Joseph William Drexel

Joseph William Drexel[lower-alpha 1] was the son of Francis Martin Drexel (1792–1863) and Catherine Hookey (1795–1870). His siblings were Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826–1893) and Francis Anthony Drexel (1824–1885). Through his brother Francis, he was the uncle of Saint Katharine Drexel (1858–1955).[3]

Drexel attended the Central High School in Philadelphia, and traveled through Spain, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and Greece.[3]

Joseph Drexel was a partner in the firm of Drexel, Morgan and Company, where his brother, Anthony, was senior partner. In 1876, tired of battling the brusque J. Pierpont Morgan, Joseph retired from the business and devoted his life to philanthropic and civic organizations.[3]

He owned a 200-acre (0.81 km²) farm near New York City, where people without work were housed, clothed, fed, and taught agriculture until they could find a job. He owned a large tract of land in Maryland, which was developed into Klej Grange, a planned community, where the lots are sold to poor people at cost. About 7,000 acres (28 km²) in Michigan were bought for the same purpose.

Collections

1889 bust of Drexel by John Quincy Adams Ward at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Drexel was an avid collector of music, eventually amassing a collection of over 6,000 items. Upon his death, the Drexel Collection was accepted by the Lenox Library.[6] When the Lenox Library was joined with those of John Jacob Astor and Samuel Tilden to form The New York Public Library, Drexel's collection became the basis for the Library's Music Division, housed today in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

The Concordia Polka composed by Theodore Gundlach was dedicated to Drexel.[7]

He married Lucy Wharton (1841–1912), the daughter of Thomas Lloyd Wharton (1799–1869) and Sarah Ann Smith (b. 1800). Together, they had four children:[10][11]

• Katherine Drexel (1866–1918), who married Dr. Charles Bingham Penrose (1862–1925),[12][13] the brother of U.S. Senator Boies Penrose, Spencer Penrose, Richard A. F. Penrose, Jr. and the grandson of Charles B. Penrose, Solicitor of the United States Treasury, in 1892.[14] They had two children.[11]
• Lucy Wharton Drexel (1867–1944),[15][16] who married Eric Bernard Dahlgren, Sr. (1866–1922), a son of John A. Dahlgren,[17] and had eight children.[11] They divorced in 1913.[18][19][20]
• Elizabeth Wharton Drexel (1868–1944),[21] who married John Vinton Dahlgren (1869–1899), another son of John A. Dahlgren, in 1889, with whom she had one son.[11][22] After his death, she married New York Society leader Harry Lehr (1869–1929).[23] After Lehr's death, she married John Beresford, 5th Baron Decies (1866–1944) and thereafter was known as Lady Decies.[24]
• Josephine Wharton Drexel (b. 1878), who married Dr. John Duncan Emmet (1857–1923), the son of prominent physician, Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet,[25] in 1904.[26][27] They divorced in 1914 and in 1915, she married Seton Henry (d. 1946),[28] the son of Gen. Guy Vernor Henry and brother of Guy Henry, Jr.,[19] with whom she had children.[29][30][31]

Drexel died at his home, 103 Madison Avenue in New York City, on March 25, 1888.[3] He had been suffering from Bright's Disease for a year and a half before then.[3] He was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[32][6]

• Drexel Collection

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Joseph William Drexel.

• Correspondence and bills from J. Sabin & Sons, 1877-1878 (with Joseph W. Drexel) in the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Joseph William Drexel at Find a Grave