The Richest Woman in America (38 page)

This book would never have been written without the suggestion of Susana Kraglievich. I am grateful to her and to Mahnaz Ispahan, Jane Geniesse, Mike Kandel, Barbara Bedell, Elaine Abelson, Lee Gruzen, and Michael Wallach for their enthusiasm and support from the beginning, and especially to Robert Menschel, whose continual encouragement and curiosity kept me going even when Hetty remained at her most elusive.

My thanks to the dedicated librarians and archivists around the country who dug through their collections for material: the staff of the New Bedford Free Public Library; Laura Peraira at the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library; Elaine Grubin at the Massachusetts Historical Society; reference librarian Emily Zervas and the staff at the Rockingham Free Public Library in Bellows Falls; James McCord at the Terrell Historical Society; Greg Ames of the Mercantile Library in St. Louis; the staff of the Morristown Library; Marsha Bissett and others at the Barnard Archives of Columbia University; the library staff at the New-York Historical Society; Kirsten Aguilera of the Museum of American Finance; Kristin McDonough, director of the SIBL branch of the New York Public Library, and the librarians of the NYPL; Patrice Kane of the Fordham University Archives; the librarians at the Tamiment Library of New York University and the Brooklyn Historical Society; and the staffs of the British Library and the British Newspaper Library in London. My enormous gratitude to Mark Bartlett, Carolyn Waters, and the incredible staff of the
New York Society Library. Thanks also to David Kelso of JPMorgan Chase, and to Ronay Menschel for her introduction to Sarah Henry at the Museum of the City of New York.

In Bellows Falls the spirited Shirley Capron put me in touch with Ann Fitzgerald, Arthur Bolles, Betty Johnson, Robert Adams, and others whose families had known Hetty Green. Ann Collins of Village Square Books, Michael Reynolds, and the clerks Brenda and Doreen at Town Hall were all helpful.

Many people informed me on different parts of Hetty’s life: Llewyn Howland shed light on her Quaker background and how it affected her. Susan Yohn of Hofstra University gave me perspective on Hetty’s importance as a woman and the price she paid for it. Dr. Mary Elizabeth Brown of Marymount helped with information on Annie Leary; Richard Sylla at New York University opened my eyes to
The Wizard of Oz
; John Steel Gordon helped with the Union Club and Wall Street; Maury Klein was informative on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; Scott Reynolds Nelson at William and Mary College advised me on nineteenth-century finance; Melanie Gustafson at the University of Vermont made excellent suggestions on Hetty Green’s childhood and her relationships; Andrew Ross Sorkin was enlightening on the contemporary financial panic.

My thanks to the autograph dealers and collectors Scott Winslow, Scott Trepel, David Beach, and Ron Terlizzi. Richard John at the Columbia Journalism School led me to valuable sources. Lavinia Briggs Abel, whose family were friends of Sylvia and Matthew Wilks, shed light on Hetty’s children.

Credit goes to Carol Bundy, Alyson Greenfield, Alex Karp, and Susan Sawyers for their research assistance. Catherine Talese did great scouting for the photographs.

I am grateful to Lynn Nesbit for her encouragement in shepherding this project through. My appreciation for the work of all the staff at Doubleday. Ronit Feldman was incredibly patient with my endless questions and technology fears. Daniel Meyer was always ready to help. Nan Talese is an author’s dream.

1
New Bedford, Massachusetts: Herman Melville,
Moby-Dick
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Melville drew on his time in New Bedford to describe the narrator’s experience as he waits for the
Pequod
to sail (chapters 1–7).

2
Along the bustling waterfront: For descriptions of the whaling industry in New Bedford, see Samuel Eliot Morison,
The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783–1860
(Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1923); Louis Menand,
The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America
(New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001).

3
Everyone in New Bedford: For descriptions of the town and its inhabitants, see Daniel Ricketson,
The History of New Bedford, Bristol County
(New Bedford: published by the author, 1858); William Allen Wall,
New Bedford Fifty Years Ago
(New York: Charles Jabert, 1858); New Bedford Preservation Society archives; Charles T. Congdon,
Reminiscences of a Journalist
(Boston: J. R. Osgood, 1880).

4
Howland and Robinson families: Llewyn Howland offered insights into Hetty Green, her family, and the Quakers of New Bedford in a telephone interview with the author in 2009.

5
Almost everyone he dealt with: For an excellent account of New Bedford and its Quaker community, see Everett S. Allen,
Children of the Light: The Rise and Fall of New Bedford Whaling and the Death of the Arctic Fleet
(Hyannis, MA: Parnassus Imprints, 1973). The Old Sturbridge Village website describes the atmosphere at a Friends meeting,
http://​www.​osv.​org/​explore_​learn/​document_​list.​php?​A=​LA&​T=P
.

1
As Hetty grew up: The following books offer many anecdotes about Sylvia Ann Howland and Hetty Robinson as well as sketches of the Howland and Robinson families: William M. Emery and William W. Crapo,
The Howland Heirs
(Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, 2007); Robinson Genealogical Society,
The Robinsons and Their Kin Folk
(New York: Robinson Family Historical and Genealogical Association, 1902).

Testimony from the Howland Will trial, as well as the following books, includes detailed descriptions of Hetty’s childhood. See
Hetty H. Robinson, in Equity, vs. Thomas Mandell et al.
, Circuit Court of the United States: Massachusetts District (Boston: Alfred Mudge & Son, 1867). Boyden Sparkes and Samuel Taylor Moore conducted numerous interviews for their book
Hetty Green: A Woman Who Loved Money
(Garden City: Doubleday, Doran, 1930), as did Arthur Lewis for
The Day They Shook the Plum Tree
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963), but neither book cites sources. Charles Slack provides more updated information on her life in
Hetty
(New York: HarperCollins, 2004).