Harry Whitney McVickar

Harry Whitney McVickar (September 2, 1860 – July 4, 1905) was an American artist, illustrator, and real estate investor who was prominent member of New York society during the Gilded Age.[1]

Harry Whitney McVickar
Born(1860-09-02)September 2, 1860
Irvington, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 4, 1905(1905-07-04) (aged 44)
Southampton, New York, U.S.
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1891)​
Parent(s)William Augustus McVickar
Frances Elizabeth Booth McVickar

Early life

McVickar was born on September 2, 1860, in Irvington, New York, and grew up at the McVickar House. He was the son of the Rev. Dr. William Augustus McVickar (1827–1877), the first rector of the Church of St. Barnabas, and Frances Elizabeth "Fanny" (née Booth) McVickar (1829–1910). Among his siblings was William Bard McVickar, who married Mary Louisa Miller (daughter of George Macculloch Miller[2]) and Anna McVickar.[3][4]

His paternal grandparents were Eliza (née Bard) McVickar and The Rev. John McVickar, an Episcopalian minister and two-time acting president of Columbia University who moved to Irvington to be close to his friends Washington Irving and John Jay, and to establish a school, which became what is known today as Bard College (named after his father's nephew by marriage, John Bard).[5]

Career

McVickar started his career as an artist and illustrator, with his work appearing in Life and Harper's Bazaar,[6] and is considered one of the founders of Vogue, which was then a weekly newspaper.[1] He illustrated several books, including Daisy Miller and Mr. Bonaparte of Corsica (1895), and The Evolution of Woman (1896), published by Harper and Brothers.[7]

Reportedly, he made enough money as an artist to set himself up in the real estate business.[1] He was a member of S. Van Rensselaer Cruger & Co.[8] until the death of Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger (a grandson of patroon Stephen Van Rensselaer[lower-alpha 1]) in 1898,[10] at which point McVickar became the head of McVickar & Co., which later became known as the McVickar Realty Trust Company.[11] The McVickar Realty Trust Company eventually merged with the Empire State Trust Company in 1904, emerging as the Empire Trust Company, of which Harry became First Vice President taking charge of the real estate department and president Leroy W. Baldwin taking hold of the banking end.[12] He also served as a director of the Knickerbocker Trust Company and was the treasurer of Gaillard & Co.[1]

Society life

In 1892, McVickar 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.[13][14] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[15] Harry was a member of the Century Association and the Lambs Club.[1]

Personal life

On January 14, 1891, McVickar married socialite and painter Maud Robbins (d. 1955)[16] at Grace Church before 2,000 people in a ceremony officiated by Bishop Henry C. Potter.[17] She was the daughter of Henry Asher Robbins, an industrialist associated with the Waltham Watch Company,[18] and Lizzie Pelham Bend Robbins.[19][20] Her brother, the architect Harry Pelham Robbins,[21] was married to Emily Frances Welles,[22] the daughter of Benjamin Welles and sister of Sumner Welles, the Undersecretary of State in the Roosevelt administration.[23] Emily and Benjamin Sumner Welles were grand-nieces and grand-nephews of Caroline Astor.[24]

McVickar died of pleurisy on July 4, 1905, at his father-in-law's residence, Asher House, in Southampton, New York.[1] He contracted pleurisy "while he was automobiling in Europe" six weeks earlier.[1] His widow remarried to Theron Roundell Strong, a nephew of mayor William L. Strong, in 1918 and later died at her residence in the Carlyle Hotel in December 1955.[16]

References
Notes
  1. In February 1898, Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger was the sole surviving executor of the estate of Margaret Johnston Bard (who died in April 1875), the widow of John Bard, who sued Cruger alleging that he held back money due to him under Margaret's will.[9]
Sources
  1. "H. W. McVickar Dead – An Artist and Illustrator Who Became a Real Estate Operator" (PDF). The New York Times. July 5, 1905. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  2. "Mrs. W. B. McVickar" (PDF). The New York Times. November 1, 1943. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  3. McVickar, Edward; Breed, William Constable (September 1906). Memoranda relating to the McVickar family in America. New York. Retrieved 12 May 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. "McVickar" (PDF). The New York Times. November 11, 1906. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  5. Shaver, Peter (February 6, 2003). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, McVickar House". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  6. "Harper's Bazaar | Artist: H. W. McVickar (American, active ca. 1895)". www.metmuseum.org. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  7. The Book News Monthly, Vol. 14. New York: J. Wanamaker. 1896. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  8. "In the Real Estate Field – Yesterday's Dealings at Private Contract — A Plaintiff the Only Buyer at Auction" (PDF). The New York Times. June 14, 1898. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  9. "Col. S. V. R. Cruger Accused – John Bard Says that He Has Held Back Money Due Him Under His Wife's Will" (PDF). The New York Times. February 6, 1898. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  10. "Death of S.V.R. Cruger – The Soldier and Man Prominent in Business Affairs Passes Away at the Age of Fifty-four" (PDF). The New York Times. June 24, 1898. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  11. "Empire Trus Directorate – Permanent Board Chosen at Stockholders' Meeting" (PDF). The New York Times. May 20, 1904. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  12. "Trust Concerns to Merge – Action by Directors of the McVickar Realty and the Empire State Companies — Officers Are Selected" (PDF). The New York Times. February 5, 1904. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  13. 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 Understand, and Therefore Genuine, You See" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  14. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 225. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  15. 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.
  16. "Mrs. T. R. Strong, Painter, Is Dead – Artist Who Had Exhibited Work at Galleries Here Was Society Leader" (PDF). The New York Times. December 16, 1955. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  17. "A Day of Notable Unions – Brilliant Weddings in This City and Washington – Miss Maud Robbins Marries Mr. Harry Whitney M'Vickar and Miss Florence Audenreid Becomes the Countess Divonne" (PDF). The New York Times. 15 January 1891. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  18. "Henry Asher Robbins" (PDF). The New York Times. January 22, 1914. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  19. "Robbins" (PDF). The New York Times. July 22, 1933. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  20. Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Forest, Louis Effingham De (1894). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. p. 6. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  21. "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.
  22. "Mrs. Harry P. Robbins". The New York Times. 24 April 1962. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  23. "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.
  24. Spanburgh, Sally (2015). The Southampton Cottages of South Main Street: The Original Hamptons Summer Colony. Arcadia Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 9781626192911. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
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