Richard Thornton Wilson Explained

Birth Place:	Habersham Co., Georgia, U.S.
Death Place:	New York City, New York, U.S.
Burial Place:	Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York
Occupation:	Banker
Parents:	William and Rachel Wilson
Spouse:	Melissa Clementine Johnston
Children:	5, including Marshall, Richard Jr. and Grace

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

Early life

Wilson was born in Habersham County, Georgia in about 1829, to William Wilson (d. 1849), a Scottish tanner and shoemaker, and Rachel Wilson (1797–1870).

Career

After the death of his father in 1849, he needed to find employment, so he went to Dalton, Georgia and began working as a clerk in a store owned by Levi Brotherton, a Methodist clergyman and missionary. After saving his money, he started a "general merchandise" business with W. R. High, taking his business on the road. He would buy items in Atlanta and then sell them or trade them for cotton. During this period, he met the Orme brothers, who both worked for the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad.

After heading towards Knoxville, Tennessee, and finding himself exhausted in Loudon, Tennessee, he slept on the doorstep of the town's mercantile store, owned by Ebenezer Johnston. Johnston, a South Carolina native, owned 712 acres of farmland, a large manor house and slave quarters. After Johnston saw Wilson's work, he agreed allow Wilson to marry his daughter in 1852 and to finance business ventures for Wilson. They stayed in Loudon until late 1860, when he moved his growing family to Nashville, Tennessee.

Civil War

During the American Civil War, the family moved to Macon, Georgia and Wilson served on the staff of Lucius B. Northrop, the Commissary-General of the Confederate States of America. Later Wilson was appointed Commissary General by Jefferson Davis, and in this capacity, he was sent to London by the Confederate Government to dispose of the cotton crop. At the end of the war, he was said to have come out of it $500,000 richer.

Post–Civil War

After the war ended, Wilson began buying up defunct railroads. He moved to New York City and purchased a mansion at 511 5th Avenue that was the former home of Boss Tweed. The Wilsons lived in New York, spending summers at their cottage, "Bienveno," in Newport, Rhode Island,^[1] for the remainder of their lives.^{[2] [3]}

Richard opened the banking firm of Wilson Galloway & Co., which would later become R. T. Wilson & Co., the company first to take up the question of the New York Subway System.^[4] Wilson served as a director of the American Cotton Oil Co., the Fourth National Bank, the Manhattan Trust Co., Castner Electrolytic Alkali Co., the National Surety Co., Union Trust Co., the United States Casualty Co. and the Mathheson Alkali Works. He retired from business around 1906.

Personal life

On December 23, 1852, he married Melissa Clementine Johnston (1831–1908), the eldest daughter of Ebenezer Johnston.^{[5] [6]} Together, they were the parents of five children. Through his wife's connections, she was able to enter and become intimate with "old New York society". Because of their children's advantageous marriages, the Wilsons were known in New York and Newport society as the "marrying Wilsons."^[7]

• Mary Rita "May" Wilson (1855–1929), who married Ogden Goelet (1851–1897) in 1878^[8]
• Marshall Orme Wilson (1860–1926), who married Caroline Schermerhorn "Carrie" Astor (1861–1948), daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, and a sister of Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, the richest passenger on the RMS Titanic
• Leila "Belle" Wilson (1864–1923), who married Sir Michael Henry Herbert (1857–1903) in 1888, the British ambassador to the United States during Theodore Roosevelt's administration, and the brother of the 13th and 14th Earls of Pembroke^[9]
• Richard Thornton Wilson Jr. (1866–1929), who married Marion Steedman Mason in 1902,^[10] granddaughter of Rear Admiral Charles Steedman of Charleston, South Carolina, and great-granddaughter of U.S. Senator of New Hampshire, Jeremiah Mason.^[11]
• Grace Graham Wilson (1870–1953), who married Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873–1942) in 1896,^[12] despite his father's wishes.^[13] Vanderbilt's sister, Gertrude, was married to Harry Payne Whitney.

Wilson was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Union Club, Manhattan Club, Metropolitan Club, and Downtown Club, the Southern Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History.

Wilson died on November 26, 1910, aged 80, at his residence, 511 Fifth Avenue, in New York City.^{[14] [15]} His estate totaled $16,072,470 at his death, of which $2,216,083 was real estate. His Newport residence, 97 Narragansett Avenue, was not valued in the appraisal.^[16] According to the terms of his will, his estate was divided among his children and grandchildren, with no bequests made to charity.^[16]

Descendants

Wilson was the grandfather of many prominent people, including Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe (1878–1937), who married the Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (1876–1932) in 1903,^{[7] [17] [18]} Marshall Orme Wilson Jr. (1885–1966), Richard Thornton Wilson III (1886–1977), Sir Sidney Herbert, 1st Baronet and Member of Parliament (1890–1939), Lt. Michael George Herbert (1893–1932), Louisa Steedman Wilson (1904–1974), Marion Mason Wilson (1906–1982), Cornelius Vanderbilt IV (1898–1974), and Grace Vanderbilt (1899–1964).^{[14] [19] [20]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Stanhope. Clarence [from old catalog|title=In and around Newport. 1891. A guide to the place showing where and how to see the most, in a short time ..|date=1891|publisher=Press of the Ryder & Dearth Co.|location=Providence, RI|page=[https://archive.org/details/inaroundnewport100stan/page/46 46]|url=https://archive.org/details/inaroundnewport100stan|accessdate=27 April 2017.
2. News: R.T. WILSON GOES TO NEWPORT; Sick Man Conveyed from Home to Yacht in Automobile Ambulance.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 9 July 1908.
3. Book: Morris. Ed. A Guide to Newport's Cliff Walk: Tales of Seaside Mansions & the Gilded Age Elite. May 19, 2009. Arcadia Publishing. Charleston, SC. 9781614236030. 27 April 2017. en.
4. Book: Hall. Randal L.. Mountains on the Market: Industry, the Environment, and the South. July 20, 2012. University Press of Kentucky. 978-0813140469. 27 April 2017. en.
5. News: MRS. R.T. WILSON DEAD AT AGE OF 77; Heart Disease Carries Off the Well-Known Society Woman in Fifth Avenue Home. MR. WILSON HIMSELF ILL Daughters of This Noted Southern Family All Married Men Well Known Here or Abroad.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 31 May 1908.
6. Book: Armstrong. Zella. Notable Southern Families. 1922. The Lookout Publishing Company. Chattanooga, Tenn.. 27 April 2017. en.
7. News: Ryan. Pat. Heiresses of Wharton's Era in Fashion on Her 150th Birthday. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 19 January 2012.
8. News: MRS. OGDEN GOELET DIES OF PNEUMONIA; Duchess of Roxburghe's Mother Long Noted for Her Lavish Entertaining. WAS HOSTESS TO ROYALTY Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, Among Guests--Sister of Mrs. Cornellus Vanderbilt and R.T. Wilson. Her Hospitality. Duchess of Roxburghe Daughter.. 29 November 2016. The New York Times. 24 February 1929.
9. Book: Montgomery. Maureen E.. 'Gilded Prostitution': Status, Money and Transatlantic Marriages, 1870-1914. August 6, 2013. Routledge. New York, NY. 9781136214950. 27 April 2017. en.
10. News: NOTABLES ATTEND R.T. WILSON FUNERAL; More Than 1,000 Pay Homage, Including Social Leaders and Turf Delegations. DELTA PSI SERVICE HELD His Racing Associates Serve as Honorary Pallbearers--Burial in Family Mausoleum.. 29 November 2016. The New York Times. 1 January 1930.
11. News: 6 June 1914 . Dr. Amos L. Mason Dead.; Prominent Boston Physician Was Father of Mrs. Richard T. Wilson. . . 15 March 2018.
12. News: ARE NOT YET MARRIED; Denial of Reports About Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr., and Miss Wilson.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 19 June 1896.
13. News: AGAINST MR. VANDERBILT'S WISH; His Son Cornelius Will Marry Miss Grace Wilson Soon.. 27 April 2017. The New York Times. 11 June 1896.
14. News: RICHARD T. WILSON DEAD.; Aged Head of Banking House Had Long Suffered from Heart Disease.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. November 26, 1910. en.
15. News: WILSON DEATH PUTS MANY IN MOURNING; Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt and Mrs. Ogden Goelet Among Those Out of Social Activities BEREAVED ALSO IN ENGLAND Lady Herbert, Daughter, and Duchess of Roxburghe, Granddaughter - Funeral to be Simple.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 27 November 1910.
16. News: R.T. WILSON ESTATE TOTALS $16,000,000; Only $2,000,000 of This Represented by Real Estate, the Balance by Personalty.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 25 May 1912.
17. News: Times. Special To The New York. THE DUKE'S LINEAGE. SERVED IN SOUTH AFRICA. MISS GOELET WORTH $20,000.000. WHAT IS DOING IN SOCIETY.. 26 April 2017. The New York Times. 3 September 1903.
18. Web site: Mary (née Goelet), Duchess of Roxburghe; Mary Rita Goelet (née Wilson). npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery. 27 April 2017.
19. News: Times. Special To The New York. GRACE VANDERBILT MAKES HER DEBUT; Daughter of Gen. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Presentedat Beaulieu, Newport.DINNER AND DANCE FOLLOW Mrs. Ogden Goelet Entertains forDebutante Niece at Ochre Court--Farmerettes Sell Fruits.. 27 April 2017. The New York Times. 28 July 1918.
20. News: MRS. R. L. STEVENS, A SOCIETY FIGURE. 27 April 2017. The New York Times. 29 January 1964.