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Walter Jennings (industrialist)

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Walter Jennings (September 14, 1858 - January 9, 1933) was an American industrialist who served as president of National Fuel Gas Company and the Jekyll Island Club.

Early life

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Jennings was born on September 14, 1858, in San Francisco, California. He was the eldest son of Standard Oil co-founder Oliver Burr Jennings (1825–1893) and Esther Judson (née Goodsell) Jennings (1828–1908). His siblings were Annie Burr Jennings (a philanthropist),[1] a philanthropist.[2] Helen Goodsell Jennings (wife of Dr. Walter Belknap James),[3][4] Emma Brewster Jennings (wife of Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Sr.),[5] and Oliver Gould Jennings, who served in the Connecticut House of Representatives.[6]

His maternal aunt, Almira Geraldine Goodsell, was the wife of William A. Rockefeller, Jr. Among his first cousins were William Goodsell Rockefeller, Percy Avery Rockefeller, and Geraldine Rockefeller (wife of Marcellus Hartley Dodge Sr.). Through his sister Emma, he was an uncle of Hugh D. Auchincloss, whose third wife was Janet Lee Bouvier, mother of First Lady Jackie Kennedy.[7] He was also a distant cousin of Aaron Burr, the former Vice President of the United States.[6]

Jennings attended Phillips Andover and graduated from Yale University in 1880 where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Yale's Skull and Bones Society. After Yale, he attended Columbia Law School where he was a classmate of future president Theodore Roosevelt, graduating in 1882.[8]

Career

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After law school, he practiced law for a few months with his uncle, Frederick B. Jennings, before going to work for the Pratt Manufacturing Company, an affiliate of Standard Oil. In 1886, he went to its Oil City offices before leaving the company in 1888. In 1903, he became a director of Standard Oil of New Jersey, serving as secretary from 1908 to 1911 but remaining a member of the board until his death. From 1908 to 1919, he served as president of the National Fuel Gas Company. He was also a director of the Bank of Manhattan and a trustee of the New York Trust Company.[8]

Personal life

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Fountain at Burrwood

On November 11, 1891, Jennings was married to Jean Pollock Brown (1864–1949) at the South Church on Madison Avenue and 38th Street in New York City. She was a daughter of Edwin Bergh Brown and Alice (née Pollock) Brown.[9] Together, they were the parents of:

  • Oliver Burr Jennings (1895–1968), who married Isabel de Rivas in 1928.[10]
  • Jeannette Jennings (1898–1985), who married Henry Calhoun Taylor (1894–1971) in 1917.[11]
  • Constance Jennings (1900–1991), who married Albert Heman Ely Jr. (1894–1964) in 1927.[12]

In New York City, they lived at 9 East 70th Street and in the late 1890s, he became a summer resident of Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island where he had a large country home built by Carrère and Hastings and known as Burrwood.[13] In 1928, Jennings gave significant funds towards the development of a park and bathing beach for the use of villagers and town residents known as Memorial Park.[8]

Jennings died at his winter home in Jekyll Island on January 9, 1933.[8] He was buried at the Memorial Cemetery of Saint John's Church in Laurel Hollow, New York, on Long Island.[14] Burrwood was sold by his heirs in 1950.[15] The home was later demolished and the Olmsted Brothers gazebo was moved to the Elizabeth Street Garden in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan.[16]

Art collection

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He was also a prominent art collector and was a lay member of the Grand Central Art Galleries.[17] He owned a number of works by prominent artists, including two portraits of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, a portrait of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney also by Stuart, companion portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Russell of Charlestown by Charles Wilson Peale, a self-portrait by Thomas Sully and a portrait of John J. Sedley by Benjamin West.[18] He also collected early American and Georgian silver, Chinese porcelain (including K'ang Hsi examples) and an English and French furniture.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "MISS JENNINGS LISTS 11 KIN AS CHIEF HEIRS | Servants and Charities Also Share in $6,000,000 Estate". The New York Times. August 2, 1939. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Annie Burr Jennings: Philanthropist 1855-1939 · Wonder Women of Fairfield · Fairfield Photos". fairfieldmuseum.omeka.net. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  3. ^ "MRS. WALTER B. JAMES: Widow of Academy of Medicine Leader Headed Day Nursery". The New York Times. 16 August 1946. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  4. ^ Times, Special to The New York (19 April 1927). "GIFTS TO THREE COLLEGES.; Dr. W.B. James Wills $25,000 to Columbia -- Estate, $2,000,000". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  5. ^ "MRS. AUCHINCLOSS: PHILANTHROPIST, 80; Widow of Hugh D. Auchincloss, a Merchant, Dies in Home at Fairfield, Conn. AARON BURR DESCENDANT Contributed $25,000 to the Presbyterian Hospital Here -- Active in Garden Club". The New York Times. 12 September 1942. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Oliver Jennings, Capitalist, Dead. Director of Many Companies, 71, Had Been on Board of Bethlehem Steel. Was Former Legislator. Served in Connecticut House of Representatives. Brother of Mrs. Walter B. James". New York Times. October 14, 1936. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  7. ^ "HUGH D. AUCHINCLOSS DIES.; Apoplexy Ends Life of Well-Known Merchant". The New York Times. 22 April 1913. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d "WALTER JENNINGS DIES IN THE SOUTH | Son of One of Associates of John D. Rockefeller Sr. in - Original Standard Oil. | A POWER IN N. J. STANDARD | Was a Descendant of Aaron Burr | A Philanthropist, Patron of Art and Prominent Clubman". The New York Times. January 10, 1933. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  9. ^ "JOINED HANDS FOR LIFE; SOME NOTABLE WEDDINGS IN THIS CITY YESTERDAY. MISS JEAN POLLOCK BROWN WEDS WALTER JENNINGS, MISS IDA TERHUNE MARRIES JAMES E. TAYLOR, AND MISS STELLA SEIXAS WEDS FRANK PARSONS LANT". The New York Times. 12 November 1891. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  10. ^ "OLIVER B. JENNINGS WED.; New Yorker and Mlle. Isabel de Rivas Married in Paris". The New York Times. 30 June 1928. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  11. ^ "HENRY C. TAYLOR, TEXTILE AGENT, 77". The New York Times. 3 May 1971. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  12. ^ "MISS C. JENNINGS TO BE BRIDE TODAY; Her Marriage to A. H. Ely Jr. to Be in St. John's Church, Cold Spring Harbor, L. I. MARY DENNISTON'S PLANS Ceremony With Joseph Huddell Roach Jr. in Dobbs Ferry -Other Nuptials of Today". The New York Times. 24 September 1927. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  13. ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (24 May 1936). "Garden Party Draws 300 Guests In Aid of Long Island Auxiliary; Cold Spring Harbor Estate of Mrs. Walter Jennings Is Setting for Festival in Behalf of Episcopal Organization--Dogwood and Iris Are Attractive Features". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  14. ^ "Walter Jennings Dies After Heart Attack At Jekyll Island" (PDF). The Long Islander. January 13, 1933. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  15. ^ "INDUSTRIAL HOME BUYS L.I. ESTATE; Brooklyn Institution for Blind to Occupy 32-Acre Property at Lloyd Harbor". The New York Times. 8 December 1950. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Elizabeth Street Garden Has a Gilded Age Olmsted Gazebo". Untapped New York. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  17. ^ "GALLERY PATRONS WIN 100 ART WORKS; Lee Jeffreys, W.S. Gifford and Walter Jennings Are First in Grand Central Drawing. RYDER CANVAS IS FAVORITE Other Artists Whose Creations Are Taken Include F.J. Waugh, S. Dickinson and J.H. Love". The New York Times. 21 October 1930. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  18. ^ a b "STUART PORTRAITS ON SALE THIS WEEK; 2 of Washington Among Items to Be Sold at Estate of Late Walter Jennings". The New York Times. 23 October 1949. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
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