The Library of Congress control number is no2009050164. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1873, 1944, 1850 and 1918.

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Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “James A. Stillman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.