The drunkard, the thief, the prostitute, the veriest wrecks of humanity could always tell their stories to him and get relief. It fitted. It fitted. We shall advert to some of the great fortunes in the West based wholly or largely upon city real estate. But this, there is excellent reason to believe, is an absurdly low approximation. The Goelet family is an influential family from New York, of Huguenot origins, that owned significant real estate in New York City . Corporation Director, Owner of Large Realty Holdings Here, Succumbs to Heart Attack. This extortion formed one of the saddest and most sordid chapters of the Civil War (as it does of all wars,) but conventional history is silent on the subject, and one is compelled to look elsewhere for the facts of how the commercial houses imposed at high prices shoddy material and semi-putrid food upon the very army and navy that fought for their interests.9 In the words of one of Fields laudatory biographers, the firm coined money a phrase which for the volumes of significant meaning embodied in it, is an epitome of the whole profit system. Commissioned by New York real estate magnate Ogden Goelet as his family's summer residence, Ochre Court (1888-1892) was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt. There he studied law and was admitted to practice. 10 So valuable was a partnership in this firm that a writer says that Field paid Leiter an unknown number of millions when he bought out Leiters interest. Yet this miser, who denied himself many of the ordinary comforts and conveniences of life, and who would argue and haggle for hours over a trivial sum, allowed himself one expensive indulgence expensive for hint, at least. Long after Longworth had become a multimillionaire he took a savage, perhaps a malicious, delight in doing things which shocked all current conceptions of how a millionaire should act. He died in 1879 aged seventy-nine years ; and within a few months, his brother Robert, who was as much of an eccentric and miser in his way, passed away in his seventieth year. The fortunes of the brothers descended to Roberts two sons, Robert, born in 1841, and Ogden, born in 1846. The Government and the public were forced to pay the highest sums for the poorest material. But as to his methods in obtaining land, there exists little obscurity. This Rutgers was a lineal descendant of Anthony Rutgers, who, in 1731, obtained from the royal Governor Cosby the gift of what was then called the Fresh Water Pond and Swamp a stretch of seventy acres of little value at the time, but which is now covered with busy streets and large commercial and office buildings. This Rutgers was a lineal descendant of Anthony Rutgers, who, in 1731, obtained from the royal Governor Cosby the gift of what was then called the Fresh Water Pond and Swamp a stretch of seventy acres of little value at the time, but which is now covered with busy streets and large commercial and office buildings. As time passes a gradual transformation takes place. While the Astors, the Goelets, the Rhinelanders and others, or rather the entire number of inhabitants, were transmuting their land into vast and increasing wealth expressed in terms of hundreds of millions in money, Nicholas Longworth was aggrandizing himself likewise in Cincinnati. His passion for economy was carried to such an abnormal stage that he refused even to engage a tailor to mend his garments.3 He was unmarried, and generally attended to his own wants. This eccentric was very melancholy and, apart from his queer collection of pets, cared for nothing except land and houses. In his stable he kept a cow to supply him with fresh milk ; he often milked it himself. On the other hand, they bought constantly. Upon the death of their father Robert R. Goelet (1809-1879) and their bachelor uncle Peter (c.1800-1879), they inherited holdings throughout Manhattan. Peter P. Goelet was for several years one of the directors of the Bank of New York, and both brothers benefited by the corrupt control of the United States Bank, and were principals among the founders of the Chemical Bank. Goelet was a man who not only outlived William B. Astor, A.T. Stuart, and Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, but who was once the wealthiest bachelor in New York State. Longworth ranked next to John Jacob Astor. By this manipulation, private individuals not only got this immensely valuable railroad for practically nothing, but they received, or rather the laws (which they caused to be made) awarded them, a present of nearly four millions for their dexterity in plundering the railroad from the people. THE GOELET FORTUNE. 9 In those parts of this work relating to great fortunes from railroads and from industries, this phase of commercial life is specifically dealt with. 5 See Part III, Great Fortunes From Railroads.. The railroads now controlled by a few men, among whom the large landowners are conspicuous, were surveyed and built to a great extent by public funds, not private money. He is the developer of the Cond Nast Building as well as One World Trade Center, or the "Freedom Tower," the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere. As population increased and the downtown sections were converted into business sections, the fashionables shifted their quarters from time to time, always pushing uptown, until the Goelet lands became a long sweep of ostentatious mansions. Likewise the third generation. His grandfather, Jacobus Goelet, was, as a boy and young man, brought up by Frederick Phillips, with whose career as a promoter and backer of pirates and piracies, and as a briber of royal officials under British rule, we have dealt in previous chapters. As immigration swarmed West and Cincinnati grew, his land consequently took on enhanced value. That they conducted their business in the accepted methods of the day and exercised great astuteness and frugality, is true enough, but so did a host of other merchants whose descendants are even now living in poverty. GUESTIER; New York Financier's Troth to Daughter of Bordeaux Land Owner Reported in Paris. This large fortune, as is that of the Astors and of other extensive landlords, is not, as has been pointed out, purely one of land possessions. It seems quite superfluous to enlarge further upon the origin of the great landed fortunes of New York City ; the typical examples given doubtless serve as expositions of how, in various and similar ways, others were acquired. The Rhinelanders, also, employ their great surplus revenues in constantly buying more land. [14], As of 2012, the Goelet's Newport estate at Narragansett Avenue and the corner of Ochre Point Avenue, remained in the Goelet family. Profits from trade went toward buying more land, and in providing part of corrupt funds with which the Legislature of New York was bribed into granting banking charters, exemptions and other special laws. The careers of Field, Leiter and several other Chicago multimillionaires ran in somewhat parallel grooves. His house at Nineteenth street, corner of Broadway, was a curiosity shop. On several occasions he was found in his office at the Chemical Bank industriously absorbed in sewing his coat. He was a director of the Bank of New York from 1814 until his death in 1852. These wielders of a fortune so great that they could not keep track of it, so fast did it grow, abandoned somewhat the rigid parsimony of the previous generations. Land acquired by political or commercial fraud has been made the lever for the commission of other frauds. The unsold land grant, says Professor Frank Parsons, amounted to 344,368 acres, worth probably over $5,000,000, so that those to whom the securities of the company were issued, had obtained the road at a bonus of nearly $2,000,000 above all they paid in.4. All available accounts agree in describing him as merciless. By October, he had cast a smaller plaster figure for Goelet, McKim, the Trustees, and the university's various committees to review. Unlike the founder of the fortune the present Longworth generation never strays from the set formulas of respectability ; it has intermarried with other rich families : and Nicholas, a namesake and grandson of the original, and a representative in Congress, married in circumstances of great and lavish pomp a daughter of President Roosevelt, thus linking a large fortune, based upon vested interests, with the ruling executive of the day and strategetically combining wealth with direct political power. In imitation of the Astors the Goelets steadily adhered, as they have since, to the policy of seldom or never selling any of their land. He was a member of socially prominent New York family. He was a director of the Bank of New York from 1814 until his death in 1852. His two sons continued the business of ship chandlers ; one of them Peter the Younger was especially active in extending his real estate possessions, both by corrupt favors of the city officials and by purchase. On the other hand, the feminine possessors of American millions, aided and abetted doubtless by the men of the family, who generally crave a blooded connection, lust for the superior social status insured by a title. During the Civil War this firm, as did the entire commercial world, proceeded to hold up the nation for exorbitant prices in its con- [16] His widow was given his personal effects and property along with life use of their home on Narragansett Avenue in Newport and their estate in France. By this manipulation, private individuals not only got this immensely valuable railroad for practically nothing, but they received, or rather the laws (which they caused to be made) awarded them, a present of nearly four millions for their dexterity in plundering the railroad from the people. Ogden was a noted real estate investor with properties throughout Manhattan. Of Peter Goelets business methods and personality no account is extant. It is not merely business sections which the Rhinelander family owns, however ; they derive stupendous rentals from a vast number of tenement houses. In getting their charter for the notorious Chemical Bank, they bribed members of the Legislature with the same phlegmatic serenity that they would put through an ordinary business transaction. But as to his methods in obtaining land, there exists little obscurity. [1], Robert Walton Goelet, nicknamed Bertie to avoid confusion with his cousin Robert Wilson Goelet (whom he strongly resembled),[2] was born on March 19, 1880 in New York. Field left a fortune of about $100,000,000 (as estimated by the executors) which he bequeathed principally to two grandsons, both of which heirs were in boyhood. All available accounts agree in describing him as merciless. Another notable example of this glorifying was Nicholas Biddle, long president of the United States Bank. At least $55,000,000 of it was represented at the time that the executors made their inventory, by a multitude of bonds and stocks in a wide range of diverse industrial, transportation, utility and mining corporations. For a Western city this was a very considerable population for the period. The founder of the Goelet fortune was Peter Goelet, an ironmonger during and succeeding the Revolution. [16], He inherited vast real estate holdings in New York, sometimes known as the Goelet Realty Company, which included the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the property between 52nd and 53rd Streets on Park Avenue which the Racquet and Tennis Club leased. They allowed themselves a glittering effusion of luxuries which were popularly considered extravagances but which were in nowise so, inasmuch as the cost of them did not represent a tithe of merely the interest on the principal. And while on this phase, we should not overlook another salient fact which thrusts itself out for notice. The factors constituting this fortune are various. Goelet, it seems, was allowed to pay in installments. But once any man or woman passed over the line of respectability into the besmeared realm of sheer disrepute, and that person would find Longworth not only accessible but genuinely sympathetic. It is an indulgence which, however great the superficial consequential money cost may be, is, in reality, inexpensive. This large fortune, as is that of the Astors and of other extensive landlords, is not, as has been pointed out, purely one of land possessions. The same process of reaping gigantic fortunes from land went on in every large city. After a funeral service at St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue, he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The factors entering into the building up of the Schermerhorn fortune were almost identical with those of the Astor, the Goelet and the Rhinelander fortunes. The founder of the Goelet fortune was Peter Goelet, an ironmonger during and succeeding the Revolution. With true aristocratic aspirations, they have not been satisfied with mere plebeian American mansions, gorgeous palaces though they be ; they set out to find a European palace with warranted royal associations, and found one in the famous castle of Schonberg, on the Rhine, near Oberwesel, which they bought and where they have ensconced themselves. Nearly a century and a half ago William and Frederick Rhinelander kept a bakeshop on William street, New York City, and during the Revolution operated a sugar factory. The invariable rule, it might be said, has been to utilize the surplus revenues in the form of rents, in buying up controlling power in a great number and variety of corporations. [11], Upon the death of his mother in 1915, he inherited a fortune estimated to be $40 million (equivalent to $780million in 2021),[2] which included 591 Fifth Avenue (a brownstone built in 1880 by Edward H. Kendall at the southeast corner of 48th Street) and her estate at Ochre Point in Newport, Rhode Island, designed by Stanford White and built between 1882 and 1884 and known as "Southside". These wielders of a fortune so great that they could not keep track of it, so fast did it grow, abandoned somewhat the rigid parsimony of the previous generations. In a voluminous biography giving the genealogies of the rich families of New York material which was supplied and perhaps written by the families themselves this boast occurs in the chapter devoted to the Goelets : They were also numbered among the founders of that famous New York financial institution, the Chemical Bank.2 Thus do the crimes of one generation become transformed into the glories of another ! Storks, pheasants and peacocks could be seen in the grounds about his house, and also numbers of guinea pigs. History [ edit] The Goelets are descended from a family of Huguenots from La Rochelle in France, who escaped to Amsterdam. An extensive vineyard, which he laid out in Ohio, added to his wealth. The principal landowner in this one section, not to mention other sections of that immense city, was Marshall Field, with $11,000,000 worth of land ; the next was Leiter, who owned in that section land valued at $10,500,000.8 It appeared from this report that eighteen persons owned $65,000,000 of this $319,000,000 worth of land, and that eighty-eight persons owned $136,000,000 worth or one-half of the entire business center of Chicago.
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