American landowner
Robert Livingston Pell
|
---|
Born
| (
1818-05-08
)
May 8, 1818
|
---|
Died
| February 11, 1880
(1880-02-11)
(aged 61)
|
---|
Education
| American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy
|
---|
Alma mater
| Yale University
|
---|
Spouse
|
Maria Louisa Brinckerhoff
(
m.
; died
)
|
---|
Children
| Adelia Duane Pell
Robert Troup Pell
James Brinckerhoff Pell
|
---|
Parent(s)
| Alfred Sands Pell
Adelia Duane Pell
|
---|
Relatives
| James Duane
(grandfather)
|
---|
Robert Livingston Pell
(May 8, 1818 ? February 11, 1880) was an American landowner and descendant of several prominent colonial families of New York.
Early life
[
edit
]
Pell was born at the old Pell mansion in
Pelham
on May 8, 1818. He was a son of Alfred Sands Pell (1786?1831) and Adelia (
nee
Duane) Pell (1765?1860). Among his siblings were four brothers John Augustus Pell, James Duane Pell, George Washington Pell, and Richard Montgomery Pell. His family was among the largest landowners along the
Hudson River
.
[1]
His maternal grandparents were Mary (nee
Livingston
) Duane and
James Duane
, a signer of the
Articles of Confederation
, first post-colonial
Mayor of New York City
, and first Judge of the
United States District Court for the District of New York
. His grandmother was the eldest living daughter of
Robert Livingston
, 3rd Lord of
Livingston Manor
. His aunt, Mary Duane, was the wife of Gen.
William North
, and another aunt, Sarah Duane, was the wife of geologist and geographer
George William Featherstonhaugh
. Through his father, he was a nephew of
William Ferris Pell
and a descendant of
Thomas Pell
, 1st Lord of the
Pelham Manor
.
[2]
His first cousin,
Alfred Shipley Pell
, was a co-founder of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York
(known today as
AXA
) in 1843.
[3]
Pell attended school in New York City before entering
American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy
in 1825. He graduated from the Academy in 1829 and then attended
Yale University
, where he graduated in 1832. After his time at Yale, he went on a
Grand Tour
of Europe between 1832 and 1833.
[4]
Career
[
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]
Pell "had a passion for agricultural pursuits, and was a familiar figure in agricultural clubs and conventions, as well as an author of many valuable papers on
fruit-culture
and kindred topics. His information on agricultural questions, and his knowledge of
agriculture as a science
, were thorough and profound; and inheriting the parental bias for landhold, his possessions at
Hyde Park
were of vast extent. Besides being the owner of Pelham farm, an estate of 600 acres, beautifully laid out, and situated four miles above Hyde Park, he was the proprietor of another estate, of large acreage, named the Cedars."
[1]
In 1838, Pell established a 1,200 acre farm just north of
Esopus
(which was established after "separating" from
Kingston
in 1811). He was one of the first farmers to grow apples and export them to Europe. Also on his farm, they had apple orchards,
[5]
50 acres of vineyards (with
Isabella grapes
), and ten artificial lakes used for breeding fish.
[6]
On his estate, he built a brick mansion, in the
Romanesque style
that was painted "a beautiful straw color and white."
[6]
In June 1904, the
Redemptorist Fathers
purchased 235 acres from the Pell's estate and built
Mount St. Alphonsus Seminary
,
[7]
which they owned until 2012, when it was sold to a
Bruderhof Community
(who live in nearby
Rifton
) for $21.5 million.
[8]
Pell owned an island known as Pell Island (today known as
Esopus Island
), over a mile in length, in the middle of the Hudson River situated across his estate,
[6]
and
Overlook Mountain
(near
Woodstock
), where he had built the Overlook Mountain House, which became a fashionable resort for summer tourists.
[6]
Pell also owned four million acres of
Yellow Pine
timber lands in
Southern Georgia
.
[9]
Reportedly, during the
U.S. Civil War
, Pell purchased "seventeen million acres of wild land, for nominal prices, in Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri; and sold to the
Rothschilds
in Europe three millions of acres for seven dollars an acre, and they resold the same for fourteen dollars an acre."
[6]
Personal life
[
edit
]
On July 8, 1837, Pell was married to Maria Louisa Brinckerhoff (1816?1866).
[4]
Maria was the daughter of James Lefferts Brinckerhoff and Charlotte (nee Troup) Brinckerhoff. Her maternal grandparents were
Robert Troup
and Jannetje (nee Goelet) Troup (granddaughter of
Peter Goelet
. Her sister, Charlotte Brinckerhoff was the wife of Frederic Bronson, and was the mother of
Frederic Bronson
(who married
Sarah Gracie King
).
[10]
Together, Maria and Robert were the parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom only his daughter survived him:
His wife died on November 10, 1866.
[4]
On February 11, 1880, Pell died at 218
Fifth Avenue
, the home of his ninety year old aunt in New York City where he usually spent his winters.
[1]
After a funeral at
Trinity Chapel
in New York, he was buried at
Green-Wood Cemetery
in Brooklyn.
[13]
Descendants
[
edit
]
Through his daughter Adelia, he was a grandfather to John DeCourcy Ireland (1865?1951), who married Elizabeth Gallatin (great-granddaughter of
Albert Gallatin
) in 1895;
[14]
Robert Livingston Ireland (1867?1928), who married heiress
Kate Benedict Harvey
and was the father of
Robert Livingston Ireland Jr.
;
[15]
[16]
Maria Louise Ireland (1870?1965), who married Easton Earl Madeira;
[17]
and Adelia Ireland (1872?1936),
who married Dr. Montgomery H. Sicard (who was connected with the marine division of
Standard Oil of New Jersey
).
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Robert Livingston Pell"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. 14 February 1880
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Hartford, William J. (1900).
The Successful American
. New York: Press Biographical Company. p. 402
. Retrieved
26 April
2019
.
- ^
"Neighbors"
.
academic2.marist.edu
.
Marist College
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Ellis, William Arba (1911).
Norwich University, 1819-1911: Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor
. Capital City Press. pp.
191
-192
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Wick, Karl R.; Wick, Susan B. (2003).
Esopus
.
Arcadia Publishing
. p. 108.
ISBN
9780738511887
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Gazetteer and Business Directory of Ulster County, N.Y. for 1871-2
. Printed at the Journal office. 1871. p.
83
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
"NEW SEMINARY DEDICATED.; Mount St. Alphonsus Opened by Archbishop Farley with Impressive Ceremonies"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. 22 May 1908
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Mitchell, Paula Ann (June 20, 2012).
"Bruderhof buys Mount St. Alphonsus for $21.5 million, plans high school for its children"
.
Daily Freeman
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Pell, Robert Livingston (1865).
An Account of the Lands Belonging to Robert L. Pell, in the State of Georgia
. D. Bradbury
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
"Robert Troup Papers"
(PDF)
.
archives.nypl.org
.
New York Public Library
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Davis, Howland; Clermont, Friends of (1995).
A Livingston Genealogical Register
. Kinship. p. 109.
ISBN
9781560121367
. Retrieved
26 April
2019
.
- ^
Catalogue of the Governors, Trustees, and Officers, and of the Alumni and Other Graduates, of Columbia College (originally King's College), in the City of New York, from 1754 to 1882
.
Columbia University
. 1882. p. 92
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
"Funeral of Robert Livingston Pell"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. 17 February 1880
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
"WEDDING OF MISS ELIZABETH M. GALLATIN; Married to John De Courcy Ireland in Calvary Episcopal Church"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. 7 February 1895
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Nemy, Enid (9 May 1971).
"The Lords and Manors Have Gone, But Descendants Remember Well"
(PDF)
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Gross, Michael (2007).
740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building
. Crown/Archetype. p. 369.
ISBN
9780307418760
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Leonard, John William (1914).
Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915
. American Commonwealth Company. p.
534
. Retrieved
27 August
2019
.
- ^
Livingston, Edwin Brockholst (1910).
The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants
. Knickerbocker Press. p.
228
. Retrieved
26 April
2019
.
External links
[
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]