William Richardson Belknap

William Richardson Belknap (March 28, 1849 – June 2, 1914),[1] for 28 years was president of the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company[2][3] based in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the largest hardware American manufacturing companies and wholesale hardware companies of its time.[4]

William Richardson Belknap
Born(1849-03-28)March 28, 1849
Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
DiedJune 2, 1914(1914-06-02) (aged 65)
Jefferson County, Kentucky, U.S.
Resting placeCave Hill Cemetery
Alma materSheffield Scientific School
(Yale University)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forPresident of Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company
Spouses
Alice Trumbull Silliman
​
​
(m. 1874; died 1890)​
    Juliet Rathbone Davison
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1894⁠–⁠1914)​
    Children5, including William Burke Belknap
    Parent
    Signature

    Early life

    William Richardson Belknap was born in Louisville on March 28, 1849[1] to William Burke Belknap and Mary Richardson.[5] His younger brother was Morris B. Belknap.[6] He graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1869, and in 1873 he spent a year traveling in Europe with his younger brother Morris.[7][8]

    Career

    In 1880, following the death of his father, founder of the Belknap company, he became its president.[9][10] After his retirement as president of Belknap Hardware, he became the company's Chairman of the Board.[7]

    Belknap was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.[1] The William R. Belknap School in the Belknap neighborhood of Louisville was named for him.[11] He was a charter member of the Salmagundi Club and served for three years as its secretary.[7] He was a trustee of Berea College, and the namesake and founder of the William R. Belknap Prizes awarded for excellence in the fields of geology and biology in Yale's Sheffield Scientific School.[7]

    Personal life
    Lincliff gates

    In 1874, Belknap married Alice Trumbull Silliman (1846–1890), the daughter of Benjamin Silliman Jr., a professor of chemistry at Yale University who was instrumental in developing the oil industry.[12] They had a son, William Burke Belknap, and four daughters;[13] the eldest, Eleanor, married Kentucky newspaper editor Lewis Craig Humphrey;[14] the second, Alice, married the physician and surgeon Forbes Hawkes.[15]

    After his wife's death in 1890, he married Juliet Rathbone Davison (1862–1948) in 1894.[12]

    Belknap died on June 2, 1914, in Jefferson County, Kentucky.[16] At his death in 1914, and after building Lincliff in 1911, his estate was estimated at $3,000,000 to $5,000,000.[3][17][18] He is buried in the Belknap family plot at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.

    Residences

    In 1911, Belknap built his house, Lincliff.[19] The Olmsted Brothers were hired by Belknap to create plans for the estate grounds. Lincliff was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Lincliff is currently owned by Stephen F. Humphrey, widower of the mystery writer the late Sue Grafton. Together they worked on restoration of the building and grounds.[20]

    References
    1. Memoir of William Richardson Belknap. Proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 1914. pp. 2941–2. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    2. James R. Miller (Spring 2012). Kentucky at Work: Philatelic Genealogy. Bluegrass Roots 39 (1): 12–15.
    3. The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 2, 1914, p. 2.
    4. "Catches in the Social Stream". Palm Beach Daily News. February 25, 1912. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    5. Strong, Lyle A. (1995). Strong Family History, Update: Children of Elder John Strong, ca. 1610-1699; Return Strong, 1641-1726; Elder Ebenezer Strong, 1643-1729; Elizabeth Strong, 1648-1736. Gateway Press. pp. 35, 39. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    6. "Kentucky Digital Library". kdl.kyvl.org. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
    7. Johnson, E. Polk (1912). A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce and Industry Vol. III. Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Company. p. 1153.
    8. Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University. Yale University. 1905. pp. 1153–1154. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    9. Memoir of William Richardson Belknap. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 1915. pp. 1494–5. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    10. Klayko, Branden (October 4, 2010). "Lost Louisville: Belknap Warehouses". brokensidewalk.com. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    11. Kleber, John E., ed. (2001). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 81. ISBN 0-8131-2100-0. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
    12. Johnson, E. Polk. "Belknap, William R." www.usbiographies.org. Lewis Publishing Co. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    13. Kleber, John E. (2015). The Encyclopedia of Louisville. University Press of Kentucky. p. 81. ISBN 9780813149745. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    14. The Sigma Chi Quarterly: The Official Organ of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. The Fraternity. 1895. p. 350. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    15. "FORBES R. HAWKES, SURGEON, 75, DEAD; Ex-Consultant at Presbyterian Hospital Had Been Head of the Dispensary There WROTE MEDICAL ARTICLES Former Professor of Clinical Surgery at Post-Graduate Served Many Institutions" (PDF). The New York Times. August 25, 1940. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    16. "Kentucky Death Records". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    17. "History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America". www.raken.com. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    18. A Classification of American Wealth: History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America.
    19. "Lincliff". npgallery.nps.gov. KENTUCKY HISTORIC RESOURCES INVENTORY. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
    20. "Lincliff: Author Sue Grafton's 1912 Kentucky Estate". On Pinehurst Place. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2016.

    Further reading
    • The Filson Historical Society. "Belknap Family Papers, 1856-1904".
    • Yale University. Sheffield Scientific School. Biographical Record, Classes from Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-eight to Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-two of the Sheffield Scientific School. Class secretaries bureau, Yale university, 1910.
    • E. Polk Johnson, A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities, (1912).


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