USA > New York > New York City> Prominent families of New York; being an account in biographical form of individuals and families distinguished as representatives of the social, professional and civic life of New York city > Part 39
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The grandfather of Mr. Goodridge was Moses Goodridge, who was born in Marblehead, Mass., in 1764, and was afterwards a resident of Grafton, Vt. He died in Michigan in 1838. His wife was Abiah, daughter of Samuel and Huldah (Heaton) Wadsworth, of Keene, N. H. Mr. Goodridge's father was Samuel Wadsworth Goodridge, who was one of the great merchants in the East India trade in the last generation. He was born in Grafton, Vt., in 1793, and entered upon mercantile life in Rockingham, Vt., being a partner in a business house there. In 1819, he removed to Saxton's River, Vt., and in time became one of the most extensive wool buyers in that State. In 1834, he disposed of his business there, and removing to Hartford, Conn., engaged in the East India and China trade, afterwards establishing himself in the shipping and East India trade in New York, becoming one of the foremost merchants in that line in his generation. He died in 1868. His wife, Lydia Read, whom he married in 1819, was a daughter of the Reverend Peter Read, of Ludlow, Vt., the first representative to the Vermont Legislature from that town. She was born in 1798 and died in 1843.
Mr. Frederic Goodridge was born in Hartford, Conn., January 11th, 1836. He was long a leading merchant of New York, being engaged for many years in the business of importing from China and the East Indies, in which he accumulated a large fortune. During the latter years of his life, he was retired from active business. He was a graduate from Trinity College, a member of the Manhattan Club, the Century Association, the Liederkranz, the American Geographical Society and the Trinity College Alumni Association, and a patron of the American Museum of Natural History. His death occurred in 1897.
In 1864, Mr. Goodridge married Charlotte Matilda Grosvenor, daughter of Jasper and Matilda A. Grosvenor, her father being a prominent merchant of New York in the last generation. Mrs. Goodridge has a town house, at 250 Fifth Avenue, and a country residence, Springhurst, at River- dale-on-Hudson. Her receptions and musicals have been distinguishing features of every New York social season for many years.
Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge had five children. The eldest son, Jasper Grosvenor Goodridge, who was born in 1866, died an infant. The eldest daughter, Matilda Grosvenor Goodridge, is the wife of Gouverneur Morris Carnochan. The second daughter, Charlotte Grosvenor Goodridge, married George Edward Wyeth. The youngest daughter is Caroline L. Goodridge. The youngest child is Frederic Grosvenor Goodridge, who was born in 1873, and is a student in Harvard University.
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CLIFFORD CODDINGTON GOODWIN
O N his father's side, Mr. Clifford Coddington Goodwin is descended from Ozias, brother of William Goodwin, who arrived in Boston from England in 1632, removed to Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass., the same year, and became one of the ruling elders of that place and a representative to the General Court in 1634. William and Ozias Goodwin accompanied the colony that removed to Hartford, Conn., in 1635, and were prominent men in that community. They were directly descended from the Goodwins of East Anglia, whose names appear in the records of Norwich, England, as early as 1238. They were sturdy, independent Pilgrims, intoler- ant of oppression, and among the most substantial and most useful citizens of the New World. Samuel Goodwin, 1682-1712, great-grandson of Ozias Goodwin, was the ancestor of that branch of the family to which Mr. Clifford Coddington Goodwin belongs. The wife of Samuel Goodwin was Mary Steele, daughter of Lieutenant James and Sarah (Barnard) Steele, of Hartford. Their son, Samuel Goodwin, 1710-1776, was a resident of Hartford, where he was collector in 1737-45- 47, grand juror in 1743 and ensign of the military company in 1749. His second wife, the ances- tress of the subject of this sketch, was Laodamia Merrill, daughter of Moses and Mary Merrill, of Hartford.
The great-grandfather of Mr. Clifford Coddington Goodwin was George Goodwin, who was born in Hartford, in 1757. He entered the office of Thomas Green, founder of The Connecticut Courant, and in 1777 was admitted to a partnership in the business, being for the rest of his life identified with that newspaper, with which he had been connected almost from its foundation. He retired in 1825, after more than sixty years of devotion to business, and his sons succeeded him. The wife of George Goodwin, whom he married in 1779, was Mary Edwards, daughter of Richard and Mary (Butler) Edwards, of Hartford. She died in 1828 and he lived until 1844. The grandfather of Mr. Goodwin was Oliver Goodwin, who was born in Hartford, in 1784. During the War of 1812 he was an ensign in Captain Samuel Waugh's company and was also prominent in the administration of public affairs in Litchfield, where he lived, being frequently honored with public office. He died in 1855. His wife, whom he married in 1818, was Clarissa Leavitt, daughter of David and Lucy (Clark) Leavitt, of Bethlehem, Conn. The father of Mr. Goodwin is Edward Clark Goodwin, who was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1825, and is still living in the old Goodwin mansion, in Fifth Avenue.
The mother of Mr. Goodwin was Matilda Eleanor Coddington, daughter of Jonathan Inslee Coddington. Mrs. Goodwin's father was born in Woodbridge, N. J., in 1784 and died in New York in 1856. He was a member of the Assembly from New York City in 1827, Presidential elector in 1844 and Postmaster of New York, 1836-42. His grandfather was John Coddington, of Woodbridge, N. J., who died there about 1758 ; his father was James Coddington, 1754-1816, of Woodbridge, a Revolutionary soldier who married Experience Inslee, daughter of Jonathan and Grace (Moore) Inslee. Several brothers of Mrs. Goodwin have been distinguished in public life. Colonel Clifford Coddington, after whom the subject of this sketch was named, was born in New York in 1841 and died in 1892. He was a lawyer and broker, a member of the Seventh Regiment and a soldier in the Civil War. Another brother was David Smith Coddington, 1823-1865, an orator and frequently a member of the Assembly from New York City. A third brother is Gilbert Smith Coddington, of New York, to whom reference is made in another part of this volume.
Mr. Clifford Coddington Goodwin was born in New York, December 3d, 1860, and educated at the Columbia University. Washington, D. C. He resides in Fifth Avenue, in the same block where three generations of his family have been born and lived. His summer residence, the country home of the family, is Edgewater, in Barrytown-on-Hudson. He belongs to the St. Nicholas and New York clubs. His brother, Edward Leavitt Goodwin, was born in 1859 and died in 1878. Another brother, Henry Leavitt Goodwin, was born in 1862 and married, in 1889, Mary Bowditch Osborne.
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JAMES JUNIUS GOODWIN
I N the burying ground connected with the First Church of Hartford, Conn., stands a monument erected to the early settlers of that place. Inscribed thereon are the names of William and Ozias Goodwin, two brothers who were of the company that, in 1635, led by the Reverend Thomas Hooker, left Newtown, now Cambridge, Mass., and went to Connecticut to found a new Colony. Ozias Goodwin was the first American ancestor of Mr. James Junius Goodwin. He was born in England about 1596 and died in Hartford in 1683. His wife was Mary Woodward, of Brain- tree, England. The line of descent from Ozias Goodwin to the subject of this sketch is through the son, Nathaniel, 1637-1713; the grandson, Ozias, 1689-1776, who was a deacon of the First Church of Hartford, and married Martha Williamson, daughter of Captain Caleb Williamson; the great-grandson, Jonathan Goodwin, 1734-1811; the great-great-grandson, James Goodwin, 1777- 1844, and the great-great-great-grandson, James Goodwin, 1803-1878, who was the father of Mr. James J. Goodwin.
The wife of Jonathan Goodwin, great-grandfather of Mr. James J. Goodwin, was Eunice Olcott, of Hartford, daughter of Joseph Olcott. She was descended from Thomas Olcott, who was one of the first settlers of Hartford with William and Ozias Goodwin. The grandmother of Mr. Goodwin was Eunice Roberts, daughter of Lemuel Roberts, who was a Captain in one of the Connecticut regiments during the War of the Revolution. Her remote American ancestor was John Roberts, who assisted in founding the town of Simsbury, Conn., in 1688. James Goodwin, of Hartford, Mr. J. J. Goodwin's father, was born in that city in 1803 and died in 1878. He was well known in the business world, having been president of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company for more than thirty years. His wife, whom he married in 1832, was Lucy Morgan, daughter of Joseph Morgan. She was descended from Captain Miles Morgan, one of the first set- tlers of Springfield, Mass., an associate of Colonel William Pynchon and Deacon Samuel Chapin and the ancestor of many distinguished men and women.
One of the sons of James Goodwin was the Reverend Francis Goodwin, of Hartford, who was born in 1839, was ordained a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1863, and was the rector of Trinity Church, in Hartford, from 1865 to 1871. He had charge of various parishes from 1872 to 1877, and after 1877 was a trustee and president of the Watkinson Farm School. He was also on the boards of street, park and school commissioners of Hartford, and for many years a trustee of the Berkeley Divinity School and Trinity College. His wife was Mary Alsop Jackson, daughter of Captain Charles H. Jackson, of the United States Navy, and a lineal descendant of Deacon John Jackson, of Newtown, Mass., 1639.
Mr. James Junius Goodwin was born in Hartford, Conn. Educated in private schools and the Hartford High School, he spent two years traveling in Europe after 1857. Upon his return to the United States in 1859, he removed to New York and, in 1861, became associated with his cousin, J. Pierpont Morgan, in the foreign banking business. He continued this relation for ten years, when he retired, in 1871. In 1873, he married Josephine Sarah Lippincott. Mrs. Goodwin is of Quaker parentage. Her father was Joshua B. Lippincott, the Philadelphia publisher, 181 3-1886, who for fifty years after 1836 was at the head of the great publishing house which he founded. He was a man of high culture and thorough literary attainments, a patron of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania.
The city residence of Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin is in West Thirty-fourth Street and they have a country home in Hartford, Conn. Their children are Walter L., James L. and Philip L. Goodwin. Walter L. Goodwin graduated from Yale University in the class of 1897. Mr. Goodwin is a member of the Metropolitan, City, Union, Century and Riding clubs, the American Geographical Society, the Society of Colonial Wars of New York and Connecticut, the Sons of the Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution, and is a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design.
236
GEORGE JAY GOULD
T HE history of the Gould family, which has been so prominent in the financial affairs of the metropolis and of the country for two generations, goes back to the earliest Colonial period. Originally derived from good old English stock, the lineage of those of the present day can be traced, through several lines, to ancestors who were prominent and active in the formative period of the new Republic, in Colonial times and in the American Revolution.
Major Nathan Gould, the ancestor of the subject of this article, was a native of St. Edmondsbury, England. Coming to Fairfield, Conn., about 1645, with Governor John Win- throp, he became a leading man in the community, and with Winthrop, Samuel Wyllys, General Mason, John Talcott and others, joined in the petition to Charles Il. for a charter of the Colony ; his name being on the venerable instrument that was granted to Connecticut. He was an assistant to the Governor, an office that corresponded to our State Senators, in 1657, and for every year thereafter, except one, to 1662. In 1670, he was rated as the richest man in the community where he lived, and when he died, in 1694, he was spoken of in the town register of Fairfield as "the worshipful Major Nathan Gould, Esq." Nathan Gould, Jr., son of Major Nathan Gould, was town clerk of Fairfield, Deputy Governor in 1706 and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Connecticut. His wife was Hannah Talcott, daughter of John Talcott, the secretary of the Colony, and he had seven sons.
Samuel Gould, grandson of the pioneer, died in Fairfield in 1723, at the age of seventy- seven, and Colonel Abraham Gould, his son, was an officer in the Revolution and was killed in battle at Ridgefield, in 1777. Two brothers of Colonel Abraham Gould, Daniel Gould and Abel Gould, were also Revolutionary soldiers.
Jay Gould, who brought the family name into prominence in the last generation by his ability and success as a financier and railroad manager, was the great-grandson of Colonel Abraham Gould. The wife of Colonel Abraham Gould was Elizabeth Burr, a descendant of John Burr, who came to America in 1630, with Governor Winthrop, and was one of the eight founders of Springfield, Mass. Their son, Captain Abraham Gould, settled in Roxbury, N. Y., 1780, and his son, John Burr Gould, was the first male white child born in that town, and became the father of the late Jay Gould. His wife was Mary More, granddaughter of John More, a Scotchman who came from Ayrshire in 1772.
Jay Gould was born in Roxbury May 27th, 1836. Educated in the public schools, in local academies and at Albany, he entered upon a business career early in life, learned sur- veying and map making, mapped several counties and townships in New York, Ohio, and Michigan, surveyed several railroads, wrote a history of Delaware County, which was published in 1856, founded the town of Gouldsboro in Eastern Pennsylvania and built large tanneries there, laying the foundation for the great fortune that he afterwards accumulated. Shortly before the Civil War broke out, Jay Gould became interested in railroad enterprises. His first step in this direction was when he obtained control of The Rutland & Washington Railroad Company, becoming president, treasurer and superintendent of the road. He also became interested in the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad and other lines in various parts of the country. He then became a member of the stock brokerage firm of Smith, Gould & Martin, of New York City, and from that time on his life was a history of the greatest railroad and financial enterprises that this country has ever seen. His connection with the Erie, the Union Pacific, the Texas & Pacific, the Wabash and the Missouri Pacific Railroads, the Atlantic & Pacific and the Western Union Telegraph Companies and the Manhattan Elevated Railroad, of New York, is too well known to be dwelt upon here. He died in 1892. Several years ago, his children built the handsome Dutch Reformed Church at Roxbury, N. Y., as a memorial to him. Mr. George Jay Gould is the eldest son of Jay Gould. His mother was Helen Day Miller, daughter
237
of Daniel S. Miller, a prominent wholesale merchant of New York, a descendant of an old English family, settled at Easthampton, Long Island, in the early Colonial days.
Mr. Gould is a native of New York, having been born in 1864. He was educated in private schools and under tutors, and when still a comparatively young man became the asso- ciate and assistant of his father in the latter's vast railroad and business enterprises. He was soon placed in highly responsible positions of an executive character, being at first an assistant to the president of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, and from time to time assumed other places of importance, relieving his father of much of the burden which the active charge of such great interests involved. He traveled abroad to a limited extent and visited nearly all portions of the United States, giving special attention to the sections of our country traversed by the railroad lines with which he was officially connected, and making close study of their capabilities. The ability and capacity which he developed in his business pursuits were recognized in the terms of the will of Jay Gould, who, in bequeathing to his eldest son an additional share of his estate, placed this particular mark of approbation upon the ground of his devotion to such cares and the talent which he had shown for his duties.
On the death of his father, Mr. George J. Gould became, with his brothers and sisters, an executor of the paternal estate, and at the same time naturally took the place for which his training had fitted him as the head of the various corporations with which the family interests were identified. At the present time, Mr. Gould is president of the Missouri Pacific Railway, of the Texas Pacific Railway, and the Manhattan Elevated Railway, and is a director and member of the executive committee of the Western Union Telegraph Company. He is also an officer or director of many other corporations. He married Edith Kingdon, of Brooklyn, and has five children ; three sons, Kingdon, Jay, and George J. Gould, Jr., and two daughters, Marjorie G. and Helen Vivien.
Mr. Gould is interested in yachting and belongs to the New York, American, Larchmont and Atlantic Yacht clubs. He owns the handsome steam yacht Atalanta, which his father built. He also purchased the celebrated America cup defender, Vigilant, which he sailed in a series of international races in European waters in the season of 1894, defeating the Prince of Wales' yacht, Brittania, in one race. Mr. Gould is also a member of the Lawyers', New York Athletic, New York and Jekyl Island clubs, and the American Geographical Society, and is a patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His city residence is in Fifth Avenue, at the corner of Sixty- seventh Street, and he has a country home at Lakewood, N. J.
Edwin Gould, brother of the subject of this article and the second son of Jay Gould, was born in 1866. He entered Columbia College and was a member of the class of 1888. He has since been a liberal friend of his alma mater, to which he has made several noteworthy gifts, including a splendid boat house. He showed a decided interest in military matters, becoming a member of Troop A of the National Guard, and was subsequently appointed Inspector of Rifle Practice to the Seventy-first Regiment, with the rank of Captain. He married a daughter of Dr. George F. Shrady and resides at Irvington, N. Y. Edwin Gould also devotes his attention to the management of his large corporate and financial interests, and is the vice-president of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and a director of the Missouri Pacific Railway, Western Union Telegraph Company and other corporations.
Howard Gould, the third son of the family, is unmarried and has taken a prominent position as a yachtsman. He has raced his yacht, the Niagara, in British waters for several seasons, meeting the most prominent boats of its class on the other side. The youngest brother, Frank J. Gould, is still under age.
Helen Miller Gould, the eldest sister of George J. Gould, is noted for her interest in and devotion to church and benevolent work. She resides in the Gould family place, Lyndhurst, at Irvington-on-the-Hudson. The younger sister of the family, Anna Gould, was married in 1895 to Count Paul Marie Ernest Boniface de Castellane, a French nobleman of ancient lineage, and since her marriage has made her home in Paris.
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WILLIAM RUSSELL GRACE
R AYMOND LE GROS, a Norman baron who took part in the occupation of Ireland by the Plantagenet kings, obtained extensive possessions in Kilkenny and the adjoining counties. His descendants added to the family's power and influence, their name being modified to its present form, Grace, but when English oppression involved the Norman-Irish as well as the Celtic inhabitants, the lands of the Graces were confiscated, and they were forced to retire to Con- naught. In a later generation, the head of the family, who was great-grandfather of the gentleman now referred to, returned to the South of Ireland and attempted to regain possession of his ancestral estates, and, though unsuccessful in this, his children attained substantial prosperity.
James Grace, father of the Honorable William R. Grace, inherited a fortune, but lost a large part of it and almost sacrificed his life in efforts to free Venezuela from Spain. His wife was Ellen Mary Russell, a member of a family which has been distinguished in Ireland for several centuries. The Honorable William Russell Grace, the eldest of their four sons, was born in Riverstown, County Cork, Ireland, May 10th, 1832. An ambitious and spirited lad, at fourteen years of age he ran away from school and worked his passage to New York on a sailing vessel. Remaining two years, he then returned home, but in 1850 again left Ireland and entered the employ of Bryce & Co., of Callao, Peru. Becoming a partner two years later, the name was changed to Bryce, Grace & Co. and the firm did a large mercantile business at the ports of Peru and Chili. A few years later, it became Grace Brothers & Co., Mr. Grace's brother, Michael P. Grace, entering it as a partner.
In 1865, Mr. Grace, after close application to business for nearly twenty years, came to New York intending to retire. His health returning, he remained in business, and in 1894 the corpora- tion of W. R. Grace & Co. was organized, with Mr. Grace as president. It has branches in London, San Francisco, Peru and Chili, and occupies a preeminent position in the business world of three continents. He has been a director of the Lincoln National Bank, and the Lincoln Safe Deposit Company, and a trustee of the New York Life Insurance Company, the Terminal Ware- house Company and the Brooklyn Warehouse and Storage Company, and is identified with other corporations. As a Democrat he has taken a conspicuous part in the politics of New York, being a leader in local matters and influential in the councils of his party in the State. In 1880, he was nominated by the combined Democracy for Mayor of New York City and was elected to that office, despite strong opposition, based principally on religious grounds. His administration of municipal affairs was, however, distinguished by impartiality, and when, in 1884, he was again nominated for the Mayoralty, he was reelected by the support of citizens of all classes.
In September, 1859, Mr. Grace married Lillias Gilchrist, daughter of George W. Gilchrist, of St. George, Me. He has five children: Alice, widow of W. E. Holloway, of San Francisco; Joseph P., Lillias J., Louisa and William R. Grace, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Grace live at 31 East Seventy-ninth Street. He is a member of the Manhattan, Metropolitan, Lawyers', Reform, Catholic, Country and other clubs, and is a trustee of St. Patrick's Cathedral. His donations to benevolent causes and institutions have been munificent. In 1879, he was one of the largest contributors to the relief of the famine in Ireland. In 1897, he took steps to establish a large institution in New York City for the manual instruction of girls. Its founder's hope is that it will accomplish much practical good; it will be entirely supported by Mr. Grace and members of his family, and will be known as the Grace Institute.
Mr. Grace has three brothers, all of whom are distinguished for their ability and business achievements. John W. Grace established the branch house in San Francisco, but now lives in New York and takes an active part in the management of the entire business. Michael P. Grace founded the firm in London and is largely interested in many prominent financial corporations. The youngest brother, Morgan S. Grace, who went to New Zealand as an army surgeon, has been prominent in politics there, becoming a member of Parliament, and is now a life member of the upper House of the Colony.
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MALCOLM GRAHAM
B ORN in Edinburgh, in 1694, John Graham, the great-great-grandfather of Mr. Malcolm Graham, came of the family of which the dukes of Montrose are the heads. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and became a physician. In the early part of the eighteenth century, he came to Exeter, N. H., and turning from medicine to theology, was the first pastor of the church in Stafford, Conn., in 1723. In 1732, he was called to the church in Southbury, Conn., where he remained for over forty years and was especially active in the great New England revival of 1740. He died in Woodbury, Conn., in 1774. His wife was Abigail Chauncey, daughter of the Reverend Doctor Nathaniel Chauncey. Andrew Graham, their son, became a physician. He was a Revolutionary patriot and a member of the Committee of Safety. At the battle of Danbury, he acted as regimental surgeon and at the battle of White Plains he was taken prisoner and not released until the surrender of Cornwallis. For many years he represented the town of Woodbury in the General Court of Connecticut. He married, in 1753, Martha Curtiss and died in 1785. His son, John Andrew Graham, 1764-1841, was born in Southbury, Conn., was admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1785, and removed to Rutland, Vt., where he became prominent in his profession. He visited Europe several times, and in 1796 received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Aberdeen. After 1805, he was a resident of New York and became a well-known lawyer. His second wife, the grandmother of Mr. Malcolm Graham, was Margaret Lorimer, daughter of James Lorimer, of London.
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