Franklin Hughes Delano

Franklin Hughes Delano (July 27, 1813 – December 23, 1893)[1] was an American merchant, diplomat and society man.

Franklin Hughes Delano
Born(1813-07-27)July 27, 1813
Dartmouth, Massachusetts
DiedDecember 23, 1893(1893-12-23) (aged 80)
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Occupation(s)Diplomat, merchant
Spouse
Laura Eugenia Astor
​
(m. 1844)​
RelativesDelano family

Early life

Delano was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts on July 27, 1813 and grew up in Fairhaven. He was a son of Captain Warren Delano and Deborah Perry (née Church) Delano.[2] Among his siblings was brother Warren Delano Jr. After his mother's death in 1827, his father, who was involved in the New England sea trade, remarried to Elizabeth Adams,[3] a widow of Captain Parker of the United States Navy.[2]

A descendant of Philip Delano (a Pilgrim who arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621), Franklin's paternal grandparents were Ephraim Delano and Elisabeth (née Cushman) Delano,[4] and his maternal grandparents were Joseph Church and Deborah (née Perry) Church.[5] Through his brother Warren, Franklin was the uncle of Warren Delano IV, Frederic Adrian Delano, and Sara Delano Roosevelt (the mother of Delano's grand-nephew and namesake, Franklin Delano Roosevelt).[6]

Career

Delano was involved, and partners, in a number of financial ventures, including shipping ventures, with his brothers Warren, Frederick, and Edward.[3][lower-alpha 1] In January 1839, he became a partner in the New York shipping firm of Grinnell, Minturn & Company.[3] He served as U.S. Consul for Chile at New York,[lower-alpha 2] from 1840 until 1851,[8] when he resigned that office and also retired as an active partner in Grinnell, Minturn & Co. After his marriage, Delano joined his father-in-law in the Astor family business, located on Pearl Street in New York City, and assisted in control the large piece of property in New York City which his wife had inherited.[3]

After his retirement in 1851, Delano and his wife traveled to Europe, and later, spent much of their time in Italy and Monte Carlo.[3]

In the 1850s, Delano, along with his brother Warren and Asa Packer (the builder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and founder of Lehigh University), headed a land company that purchased several thousand acres and established the town of Delano, Pennsylvania.[9] Delano also served as the company president of the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad, the largest railroad in Alabama, due to the Astor family's ownership of a large block of stock.[10] The Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad was formed by the consolidation of Alabama and Tennessee River Rail Road Co. (incorporated in 1848), the Georgia and Alabama Rail Road Co. (incorporated in 1854), and the Dalton and Jacksonville Railroad Co. (incorporated in 1854) on August 6, 1866.[11] Delano handed over day-to-day management of the railroad to Captain E. G. Barney.[10][12]

Personal life

In September 1844, Delano was married to heiress Laura Eugenia Astor. Laura was a daughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. and Margaret (née Armstrong) Astor, and a sister, among others, of John Jacob Astor III and William Backhouse Astor Jr.[13] (husband of the Mrs. Astor). Reportedly, Laura was the favorite granddaughter of John Jacob Astor, the founding Astor family patriarch who was America's first millionaire who died in 1848, four years after their marriage. Her maternal grandparents were John Armstrong Jr. (a U.S. Senator, U.S. Minister to France under Thomas Jefferson and U.S. Secretary of War under James Madison) and Alida (née Livingston) Armstrong.[14]

In New York City, the Delanos lived at 190 Madison Avenue, and where he was a member of the Union Club (which he joined in 1839, three years after its founding in 1836), the Knickerbocker Club, the Century Club,[15] the New-England Society, and the American Geographic Society.[1]

Around 1890, due to failing health, Delano moved abroad and after traveling for a year, took up residence in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where he died on December 23, 1893.[16][1] His widow died in 1902.

Steen Valeitje

As a wedding gift, Laura's father gifted the couple the southernmost 100 acres of his Rokeby estate.[17] The estate came to be known as "Steen Valetje" (which means "little stone valley" in Dutch).[18] The Tuscan-style mansion, designed by Frank Wills, was completed in 1851. In 1866 William Astor Sr. conveyed the adjoining 142 acres of Rokeby to his son, Henry. Henry Astor built a brick dwelling on this land, but in 1873 conveyed the property to Laura, thus expanding "Steen Valetje". A gatehouse, designed by William Schickel & Co. was added in 1874.[19] The mansion was expanded in 1881 by architect Thomas Stent.[20][21]

The Astors and the Delanos commissioned German born landscape gardener Hans Jacob Ehlers to improve the grounds at Rokeby and Steen Valetje. Ehlers converted an old farm track into a woodland path called the Poet's Walk in honor of poets Washington Irving and Fitz-Greene Halleck, who are said to have strolled there. It is now Poets' Walk Park, managed by the not-for-profit Scenic Hudson.[22]

As Delano and his wife both died childless, he left Steen Valetje to his nephew, coal baron Warren Delano IV.[23][lower-alpha 3] Warren IV was very involved in horse breeding, with over sixty saddle, driving, and draft horses at his stables at "Steen Valetje". He died September 9, 1920, when, while picking up a trunk at the Barrytown Train Station, his carriage horse was frightened by an approaching northbound New York Central express, and dashed onto the tracks with the buggy carrying Delano, who was killed instantly.[23] His funeral was held at "Steen Valetje" and was attended by his nephew Franklin, then the Democratic vice presidential candidate.[24]

Jennie Walters Delano, died two years later in 1922.[25] Their son Lyman inherited "Steen Valetje" and his family kept the home until 1966 when it was sold.[18] In the late 20th century the mansion was remodeled in the Georgian style; and the estate's name was changed to "Mandara".

Notes
  1. Franklin's brothers, Warren and Edward Delano were both members of the shipping firm of Russell and Company at Guangzhou, China in the early 1840s.[3]
  2. His distant cousin, Paul Delano (1775–1847),[2] moved to Chile in 1818, became associated with Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, and served as a commander of the Chilean Department of the Navy.[7]
  3. Today, the extant Steen Valetje is known as Atalanta.[17]

References
  1. "Franklin H. Delano" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 December 1893. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  2. 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. 1060. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  3. "Delano Family Papers, 1568-1919". www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  4. Americana, American Historical Magazine. National American Society. 1919. p. 303. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  5. "Roosevelt Genealogy". www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  6. Clemens, Cyril (1935). The Literary Education of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. International Mark Twain Society. p. 13. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  7. Genealogies of Mayflower families: from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Genealogical Pub. Co. 1985. p. 560. ISBN 9780806310961. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  8. The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year ...: Comprising a Calendar for the Year; Astronomical Information; Miscellaneous Directions, Hints, and Remarks; and Statistical and Other Particulars Respecting Foreign Countries and. Gray and Bowen. 1811. p. 74. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  9. Beynon, Jo (August 26, 1999). "FDR had ties to coal mining in Mt. Savage". Cumberland Times-News. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  10. Howard, Gene L. (1994). Death at Cross Plains: An Alabama Reconstruction Tragedy. University of Alabama Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780817307493. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  11. Interstate Commerce Commission, Southern Ry. Co., Volume 37, Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports, November 6, 1931. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1932. pp. 213–214.
  12. Congressional series of United States public documents. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1869. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  13. "THE DESCENDANTS OF JOHN JACOB ASTOR. | INCLUDING THE FAMILIES OF BRISTED, WARD, CHANLER, CARY, DE STUERS, DELANO, VAN ALEN, ROOSEVELT, DRAYTON, WILSON, LANGDON, RUMPFF, BORELL, WILKS, KANE, CARROLL, DE NOTBECK, AND JAY" (PDF). The New York Times. March 6, 1898. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  14. Homberger, Eric (2004). Mrs. Astor's New York: Money and Social Power in a Gilded Age. Yale University Press. p. 105. ISBN 9780300105155. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  15. The Century Association Year-book. The Century Association (New York, N.Y.). 1894. p. 31. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  16. "DIED. DELANO" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 December 1893. Retrieved 20 March 2018. At Monte Carlo, Monaco, on Dec. 23, 1893, Franklin H. Delano of New-York City
  17. Nonko, Emily (August 28, 2017). "19th century Hudson River estate built for an Astor gets a price cut to $20M". 6sqft. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  18. Estersohn, Pieter; Aldrich, John Winthrop (September 18, 2018). Life Along the Hudson: The Historic country estates of the Livingston family. Rizzoli. pp. 188–197. ISBN 978-0-8478-6323-5. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  19. "Atalanta/Steen Valetje/Mandara", Gatehouses of the Hudson River Historic District
  20. Pottker, Jan (2014). Sara and Eleanor: The Story of Sara Delano Roosevelt and Her Daughter-in-Law, Eleanor Roosevelt. St. Martin's Press. p. 44. ISBN 9781466864511. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  21. Kelly, Nancy V. (2009). Rhinebeck's Historic Architecture. Arcadia Publishing. p. 28. ISBN 9781614232902. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  22. "Poet's Walk Park", Scenic Hudson
  23. "WARREN DELANO KILLED BY TRAIN AT BARRYTOWN His Favorite Horse, Frightened by Express, Dashed On Track, Carrying Him to Death. BORNE 150 FEET BY ENGINE Uncle of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Had Large Coal interests in Pennsylvania. OWNED STABLE OF HORSES He Intended to Exhibit Animal HeWas Driving at Dutchess County Fair Tomorrow" (PDF). The New York Times. September 10, 1920. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  24. "WARREN DELANO FUNERAL. Franklin D. Roosevelt Attends Services at Barrytown" (PDF). The New York Times. September 13, 1920. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  25. "DEATH MAY CLEAR UP MYSTERY OF A LIGHT Burning in Mansion 32 Years Since Daughter Married Against Walters's Will" (PDF). The New York Times. December 4, 1922. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
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