PHELPS, Anson Greene, merchant, born in Sims-bury, Connecticut, 12 March, 1781 ; died in New York city, 30 November. 1853. He learned the trade of a saddler, and established himself in Hartford, Connecticut, with a branch business in Charleston, South Carolina in 1815 he became a dealer in tin plate and heavy metals in New York city. Having accumulated a large fortune, partly by investments in real estate, he de voted himself to benevolent enterprises, and was president of the New York blind asylum, the American board of commissioners for foreign missions, and the New York branch of the Colonization society. He bequeathed $371,000 to charitable institutions, and placed in the hands of his only son a fund of $100,000, the interest of which was to be distributed in charity. In addition to large legacies to his twenty-four grandchildren, he intrusted $5,000 to each to be used in charity.