Quick Facts
Biography
George Jay Gould I (February 6, 1864 – May 16, 1923) was a financier and the son of Jay Gould. He was himself a railroad executive, leading both the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (DRGW) and the Western Pacific Railroad (WP).
Early life
George was born on February 6, 1864, the eldest son of Jay Gould (1836–1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838–1889). His father was a leading American railroad developer and speculator who has been referred to as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era.
Railroad management
Upon his father's death George inherited the Gould fortune and his father's railroad holdings, including the DRGW and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. While in charge of the DRGW at the turn of the 20th century, he sent surveyors and engineers through California's Feather River canyon to stake out a route for the railroad to reach San Francisco, California. Through legal wranglings led by E. H. Harriman, who at the time led both the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads, Gould was forced to set up third-party companies to manage the surveying and construction to disguise his role. The route that Gould's engineers built became the WP mainline.
In later years, the DRGW and WP would work together on trains that were passed off to each other in Salt Lake City, Utah, including the prestigious passenger train, the California Zephyr.
Personal life
He married Edith M. Kingdon (1864–1921), a stage actress, and had the following children:
- Kingdon Gould, Sr. (1887–1945) who married Annunziata Camilla Maria Lucci (1890–1961).
- Jay Gould II (1888–1935) who was a tennis player and who married Anne Douglass Graham, a descendant of Hawaiian royalty.
- Marjorie Gould (1891–1955) who married Anthony Joseph Drexel II, grandson of Anthony Joseph Drexel through Anthony Joseph Drexel, Jr.
- Helen Vivien Gould (1893–1931) who married John Graham Hope DeLaPoer Horsley Beresford, 5th Baron Decies (1866–1945).
- George Jay Gould II (1896-?) who married Laura Carter.
- Edith Catherine Gould (1901–1937) who married Carroll Livingston Wainwright I (1899–1967; their son was Stuyvesant Wainwright) and after a divorce married Sir Hector Murray MacNeal.
- Gloria Gould (1906–1943) who married Henry A. Bishop II, and after a divorce married Walter McFarlane Barker.
George Gould also had a mistress, Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair (1885-1978), and had the following children with her:
- George Sinclair Gould (1915-2003)
- Jane Sinclair Gould (1916-1948)
- Guinevere Gould (1922-1968)
After the death of his first wife, Edith Kingdon Gould in November 1921, George Gould married Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair on May 1, 1922. Then with the three children in tow, they moved to England.
Death and burial
He died of pneumonia on May 16, 1923, on the French Riviera after contracting a fever in Egypt after visiting the tomb of Tutankhamen. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. His estate was valued at $15,054,627 but after debts were paid it was worth $5,175,590 in 1933 dollars.
Legacy
Gould's estate in Lakewood Township, New Jersey is now the site of Georgian Court University.
Timeline
- 1864 Birth of George Jay Gould on February 6
- 1880 US Census with George Jay Gould in Greenburgh, New York
- 1884 (circa) marriage to Edith M. Kingdon
- 1900 US Census with George Jay Gould in Lakewood, New Jersey
- 1921 Death of Edith M. Kingdon, his wife
- 1922 Marriage to Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair, his mistress
- 1923 Death of George Jay Gould, in the French Riviera on May 16
