George Jay Gould Vanity Fair 27 September 1894

George Jay Gould I (February 6, 1864 – May 16, 1923) was a

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

and the son of

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made hi ...

. He was himself a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

executive, leading the

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from De ...

(DRGW),

Western Pacific Railroad The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WP's Feather River Route dire ...

(WP), and the

Manhattan Railway Company The Manhattan Railway Company was an elevated railway company in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, United States. It operated four lines: the Second Avenue Line, Third Avenue Line, Sixth Avenue Line, and Ninth Avenue Line. History 19 ...

Early life

Gould was born on February 6, 1864, the eldest son of

(1836–1892) and

Helen Day Miller Helen Day Miller (September 20, 1838 - January 13, 1889) was the wife of the financier Jay Gould. Biography Early life Helen Day Miller was born on September 20, 1838, in Manhattan, New York, the fourth child of Daniel Stratton Miller and A ...

(1838–1889). His father was a leading American railroad developer and speculator who has been referred to as one of the ruthless robber barons of 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 Weste ...

, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era.

Railroad management

Upon his father's death George inherited the Gould fortune and his father's railroad holdings, including the DRGW and the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

. While in charge of the DRGW at the turn of the 20th century, he sent

surveyors Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

and

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

through

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather R ...

canyon to stake out a route for the railroad to reach

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Through legal wranglings led by

E. H. Harriman Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. Early life Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyman ...

, who at the time led both the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

s, Gould was forced to set up third-party companies to manage the surveying and construction to disguise his role. The route that Gould's engineers built became the WP mainline. In later years, the DRGW and WP would work together on trains that were passed off to each other in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, including the prestigious

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

, the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overal ...

''.

Personal life

He married Edith Mary Kingdon (1864–1921), a stage actress, and had the following children: *

Kingdon Gould, Sr. Kingdon Gould Sr. (August 15, 1887 – November 7, 1945) was an American financier and champion polo player. Early life He was born on August 15, 1887 in Manhattan, New York City, the eldest son born to George Jay Gould I and Edith M. Kingdon. ...

(1887–1945) who married Annunziata Camilla Maria Lucci (1890–1961). *

Jay Gould II Jay Gould II (September 1, 1888 – January 26, 1935) was an American real tennis player and a grandson of the railroad magnate Jay Gould. He was the world champion (1914–1916) and the Olympic gold medalist (London, 1908, then under ...

(1888–1935) who was a tennis player and who married Anne Douglass Graham, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty. * Marjorie Gwynne Gould (1891–1955) who married

Anthony Joseph Drexel III Anthony Joseph Drexel III (October 19, 1887 – February 23, 1946) was an American banker and aviator. Early life He was the eldest son of Margarita "Rita" Armstrong (1867–1948), Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr. Among his siblings were Margaretta ...

, grandson of

Anthony Joseph Drexel Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. (September 13, 1826 – June 30, 1893) was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, he founde ...

through

Anthony Joseph Drexel, Jr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr. (September 9, 1864 – December 14, 1934) was an American banker and philanthropist who was a close friend of King Edward VII. Early life Drexel was born on September 9, 1864, in Philadelphia to Anthony Joseph Drexel ( ...

Helen Vivien Gould Helen Vivien Beresford, Baroness Decies, formerly Helen Vivien Gould (May 2, 1893 – February 3, 1931) was an American socialite and philanthropist. She was one of the two Jay Gould descendants to marry into European aristocracy. Early l ...

(1893–1931) who married John Graham Hope DeLaPoer Horsley Beresford, 5th

Baron Decies Baron Decies, of Decies in the County of Waterford, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1812 for the Right Reverend William Beresford, Archbishop of Tuam from 1794 to 1819. He was the third son of the Marcus Beresford, 1st Ea ...

(1866–1945). * George Jay Gould II (1896-1963) who married Laura Carter. *

Edith Catherine Gould Edith Catherine MacNeal ( Gould, formerly Wainwright) (August 3, 1901 – September 10, 1937) was an American heiress and writer. Early life Edith was born aboard her father's yacht, ''Sybarite'', on August 3, 1901, while it was anchored off Co ...

(1901–1937) who married

Carroll Livingston Wainwright I Carroll Livingston Wainwright (December 2, 1899 – July 6, 1967) was an American artist and socialite. Early life Wainwright was born on December 2, 1899, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Stuyvesant Wainwright (1863–1930) and Caroline Sm ...

(1899–1967; their son was

Stuyvesant Wainwright Stuyvesant Wainwright II (March 16, 1921 – March 6, 2010) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. Early life Wainwright was born in New York City, the son of Carroll Livingston Wainwright (1899–1 ...

) and after a divorce married Sir Hector Murray MacNeal. *

Gloria Gould Gloria Gould (1906 – August 16, 1943) was an American socialite who was the daughter of industrialist heir George Jay Gould I. Early life She was born on March 3, 1906, the youngest daughter of George Jay Gould I. She was one of seven chi ...

(1906–1943) who married Henry A. Bishop II, and after a divorce married Wallace McFarlane Barker. Gould also had a mistress, Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair (1885–1978), and had the following children with her: *George Sinclair Gould (1915–2003) *Jane Sinclair Gould (1916–1948) *Guinevere Gould (1922–1968) After the death of his first wife in 1921, Gould married Sinclair on May 1, 1922. Then with the three children in tow, they moved to England.

Death and burial

He 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 severity ...

on May 16, 1923, on the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

after contracting a fever in Egypt where he visited the tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. His estate was valued at $15,054,627 but after debts were paid it was worth $5,175,590 in 1933 dollars.

Legacy

Gould's estate in

Lakewood Township, New Jersey Lakewood Township is the most populous township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A rapidly growing community as of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 135,158 representing an increase of 41,415 (+45.5% ...

is now the site of

Georgian Court University Georgian Court University (GCU or Georgian Court) is a private Roman Catholic university in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. Founded in 1908 by the Sisters of Mercy, the university has more than 1,600 undergraduates and nearly 600 graduate students ...

References

External links

*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, George Jay, I 1864 births 1923 deaths 19th-century American railroad executives 20th-century American railroad executives Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

George Jay Gould I George Jay Gould I (February 6, 1864 – May 16, 1923) was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. He was himself a railroad executive, leading the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (DRGW), Western Pacific Railroad (WP), and the Manhatta ...

Missouri Pacific Railroad People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey Western Pacific Railroad Burials in the Jay Gould Mausoleum Deaths from pneumonia in France