Edward C. Post

Edward Church Post (September 9, 1845 – July 5, 1915)[1] was an American heir and art collector who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.

Edward C. Post
Born
Edward Church Post

(1845-09-09)September 9, 1845
Paris, France
DiedJuly 5, 1915(1915-07-05) (aged 69)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1895; his death 1915)​
Parent(s)Edward Post
Clementine Church Post
RelativesGeorge B. Post (cousin)

Early life

Post was born in Paris, France on September 9, 1845. He was the son of Edward Post (1823–1851), a graduate of New York University, and Clementine (née Church) Post (1824–1887).[2] After his father's death in 1851, his mother remarried to his uncle, Wright Eli Post. His sister, Mary Alma Post, died young, and his brother, Frederick Alfred Post, was married to Harriet Bininger (daughter of Abraham Bininger)[3]

His paternal grandparents were Joel Post and Alma (née Floyd) Post, who was a sister of U.S. Representative Charles A. Floyd. Besides his stepfather, who was his uncle, his paternal aunt was Anne (née Post) Livermore and John Alexander Post. His maternal grandparents were Captain William Church and Abigail (née Mauran) Church.[2] His maternal aunt, Abby Mauran Church, was married his paternal uncle, Joel Browne Post, the parents of architect George B. Post, Edward's first cousin.[2]

Society life

In 1882, Post moved to America to reside permanently.[2] In 1892, Post, who had yet to marry, was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[4][5] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[6] Post was a member of the Knickerbocker Club, the Century Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Newport Reading Room and the Clambake Club of Newport.[1]

Post was an avid collector of art, including paintings (including a portrait of Marie Thérèse de Bourbon likely by Jean Petitot), drawings, miniatures, and objects in gold, silver, enamel, marble and bronze.[7] After his death, his collection was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[8]

Personal life

In 1895, Post was married to Emilie Thorn King (d. 1948).[8] Emilie was the daughter of Edward King and Emma Dorothea (née Thorn) King, the niece of William Knapp Thorn Jr. and the granddaughter of Emily Almira (née Vanderbilt) Thorn (a daughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt).[9] They maintained a home in New York City, at 350 West End Avenue, and one in Newport, Rhode Island on, known as "Needwood" on Parker Avenue.[10]

Post died from complications affecting his heart at his home in Newport on Bellevue Court on July 5, 1915.[1] His funeral was held at Emmanuel Church and he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.[11] His widow converted to the Catholic faith in 1912,[12] and later donated her Newport home, named Stoneleigh on Narragansett Avenue, to the Father General of the Carmelite order for use as a monastery in 1930, after which Father Paschasius, master of its House of Novices at New Orleans became the spiritual director of the monastery.[8] Mrs. Post died at her home in Buckfast, Devonshire, England in March 1948.[8]

References
  1. "E. C. POST DIES IN NEWPORT; Member of Union and Knickerbocker Clubs Was in His 70th Year" (PDF). The New York Times. July 5, 1915. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  2. Post, Marie Caroline (1905). The Post Family. Sterling Potter. p. 189. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. Hall, Henry (1895). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The City of New York. New York Tribune. p. 86. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  4. 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 26 March 2017.
  5. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 223. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  6. 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.
  7. "ROYAL SNUFFBOXES IN E.C. POST ESTATE One the Gift of Louis XVI. to the Secretary of Benjamin Franklin. GIVEN TO WIDOW FOR LIFE At Her Death Most of the Testator's Art Collection Is to Go to the Metropolitan Museum" (PDF). The New York Times. January 20, 1916. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  8. "MRS. EDWARD POST CHARITIES LEADER; Descendant of Vanderbilts, 76, Dies in England--Donated Newport Home to Church" (PDF). The New York Times. March 22, 1948. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  9. MacDowell, Dorothy Kelly (1989). Commodore Vanderbilt and his family: a biographical account of the Descendants of Cornelius and Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt. D.K. MacDowell. pp. 40, 45. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  10. Social Register, Summer: Contains the Summer Addresses of Residents of New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Baltimore. Social Register Association. 1904. p. 304. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  11. "Edward C. Post's Funeral" (PDF). The New York Times. July 7, 1915. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  12. "SOCIAL SETS OF OTHER CITIES | Interesting Events and Gossip, Both at Home and Abroad, as Chronicled in The Post's Exchanges". The Washington Post. February 23, 1912. p. 7. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
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