Portrait of Robert Ainslie

Robert Ainslie (1777-1851) has been recorded as a ship chandler and dealer of naval stores who was born in Scotland and arrived in New York via Baltimore around 1822, when he entered the insurance business and became President of the North American Fire Insurance Company. He was married to Ann Elizabeth (1804-1861). According to the 1850 US Federal Census, he was the head of a household of ten people, one of whom was Ann E. Hasbrook, born circa 1840, his granddaughter who gifted the portrait to the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York in 1909 (Year: 1850; Census Place: New York Ward 5, New York, New York; Roll: M432_537; Page: 61B; Image: 128).