Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also ...

. He owned grand residences in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

and

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New ...

, entertained lavishly and, along with his wife "Mamie", became prominent in American high society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and We ...

Early life and ancestry

Stuyvesant Fish was born on June 24, 1851, in New York City. He was the third son of

Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American politician who served as the List of Governors of New York, 16th Governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States Senate, United States Senator from New York (state), New Y ...

(1808–1893), the 16th Governor of New York, a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and p ...

and

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's ...

who is recognized as the "pillar" of the Grant Administration and considered one of the best U.S. Secretaries of State by scholars.American Heritage Editors (December, 1981), ''The Ten Best Secretaries Of State…''. His mother was Julia Ursin Niemcewicz Kean (1816–1887), a descendant of New Jersey governor William Livingston.Corning (1918), pp. 20-22. His parents' marriage has been described as a happy one, and his mother was known for her "sagacity and judgement". His father was named after his grandfather's friend, Alexander Hamilton.Corning (1918), pp. 12-15. Fish had two older brothers, Nicholas Fish II (1846–1902) and Hamilton Fish II (1849–1936), and five sisters, Sarah Morris Fish (1838–1925), Julia Kean Fish (1841–1908), Susan LeRoy Fish (1844–1909), and Edith Livingston Fish (1856–1887). His paternal grandparents were Nicholas Fish (1758–1833) and Elizabeth Stuyvesant (a great-great-granddaughter of

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch language, Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch Director of New Netherlan ...

). Nicholas Fish was a leading

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

politician and notable figure of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

who was active in the

Yorktown Campaign The Yorktown campaign, also known as the Virginia campaign, was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the siege of Yorktown in October 1781. The result of the campaign was the surren ...

that resulted in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. Peter Stuyvesant was a prominent founder of New York, then a Dutch Colony, and his family owned much property in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. Fish 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 Manhattan where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall.

Career

Fish was an executive of the Illinois Central Railroad. He served as its president from 1887 to 1906, overseeing its period of greatest expansion. He also served on the board of directors of the National Park Bank. In 1906, Fish was removed from his position at the Illinois Central by E. H. Harriman, possibly because of Fish's cooperation and participation with the state government in investigating the Mutual Life Insurance Company. However, it is also possible that the reason was because his wife, Mamie, had snubbed Harriman's wife, Mary, from a society tea party. Mamie found Mary too "dull" and so snubbed her from a tea party at their home in

, where they spent the summer season. His wife, Marion, known as "Mamie", was a leader in New York and Newport society. When in Newport, they lived in a grand

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

house named "Crossways", where her annual Harvest Festival Ball in August signaled the end of the Newport social season.''Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, nee Marion Anthon, a.k.a. Mamie'', New York Social Diary. 2013. Accessed on July 28, 2014 at http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1907575

When Grand Duke Boris of Russia visited Newport, Mrs. Fish issued invitations for a dinner and ball in his honor; the night of the ball the Duke was detained by
Mary Wilson Goelet Mary Rita Goelet ( Wilson; December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929), known as May Goelet, was an American socialite and member of a family known as "the marrying Wilsons". Early life May was born on December 12, 1855 in Loudon, Tennessee. She wa ...
, a.k.a. Mrs.
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 ...
, Mrs. Fish's rival as social leader, at whose home he was staying. About 200 guests had assembled in the hall at Crossways, and when the hour for dinner approached and there was no sign of the Duke, Mrs. Fish announced that the Duke was unable to come, but the Czar of Russia had agreed to be her guest. Suddenly the doors of the room were flung open and in walked His Imperial Majesty, dressed in his royal robes, wearing the Imperial Crown and carrying a scepter. The guests, including Senator Chauncey Depew, Pierpont Morgan, and Lord Charles Beresford, sank in a court curtsy, only to recover themselves with shrieks of laughter when they realized they were paying homage to Harry Lehr.

Fish had no great interest in the doings of high society, and he bore great patience with his wife's peculiar parties.Gavan, Terrence. 'The Barons of Newport: A Guide to the Gilded Age'. Newport: Pineapple Publications, 1998.

Personal life

On June 1, 1876, he married Marion Graves Anthon (1853–1915), the daughter of Sarah Attwood Meert and Gen. William Henry Anthon (1827–1875), a successful lawyer and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

assemblyman. Her paternal grandfather was John Anthon (1784–1863). Together, they had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood: * Livingston Fish (1879–1880), who died at six months. * Marian Anthon Fish (1880–1944), who married Albert Zabriskie Gray (1881–1964), the son of the Judge John Clinton Gray, on June 12, 1907. They divorced on December 5, 1934. * Stuyvesant Fish, Jr. (1883–1952), who married Isabelle Mildred Dick (1884–1972), daughter of Evans Rogers Dick, in 1910. * Sidney Webster Fish (1885–1950), who married Olga Martha Wiborg (1890–1937), daughter of Frank Bestow Wiborg, in 1915. In 1939, he married Esther Foss, the daughter of Gov. Eugene Noble Foss. She had previously been married to George Gordon Moore, a polo player whom she divorced in 1933, and Aiden Roark, another polo player whom she married in 1934 and divorced in 1937. Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York, and a member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

. Fish died on April 10, 1923 in New York.

Residences

From 1887 to 1898, Fish and his family lived at

19 Gramercy Park South __FORCETOC__ 19 Gramercy Park South, also known as 86 Irving Place or the Stuyvesant Fish House, is a four-story row house located at the corner of Gramercy Park South ( East 20th Street) and Irving Place in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manha ...

, a brick row house located at the corner of

Gramercy Park Gramercy ParkSometimes misspelled as Grammercy () is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park and the surrounding neighborhood that is referred to also as Gramercy, in the New York City borough of Manhattan in New York, United States. ...

South ( East 20th Street) and Irving Place in the Gramercy neighborhood of

, New York City. Fish and his wife also maintained his grandmother's Federal-style house at 21 Stuyvesant Street, but after 1898, their New York residence was a brick and limestone Italianate mansion at 25 East 78th Street, at the corner of

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd St ...

. The house, which was designed by architect

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in additio ...

, is now the headquarters of Bloomberg Philanthropies. The Fish family built a grand

home named "Crossways" in

, where they entertained during the summer social season. It was designed by Dudley Newton. Fish also had an estate named "Glenclyffe" in Philipstown, New York, which had belonged to his father."Glenclyffe", the Stuyvesant Fish Estate
/ref>

References

;Notes ;Sources *
The Newport Postcard Museum website
Crossways and other Newport cottages.
John F. Stover, "The management of the Illinois Central Railroad in the 20th century."
(pdf file) * Cleveland Amory, ''Last Resorts''. * Vanderbilt II, Arthur T., ''Fortune's Children''. Morrow: 1989. *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Stuyvesant 1851 births 1923 deaths Stuyvesant Schuyler family Winthrop family Columbia College (New York) alumni 19th-century American railroad executives 20th-century American railroad executives Illinois Central Railroad people New York (state) Republicans American socialites People included in New York Society's Four Hundred People from Gramercy Park People from the Upper East Side Presidents of the Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York Columbia University alumni