Benjamin Welles

Benjamin Sumner Welles, Jr. (January 11, 1857 – December 24, 1935) was an American philanthropist who was a descendant of many prominent Colonial families.[1]

Benjamin Welles
Born
Benjamin Sumner Welles, Jr.

January 11, 1857
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedDecember 24, 1935(1935-12-24) (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery, Bronx
Alma materHarvard College
Columbia Law School
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1886; died 1911)​
ChildrenEmily Frances Welles
Sumner Welles
RelativesAbraham Schermerhorn (grandfather)
John Jacob Astor IV (cousin)
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (aunt)

Early life

Welles was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 11, 1857. He was one of five children born to Katharine Elida Schermerhorn (1828–1858) and Benjamin Sumner Welles (1823–1904),[2] a dry-goods merchant who was a descendant of Colonial Gov. Thomas Welles and Gov. Increase Sumner. His siblings included Helen Schermerhorn Welles,[3] who married George Lovett Kingsland (son of Mayor Ambrose Kingsland), and Harriet Katherine Welles.[4]

His mother was one of nine children born to his maternal grandparents,[5] Abraham Schermerhorn, a wealthy New York City merchant, and Helen Van Courtlandt (née White) Schermerhorn of the Van Cortlandt family.[6] Through his grandfather, he was descended from Jacob Janse Schermerhorn, who settled in New York from the Netherlands in 1636.[7] His maternal aunt was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known as "the Mrs. Astor", who was married to the immensely wealthy William Backhouse Astor Jr., and was considered the Gatekeeper of New York Society during the Gilded Age.[8]

Among his many cousins were Emily Astor, who married the politician James J. Van Alen,[9] Helen Schermerhorn Astor,[10][11] who married the diplomat James Roosevelt (the elder half-brother of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and John Jacob Astor IV,[12] who married Ava Lowle Willing and, later, married socialite Madeleine Talmage Force, before perishing aboard the Titanic in 1912.[13]

Welles graduated from Harvard College in 1878,[4] of which his family had been producing graduates dating back to 1707 with Samuel Welles.[14] He also spent at year at Columbia Law School.[15]

Career

Following a year spent at law school, Welles spent a year and a half in Europe travelling. Following his "grand tour," he returned to New York City and was engaged in the business of managing his family affairs.[15] Following his marriage in 1886, the newlyweds spent a year together in Europe.[15] He was an officer of the 27th Assembly District Republican Club, which he stated in 1901, was the "only 'anti-machine' one in New York. Largely through our efforts a good majority was secured for a son of Harvard, Governor Roosevelt."[15]

Welles was the treasurer of the House of Rest, a philanthropic sanitarium near Yonkers, and belonged to the Society of Colonial Wars, University Club of New York, Union Club of the City of New York, and the Harvard Club of New York.[4]

Society life

In 1892, Welles and his wife were both included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[16] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into his aunt, Mrs. Astor's, ballroom.[17]

McAllister also had designated Benjamin Welles, a member of the Patriarchs, a clique of twenty-five men whom he had organized in 1872 to 'create and lead' New York society."[18]

Personal life

On Wednesday October 27, 1886,[19] Welles was married to Frances Wyeth Swan (1863–1911)[20][21] at the West Presbyterian Church in New York by the Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby. She was the daughter of Frederick George Swan, an attorney,[22] and Emily (née Wyeth) Swan.[23] The Welles lived at 6 West 37th Street in New York City.[22] Together, they were the parents of two children:

After his wife's death, he resided at the St. Regis Hotel in New York,[4] and maintained a home in Islip, New York on Long Island.[28]

Welles died of pneumonia on December 26, 1935, at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.[4] He was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. In his will, he bequeathed $10,000, in trust, which provided that the money shall be used for a scholarship, to be known as the Benjamin Welles Scholarship, from which the income was to be paid to any deserving undergraduate descendant of Benjamin Welles, Harvard Class of 1800.[28] If no descendant needs financial assistance, the income could be used to pay for another undergraduate in the discretion of the president of the University.[28]

Descendants

Through his daughter Emily, he was the grandfather of Frances Emily Robbins (1910–1937), who also died of pneumonia at the age of 26 in 1937.[29]

Through his only son, who was known by his middle name Sumner, he was the grandfather of Benjamin Welles (1916–2002), a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, who later wrote his father's biography, and Arnold Welles (1918–2002).[30]

References
  1. "Mrs. Benjamin Welles (ca. 1866-1911)". nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. "DEATH LIST OF A DAY.; Benjamin S. Welles". The New York Times. March 13, 1904. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  3. "DIED. Kingsland". The New York Times. 16 February 1911. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. "BENJAMIN WELLES DIES OF PNEUMONIA; Father of Assistant Secretary of State Was Descendant of Colonial Settlers" (PDF). The New York Times. December 27, 1935. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  5. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1410. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  6. Moffat, R. Burnham (1904). The Barclays of New York: Who They are and who They are Not,-and Some Other Barclays. R. G. Cooke. p. 142. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  7. Harrison, Mrs. Burton; Lamb, Mrs. Martha J. (1896). HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ITS ORIGIN RISE, AND PROGRESS. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  8. Beard, Patricia (2009). After the Ball. Xlibris Corporation. p. 133. ISBN 9781524526375. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  9. "JAMES L. VAN ALEN DIES IN PARIS AT 48; Member of Old New York Family, Long Ill, Succumbs With Family at Bedside" (PDF). The New York Times. May 31, 1927. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  10. "DIED. Roosevelt" (PDF). The New York Times. November 14, 1893. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  11. "MRS. HELEN ROOSEVELT'S WILL.; Application for Its Probate Filed at Poughkeepsie -- Its Provisions" (PDF). The New York Times. November 26, 1893. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  12. "An Age of Splendor, and Hotel One-Upmanship". The New York Times. June 18, 2006. His younger cousin, known as Jack, enrolled in Harvard, left without a degree, traveled and joined 'about two dozen clubs.' He tinkered with inventions, married unwisely and, inspired by Jules Verne, wrote a work of science fiction. Often ridiculed in the press, he bore the sobriquet 'Jack Ass.'
  13. "Noted Men On The Lost Titanic. Col. Jacob Astor, with His Wife. Isidor Straus and Wife, and Benj. Guggenheim Aboard". The New York Times. April 16, 1912. Retrieved December 10, 2013. Following are sketches of a few of the well-known persons among the 1,300 passengers on the lost Titanic. The fate of most of them at this time is, of course, not known. Col. John Jacob Astor and Mrs. Astor, Isidor Straus and Mrs. Straus, J. Bruce Ismay, Managing Director of the White Star Line: Benjamin Guggenheim, and Frank D. Millet, the artist, are perhaps the most widely known of the passengers.....
  14. Welles, Albert; Clements, H. H.; Sargent, Henry Winthrop (1874). History of the Welles Family in England: With Their Derivation in this Country from Governor Thomas Welles, of Connecticut. J. Wilson and Son. p. 127. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  15. Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1878 (1901). Harvard College Class of 1878 Secretary's Report. Riverside Press. p. 120. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  16. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  17. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  18. Welles, Benjamin (1997). Sumner Welles: FDR's Global Strategist; A Biography (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-17440-3. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  19. "MARRIED. Welles--Swan". The New York Times. 28 October 1886. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  20. "DIED. Welles". The New York Times. February 26, 1911. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  21. "WILLS MUCH TO CHARITY.; Mrs. Benjamin Welles's Bequests Help Many Institutions in This City". The New York Times. 2 April 1911. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  22. "Death List of a Day. Frederick George Swan". The New York Times. 2 December 1899. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  23. "DIED. Swan". The New York Times. 19 March 1910. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  24. "Mrs. Harry P. Robbins". The New York Times. 24 April 1962. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  25. "MISS EMILY WELLES A BRIDE.; Mrs. Astor's Grandniece Married in Grace Church to H.P. Robbins". The New York Times. 23 April 1908. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  26. "H.P. ROBBINS DIES; PHILANTHROPIST, 71; Columbia Trustee, President of Memorial Hospital 12 Years --Civic, Educational Leader". The New York Times. 21 March 1946. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  27. "Sumner Welles, 69, Diplomat, Is Dead; Sumner Welles Is Dead at 69; .Former Under Secretary of State". The New York Times. 25 September 1961. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  28. "Welles Scholarship Established". The New York Times. January 19, 1936. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  29. "FRANCES ROBBINS; Horse Show Leader, Daughter of Banker, Dies at 26". The New York Times. 26 March 1937. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  30. Bohlen, Celestine (January 4, 2002). "Benjamin Welles, Biographer And Journalist, Is Dead at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
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