Theodore Frelinghuysen (April 17, 1860 – January 30, 1928) was an American clubman and member of the
Frelinghuysen family
The Frelinghuysen family (; ; ) is an American political dynasty, primarily based in New Jersey, that first emigrated from The Netherlands in 1720.
History
In 1720, Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen came from The Netherlands to the Raritan Valley ...
who was prominent in New York 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 Weste ...
.
Early life and education
Frelinghuysen was born in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. He was the youngest of six children born to
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen
Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (August 4, 1817May 20, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician from New Jersey who served as a U.S. Senator and later as United States Secretary of State under President Chester A. Arthur.
Early life and e ...
(1817–1885) and Matilda Elizabeth Griswold (1817–1889). His father was a lawyer who served as a
U.S. 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 powe ...
Chester A. Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...
. His siblings included: Matilda Griswold Frelinghuysen, who married Henry Winthrop Gray, a prominent merchant; Charlotte Louisa Frelinghuysen;Frederick Frelinghuysen, who married Estelle B. Kinney;
George Griswold Frelinghuysen
George Griswold Frelinghuysen (May 9, 1851 – April 21, 1936) was an American patent lawyer, and president of P. Ballantine & Sons Company, a New Jersey brewery.
Early life
Frelinghuysen was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 1851. He was ...
, who married Sara Linen Ballantine, granddaughter of
Peter Ballantine
Peter Ballantine (November 16, 1791 – January 23, 1883) was the founder of Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company in 1840 in Newark, New Jersey, United States.
Early life
He was born on November 16, 1791, in Dundee, Scotland. He decided t ...
; and Sarah Helen Frelinghuysen (1856–1939), who married Judge John Davis, and after his death,
Brig. Gen.
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...
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 re ...
Dumont) Frelinghuysen. His grandfather died when his father was just three years old, so his father was adopted by his uncle,
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Theodore Frelinghuysen (March 28, 1787April 12, 1862) was an American politician who represented New Jersey in the United States Senate. He was the Whig vice presidential nominee in the election of 1844, running on a ticket with Henry Clay.
Bo ...
. Both grandfather and adopted grandfather were sons of Frederick Frelinghuysen, the eminent lawyer who was one of the framers of the first
New Jersey Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Jersey is the basic governing document of the State of New Jersey. In addition to three British Royal Charters issued for East Jersey, West Jersey and united New Jersey while they were still colonies, the sta ...
, a soldier in 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 t ...
, a member of the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
, and a member of the
United States Senate
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 pow ...
. His maternal grandfather George Griswold, was a merchant in New York City who "made an immense fortune in the time of the clipper trade with China."
Career
Frelinghuysen was the Treasurer of the J. & P. Coats Ltd., a large British thread company that was run by his father-in-law Sir James Coats and located at 347 Broadway in New York City. Upon his marriage in 1885 to Alice Coats, his mother and father-in-law wanted him to be brought into Auchincloss Brothers as an equal partner. The American firm was run by the younger brothers of Alice's mother, John Winthrop Auchincloss and Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Sr. (the father of Hugh Auchincloss). When they said no, their refusal ended the Auchincloss relationship with the Coats firm and nearly bankrupt John.
In 1906, he became a director as well as financier of the Brunswick Refrigeration Co., a consolidation of the New Brunswick Refrigeration Company and Union Refrigeration Company which had merged. The other directors included W. Campbell Clark, head of Clark Thread Company and A. M. Coats, president of the Coats Thread Company. Frelinghuysen retired from business in 1910.
Society life
In 1892, was Frelinghuysen included in
Ward McAllister
Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream o ...
's "
Four Hundred
400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401.
Mathematical properties
400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111).
A circle is divided into ...
", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.
Frelinghuysen was a member of the
Metropolitan Club
The Metropolitan Club of New York is a private social club on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded as a gentlemen's club in 1891 for men only, but it was one of the first major clubs in New York to admit women, t ...
, the
Knickerbocker Club
The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most aristocratic gentlemen's clubs in th ...
, the
Union Club of the City of New York
The Union Club of the City of New York (commonly known as the Union Club) is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1836. The clubhouse is located at 101 East 69th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in a landmark building de ...
, the
Harvard Club of New York
The Harvard Club of New York City, commonly called The Harvard Club, is a private social club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Its membership is limited to alumni, faculty, and boardmembers of Harvard University.
Incorporated in 1 ...
, the Merchants' Club, the Country Club, the Lawyers' Club and the
Suburban Riding and Driving Club
The Seaman-Drake Arch, also known as the Inwood Arch, is a remnant of a hilltop estate built in 1855 in the Inwood, Manhattan, Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City by the Seaman family. Located at 5065 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway at ...
On August 25, 1885, Frelinghuysen was married to Alice Dudley Coats (1861–1889) in
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, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. Alice was the daughter of
Sir James Coats, 1st Baronet
The Coats Baronetcy, of Auchendrane in the parish of Maybole in the County of Ayr, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 7 December 1905 for James Coats, Director of J. and P. Coats Ltd, sewing cotton manufacture ...
and Lady Sarah Auchincloss, an American. The wedding was attended by former President
Chester Arthur
Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th U.S. vice president, vice president un ...
. Her brothers included
Sir Stuart Coats, 2nd Baronet
Sir Stuart Auchincloss Coats, 2nd Baronet (20 March 1868 – 15 July 1959) was a British politician and Member of Parliament for Wimbledon from 1916 to 1918 and then East Surrey from 1918 to 1922.
Early life
Stuart was born on 20 March 1868. He ...
Stuyvesant Square
Stuyvesant Square is the name of both a park and its surrounding neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park is located between 15th Street, 17th Street, Rutherford Place, and Nathan D. Perlman Place (formerly Livingston ...
. Together, Theodore and Alice were the parents of:
* Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1886–1967), who married Mai Duncan Watson (1896–1958) in 1914. After their divorce, he married Katherine (née Kendall) Fisk (1883–1962), the widow of Charles W. Fisk, in 1927.
* James Coats Frelinghuysen (1888–1890), who died young.
After Alice's death in 1889, he married Elizabeth Mary "Lily" (née Thompson) Cannon (1871–1967), the widow of Henry Le Grand Cannon, on June 2, 1898, at Grace Episcopal Church in New York City by Bishop Henry C. Potter. At the wedding, his ushers were R. Livingston Beeckman and William Cutting Jr. and his best-man was
Elisha Dyer Jr.
Elisha Dyer Jr. (November 29, 1839November 29, 1906) was a Rhode Island politician who was 45th Governor of Rhode Island from 1897 to 1900. He was the son of Elisha Dyer, Governor of Rhode Island from 1857 to 1859.
Early life
Dyer was born in ...
Lily was a daughter of
William G. Thompson
William Gillon Thompson (July 23, 1842 – July 20, 1904) was a Union (American Civil War), Union Union Army, Army officer, lawyer, politician, and the mayor of Detroit, Michigan. He also founded Detroit's first major league baseball team.
...
and descendant of
Elijah Brush
Elijah Brush (May 10, 1773 – December 14, 1813) was a lawyer and politician from Detroit, Michigan.
Early life
Elijah Brush was born in Bennington, Vermont in 1773, the son of Colonel Nathaniel Brush and Samantha Parker (d. 1789). Brush gradu ...
, both
Mayors of Detroit
This is a list of mayors of Detroit, Michigan. See History of Detroit, Michigan, for more information about the history of the incorporation of the city.
The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014.
History of ...
and had two children, a boy and girl, from her first marriage. After their marriage, they lived at her home, 60
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
and maintained a winter residence in
Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...
, known as "Southways," and another house at
Tuxedo Park, New York
Tuxedo Park is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 623 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area as well as the la ...
.
Frelinghuysen died of heart disease on January 30, 1928, at his residence, 66 East 55th Street in Manhattan. Previous to East 55th Street, he had been living at the Hotel Plaza in New York. His widow lived at their Palm Beach home until her death in 1967, at the age of 97, when she was referred to as "a grand dame of a bygone era."
Descendants
Through his son Frederick, he was the step-grandfather of Lilla Fisk, who married Harry Payne Bingham Jr. and George C. Rand in 1956; and Felicia Fisk, who married Albert B. Dewey, the brother of
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
Charles S. Dewey
Charles Schuveldt Dewey (November 10, 1880 – December 27, 1980) was a banker and politician from Illinois. The cousin of George Dewey, Charles S. Dewey entered the real estate business in Chicago, Illinois in 1905. He served in the United S ...