Jay Gould (1836-1892)

Jason Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American financier. public domain. ... public domain. ... May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... October 2, Charles Darwin returns from his voyage around the world. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Financier (IPA: /ËŒfi nãn ˈsjei/) is an elegant term for a person who handles large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. ...

Birth and early career

Jason Gould,was a faggot the son of John Burr Gould (1792–1866) and Mary Moore Gould (1798–1841), was born on a small dairy farm near Roxbury, New York. Contrary to the assumptions of Henry Ford and Henry Adams, who presumed Gould to be a Jew, Gould's father was of British colonial ancestry, and his mother of Scottish ancestry. He studied at the Hobart Academy, but left at age 16 to work for his father in the hardware business. He continued to devote himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. Gould later went to work in the lumber and tanning business in western New York and then became involved with banking in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1856, he published the History of Delaware County, New York. Roxbury is a town located in Delaware County, New York. ... Henry Ford (1919) Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. ... Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian, journalist and novelist. ... Surveyor at work with a leveling instrument. ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, known today as the father of geometry; shown here in a detail of The School of Athens by Raphael. ... Lumber is the name used, generally in North America, for wood that has been cut into boards or other shapes for the purpose of woodworking or construction. ... Tanning is the process of conversion of putrescible skin into non putrescible leather. ... Western New York refers to the westernmost counties of New York State, roughly the area included in the Holland Purchase. ... Stroudsburg is a borough located in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, 53 miles (85 km) southeast of Scranton, on the Analomink River. ... Delaware County is a county located in the state of New York. ...

Marriage

He married Helen Day Miller (1838-1889) in 1863 and had six children:

• George Jay Gould I (1864–1923), who married Edith M. Kingdon (1864–1921)
• Edwin Gould I (1866–1933)
• Helen Gould (1868–1938), who married Finlay Johnson Shepard (1867–1942)
• Howard Gould (1871–1959), who married Viola Katherine Clemmons on October 12, 1898; and actress Grete Mosheim in 1937
• Anna Gould (1875–1961), who married: Paul Ernest Boniface, ("Boni") Comte de Castellane (1867-1932); and after a divorce married his cousin: Helie de Talleyrand-Perigord (1858–1937), 5th duc de Talleyrand, 5th duc de Dino, 4th Herzog von Sagan, and Prince de Sagan
• Frank Jay Gould (1877–1956), who married Helen Kelley, then Edith Kelly, and then Florence La Caze (1895–1983)

George Jay Gould I (1864-1923) George Jay Gould I (February 6, 1864 - May 16, 1923) was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. ... Edith M. Kingdon (1864-1921) Edith M. Kingdon (1864-1921) Edith M. Kingdon (1864 - November 13, 1921) Wife of George Jay Gould I (1864-1923) // Birth She was born in 1864 in New York City. ... Edwin Gould (1866-July 1933), was an American capitalist and railway official. ... Helen Miller Gould (1868-1938) Helen Miller Gould (1868-December 1938) // Birth Helen Miller Gould was born in Manhattan in New York. ... Gould (1871-1959) in the Covington Sun on April 16, 1908 Howard Gould (1871-1959) was the son of Jay Gould, the robber baron // Marriage He married Katherine Clemmons (c1880-1930) on October 12, 1898. ... Image:HUN 005. ... Anna Gould (1875-1961) Anna Gould (1875-1961) was a socialite and daughter of Jay Gould, the robber baron. ... Paul Ernest Boniface (1867-1932) the Comte de Castellane Paul Ernest Boniface (1867-1932) the Comte de Castellane. ... Frank Jay Gould (December 4, 1877 - April 1, 1956) // Birth He was the son of Jay Gould (1836-1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838-1889). ...

The Tweed Ring

It was during the same period that Gould and James Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall; they made Boss Tweed a director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed, in turn, arranged favorable legislation for them. Tweed and Gould became the subjects of political cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1869. In October 1871, when Tweed was held on $1 million bail, John Gould was the chief bondsman. James Fisk, Jr. ... Tammany Hall was the name given to the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in New York City politics from the 1790s to the 1960s. ... 1869 Tobacco label featuring Boss Tweed. ... The Erie Railroad (AAR reporting mark ERIE) was a railroad that operated in New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, connecting New York City with Lake Erie, and extending west to Cleveland, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. ... Thomas Nast (September 27, 1840 – December 7, 1902) was a famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century and is considered to be the father of American political cartooning. ...

Black Friday

Jay Gould in 1855

In August 1869, Gould and Fiske began to buy gold in an attempt to corner the market, hoping that the increase in price of gold would increase the price of wheat such that western farmers would sell, causing a great amount of shipping of breadstuffs eastward, increasing freight business for the Erie railroad. During this time, Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S. Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, to try to influence the president and his Secretary General Horace Porter. These speculations in gold culminated in the panic of Black Friday, on September 24, 1869, when the premium over face value on a gold Double Eagle fell from 62% to 35%. Gould made a nominal profit from this operation, but lost it in the subsequent lawsuits. The affair also cost him his reputation. Image File history File links Gould-Jay_03. ... Image File history File links Gould-Jay_03. ... Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American general and politician who was elected as the 18th President of the United States (1869–1877). ... Abel Rathbone Corbin (May 24, 1808 - March 28, 1881) was an American financier and the husband of Virginia Grant, making him brother-in-law of Ulysses S. Grant. ... Horace Porter, (1837-1921), American soldier and diplomat, was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania and educated at Harvard University. ... Black Friday, September 24, 1869, was a financial panic in the United States caused by two speculators efforts to corner the gold market. ... September 24 is the 267th day of the year (268th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The 1933 Double Eagle, Saint Gaudens design Double Eagle is the official term used for gold coins of the United States with a denomination of $20. ...

Late career

After being forced out of the Erie Railroad, Gould started, in 1879, to build up a system of railroads in the midwest by gaining control of four western railroads, including the Union Pacific and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1880, he was in control of 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the length of rail in the United States at that time, and, by 1882, he had controlling interest in 15% of the country's tracks. Gould withdrew from management of the UP in 1883 amidst political controversy over its debts to the federal government, realizing a large profit for himself. The Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP) is the largest railroad in the United States. ... Missouri Pacific (MoPac; AAR reporting mark MP) was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. ...

Gould also obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company, and, after 1881, in the elevated railways in New York City. Ultimately, he was connected with many of the largest railway financial operations in the United States from 1868-1888. During the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 he hired strikebreakers; according to labor unionists, he said at the time, "I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half." The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. ... The Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 was a labor union strike against the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads involving more than 200,000 workers. ... A strikebreaker is a heroic figure with a free mind and free will, considered by many to be the culmination of human virtue. ...

Death and legacy

Gould died of tuberculosis on December 2, 1892 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. His fortune was conservatively estimated $72 million for tax purposes. He left all of it to his family. The family mausoleum was designed by Francis O'Hara (1830-1900) of Ireland. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones and joints. ... December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Located in The Bronx, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in New York City. ... The Bronx is one of the five boroughs of New York City. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ...

In his lifetime and for a century after, Gould had a firm reputation as the most unethical of the 19th century American businessmen known as robber barons. Many times he allowed his rivals to believe that he was beaten, then sprang some legal or contractual loophole on them that completely reversed the situation and gave him the advantage. He pioneered the practice, now commonplace, of declaring bankruptcy as a strategic maneuver. He had no opposition to using stock manipulation and insider trading (which were then legal but frowned upon) to build capital and to execute or prevent hostile takeover attempts. As a result, many contemporary businessmen did not trust Gould and often expressed contempt for his approach to business. Even so, John D. Rockefeller named him as the most skilled businessman he ever encountered. John D. Rockefeller Sr. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Insider trading is a term often used to refer to a practice, which is illegal in many jurisdictions, in which an investor trades securities of a company (, stocks, bonds or stock options) based on material non-public information which was obtained by an officer, manager, or other corporate insider, during... Capital has a number of related meanings in economics, finance and accounting. ... A takeover in business refers to one company (the acquirer, or bidder) purchasing another (the target). ... John Davison Rockefeller, Sr. ...

The New York City press published many rumors about Gould that biographers passed on as fact. For example, they alleged that Gould's dealings in the tanning business drove his partner Charles Leupp to suicide. In fact, Leupp had episodes of mania and depression that psychiatrists would now recognize as indications of bipolar disorder, and his family knew that this, not his business dealings, caused his death. These biographers portrayed Gould as a parasite who extracted money from businesses and took no interest in improving them. Anti-semitism in connection with Gould's name motivated some of this hostility, even though he was born a Presbyterian and married an Episcopalian. Nickname: Big Apple; City that never Sleeps; Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Manhattan Queens Brooklyn Staten Island Settled 1613 Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Suicide (from Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of willfully ending ones own life. ... Mania is a medical condition characterized by severely elevated mood. ... Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individuals social functioning and/or activities of daily living. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... Bipolar Disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis referring to a prolonged pattern of periods of mania (or hypomania or mixed states) alternating with periods of clinical depression (or depressed or euthymic mood). ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ...

More recent biographers, including Maury Klein and Edward Renehan, have reexamined Gould's career with more attention to primary sources. They have concluded that fiction often overwhelmed fact in previous accounts, and that despite his methods, Gould's objectives were usually constructive. In historical scholarship, a primary source is a document or other source of information that was created at or near the time being studied, often by the people being studied. ...

At the time of his death, Gould was a benefactor in the reconstruction of the Reformed Church of Roxbury, now the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church.[1] The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organizationally independent. ...

Timeline

hi Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2400x3442, 842 KB) Summary Jay Gould in 1850 US Census in Roxbury, New York as Jacent Gould. Licensing Removed from the following pages: Jay Gould --OrphanBot 20:58, 14 March 2006 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file... Roxbury is a town located in Delaware County, New York. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2041x2929, 866 KB) Summary 1870 US Census with Jay Gould in New York Ward 19; District 25 (2nd Enum), New York City, New York Licensing Removed from the following pages: Jay Gould --OrphanBot 21:04, 14 March 2006 (UTC) File history... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2073x2917, 988 KB) Summary Jay Gould in the 1870 US Census. ... The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2389x3255, 1192 KB) Summary Jay Gould in Greenburgh, New York in the 1880 US Census Licensing Removed from the following pages: Jay Gould George Jay Gould I --OrphanBot 21:09, 14 March 2006 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the... Greenburgh is a town located in Westchester County, New York. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (5412x6927, 1704 KB) Summary Death of Jay Gould in the Brooklyn Eagle on December 02, 1898. ...

See also

• List of personalities associated with Wall Street
• Lyndhurst, his country estate on the Hudson River
• Death of Jay Gould in the Brooklyn Eagle

Over the years, certain persons associated with Wall Street have become famous, even legendary. ... Lyndhurst is a notable Gothic Revival country house within its own 67-acre park beside the Hudson River, located approximately one-half mile south of the Tappan Zee Bridge on US Route 9. ... The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk in Mahican, is a river running mainly through New York State but partly forming the boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey. ...

Further reading

• The Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons by Edward J. Renehan - (2005) ISBN 0-465-06885-5
• The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J.P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy by Charles R. Morris; Publisher: Times Books, 2005; ISBN 0-8050-7599-2

External links

• Obituary by the Iowa City Daily Citizen
• Findagrave: Jay Gould
• Photo from the Library of Congress's George Grantham Bain Collection

References

• New York Times; September 15, 1886; page 1; "George Gould marries"
• New York Times; October 13, 1898; page 1; "Howard Gould marries"
• New York Times; September 15, 1959; page 39; "Howard Gould dies here at 88; last surviving son of Jay Gould, rail financier -- yachtsman, auto racer"

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Jay Gould