Robert Goelet Sr. (September 19, 1809 – September 22, 1879) was an American businessman and co-founder of the

Chemical Bank of New York Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

Early life

Goelet was born on September 19, 1809, to "one of the oldest and most respected amiliesin the City." He was the youngest of four children born to Almy (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Buchanan) Goelet (1768–1848) and

Peter P. Goelet Peter P. Goelet (August 18, 1764 – October 23, 1828), was an American merchant and real estate investor. Early life Goelet was born on August 18, 1764, in New York City. He was the second son of Peter Goelet (1727–1811) and, his first wife, E ...

(1764–1828). His siblings were Peter Goelet, who was named after their grandfather

Peter Goelet Peter Goelet (January 5, 1727 – October 11, 1811) was a merchant and real estate entrepreneur of New York City. Early life Peter Goelet was born on January 5, 1727, in New York City. He was the fifth of thirteen children born to Jan "John" Goe ...

; Jean Buchanan Goelet; and Hannah Green Goelet, who married

Thomas Russell Gerry Thomas Russell Gerry (December 8, 1794 – October 8, 1848) was an American sailor who was active in the Sons of the American Revolution and was a son of the fifth U.S. Vice President Elbridge Gerry. Early life Gerry was born on December 8, 1794, ...

, son of U.S. Vice President

Elbridge Gerry Elbridge Gerry (; July 17, 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison from 1813 until his death in 1 ...

and parents to

Elbridge Thomas Gerry Elbridge Thomas Gerry (December 25, 1837 – February 18, 1927), usually called "Commodore" Gerry due to the office he held with the New York Yacht Club from 1886 to 1892, was an American lawyer and reformer who was the grandson of U.S. Vice Pr ...

. His father, a hardware merchant based at 48 Hanover Square (later known as 113 and 115 Pearl Streets), was a large land-owner, including the "Goelet farm" which Robert's elder brother Peter inherited at

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and 19th Street. His maternal grandparents were Almy (née Townsend) Buchanan and Thomas Buchanan, a merchant with Thomas Buchanan & Son at 44

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

. Goelet's maternal aunt, Margaret Buchanan, was married to his paternal uncle, Robert Ratsey Goelet. His paternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Ratsey) Goelet and

, a prominent merchant and landowner who was a descendant of

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

from

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wit ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, who escaped to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

.Lyman Horace Weeks, ''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'', New York: The Historical Company, 189

/ref> During the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, his grandfather was a member of the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It p ...

, the

Committee of Correspondence The committees of correspondence were, prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a collection of American political organizations that sought to coordinate opposition to British Parliament and, later, support for American independe ...

, and the Committee of One Hundred. He graduated from

Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America: Canada * Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary * Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver * Columbia In ...

in 1828.

Career

Goelet was a prominent landowner and landlord in New York and generally followed his brothers real estate rule, which was to "never to part with a foot of land the title of which had been once vested in the Goelet family." Robert, along with his brother, were instrumental in founding the

Chemical Bank and Trust Company Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world. Beginning ...

. While neither of them were directors (Robert's son

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, h ...

became a director in 1878), both Robert and Peter were among the largest stockholders of the bank when it was rechartered as a state bank in 1844. Today, through various mergers, the bank is known as

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...

Personal life

On October 16, 1839, Goelet was married to Sarah Ogden (1809–1888), a daughter of Jonathan Ogden and Charlotte Eliza (née Walton) Ogden. Together, they lived at 5 State Street in Manhattan, overlooking the

Battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

and were the parents of: *

Robert Goelet Robert Goelet Jr. (September 29, 1841 – April 27, 1899) was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age. Early life Robert Goelet was born on September 29, 1841 in Manhattan, New York City, to Sarah ...

(1841–1899) who married Harriette Louise Warren (1854–1912), sister of George H.,

Whitney Whitney may refer to: Film and television * ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta * ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston * ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...

and

Lloyd Warren Lloyd Eliot Warren (November 10, 1868 - October 25, 1922) was the founder of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City Biography He was born in Paris, France to George Henry Warren I (November 8, 1823 - April 8, 1892) and Mary Caroli ...

, in April 1879. * Helen Goelet (1843–1844), who died in infancy. *

Ogden Goelet Ogden Goelet (June 11, 1851 New York City – August 27, 1897 Cowes, Isle of Wight) was an American heir, businessman and yachtsman from New York City during the Gilded Age. With his wife, he built Ochre Court in Newport, Rhode Island, his son ...

(1851–1897), who married Mary Rita Wilson (1855–1929), daughter of

Richard Thornton Wilson Richard Thornton Wilson ( in Habersham County, Georgia – November 26, 1910 in New York City) was a multimillionaire American investment banker known for being the father of five children who all married into prominent families during the Gilded ...

. Goelet died on September 22, 1879, at 857 Broadway, his residence in New York City. After a funeral at St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church, he was buried in the Ogden family vault at the

New York Marble Cemetery The New York Marble Cemetery is a burial ground established in 1830 in what is now the East Village, Manhattan, East Village of Manhattan. It occupies the interior of the block bounded by 2nd Street (Manhattan), 2nd Street, 2nd Avenue (Man ...

. In his will, he left his wife "all his jewelry, plate, ornaments, horses, carriages, furniture, and paintings, and an annuity of $40,000 in lieu of dower, payable in quarterly installments." The remainder of his estate, which in total was estimated at from $6,000,000 to $10,000,000, was left to his two sons in "equal shares." Two months after Robert's death, his brother Peter, who never married and was known for his many eccentricities, also died. Aside from $500,000 left to his nephew

, the rest of Peter's estate went to Robert's sons.

Descendants

Through his eldest son Robert, he was a grandfather of

Robert Walton Goelet Robert Walton Goelet (March 19, 1880 – May 2, 1941) was a financier and real estate developer in New York City. He was one of the largest property owners in the city by the time of his death. Early life Robert Walton Goelet, nicknamed Bertie ...

, a financier and real estate developer, and Beatrice Goelet, who died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

at age 17 in 1902 and was painted as a child by

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and mor ...

. Through his son Ogden, he was a grandfather of

Mary Goelet Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe ( Goelet; October 6, 1878 – April 26, 1937) was an American-born heiress and socialite who married into Scottish nobility. Early life Mary Goelet was born in 1878. Her parents were Mary Wilson Goelet (1855 ...

, the wife of

Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (24 July 1876 – 29 September 1932) was a Scottish peer and courtier. Early life Henry John Innes-Ker was born on 24 July 1876. He was the son of James Henry Robert Innes-Ker, 7th Duke of Roxburghe ...

, and

Robert Wilson Goelet Robert Wilson Goelet (January 9, 1880 – February 6, 1966) was an American social leader, banker, and real estate developer who built Glenmere mansion. Early life Goelet was born in 1880. He was the son of Mary Wilson Goelet (1855–1929), a lea ...

, the original owner of

Glenmere mansion The Glenmere mansion is a luxury hotel and spa overlooking Glenmere Lake, approximately 50 miles northwest of New York City in Orange County, New York. It was built in 1911 as the residence of real estate developer Robert Wilson Goelet (not to b ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goelet, Robert 1809 births 1879 deaths Goelet family Businesspeople from New York City American businesspeople in real estate American landlords Columbia College (New York) alumni Burials at New York Marble Cemetery