George Jay Gould I

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George Jay Gould I
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Born (1864-02-06)February 6, 1864
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French Riviera
Spouse(s) Edith Kingdon
Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair
Children Helen Vivien Gould
Kingdon Gould I
Jay Gould II
Marjorie Gould
George Jay Gould II
Gloria Gould
Edith Catherine Gould
George Sinclair Gould
Jane Sinclair Gould
Guinevere Gould
Parent(s) Jay Gould
Helen Day Miller
Relatives Edwin Gould I, brother
Helen Miller Gould, sister
Anna Gould, sister
Frank Jay Gould, brother
Howard Gould, brother
File:George Jay Gould Vanity Fair 27 September 1894.JPG
"Vigilant"
Gould as depicted in Vanity Fair, September 1894. Gould had bought Vigilant,[1] the winner of the previous year's America's Cup, and was racing it in England
File:George Jay Gould I 582713b30f o.jpg
Gould and his family at the wedding of his sister, Helen Miller Shepard in 1913

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).

Birth, marriage and children

George was the son of Jay Gould (1836–1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838–1889). He married Edith M. Kingdon (1864–1921), a stage actress, and had the following children:[2]

George Gould also had a mistress, Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair (1885-1978), and had the following children with her:[11]

  • 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. [12]

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.[13][14]

Railroad management

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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.

Legacy

Gould's estate in Lakewood Township, New Jersey is now the site of Georgian Court University.

Timeline

See also

Further reading

  • Brehm, Frank (2005), The SF&GSL. Retrieved March 2, 2005.
  • Geis, Sister M. Christina, The George Jay Gould Estate. Retrieved March 2, 2005.
  • White, John H., Jr. (Spring 1986), America's Most Noteworthy Railroaders, Railroad History, 154', p. 9-15.

References

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External links