John Woodruff Simpson (October 13, 1850 – May 16, 1920) was a founding member of

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, then titled Simpson, Thacher, & Barnum. He and his wife Katherine Seney Simpson were known as avid art

collectors Collector(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Collector (2011 film), ''Collector'' (2011 film), an Indian Malayalam film * Collector (2016 film), ''Collector'' (2016 film), a Russian film * Collectors (film), ''Collectors'' (film), a 2020 So ...

, with 44 pieces from their estate eventually going to the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Early life

Simpson was born and raised in East Craftsbury, Vermont, a son of James W. Simpson and Jean B. ( Walker) Simpson. He attended the State Normal School at

Johnson Johnson may refer to: People and fictional characters *Johnson (surname), a common surname in English * Johnson (given name), a list of people * List of people with surname Johnson, including fictional characters *Johnson (composer) (1953–2011) ...

, Vermont. He attended

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

, and graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

in 1873. He served as a law clerk at the old-line firm Alexander & Green.

Career

Along with his fellow former clerks

Thomas Thacher Thomas Thacher (May 3, 1850 – July 30, 1919) was an American lawyer. Life Thomas Thacher was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 3, 1850. He was a descendant of the Rev. Peter Thacher, the rector of St. Edmonds, Salisbury, England; and of ...

and William M. Barnum, they organized their new law firm on January 1, 1884 known as Simpson Thacher & Barnum.Firm Website, History
/ref> Simpson was one of the founding members of the "

good government Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for the ...

" organization the

City Club of New York The City Club of New York is an independent, not-for-profit organization based in New York City. In 1950, ''The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Tim ...

."City Club to Mark 50th Anniversary,"
''New York Times'' (May 10, 1942). Simpson was a

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

in the 1904 presidential election.

Personal life

On May 15, 1889, Simpson was married to Kate Seney (1868–1943), the youngest daughter of New York City banker, art collector, and benefactor, George I. Seney and Phoebe Augusta ( Moser) Seney. Together, they were the parents of: * Jean Walker Simpson (1897–1980), who never married; she returned to his hometown, founded a library, and organized

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

Shakespeare productions. Simpson died May 16, 1920. He left an

estate Estate or The Estate may refer to: Law * Estate (law), a term in common law for a person's property, entitlements and obligations * Estates of the realm, a broad social category in the histories of certain countries. ** The Estates, representativ ...

appraised in 1922 at $2,665,894 (equivalent to $ million in ). Simpson's widow Kate died in 1943.

Legacy

In the early 1900s Simpson commissioned a bronze sculpture by

Moses Jacob Ezekiel Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917), was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome, Italy, Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewis ...

in the likeness of the blind poet

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

(accompanied by a student guide), as a gift for

, his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

. For reasons unknown the gift was refused, and

Thomas Nelson Page Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was an American lawyer, politician, and writer. He served as the List of United States ambassadors to Italy, U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919 under the administration of Presiden ...

, a

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

alumnus who was active in his college's Alumni Association, stepped in to secure the gift of the statue to the

instead. The final sculpture, entitled ''

Blind Homer With His Student Guide ''Blind Homer With His Student Guide'' is a bronze sculpture by Moses Jacob Ezekiel in the likeness of the blind poet Homer, author of the ''Iliad'', accompanied by a student guide. Ezekiel completed the statue in 1907 on a commission from John ...

'', was completed in 1907, and is currently installed on

The Lawn The Lawn, a part of Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village, is a large, terraced grassy court at the historic center of Jefferson's academic community at the University of Virginia. The Lawn and its surrounding buildings, designed by Jefferson, ...

, in the grass to the north of Old Cabell Hall. Simpson's daughter, Jean, commemorated him by establishing the John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library in East Craftsbury. The library opened in 1921 in the building that had formerly housed a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

operated by John Simpson's father, James Simpson.John Woodruff Simpson Memorial Library,
History of the Library
; accessed March 8, 2024.

References

External links

*
Photograph of Jean Walker Simpson
by

Edward Steichen Edward Jean Steichen (; March 27, 1879 – March 25, 1973) was a Luxembourgish American photographer, painter and curator and a pioneer of fashion photography. His gown images for the magazine ''Art et Décoration'' in 1911 were the first modern ...

, 1923, at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, John W. 1850 births 1920 deaths Columbia Law School alumni Amherst College alumni New York (state) lawyers Simpson Thacher & Bartlett people People from Craftsbury, Vermont American art collectors 19th-century American lawyers 1904 United States presidential electors