The Richest Woman in America (40 page)

5
The town thrived: For descriptions of Bellows Falls, see Lyman Simpson Hayes,
History of the Town of Rockingham
(Bellows Falls, VT, 1907); Anne L. Collins,
Around Bellows Falls
(Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002); Blanche Adaline Webb,
A History of the Immanuel Church of Bellows Falls
(Bellows Falls, VT: Immanuel Church, 1953).

1
Outdoors in the Central Park: Ishbel Ross,
Crusades and Crinolines
(New York: Harper & Row, 1963).

2
But when young Ned: There are various versions of what happened to Ned’s leg, including stories in several newspapers and books and one in an unpublished book by John Nicholas Beffel and Walter Marshall (John Beffel Papers, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University).

3
the family traveled together: The
Chicago Tribune
reported the comings and goings of Hetty and Edward Green, and on the pillow fight.

1
“Our country’s prosperity”:
USA Today
, March 25, 2010.

2
each decided on its own time: Concerning the confusion over time zones, see the following sources: Jackson Lears,
Rebirth of a Nation
(New York: Harper Perennial, 2010); Warren TenHouten,
Time and Society
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005); Patricia Murphy,
Time Is of the Essence
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001); Beatty,
Age of Betrayal
.

3
The railroads’ dynamic potential: Describing the ups and downs of the railroad and the role of Edward H. Green: Kindcaid Herr,
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad
(Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2000); Klein,
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
.

4
his reputation as a bachelor: The Beffel/Marshall Papers, John Beffel Papers, Wayne State University.

5
“Do you buy long or short?”: Henry Watterson,
Marse Henry: An Autobiography
(New York: D. H. Doran, 1919), 208.

6
she demanded the house: For records of ownership, see Town Hall records, Bellows Falls.

1
Union Club: Descriptions of the Union Club taken from Greg King,
A Season of Splendor
(Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008).

2
“They light up and tell me a story”: “Women of Wall Street,” Museum of American Finance, June 2009.

3
“I know of no profession”: Lloyd R. Morris,
Incredible New York: High Life and Low Life from 1850 to 1950
(New York: Random House, 1951).

4
no one could outshine: Mrs. Astor’s entertaining is well covered in Jerry Patterson,
The First Four Hundred
(New York: Rizzoli Press, 2000), and Homberger,
Mrs. Astor’s New York
.

5
“The highest luxury”: Henry James,
The American Scene
(1907; repr., New York: Penguin Classics, 1994).

6
“is not the place for a lady”: Henry Clews,
Twenty-Eight Years in Wall Street
(New York: J. S. Ogilvie, 1901).

7
Instead, Hetty boarded: For information on boardinghouses, see Gunther Barth,
City People
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1982); Harriet Beecher Stowe,
We and Our Neighbors
(Buffalo, NY: J. B. Ford, 1875); Ross,
Crusades and Crinolines
; Wendy Gamber,
The Boarding House
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007).

8
a young woman defended her residence:
New York Times
, August 6, 1908.

9
“She went for him like a tigress”:
New York Times
, July 1, 1888.

10
Hetty’s choice of Brooklyn: Bremer,
Homes of the New World
; see also Bird,
Englishwoman in America
.

11
“a kind of sleeping place”: John Forster,
The Life of Charles Dickens
(New York: Dutton, 1990).

12
modern billionaire Alice Walton: “Alice’s Wonderland,”
New Yorker
, June 20, 2011.

1
“interminable vistas”: Rudyard Kipling,
American Notes
(New York: Brown, 1899).

2
Teasing and practical jokes: In a telephone interview in June 2011, Lavinia Abel told me about the family’s love of teasing.

3
Relaxing in his office: Ned’s grandiose plans were reported in the
New York Times
, the
New York Sun
, and the
Chicago Daily Tribune
, among other newspapers. Hetty’s activities were frequently described in the
Chicago Herald
and
Chicago Daily Tribune
.

4
Not only was the city: Descriptions of Chicago in Lears,
Rebirth of a Nation
; Henry Smith,
Chicago’s Great Century
(Chicago: Consolidated Publishers, 1933); Bessie Pierce,
As Others See Chicago
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).

5
the town of Colehour:
Chicago Tribune
, December 31, 1890.

6
“Loans on Distressed Properties”:
New York Times
, December 24, 2008.

7
“the Rome of the Great West”: Lears,
Rebirth of a Nation
.

8
The fair brought to life: Alexis de Tocqueville,
Democracy in America
(New York: Harper & Row, 1966).

9
Like Henry James’s character:
Washington Square
(Boston: G. K. Hall, 1980).

10
Witty or not: The duties of debutantes of the period are portrayed in Maureen Montgomery,
Displaying Women
(New York: Routledge, 1998).

11
The Patriarchs’ Ball: A detailed description can be found in the
New York Times
, January 14, 1892.

12
“not unlike Dante’s description of Paradise”: Alexander Klein,
The Empire City: A Treasury of New York
(New York: Rinehart, 1955).

13
“the long cold agony”: Edith Wharton,
A Backward Glance
(New York: Scribner, 1964), 78.

14
“If you die before the dinner”: Ward McAllister,
Society as I Have Found It
(New York: Cassell, 1890).

15
August in Newport: Gail MacColl and Carol Wallace give a description of the daily routine in Newport in
To Marry an English Lord
(New York: Workman, 1989).

16
“I want to say”:
New York Tribune
, December 31, 1894.

1
wanted badly to outwit Huntington: Beffel/Marshall Papers, Wayne State University, describe Hetty Green’s dealings with Collis Huntington and the Texas railroads as well as Ned Green’s extensive activities in Texas.

2
“He is generous, though level-headed”:
Dallas Morning News
, October 17, 1897. The Dallas newspapers reported continuously on the activities of Ned Green.

1
“mortgaged to the railways”:
The Education of Henry Adams
(New York: Modern Library, 1931).

2
With not enough gold: For descriptions of the financial panic of 1893, see Matthew Josephson,
The Robber Barons
(New York: Mariner Books, 1962); Jett Lauck,
The Causes of the Panic of 1893
(Boston: Mifflin, 1907); Kessner,
Capital City
; Douglas Steeples,
Democracy in Desperation
(New York: Greenwood Press, 1998); Alexander Noyes,
Forty Years of American Finance
(New York: Ayer, 1980); Beatty,
Age of Betrayal
; Thomas Kane,
The Romance and Tragedy of Banking
(Boston: Bankers Publishing, 1922).

3
The rich still imported: In
The Theory of the Leisure Class
(New York: B. W. Huebsch, 1912), Thorstein Veblen explores the need of the rich to spend money.

4
“Everyone is in a blue fit”:
Education of Henry Adams
.

5
Referring to 2008: Conversation with Andrew Ross Sorkin, August 2011, Easthampton, NY.

6
sold to a former adviser:
Brooklyn Eagle
, August 1896.

7
“Ex Judge Hilton”:
New York Times
, August 27, 1896.

8
an adult allegory: Hugh Rockoff, “The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory,”
Journal of Political Economy
98 (1990): 736–60. See also works by Professor Richard Sylla (New York University), Henry Littlefield, Gretchen Ritter, and Taylor Quentin.

1
“folks can’t find me out”: The story of Hetty Green in Bellows Falls was published in the
Chicago Daily Tribune
.

2
“tall and stately” figure:
Godey’s
, November 1895.

3
The trustee Henry Barling: Accounts of the trial appeared in all the New York newspapers in 1895, including the
New York Times
, the
New York Tribune
, the
New York World
, the
Sun
, and the
Brooklyn Eagle
.

4
“She is the brightest woman”:
New York Tribune
, December 26, 1894.

5
“Because she devoted her surplus”: James Gerard,
My First Eighty-Three Years in America
(New York: Doubleday, 1951).

6
“Hetty Green has in secret”: Nichols, “Hetty Green.”

7
“For him, it is a vocation”: Sue Halpern, “Making It,”
New York Review of Books
, May 28, 2009.

1
“I only need $75”: Beffel/Marshall Papers, Wayne State University. The papers also include extensive information about Ned Green’s political activities.

2
after dinner she held court: Beatrice Fairfax,
Ladies Now and Then
(Boston: E. P. Dutton, 1944). The
Brooklyn Eagle
reported on Hetty Green’s comings and goings.

3
“We are all slaves”: Jay Gould, quoted in Homberger,
Mrs. Astor’s New York
.

4
In New York, she dined with friends: George A. Plimpton folders, Barnard College.

5
Hetty arranged dinner parties: Gerard,
My First Eighty-Three Years
.

6
“A woman hasn’t as many chances”:
Women’s Home Companion
, February 1990.

7
“Most women are afraid”: Hetty Green, article on women and investing,
Success
magazine, April 1901.

8
“She has reduced money-making”:
Wisconsin Labor Advocate
, December 10, 1886.

1
“A girl should be brought up”: Hodges, “Richest Woman in America.”

2
she had attended an auction:
New York Herald
, April 10, 1899.

3
“Hetty Green is smart”:
New York Times
, July 28, 1901.

1
The Spanish-American War: Describing America at the time of the Spanish-American War: Samuel Forman,
Advanced American History
(New York: Century, 1914); H. W. Brands,
American Colossus
(New York: Doubleday, 2010).

2
John Gates … led the merger mania: Describing the creation of trusts: Beatty,
Age of Betrayal
.

3
a prominent art collection: The S. D. Warren Collection. Coverage in the
New York Times
, January 10, 1903.

4
“I keep them just as I keep”:
New York Times
, November 5, 1905.

5
“The captains of industry”: Roosevelt, State of the Union speech, 1901.
193
“Great corporations exist”: Roosevelt, first annual message to Congress, December 3, 1901.

6
“shake the largest trusts and corporations”: Thomas Lawson,
Frenzied Finance
(New York: Ridgway-Thayer, 1905).

7
“Every girl should be taught”: Frank Carpenter interview, 1904.

8
“There is no reason why”: “Words of Wisdom from the Wealthiest Woman in America,”
Women’s Home Companion
, February 1900.

9
“I enjoy being in the thick of things”: Hetty Green, as told to Frank Carpenter.

10
“God gave me my money”: Quoted in Flynn,
Men of Wealth
.

1
With the economy flourishing: Noyes,
Forty Years of American Finance
. In
Fifth Avenue
(San Diego: Harcourt, 1979), Kate Simon quotes Paul Bourget, a Frenchman who visited New York in 1895: “It is too evident that money cannot have much value here. There is too much of it. The interminable succession of luxurious mansions which line Fifth Avenue proclaim its mad abundance.… This avenue has visibly been willed and created by sheer force of millions, in a fever of land speculation, which has not left an inch of ground unoccupied.”

2
the cost of land skyrocketed: See “Land Values Always Increasing,”
Moody’s
, December 1906.

3
“If this condition of affairs”:
New York Times
, January 5, 1906.

4
“the solidest men in Wall Street”:
New York World
, February 17, 1908.