Louis Gordon Hamersley

Louis Gordon Hamersley (July 20, 1892 – June 2, 1942)[1] was an American sportsman, piloting and racing boats, and real estate investor.

Louis Gordon Hamersley
Born(1892-07-20)July 20, 1892
Newport, Rhode Island
DiedJune 2, 1942(1942-06-02) (aged 49)
Southampton, New York
Education
Occupation(s)Sportsman, investor
SpouseHilles Morris
Children4
Signature

Early life

Hamersley was born on July 20, 1892, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the youngest child and only son of James Hooker Hamersley (1844–1901)[2] and Margaret Willing (née Chisolm) Hamersley (1863–1904).[3] His only surviving sibling, Catherine Livingston Hamersley, married Samuel Neilson Hinckley, and, after their 1921 divorce, Henry Coleman Drayton, a grandson of Caroline and William Backhouse Astor Jr.

His paternal grandparents were Col. John William Hamersley and the former Catherine Livingston Hooker.[4] Among his extended family were aunts Helen (wife of New York State Assemblyman Charles D. Stickney); Virginia (wife of Cortlandt de Peyster Field, son of Benjamin Hazard Field),[5] and Catherine (wife of John H. Livingston).[6] Through his father, he was a direct descendant of Sir Hugh Hamersley, a 17th-century merchant who was Lord Mayor of London, and Robert Livingston the Elder, the Scottish immigrant who was granted the Livingston Manor by royal charter.[7] His maternal grandparents were William Edings Chisolm and the former Mary Ann Rogers,[8] a niece of William Augustus Muhlenberg.[9]

Hamersley attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1916 where he was one of the editors of the Lampoon.[1]

Career
Hamersley's Dutchess County estate

In 1913, while at Harvard, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that he was the legal heir of the $7,000,000 estate of Louis Carré Hamersley, his father's cousin who died in 1883. The will stipulated the bulk of his estate went to his male issue, or if there was none, to his cousin (Louis' father) and his male descendants, but was appealed by several parties, including his cousin's late wife, Lily, who by then had married both George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough and Lord William Beresford before dying herself in 1909.[10] Prior to his maturity, the Chemical National Bank managed the Hamersley estate. From 1937 to 1940, he served as president of the First Avenue Association and managed his large real estate empire out of 70 Pine Street in Manhattan.[1]

In 1914, Hamersley purchased the former John Armstrong Jr. estate in Dutchess County and erected a tudor revival mansion and gatehouse designed by Francis Hoppin.[11] He expanded his estate, acquiring several farms to the north, and Maizeland on Cruger's Island in 1920, eventually owning what was described at one time as the second largest in Dutchess County.[1] In 1926, he sold the combined estate to William B. Ward who immediately donated it to the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor in memory of his father Robert (founder of the Ward Baking Company).

He also owned an estate at Sands Point on Long Island.[1] In 1923, he had the family mansion at 1030 Fifth Avenue torn down and commissioned architects James Carpenter and Rosario Candela to build a modern apartment building on the site that featured a 23-room penthouse for Hamersley, which was completed in 1924.[12]

Military career

After Harvard, Hamersley went to the Mexican border with Battery A of the Massachusetts National Guard, followed by a post as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in France. While there, he attended the French Artillery School at Fontainebleau and, although the position of teaching horsemanship was offered to him, he joined the Sixth Field Artillery of the A.E.F's First Division as a lieutenant. He served in many engagements, and after the Armistice of 1918 was with the United States Army of Occupation in Germany for nine months. Hamersley later became a major in the Field Artillery Reserve and was a commander of the Jeff Heigl Post of the American Legion.[1]

Sportsman

He was also a well-known speed boat pilot and, in 1925, he made a record run of 2 hours and 38 minutes from New York to Albany in his speedboat Cigarette Jr. In 1926, Cigarette IV won the first national speedboat regatta on the Potomac River and Hamersley received the President's Cup from President Calvin Coolidge. He also raced his schooner named Countess.[1]

Personal life

In 1926, Hamersley was married to Hilles Morris (1907–2000),[13] the daughter of Elizabeth (née Wynkoop) Morris stock broker Stuyvesant Fish Morris Jr. and granddaughter Stuyvesant Fish Morris and Elly (née Van Buren) Morris (granddaughter of President Martin Van Buren).[14] Together, they had residences in Southampton on Long Island, in Palm Beach in Florida, and at 1030 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan,[12] and were the parents of one daughter and three sons:

  • Louis Gordon Hamersley Jr. (1928–2008)[15]
  • Stuyvesant Morris Hamersley (1932–2014)[16]
  • Hilles Elizabeth Hamersley (1935–2014)[17][18]
  • James Hooker Hamersley II (1937–1999), a writer, photographer and pilot.[19][20]

After a brief illness, he died on June 2, 1942, at Southampton and was buried at Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan.[1] After his death, his widow remarried, and was widowed from George Leslie Bartlett and Robert C. L. Timpson, managing partner of W. E. Hutton & Co.[13]

References
  1. "L.G. Hamersley, 49, Heir to $7,000,000; Sportsman Who Fought in World War Dies in Hospital at Southampton, L. I." The New York Times. June 3, 1942. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  2. "Died" (PDF), The New York Times, September 19, 1901
  3. "Mrs. J. H. Hamersley Dead", The New York Times, January 6, 1904
  4. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1905). The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. p. 72. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  5. Chisholm, William Garnett (1914). Chisholm Genealogy: Being a Record of the Name from A. D. 1254; with Short Sketches of Allied Families. Knickerbocker Press. pp. 54-55. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  6. 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. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  7. Hall, Henry (1895), America's Successful Men of Affairs: The City of New York, vol. 1, The New York Tribune, pp. 293–4
  8. "Mrs. J.H. Hamersley Dead; Expires at Her Fifth Avenue Home in This City. Family Millions May Again Be Tied Up by Litigation – Provisions of Her Late Husband's Will". The New York Times. January 6, 1904. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  9. Mackenzie, George Norbury (1917). Colonial Families of the United States of America: In which is Given the History, Genealogy and Armorial Bearings of Colonial Families who Settled in the American Colonies from the Time of the Settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775. Grafton Press. p. 142. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  10. Supreme Court Appellate Division-Second Department. 1912. p. 67. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  11. Kline, Reamer (1982). Education for the Common Good: A History of Bard College The First 100 Years, 1860-1960. Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Bard College.
  12. Miller, Tom (April 4, 2016). "The Lost J. Hooker Hamersley Mansion - No. 1030 Fifth Avenue". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  13. "Paid Notice: Deaths Timpson, Hilles Morris". The New York Times. April 25, 2000. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  14. "Miss Hilles Morris to Marry L. Gordon Hamersley – Other Ceremonies". The New York Times. October 31, 1926. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  15. "L. Gordon Hamersley Jr". Bangor Daily News. September 25, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  16. "Irmy Borowski Is Wed Upstate To a Rancher; / Bride in Sloatsburg of Stuyvesant Hamersley of Vanderhoof, B.C." The New York Times. January 10, 1960. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  17. Cantor, Irving (August 10, 1956). "Miss Hamersley is a Future Bride; Pine Manor Ex-Student to Be Wed to Terrence Martin, a Graduate of Lehigh". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  18. Cantor, Special to The New York Times Irving (October 7, 1956). "Miss Hamersley Becomes a Bride; She Is Married to Terence Martin in St. Andrew's Dune Church in Southampton". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  19. "Miss Woleslagle Is Married to Pilot". The New York Times. April 12, 1981. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
  20. "Obituaries | James Hooker Hamersley, 62 Pilot, writer and photographer flew commercially from Hyannis". Cape Cod Times. December 26, 1999. Retrieved July 27, 2020.
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