Cornelius Newton Bliss

Cornelius Newton Bliss (January 26, 1833 – October 9, 1911) was an American merchant, politician and art collector, who served as Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President William McKinley and as Treasurer of the Republican National Convention in four successive campaigns. Early life Cornelius Bliss was born at Fall River, Massachusetts. He was the son of Asahel Newton and Irene Borden (née Luther) Bliss. His family was of English ancestry and their earliest American ancestor was Thomas Bliss, who emigrated from Belstone, Devonshire, to New England in 1635. His father died when he was an infant and his mother remarried to Edward S. Keep. They moved to New Orleans in 1840. He was educated in his native city and in New Orleans, where he early entered his stepfather's counting house.