J. Hampden Robb

James Hampden Robb (October 27, 1846 – January 21, 1911) was an American merchant and politician from New York.[1]

J. Hampden Robb
Member of the New York State Senate
In office
January 1, 1884 – December 31, 1885
Preceded byRobert Ray Hamilton
Succeeded byWalter Howe
Member of the New York State Assembly
In office
January 1, 1882 – December 31, 1882
Preceded byJoseph Koch
Succeeded byWilliam C. Traphagen
Personal details
Born
James Hampden Robb

(1846-10-27)October 27, 1846
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedJanuary 22, 1911(1911-01-22) (aged 64)
New York City, New York
Political partyDemocrat
Spouse(s)
Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer
​
​
(m. 1868; died 1903)​
RelationsGoodhue Livingston (son-in-law)
Children4
ParentsJames Robb
Louisa Werninger
EducationL'Institut Sillig
Churchill's Military School
Alma materHarvard College

Life

Robb was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 27, 1846. He was the son of James Robb,[2] a New Orleans banker and avid art collector who later lived in Cheviot, Ohio,[1][3] and Louisa (née Werninger) Robb (1808-1855).[4] His mother was painted in Philadelphia in 1844 by Thomas Sully, and is currently held at The Historic New Orleans Collection.[5] His father built the Burnside Mansion in New Orleans,[6] nicknamed the Robb's Folly, in the Garden District, which later became one of the first buildings of the newly founded Newcomb College until it was demolished in 1954.[7]

His father's prominent business in New Orleans attracted the attention of Queen Isabella II of Spain and, with her, he formed a partnership and purchased the Havana Gas Works in Cuba.[8] While working with the Queen, his father brought one of his three sisters, Isabella, to Spain with him where she was presented at Court. She eventually married the Eduardo Fernández, Marquis de San Román,[9] a cousin of Queen Isabella II of Spain, in 1857, thereby becoming the Marchioness de San Roman.[2] Eugénie de Montijo, Empress consort of the French attended the wedding which was held at the Tuileries Palace in Paris.[8] Another sister, Charlotte Matilda Robb (1852–1902), married Dr. William Henry Pancoast (1834–1897), a surgeon in Philadelphia who was the son of Dr. Joseph Pancoast, and the other, Mary Robb (d. 1903), who married Joseph O. Miltenberger, a wealthy merchant from St. Louis,[2] and later, Col. Henry Mapleson (1851–1927), and Englishman who was the son of James Henry Mapleson.[10][11]

He attended L'Institut Sillig in Vevey, Churchill's Military School in Ossining,[12] and Harvard University,[1] graduating with the Class of 1866.[4][13]

Career

From 1866 until 1886,[13] and following his graduation from Harvard, he became a banker and cotton broker in New York City.[4]

Robb, a Democrat, was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York County, 11th D.) in the 105th New York State Legislature, serving from January 1 until December 31, 1882. While in the Assembly, he was chairman of the Committee on Banks and worked hard for the anti-usury laws.[1] He was also a member of the New York State Senate (10th D.) in the 107th and 108th New York State Legislatures, serving from January 1, 1884 until December 31, 1885.[14] While a member of the Senate, "he fought for the appropriation which made possible the State reservation of Niagara Falls."[1] He later served as the treasurer of the original Niagara Falls State Park.[4]

As someone interested in the preservation of the beauty of New York, he was appointed a New York City Parks Commissioner in 1887 by Mayor Abram Hewitt,[12] serving from May 1888 to December 1890; and was President of the Board of Park Commissioners from May 1888 to May 1889. At the time, a newspaper wrote of him:[1]

Only by eternal vigilance can the parks be maintained and developed as they ought to be, for there is never a time when some one is not trying to 'work' something to his own personal advantage and toe the detriment of the public. If he can't work it he makes a terrible hullaballoo and abuses the Commissioners. Mr. Robb has withstood all these jobs, big and little, and has endeavored to have the parks administered so that the people of New York can get the greatest possible enjoyment and benefit out of them.[1]

An active member of the Democratic National Convention of 1884 and 1888, he put former New York Governor and the President Grover Cleveland's name forward in 1888, which led to Cleveland recapturing the Democratic nomination in the 1888 presidential election (of which Republican Benjamin Harrison eventually emerged victorious). In 1887, Cleveland offered Robb the position of Assistant Secretary of State, which Robb declined.[1]

Later career

After retiring from politics in 1888, Robb focused on charitable causes, serving as the president of the Society for Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents which conducts the House of Refuge on Randall's Island.[12] He also served as the secretary of the American Museum of Natural History and was vice president of the Union Club of the City of New York for many years. He was also a founder, and the first president, of the People's Symphony Society.[4]

Beginning in 1895, he was a trustee of the Greenwich Savings Bank and served as one of the secretaries of the board in 1904.[4] Also in 1895, he was a founder of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society.[12] In 1900, he became a member of the Pennsylvania Society, serving as its president from 1905 to 1907, and was the first chairman of the committee on the William Penn Memorial.[4]

Personal life
The Robb House, designed by Stanford White

In 1868, Robb was married to Cornelia Van Rensselaer Thayer (1849–1903).[15] She was the daughter of Nathaniel Thayer, Jr. (1808–1883), a banker who built Harvard's Thayer Hall, and Cornelia Paterson (née Van Rensselaer) Thayer (1823–1897). She was the older sister of John Eliot Thayer (1862–1933), an amateur ornithologist,[16] a granddaughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV and a great-granddaughter of New York Lt. Gov. Stephen Van Rensselaer III. Together, they were the parents of four children:[17][18]

  • Nathaniel Thayer Robb (b. 1870),[19][20] who married Frances Beatrix Henderson (1875–1957),[21] daughter of Charles R. Henderson and Jennie North, in 1895.[18][22]
  • Cornelia Van Rensselaer Robb (b. 1874)[18]
  • Louisa Robb (1877–1960),[23] who married Goodhue Livingston (1867–1951), a prominent architect,[24] in 1896.[15]
  • Harriet Bayard Robb (1881–1910), who died, unmarried,[25] aged 29 at her father's home.[26][27]

In 1892, he moved into a house built for him by Stanford White, at 23 Park Avenue. Afterwards, from 1924 to 1977, the house was the location of the Advertising Club. Robb also had a house at North East Harbor in Maine.[28]

Robb died at his residence, 23 Park Avenue in New York City, from a complication of diseases.[1]

Descendants

Through his son Nathaniel, he was the grandfather of Janet Henderson Robb (b. 1896); James Hampden Robb (b. 1898); and Cornelia Van Rensselaer Robb (b. 1904),[15] who married Dr. Walther F. Goebel.[29]

Through his daughter Louisa, he was the grandfather of Goodhue Livingston, Jr. (1897–1994),[30] who married Joan Livingston Allen (1898–1964), the daughter of Frederick Hobbes Allen in 1919.[31] They divorced in 1931 and in 1932 he married Lorna Mackay (1911–1986). They divorced in the 1950s and he married Ruth Monsch Gordon. They also divorced and, in 1966, he married Dorothy Michelson-Stevens-Bitter-Dick (d. 1994), the widow of William Dixon Stevens and the daughter of Albert A. Michelson.[32] He was also the grandfather of Cornelia Thayer Livingston (1903–1975), who married Frederic Cromwell Jr. (1900–1973) in 1927.[33][34]

References
Notes
  1. "J. HAMPDEN ROBB, EX-SENATOR, DEAD; Retired Merchant and Banker Was Once Active in Councils of Democratic Party" (PDF). The New York Times. January 22, 1911. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  2. "The Son of a Poor Widow; How He Rose from Poverty to Affluence". The New York Times. 2 August 1881. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  3. Bonner, Judith H.; Pennington, Estill Curtis (2013). The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 21: Art and Architecture. UNC Press Books. p. 437. ISBN 9780807869949. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  4. Pennsylvania Society of New York (1912). Yearbook. The Society. pp. 80–82. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  5. "Louisa Werninger Robb". louisianadigitallibrary.org. Louisiana Digital Library. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  6. "From a Historic House; Cleaning Out the Burnside Mansion in New-Orleans". The New York Times. 3 December 1889. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  7. New Orleans Times-Picayune, obituary, June 30, 1881; The New York Times, July 12, 15, 16, 1881; Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography (1900)
  8. The Centennial Celebration of The Founding of Morgantown, 1785---100---1845 : With Addresses and Papers. Morgantown, West Virginia: The Committee of Arrangements | First Dominion Print. 1902. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  9. Ohio Supreme Court (1896). Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Ohio. Robert Clark. p. 503. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  10. "What Is Doing in Society". The New York Times. January 8, 1903. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  11. Addison, Henry Robert; Oakes, Charles Henry; Lawson, William John; Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton (1900). Who's Who. A. & C. Black. p. 687. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  12. New York (State) Legislature Assembly (1911). Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York. p. 15. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  13. Thayer, William Roscoe; Castle, William Richards; Howe, Mark Antony De Wolfe; Pier, Arthur Stanwood; Voto, Bernard Augustine De; Morrison, Theodore (1911). The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association. pp. 496–497. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  14. Murlin, Edgar L. (1897). The New York Red Book. Albany New York: James B. Lyon and Williams Press. pp. 384f, 403. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  15. The American Historical Magazine. Publishing Society of New York. 1907. p. 138. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  16. Spooner, Walter Whipple (1 January 1900). "Van Rensselaer family". American Historical Magazine. S.l. : s.n. 2 (1). Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  17. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. 1880. p. 155. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  18. Reynolds, Cuyler (1911). Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: A Record of Achievements of the People of the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York State, Included Within the Present Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Saratoga, Montgomery, Fulton, Schenectady, Columbia and Greene. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 26. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  19. 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. 131. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  20. "Robb, Nathaniel Thayer". the-afs-archive.org. AFS Foundation. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  21. "Mrs. Henderson Robb, Clubwoman, Dies; Trustee of Museum of City of New York". The New York Times. 21 April 1957. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  22. "Robb--Henderson". The New York Times. 27 November 1895. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  23. "Mrs. Goodhue Livingston Dies; Aided Civic and Charity Causes". The New York Times. January 17, 1960. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  24. Times, Special To The New York (4 June 1951). "G. LIVINGSTON DIES; LONG AN ARCHITECT; Practitioner Here for 50 Years Included Hayden Planetarium, Oregon Capitol in His Work". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  25. "HARRIET BAYARD ROBB". The New York Times. 28 December 1910. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  26. Social Register, New York. Social Register Association. 1892. p. 249. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  27. "DIED. Robb". The New York Times. 29 December 1910. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  28. "Social Notes". The New York Times. 27 August 1910. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  29. "CORNELIA GOEBEL WED IN SUBURBS; Radcliffe Alumna Is Marrie in Christ Church, Greenwich to Nathaniel Bronson 2d" (PDF). The New York Times. June 13, 1954. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  30. Pace, Eric (31 August 1994). "Goodhue Livingston, City Planner, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  31. Semans, Barbara Broome; Broom, Letitia (2009). John Broome and Rebecca Lloyd: Their Descendants and Related Families 18th to 21st Centuries. p. 509. ISBN 9781462811137. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  32. Broome, Barbara Broome Semans; Letitia (2009). John Broome and Rebecca Lloyd: Their Descendants and Related Families 18th to 21st Centuries. p. 672. ISBN 9781462811120. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  33. "MISS C. LIVINGSTON ENGAGED TO MARRY; To Wed Frederick Cromwell, Son of Late President of New York Stock Exchange". The New York Times. 18 August 1927. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  34. "MISS LIVINGSTON WEDS F. CROMWELL; Ceremony Performed by Dr. Land at Home of the Bride's Parents in Southampton". The New York Times. 21 August 1927. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
Sources
New York State Assembly
Preceded by
Robert Ray Hamilton		 New York State Assembly
New York County, 11th District
1882		 Succeeded by
Walter Howe
New York State Senate
Preceded by
Joseph Koch		 New York State Senate
9th District
1884–1885		 Succeeded by
William C. Traphagen
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