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Jay Gould

Jason Gould (/ɡld/; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. Gould was an unpopular figure during his life and remains controversial.[2][3][4]

Jay Gould
Born
Jason Gould

(1836-05-27)May 27, 1836
DiedDecember 2, 1892(1892-12-02) (aged 56)
New York City, U.S.
OccupationFinancier
Spouse
(m. 1863; died 1889)
Children
Signature

Early life and education edit

Gould was born in Roxbury, New York, to Mary More (1798–1841) and John Burr Gould (1792–1866). His maternal grandfather Alexander T. More was a businessman, and his great-grandfather John More was a Scottish immigrant who founded the town of Moresville, New York. Gould studied at the Hobart Academy in Hobart, New York,[5] paying his way by bookkeeping.[6] As a young boy, he decided that he wanted nothing to do with farming, his father's occupation, so his father dropped him off at a nearby school with fifty cents and a sack of clothes.[7]

Early career edit

 
Jay Gould (right) in 1855

Gould's school principal was credited with getting him a job as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith.[8] A year later, the blacksmith offered him half interest in the blacksmith shop, which he sold to his father during the early part of 1854. Gould devoted himself to private study, emphasizing surveying and mathematics. In 1854, he surveyed and created maps of the Ulster County, New York, area. In 1856, he published History of Delaware County, and Border Wars of New York, which he had spent several years writing.[9] While engaged in surveying he started a side activity financing operators making woodash for tannin used in tanning leather.

 
Keystone Marker for Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, named after Gould

In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt[8] to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania in an area that was later named Gouldsboro. He eventually bought out Pratt, who retired. In 1856, Gould entered a partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp, a son-in-law of Gideon Lee and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States. The partnership was successful, until the Panic of 1857. Leupp lost all his money in that financial crisis, but Gould took advantage of the depreciation in property value and bought up former partnership properties.[8]

Gould also started an ice harvesting industry on the large Gouldsboro lake. In the winter, ice was harvested and stored in large ice houses at the side of the lake. He had a railroad line installed next to the lake and he supplied New York City with ice during the summer months.

The Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property after Leupp's death. Leupp's brother-in-law David W. Lee was also a partner in Leupp and Gould, and he took armed control of the tannery. He believed that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families in the collapse of the business. Gould eventually took physical possession, but he was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee's brother.[10]

Railroad investing edit

In 1859, Gould began speculative investing by buying stock in small railways. His father-in-law Daniel S. Miller introduced him to the railroad industry by suggesting that Gould help him save his investment in the Rutland and Washington Railroad in the Panic of 1857. Gould purchased stock for 10 cents on the dollar, which left him in control of the company.[11] He engaged in more speculation on railroad stocks in New York City throughout the Civil War, and he was appointed manager of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad in 1863.

The Erie Railroad encountered financial troubles in the 1850s, despite receiving loans from financiers Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew. It entered receivership in 1859 and was reorganized as the Erie Railway. Gould, Drew, and James Fisk engaged in stock manipulations known as the Erie War, and Drew, Fisk, and Vanderbilt lost control of the Erie in the summer of 1868, while Gould became its president.[12]

Tammany Hall edit

It was during the same period that Gould and Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party political machine that largely ran New York City at the time. They made its boss, notorious William M. "Boss" Tweed, a director of the Erie Railroad, and Tweed arranged favorable legislation. Tweed and Gould became the subjects of political cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1869. Gould was the chief bondsman in October 1871 when Tweed was held on $1 million bail. Tweed was eventually convicted of corruption and died in jail.[13]

Black Friday edit

In August 1869, Gould and his partner James Fisk conspired to begin to buy gold in an attempt to illegally corner the market. During this time, Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S. Grant's brother-in-law Abel Corbin to influence the president and his Secretary General Horace Porter.[14][15] These speculations culminated in the panic of Black Friday on September 24, 1869, when the greenback (cash) premium over face value fell on a gold double eagle from 62 percent to 35 percent. Gould made a small profit from this operation by hedging against his own attempted corner as it was about to collapse, but he lost it in subsequent lawsuits. The gold corner established Gould's reputation in the press as an all-powerful figure who could drive the market up and down at will.[16] Favored by Tweed Ring judges, the conspiratorial partners escaped prosecution, but the months of economic turmoil that rocked the nation following the failed corner proved both ruinous to farmers and bankrupting of some of Wall Street's most venerable financial institutions.

More railroads edit

Erie Railroad edit

In 1873, Gould attempted to take control of the Erie Railroad by recruiting foreign investments from Lord Gordon-Gordon, supposedly a cousin of the wealthy Campbell clan who was buying land for immigrants. He bribed Gordon-Gordon with a million dollars in stock, but Gordon-Gordon was an impostor and cashed the stock immediately. Gould sued him, and the case went to trial in March 1873. In court, Gordon-Gordon gave the names of the Europeans whom he claimed to represent, and he was granted bail while the references were checked. He immediately fled to Canada, where he convinced authorities that the charges were false.[17][18]

Having failed to convince Canadian authorities to hand over Gordon-Gordon, Gould attempted to kidnap Gordon-Gordon with the help of his associates and future members of Congress Loren Fletcher, John Gilfillan, and Eugene McLanahan Wilson. The group captured him successfully, but they were stopped and arrested by the North-West Mounted Police before they could return to the US. Canadian authorities put them in prison and refused them bail,[17][18] and this led to an international incident between the United States and Canada. Governor Horace Austin of Minnesota demanded their return when he learned that they had been denied bail, and he put the local militia on full readiness, and thousands of Minnesotans volunteered for an invasion of Canada. After negotiations, the Canadian authorities released them on bail. Gordon-Gordon was eventually ordered to be deported but committed suicide before the order could be carried out.[17][18]

Western railroads edit

 
1882 cartoon depicting Wall Street as "Jay Gould's Private Bowling Alley"

After being forced out of the Erie Railroad, Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and west. He took control of the Union Pacific in 1873 when its stock was depressed by the Panic of 1873, and he built a viable railroad that depended on shipments from farmers and ranchers. He immersed himself in every operational and financial detail of the Union Pacific system, building an encyclopedic knowledge and acting decisively to shape its destiny. Biographer Maury Klein states that "he revised its financial structure, waged its competitive struggles, captained its political battles, revamped its administration, formulated its rate policies, and promoted the development of resources along its lines."[19][20]

By 1879, Gould gained control of two important western railroads, including the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway. He controlled 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of railway, about one-ninth of the rail in the United States at that time. He obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company and in the elevated railways in New York City after 1881, and he had controlling interest in 15 percent of the country's railway tracks by 1882. The railroads were making profits and set their own rates, and his wealth increased dramatically. He withdrew from management of the Union Pacific in 1883 amid political controversy over its debts to the federal government, but he realized a large profit for himself.

In 1889, he organized the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis which acquired a bottleneck in east–west railroad traffic at St. Louis, but the government brought an antitrust suit to eliminate the bottleneck control after Gould died.[21]

Criticism and appraisal edit

Gould was extensively criticised in his lifetime, on the basis of being a trader rather a builder of businesses, and of being unscrupulous. More recent appraisal has suggested that his business ethics were not unusual for the time.[22]

Personal life edit

 
Gould purchased Lyndhurst on the east bank of the Hudson River as a country home in 1880
 
Gould's portrait hanging in his office at Lyndhurst

Gould was a member of West Presbyterian Church at 31 West 42nd Street. It later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West-Park Presbyterian.[23]

He married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863 and they had six children.

Together with his son George, Gould was a founding member of American Yacht Club.[24][25] He owned the steam yacht Atalanta (1883). He purchased the Gothic Revival mansion Lyndhurst (sometimes spelled "Lindhurst") to use as a country house in 1880.

Gould died of tuberculosis, then referred to as "consumption" on December 2, 1892, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York. His fortune was conservatively estimated for tax purposes at $72 million (equivalent to $2.44 billion in 2024[26]), which he willed in its entirety to his family.[5]

At the time of his death, Gould was a benefactor in the reconstruction of the Reformed Church of Roxbury, New York, now known as the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church.[27] It is located within the Main Street Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.[28] The family mausoleum was designed by Francis O'Hara.

Descendants edit

 
The mausoleum of Jay Gould

Gould married Helen Day Miller (1838–1889) in 1863; they had:

See also edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ Maury Klein (October 29, 1997). The Life and Legend of Jay Gould. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-8018-5771-3.
  2. ^ Walter R. Borneman (2014). Iron Horses: America's Race to Bring the Railroads West. Little, Brown. p. 235. ISBN 9780316371797.
  3. ^ Maury Klein (1997). The Life and Legend of Jay Gould. JHU Press. p. 393. ISBN 9780801857713.
  4. ^ Renehan, Edward J. (2006). Dark Genius of Wall Street.
  5. ^ a b Alef, Daniel (2010). Jay Gould: Ruthless Railroad Tycoon. Titans of Fortune Publishing. ISBN 9781608043064.
  6. ^ History of Hobart High School
  7. ^ H. W. Brands "Masters of Enterprise"
  8. ^ a b c "Gould's Eventful Life" (PDF). The New York Times. December 3, 1892. p. 3. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  9. ^ Gould, Jay (1856). History of Delaware County. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?: Keeny & Gould.
  10. ^ "David Williamson Lee's Career" (PDF). The New York Times. January 21, 1886. p. 5. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  11. ^ Klein, Maury (1997). The Life and Legend of Jay Gould. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 508. ISBN 9780801857713.
  12. ^ Schafer, Mike (2000). More Classic American Railroads. MBI Publishing Company. p. 47. ISBN 076030758X. Retrieved September 22, 2016. [Read on Archive.org]
  13. ^ Conway, J. North (2010). The Big Policeman: The Rise and Fall of America's First, Most Ruthless, and Greatest Detective. Globe Pequot Press. p. 99. ISBN 9781599219653.
  14. ^ White 2016, pp. 479–480.
  15. ^ Brands 2012, p. 442.
  16. ^ Smith 2001, p. 490.
  17. ^ a b c Donaldson, William (2004). Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics. London: Phoenix. pp. 299–300. ISBN 0-7538-1791-8.
  18. ^ a b c Johnson, J.L. "Lord Gordon Gordon". The Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  19. ^ Maury Klein, Jay Gould, (1966) p. 147
  20. ^ Maury Klein, "In Search of Jay Gould." Business History Review 52#2 (1978): 166–199.
  21. ^ United States v. Terminal R.R. Ass'n.
  22. ^ The Life & Legend of Jay Gould, Mary Klein, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. p496
  23. ^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission: "West-Park Presbyterian", nyc.gov; accessed September 25, 2018.
  24. ^ "In the Sporting World, Why the American Yacht Club Was Organized". The World. New York. April 20, 1884. p. 12.
  25. ^ "Yacht Club celebrating its 75th Anniversary". The Rye Chronicle. Rye, New York. July 17, 1958. p. 1.
  26. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  27. ^ History of the Reformed Church of Roxbury, Delaware County, New York September 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, churches.rca.org; accessed May 3, 2014.
  28. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  29. ^ "George J. Gould Dies in Villa in France. Leaves $30,000,000. With His Second Wife and Her Children Near, He Yearned for His Sons. Last Malady a Secret. Death Holds Up Litigation With Family Over His Father's Estate. First Became Ill in March. Had Apparently Regained Health When He Suffered a Relapse". The New York Times. Mentone. May 17, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved May 23, 2008. George Jay Gould died this morning at 3:30 o'clock at the Villa Zoralde, Cap Martin, where he had been living for some months with his wife and her two children. His death, it was stated at the villa, came quietly and was expected, as he had never rallied from the illness from which he had been suffering all Winter.
  30. ^ "Kingdon Gould, 58, Long a Financier. Grandson of Founder of Family Fortune Dies. Once on Rail Boards. Officer In 1918". The New York Times. November 8, 1945. p. 17. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
  31. ^ "Jay Gould Is Dead. Court Tennis Star. Grandson of the Financier Had Held Championship for Quarter of Century". The New York Times. January 28, 1935. p. 15. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  32. ^ "Lady Decies Dies at 38 in London. Former Helen Vivien Gould Was Principal in Brilliant International Wedding of 1911. Was Noted As Hostess. Her Entertaining Was a Feature of British Capital. Husband Is Distinguished Irish Peer". The New York Times. February 3, 1931. p. 1. Retrieved November 26, 2007.
  33. ^ "He Is George Jay Gould, Jr". The New York Times. Lakewood, New Jersey. May 15, 1896. p. 5. Retrieved December 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ "Lady MacNeal Dies. Was Edith Gould. Granddaughter of Financier, 36, Succumbs at Estate in East Hampton. Wife of British Knight. Wrote Autobiography Telling of Family Life ...". The New York Times. September 12, 1937. p. N7. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  35. ^ "Gloria Gould Barker Is Drowned In Swim Pool at Arizona Home. Mrs. W.M. Barker Drowns In A Pool. Victim of Accident". The New York Times. Associated Press. August 16, 1943. p. 1. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
  36. ^ a b "Edwin Gould Dies Suddenly at 67. Son of Railroad Financier and Builder Was Noted for Benefactions to Children. Left School of Finance. Made $1,000,000 Profit Operating Alone in Wall Street Before Father Forgave Him". The New York Times. July 13, 1933. p. 19. Retrieved August 6, 2008. Edwin Gould, second son of the late Jay Gould, financier and railroad builder, died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after ...
  37. ^ ; Time; July 31, 1933
  38. ^ "Mrs. Edwin Gould Dies in Hospital; Widow of Financier's Son Was Daughter of Surgeon Who Attended President Grant". The New York Times. October 15, 1951. p. 25.
  39. ^ ; Time; July 24, 1933
  40. ^ "Edwin Gould, Jr., Killed on Hunt with Own Gun; Was Clubbing 'Coon Caught in Trap When Trigger Caught, Firing the Weapon. Shot Severed Artery". The New York Times. Brunswick, Georgia. February 26, 1917. pp. 1, 3. Retrieved December 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ The New York Times; January 14, 1945
  42. ^ "Mrs. F.J. Shepard Dies of a Stroke. Former Helen Gould, Famous for Philanthropy, Stricken at Her Summer Home Gave Away Much of Fortune. Mrs. Finley J. Shepard Is Stricken at 70. Philanthropist and Daughter of Jay Gould Got Permission to Marry. Wed at Lyndhurst. Benefactions in War With Spain. Descendant of Pioneers". The New York Times. December 21, 1938. p. 1. Retrieved June 18, 2007. Mrs. Finley J. Shepard of New York, the former Helen Gould, who was famous for her philanthropies in many fields, died at her Summer home here at 12:15 this morning, after being in a coma for more than 24 hours. She had suffered an apoplectic stroke ten days ago, and had been ill for two months. Her age was 70 years.
  43. ^ Snow, Alice Northrop (1943). The Story of Helen Gould. F. H. Revell.
  44. ^ "Howard Gould dies here at 88... [l]ast surviving son of Jay Gould, rail financier, yachtsman, auto racer". The New York Times. September 15, 1959. p. 39. Retrieved June 21, 2007. Howard Gould, last surviving son of Jay Gould, the railroad financier, died Sunday in Doctors Hospital. He was 88 years old. Although Mr. Gould's residence ...
  45. ^ "Duchesse de Talleyrand Is Dead. Youngest daughter of Jay Gould". The New York Times. November 30, 1961. p. 37. Retrieved August 6, 2008. The Duchesse de Talleyrand-Périgord, daughter of the late Jay Gould, American railroad financier, died today in Paris where she passed most of her life.
  46. ^ "Son of Ann Gould succumbs in Paris". The New York Times. February 8, 1946. p. 18. Marquis De Castellane Held French Embassy Posts in London During 1940. Paris, Feb. 7, 1946. The death of Marquis de Castellane, son of the late Count Boni de Castellane and the former Anna Gould of New York, who eventually became Duchess de Talleyrand-Périgord, was announced today.
  47. ^ . Time magazine. June 3, 1929. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  48. ^ "Anna Gould's Son, Self-Wounded, Dies. Howard De Talleyrand, Prince De Sagan, 19, Succumbs In Paris After 11 Days. Parent's At His Bedside". The New York Times. May 29, 1929. p. 5. Retrieved July 21, 2007.
  49. ^ "Frank Jay Gould Dead on Riviera. Youngest Son of Rail Empire Maker was 78. Built Up Resort of Juan-les-Pins Heir to $10,000,000 N.Y.U. Graduate of 1899". The New York Times. Associated Press. April 1, 1956. p. 88. Retrieved April 6, 2008. Frank Jay Gould died today at his apartment at Juanles-Pins on the French Riviera. He was 78 years old

General and cited references edit

Further reading edit

Newspaper articles
  • Death of Jay Gould in the Brooklyn Eagle
  • "George Gould is Married". The New York Times. September 15, 1886. p. 1.
  • "Howard Gould marries". The New York Times. October 13, 1898. p. 1.
  • "Howard Gould dies here at 88; last surviving son of Jay Gould, rail financier—yachtsman, auto racer". The New York Times. September 15, 1959. p. 39.
Books
  • Gordon, John S. (1999). The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653–2000. Scribner. ISBN 978-0684832876.
  • Grodinsky, Julius (1981). Jay Gould, His Business Career, 1867–1892. Arno Press. p. 627. ISBN 978-1258168681.
  • Hilferding, Rudolf (1981). Finance Capital: A Study of the Latest Phase of Capitalist Development. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0415436649.
  • Josephson, Matthew (1962). The Robber Barons: The Great American Capitalists, 1861–1901. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
  • Klein, Maury (1997). The Life and Legend of Jay Gould. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801857713.
  • Klein, Maury. "Jay Gould: A Revisionist Interpretation". Business and Economic History 2d ser., 15 (1986): 55–68. JSTOR 23702860.
  • Kotz, David M. (2008). Neoliberalism and Financialization (PDF). Amherst: University of Massachusetts.
  • Morris, Charles R. (2005). The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy. New York: Holt. ISBN 0-8050-7599-2.
  • Renehan, Edward J. (2005). The Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons. New York: BasicBooks. ISBN 0-465-06885-5.
  • Steinmetz, Greg. (2022). American Rascal: How Jay Gould Built Wall Street's Biggest Fortune. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1982107406
  • White, Richard (2011). Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06126-0.
  • White, Trumbull (1892). The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth. Philadelphia: Mid-Continent Publishing Co.

External links edit

  • Excerpts from Gould's New York Times obituary
  • by the Iowa City Daily Citizen
  • History of Delaware County and Border Wars of New York

gould, other, people, named, disambiguation, jason, gould, 1836, december, 1892, american, railroad, magnate, financial, speculator, founded, gould, business, dynasty, generally, identified, robber, barons, gilded, sharp, often, unscrupulous, business, practic. For other people named Jay Gould see Jay Gould disambiguation Jason Gould ɡ uː l d May 27 1836 December 2 1892 was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould business dynasty He is generally identified as one of the robber barons of the Gilded Age His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century Gould was an unpopular figure during his life and remains controversial 2 3 4 Jay GouldBornJason Gould 1836 05 27 May 27 1836Roxbury New York U S 1 DiedDecember 2 1892 1892 12 02 aged 56 New York City U S OccupationFinancierSpouseHelen Day Miller m 1863 died 1889 wbr ChildrenGeorge Jay Edwin Helen Howard Anna Frank JaySignature Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Early career 3 Railroad investing 4 Tammany Hall 5 Black Friday 6 More railroads 6 1 Erie Railroad 6 2 Western railroads 7 Criticism and appraisal 8 Personal life 9 Descendants 10 See also 11 Citations 12 General and cited references 13 Further reading 14 External linksEarly life and education editGould was born in Roxbury New York to Mary More 1798 1841 and John Burr Gould 1792 1866 His maternal grandfather Alexander T More was a businessman and his great grandfather John More was a Scottish immigrant who founded the town of Moresville New York Gould studied at the Hobart Academy in Hobart New York 5 paying his way by bookkeeping 6 As a young boy he decided that he wanted nothing to do with farming his father s occupation so his father dropped him off at a nearby school with fifty cents and a sack of clothes 7 Early career edit nbsp Jay Gould right in 1855Gould s school principal was credited with getting him a job as a bookkeeper for a blacksmith 8 A year later the blacksmith offered him half interest in the blacksmith shop which he sold to his father during the early part of 1854 Gould devoted himself to private study emphasizing surveying and mathematics In 1854 he surveyed and created maps of the Ulster County New York area In 1856 he published History of Delaware County and Border Wars of New York which he had spent several years writing 9 While engaged in surveying he started a side activity financing operators making woodash for tannin used in tanning leather nbsp Keystone Marker for Gouldsboro Pennsylvania named after GouldIn 1856 Gould entered a partnership with Zadock Pratt 8 to create a tanning business in Pennsylvania in an area that was later named Gouldsboro He eventually bought out Pratt who retired In 1856 Gould entered a partnership with Charles Mortimer Leupp a son in law of Gideon Lee and one of the leading leather merchants in the United States The partnership was successful until the Panic of 1857 Leupp lost all his money in that financial crisis but Gould took advantage of the depreciation in property value and bought up former partnership properties 8 Gould also started an ice harvesting industry on the large Gouldsboro lake In the winter ice was harvested and stored in large ice houses at the side of the lake He had a railroad line installed next to the lake and he supplied New York City with ice during the summer months The Gouldsboro Tannery became a disputed property after Leupp s death Leupp s brother in law David W Lee was also a partner in Leupp and Gould and he took armed control of the tannery He believed that Gould had cheated the Leupp and Lee families in the collapse of the business Gould eventually took physical possession but he was later forced to sell his shares in the company to Lee s brother 10 Railroad investing editIn 1859 Gould began speculative investing by buying stock in small railways His father in law Daniel S Miller introduced him to the railroad industry by suggesting that Gould help him save his investment in the Rutland and Washington Railroad in the Panic of 1857 Gould purchased stock for 10 cents on the dollar which left him in control of the company 11 He engaged in more speculation on railroad stocks in New York City throughout the Civil War and he was appointed manager of the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad in 1863 The Erie Railroad encountered financial troubles in the 1850s despite receiving loans from financiers Cornelius Vanderbilt and Daniel Drew It entered receivership in 1859 and was reorganized as the Erie Railway Gould Drew and James Fisk engaged in stock manipulations known as the Erie War and Drew Fisk and Vanderbilt lost control of the Erie in the summer of 1868 while Gould became its president 12 Tammany Hall editIt was during the same period that Gould and Fisk became involved with Tammany Hall the Democratic Party political machine that largely ran New York City at the time They made its boss notorious William M Boss Tweed a director of the Erie Railroad and Tweed arranged favorable legislation Tweed and Gould became the subjects of political cartoons by Thomas Nast in 1869 Gould was the chief bondsman in October 1871 when Tweed was held on 1 million bail Tweed was eventually convicted of corruption and died in jail 13 Black Friday editMain article Black Friday 1869 In August 1869 Gould and his partner James Fisk conspired to begin to buy gold in an attempt to illegally corner the market During this time Gould used contacts with President Ulysses S Grant s brother in law Abel Corbin to influence the president and his Secretary General Horace Porter 14 15 These speculations culminated in the panic of Black Friday on September 24 1869 when the greenback cash premium over face value fell on a gold double eagle from 62 percent to 35 percent Gould made a small profit from this operation by hedging against his own attempted corner as it was about to collapse but he lost it in subsequent lawsuits The gold corner established Gould s reputation in the press as an all powerful figure who could drive the market up and down at will 16 Favored by Tweed Ring judges the conspiratorial partners escaped prosecution but the months of economic turmoil that rocked the nation following the failed corner proved both ruinous to farmers and bankrupting of some of Wall Street s most venerable financial institutions More railroads editErie Railroad edit In 1873 Gould attempted to take control of the Erie Railroad by recruiting foreign investments from Lord Gordon Gordon supposedly a cousin of the wealthy Campbell clan who was buying land for immigrants He bribed Gordon Gordon with a million dollars in stock but Gordon Gordon was an impostor and cashed the stock immediately Gould sued him and the case went to trial in March 1873 In court Gordon Gordon gave the names of the Europeans whom he claimed to represent and he was granted bail while the references were checked He immediately fled to Canada where he convinced authorities that the charges were false 17 18 Having failed to convince Canadian authorities to hand over Gordon Gordon Gould attempted to kidnap Gordon Gordon with the help of his associates and future members of Congress Loren Fletcher John Gilfillan and Eugene McLanahan Wilson The group captured him successfully but they were stopped and arrested by the North West Mounted Police before they could return to the US Canadian authorities put them in prison and refused them bail 17 18 and this led to an international incident between the United States and Canada Governor Horace Austin of Minnesota demanded their return when he learned that they had been denied bail and he put the local militia on full readiness and thousands of Minnesotans volunteered for an invasion of Canada After negotiations the Canadian authorities released them on bail Gordon Gordon was eventually ordered to be deported but committed suicide before the order could be carried out 17 18 Western railroads edit nbsp 1882 cartoon depicting Wall Street as Jay Gould s Private Bowling Alley After being forced out of the Erie Railroad Gould started to build up a system of railroads in the Midwest and west He took control of the Union Pacific in 1873 when its stock was depressed by the Panic of 1873 and he built a viable railroad that depended on shipments from farmers and ranchers He immersed himself in every operational and financial detail of the Union Pacific system building an encyclopedic knowledge and acting decisively to shape its destiny Biographer Maury Klein states that he revised its financial structure waged its competitive struggles captained its political battles revamped its administration formulated its rate policies and promoted the development of resources along its lines 19 20 By 1879 Gould gained control of two important western railroads including the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Denver and Rio Grande Railway He controlled 10 000 miles 16 000 km of railway about one ninth of the rail in the United States at that time He obtained a controlling interest in the Western Union telegraph company and in the elevated railways in New York City after 1881 and he had controlling interest in 15 percent of the country s railway tracks by 1882 The railroads were making profits and set their own rates and his wealth increased dramatically He withdrew from management of the Union Pacific in 1883 amid political controversy over its debts to the federal government but he realized a large profit for himself In 1889 he organized the Terminal Railroad Association of St Louis which acquired a bottleneck in east west railroad traffic at St Louis but the government brought an antitrust suit to eliminate the bottleneck control after Gould died 21 Criticism and appraisal editGould was extensively criticised in his lifetime on the basis of being a trader rather a builder of businesses and of being unscrupulous More recent appraisal has suggested that his business ethics were not unusual for the time 22 Personal life edit nbsp Gould purchased Lyndhurst on the east bank of the Hudson River as a country home in 1880 nbsp Gould s portrait hanging in his office at LyndhurstGould was a member of West Presbyterian Church at 31 West 42nd Street It later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West Park Presbyterian 23 He married Helen Day Miller 1838 1889 in 1863 and they had six children Together with his son George Gould was a founding member of American Yacht Club 24 25 He owned the steam yacht Atalanta 1883 He purchased the Gothic Revival mansion Lyndhurst sometimes spelled Lindhurst to use as a country house in 1880 Gould died of tuberculosis then referred to as consumption on December 2 1892 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery The Bronx New York His fortune was conservatively estimated for tax purposes at 72 million equivalent to 2 44 billion in 2024 26 which he willed in its entirety to his family 5 At the time of his death Gould was a benefactor in the reconstruction of the Reformed Church of Roxbury New York now known as the Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church 27 It is located within the Main Street Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 28 The family mausoleum was designed by Francis O Hara Descendants edit nbsp The mausoleum of Jay GouldGould married Helen Day Miller 1838 1889 in 1863 they had George Jay Gould I 1864 1923 married Edith M Kingdon 1864 1921 29 Kingdon Gould Sr 1887 1945 married Annunziata Camilla Maria Lucci 1890 1961 30 Jay Gould II 1888 1935 married Anne Douglass Graham 31 Marjorie Gould 1891 1955 married Anthony Joseph Drexel II Helen Lady Decies 1893 1931 married John Graham Hope DeLaPoer Horsley Beresford 1866 1945 32 George Jay Gould II 1896 1963 married Laura Carter 33 Edith Catherine Gould 1901 1937 married Carroll Livingston Wainwright I 1899 1967 then Sir Hector Murray MacNeal 34 Gloria Gould 1906 1943 married Henry A Bishop II then Walter McFarlane Barker 35 Edwin Gould I 1866 1933 married Sarah Cantine Shrady 36 37 38 Edwin Gould Jr 1894 1917 died on Jekyll Island in 1917 39 40 Frank Miller Gould c 1895 1945 married Florence Amelia Bacon died on January 13 1945 36 41 Helen Gould 1868 1938 married Finlay Johnson Shepard 1867 1942 42 They adopted three children 43 Howard Gould 1871 1959 married Viola Katherine Clemmons on October 12 1898 then actress Grete Mosheim in 1937 44 Anna Duchess de Talleyrand Perigord 1875 1961 married Paul Ernest Boniface Comte de Castellane 1867 1932 then Helie de Talleyrand Perigord 5th Duke of Talleyrand 5th Duc of Dino 4th Duke von Sagan and Prince of Sagan 1858 1937 45 Children with Boniface Marie Louise Boniface de Castellane 1896 died during infancy or early childhood Antoine Boniface Marquis de Castellane 1896 1946 married Yvonne Patenotre 46 Georges Paul Ernest Boniface de Castellane 1897 or 1899 1944 married Florinda Fernandez y Anchorena 1901 Georges Gustave Boniface de Castellane c 1898 1946 Jay Boniface de Castellane 1902 1956 Children with Talleyrand Howard de Talleyrand duc de Sagan 1909 1929 he killed himself when told that he could not marry 47 48 Helen Violette de Talleyrand Perigord 1915 2003 married James Robert de Pourtales on March 29 1937 then Gaston Palewski 1901 1984 Frank Jay Gould 1877 1956 married Helen Kelley then Edith Kelly then Florence La Caze 1895 1983 49 See also editAllegheny Transportation Company Gouldsboro Pennsylvania Lyndhurst his country estate on the Hudson River Paragould ArkansasCitations edit Maury Klein October 29 1997 The Life and Legend of Jay Gould Johns Hopkins University Press p 15 ISBN 978 0 8018 5771 3 Walter R Borneman 2014 Iron Horses America s Race to Bring the Railroads West Little Brown p 235 ISBN 9780316371797 Maury Klein 1997 The Life and Legend of Jay Gould JHU Press p 393 ISBN 9780801857713 Renehan Edward J 2006 Dark Genius of Wall Street a b Alef Daniel 2010 Jay Gould Ruthless Railroad Tycoon Titans of Fortune Publishing ISBN 9781608043064 History of Hobart High School H W Brands Masters of Enterprise a b c Gould s Eventful Life PDF The New York Times December 3 1892 p 3 Retrieved December 3 2021 Gould Jay 1856 History of Delaware County Philadelphia Pennsylvania Keeny amp Gould David Williamson Lee s Career PDF The New York Times January 21 1886 p 5 Retrieved December 3 2021 Klein Maury 1997 The Life and Legend of Jay Gould Johns Hopkins University Press p 508 ISBN 9780801857713 Schafer Mike 2000 More Classic American Railroads MBI Publishing Company p 47 ISBN 076030758X Retrieved September 22 2016 Read on Archive org Conway J North 2010 The Big Policeman The Rise and Fall of America s First Most Ruthless and Greatest Detective Globe Pequot Press p 99 ISBN 9781599219653 White 2016 pp 479 480 Brands 2012 p 442 Smith 2001 p 490 a b c Donaldson William 2004 Brewer s Rogues Villains and Eccentrics London Phoenix pp 299 300 ISBN 0 7538 1791 8 a b c Johnson J L Lord Gordon Gordon The Manitoba Historical Society Retrieved August 22 2008 Maury Klein Jay Gould 1966 p 147 Maury Klein In Search of Jay Gould Business History Review 52 2 1978 166 199 United States v Terminal R R Ass n The Life amp Legend of Jay Gould Mary Klein Johns Hopkins University Press 1986 p496 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission West Park Presbyterian nyc gov accessed September 25 2018 In the Sporting World Why the American Yacht Club Was Organized The World New York April 20 1884 p 12 Yacht Club celebrating its 75th Anniversary The Rye Chronicle Rye New York July 17 1958 p 1 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved February 29 2024 History of the Reformed Church of Roxbury Delaware County New York Archived September 23 2008 at the Wayback Machine churches rca org accessed May 3 2014 National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service March 13 2009 George J Gould Dies in Villa in France Leaves 30 000 000 With His Second Wife and Her Children Near He Yearned for His Sons Last Malady a Secret Death Holds Up Litigation With Family Over His Father s Estate First Became Ill in March Had Apparently Regained Health When He Suffered a Relapse The New York Times Mentone May 17 1923 p 1 Retrieved May 23 2008 George Jay Gould died this morning at 3 30 o clock at the Villa Zoralde Cap Martin where he had been living for some months with his wife and her two children His death it was stated at the villa came quietly and was expected as he had never rallied from the illness from which he had been suffering all Winter Kingdon Gould 58 Long a Financier Grandson of Founder of Family Fortune Dies Once on Rail Boards Officer In 1918 The New York Times November 8 1945 p 17 Retrieved June 19 2008 Jay Gould Is Dead Court Tennis Star Grandson of the Financier Had Held Championship for Quarter of Century The New York Times January 28 1935 p 15 Retrieved July 21 2007 Lady Decies Dies at 38 in London Former Helen Vivien Gould Was Principal in Brilliant International Wedding of 1911 Was Noted As Hostess Her Entertaining Was a Feature of British Capital Husband Is Distinguished Irish Peer The New York Times February 3 1931 p 1 Retrieved November 26 2007 He Is George Jay Gould Jr The New York Times Lakewood New Jersey May 15 1896 p 5 Retrieved December 3 2021 via Newspapers com Lady MacNeal Dies Was Edith Gould Granddaughter of Financier 36 Succumbs at Estate in East Hampton Wife of British Knight Wrote Autobiography Telling of Family Life The New York Times September 12 1937 p N7 Retrieved August 22 2008 Gloria Gould Barker Is Drowned In Swim Pool at Arizona Home Mrs W M Barker Drowns In A Pool Victim of Accident The New York Times Associated Press August 16 1943 p 1 Retrieved June 7 2008 a b Edwin Gould Dies Suddenly at 67 Son of Railroad Financier and Builder Was Noted for Benefactions to Children Left School of Finance Made 1 000 000 Profit Operating Alone in Wall Street Before Father Forgave Him The New York Times July 13 1933 p 19 Retrieved August 6 2008 Edwin Gould second son of the late Jay Gould financier and railroad builder died suddenly of a heart attack shortly after Gould Time July 31 1933 Mrs Edwin Gould Dies in Hospital Widow of Financier s Son Was Daughter of Surgeon Who Attended President Grant The New York Times October 15 1951 p 25 Sublimed Gould Time July 24 1933 Edwin Gould Jr Killed on Hunt with Own Gun Was Clubbing Coon Caught in Trap When Trigger Caught Firing the Weapon Shot Severed Artery The New York Times Brunswick Georgia February 26 1917 pp 1 3 Retrieved December 3 2021 via Newspapers com The New York Times January 14 1945 Mrs F J Shepard Dies of a Stroke Former Helen Gould Famous for Philanthropy Stricken at Her Summer Home Gave Away Much of Fortune Mrs Finley J Shepard Is Stricken at 70 Philanthropist and Daughter of Jay Gould Got Permission to Marry Wed at Lyndhurst Benefactions in War With Spain Descendant of Pioneers The New York Times December 21 1938 p 1 Retrieved June 18 2007 Mrs Finley J Shepard of New York the former Helen Gould who was famous for her philanthropies in many fields died at her Summer home here at 12 15 this morning after being in a coma for more than 24 hours She had suffered an apoplectic stroke ten days ago and had been ill for two months Her age was 70 years Snow Alice Northrop 1943 The Story of Helen Gould F H Revell Howard Gould dies here at 88 l ast surviving son of Jay Gould rail financier yachtsman auto racer The New York Times September 15 1959 p 39 Retrieved June 21 2007 Howard Gould last surviving son of Jay Gould the railroad financier died Sunday in Doctors Hospital He was 88 years old Although Mr Gould s residence Duchesse de Talleyrand Is Dead Youngest daughter of Jay Gould The New York Times November 30 1961 p 37 Retrieved August 6 2008 The Duchesse de Talleyrand Perigord daughter of the late Jay Gould American railroad financier died today in Paris where she passed most of her life Son of Ann Gould succumbs in Paris The New York Times February 8 1946 p 18 Marquis De Castellane Held French Embassy Posts in London During 1940 Paris Feb 7 1946 The death of Marquis de Castellane son of the late Count Boni de Castellane and the former Anna Gould of New York who eventually became Duchess de Talleyrand Perigord was announced today Talleyrand Motel Time magazine June 3 1929 Archived from the original on October 27 2010 Retrieved July 21 2007 Anna Gould s Son Self Wounded Dies Howard De Talleyrand Prince De Sagan 19 Succumbs In Paris After 11 Days Parent s At His Bedside The New York Times May 29 1929 p 5 Retrieved July 21 2007 Frank Jay Gould Dead on Riviera Youngest Son of Rail Empire Maker was 78 Built Up Resort of Juan les Pins Heir to 10 000 000 N Y U Graduate of 1899 The New York Times Associated Press April 1 1956 p 88 Retrieved April 6 2008 Frank Jay Gould died today at his apartment at Juanles Pins on the French Riviera He was 78 years oldGeneral and cited references editAckerman Kenneth D 2011 1988 The Gold Ring Jim Fisk Gould and the Black Friday 1869 New York Dodd Mead amp Co ISBN 978 0 396 09065 6 permanent dead link Brands H W 2012 The Man Who Saved the Union Ulysses S Grant in War and Peace New York Doubleday ISBN 978 0 385 53241 9 Renehan Edward 2006 Dark Genius of Wall Street The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould King of the Robber Barons New York Basic Books ISBN 978 0465068869 Smith Jean Edward 2001 Grant New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0 684 84927 5 White Ronald C 2016 American Ulysses A Life of Ulysses S Grant Random House Publishing Group ISBN 978 1 5883 6992 5 Further reading editNewspaper articlesDeath of Jay Gould in the Brooklyn Eagle George Gould is Married The New York Times September 15 1886 p 1 Howard Gould marries The New York Times October 13 1898 p 1 Howard Gould dies here at 88 last surviving son of Jay Gould rail financier yachtsman auto racer The New York Times September 15 1959 p 39 BooksGordon John S 1999 The Great Game The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power 1653 2000 Scribner ISBN 978 0684832876 Grodinsky Julius 1981 Jay Gould His Business Career 1867 1892 Arno Press p 627 ISBN 978 1258168681 Hilferding Rudolf 1981 Finance Capital A Study of the Latest Phase of Capitalist Development New York Routledge and Kegan Paul ISBN 978 0415436649 Josephson Matthew 1962 The Robber Barons The Great American Capitalists 1861 1901 New York Harcourt Brace amp World Klein Maury 1997 The Life and Legend of Jay Gould The Johns Hopkins University Press ISBN 978 0801857713 Klein Maury Jay Gould A Revisionist Interpretation Business and Economic History 2d ser 15 1986 55 68 JSTOR 23702860 Kotz David M 2008 Neoliberalism and Financialization PDF Amherst University of Massachusetts Morris Charles R 2005 The Tycoons How Andrew Carnegie John D Rockefeller Jay Gould and J P Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy New York Holt ISBN 0 8050 7599 2 Renehan Edward J 2005 The Dark Genius of Wall Street The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould King of the Robber Barons New York BasicBooks ISBN 0 465 06885 5 Steinmetz Greg 2022 American Rascal How Jay Gould Built Wall Street s Biggest Fortune Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 1982107406 White Richard 2011 Railroaded The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 06126 0 White Trumbull 1892 The Wizard of Wall Street and His Wealth Philadelphia Mid Continent Publishing Co External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Jay Gould nbsp Wikisource has original works by or about Jay Gould nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jay Gould Excerpts from Gould s New York Times obituary Obituary by the Iowa City Daily Citizen History of Delaware County and Border Wars of New York Retrieved from https en 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