Charles Frederick Havemeyer

Charles Frederick Havemeyer (March 1867 – May 9, 1898) was an American socialite who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.

Charles Frederick Havemeyer
BornMarch 1867
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 9, 1898(1898-05-09) (aged 31)
Roslyn, New York, U.S.
Alma materColumbia School of Mines (1889)
Spouse(s)
Camilla Woodward Moss
​
​
(m. 1890)​
Children2
Parent(s)Theodore Havemeyer
Emily de Loosey
RelativesSee Havemeyer family

Early life

Havemeyer was born in March 1867 and was known as "Carley".[1] He was the eldest boy of nine children born to Theodore Havemeyer (1839–1897)[2][3] and Emilie (née de Loosey) Havemeyer (1844–1914).[4] His siblings included Nathalie Ida Blanche Havemeyer, who married John Mayer; Emily Blanche Havemeyer, who married Edward Clarkson Potter; Theodore Augustus Havemeyer, Jr.;[5] Blanche Maximillian Havemeyer, who married William Butler Duncan, Jr.; Marie Ida Pauline Havemeyer, who married Perry Tiffany and H. F. Godfrey; Henry Osborne Havemeyer II, who became a major financier of Stephen Birch and the future Kennecott Copper Company;[6] Theodora Havemeyer, who married Admiral Cameron Winslow; and Frederick Christian Havemeyer, who married Lillie Harriman, daughter of Oliver Harriman.[7][8]

His paternal grandparents were Frederick Christian Havemeyer Jr., who started the family business, and Sarah Louise (née Henderson) Havemeyer. His maternal grandfather was Chevalier Charles Frederick de Loosey, the Austrian Consul to New York.[9] His father and uncle, Henry Osborne Havemeyer, constructed "one of the most modern sugar refineries in the world."[10] His father also co-founded the Newport Country Club, U.S. Amateur Championship and U.S. Open.[10][11]

Career

Havemeyer was educated at home, then preparatory school, and then attended Columbia School of Mines with the class of 1889.[1][12][13] After Columbia, he entered the Havemeyer sugar house and "Sugar Trust" founded and run by his family.[1]

Society life

In 1892, Havemeyer and his wife were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[14][15] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[16]

Personal life

On October 16, 1890, Havemeyer was married to the noted beauty Camilla Woodward Moss (1869–1934),[17] the daughter of Courtland Dixon Moss and Camilla (née Woodward) Moss. They had a residence in New York City, a home known as "Old Brick Farm" in Roslyn, New York,[18] and spent the winter in Aiken, South Carolina.[19] Together, they were the parents of two children:[20]

  • Theodore Augustus Havemeyer III (1892–1941),[21] who moved to Vancouver where he was involved in the lumber business and where he married Jeannette Aileen MacLean (1894–1979),[22] daughter of Ewen Wainwright MacLean, in 1915.[23] He was previously engaged to Vida Bispham, a daughter of David Bispham.[23]
  • Charles Frederick Havemeyer Jr. (1898–1961), a sailor who attended Harvard University and served in France during World War I with the U.S. Marine Corps.[24] Charles raced in the British-American Cup match in 1923.[25] Also in 1923, he married Ellen Randolph, a daughter of Edmund Randolph.[26]

His father died on April 26, 1897 and left an estate valued at $4 million.[27]

On May 9, 1898, just ten minutes after playing with his son Teddy and while dressing for dinner, Havemeyer died from a gunshot wound in the head from a pistol at his home in Roslyn the age of 31.[1] The suicide was never determined to be on purpose or an accident,[28] although commonly believed to be an intentional suicide, no motive was ever determined.[19] After a funeral at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan, he was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[29]

After his death, in December 1898, his widow gave birth to a second son, who she named after Charles.[22] She later remarried to broker Frederick Ogden Beach Sr. (with William K. Vanderbilt as best man), who was known as "Beauty Beach" for his good looks, with whom she had two more sons.[19] Later in February 1912, Camilla had her throat slashed at her Aiken home.[30][31] Much to the surprise of both Camilla and Frederick, Beach was charged for attempted murder, although he was later acquitted.[19] The culprit was never identified.[22]

Descendants

Through his eldest son Teddy, he was, posthumously, the grandfather of Gloria Camilla MacLean Havemeyer (1917–1989).[22] She married Clive John Fenwick Phillipps-Wolley, son of Lieutenant-Commander Clive Phillipps-Wolley and grandson of Clive Phillipps-Wolley, in 1936.[32]

References
  1. "DEATH OF C.F. HAVEMEYER; Shot Himself on Monday Evening at His Country Home in Roslyn, L.I. ACCIDENT, THE JURY'S VERDICT He Was Alone and Dressing for Dinner at the Time of the Shooting -- Sketch of His Career". The New York Times. May 11, 1898. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  2. "FUNERAL OF MR. HAVEMEYER; Impressive Services in St. Patrick's Cathedral in the Presence of a Great Throng. THE ARCHBISHOP OFFICIATED Father Sylvester Malone Celebrated the Solemn Requiem Mass for His Friend -- Interment Was in Greenwood Cemetery -- Refineries Closed in Williamsburg". The New York Times. 30 April 1897. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  3. "IN MEMORY OF MR. HAVEMEYER.; Consecration of Vestments Presented to the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul". The New York Times. 11 October 1897. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  4. Havemeyer II, Henry O. (1944). Biographical Record of the Havemeyer Family. New York: privately printed.
  5. "T. A. HAVEMEYER, 2D, WEDS.; Former Fiance of Miss Bispham Marries Miss MacLean in Vancouver". The New York Times. 27 August 1915. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  6. Charles Caldwell Hawley (2014). A Kennecott Story. The University of Utah Press. p. 33.
  7. The World Almanac and Book of Facts. Press Publishing Company (The New York World). 1911. p. 528. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  8. Times, Wireless To The New York (25 June 1925). "TWO OF THE HARRIMANS SEEK PARIS DIVORCES; Mrs. Lillie Harriman Havemeyer and Mrs. Ethel Harriman Russell File Petitions". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  9. Times, Special To The New York (4 May 1914). "MRS. T. A. HAVEMEYER DEAD.; End Comes in Switzerland on Eve of Sailing for This Country". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  10. Henry Bischoff and Mitchell Kahn, From Pioneer Settlement to Suburb, A History of Mahwah, New Jersey, 1700-1976, (South Brunswick and New York: A. S. Barnes and Company, 1979), p. 138.
  11. "DEATH OF T. A. HAVEMEYER; Vice President of the American Sugar Refining Company and a Man of Large Affairs. WAS BAPTIZED WHEN DYING Called for a Priest and Was Received into the Catholic Church -- To be Buried from the Cathedral -His Notable Career". The New York Times. 27 April 1897. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  12. Columbia university alumni register, 1754-1931,. New York. 1932. p. 377.
  13. Annual Register of the Officers and Students of Columbia College. New York City. 1884. p. 35.
  14. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  15. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 217. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  16. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  17. "DEATHS". The New York Times. November 12, 1934. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  18. Miller, Tom (8 April 2013). "Daytonian in Manhattan: The Lost 1866 Havemeyer House -- 244 Madison Ave". Daytonian in Manhattan. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  19. Coughlin, Gene (July 9, 1950). "Heartbreaks of Society | Camilla Moss' Two Tragedies". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  20. The World Almanac and Encyclopedia. Press Publishing Company, (The New York World). 1908. p. 477. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  21. "THEO. A. HAVEMEYER 3D; Member of Sugar Family Here Dies in War Service in England". The New York Times. April 9, 1941. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  22. "MacLean, Ewen Wainwright (1863-1923)". WestEndVancouver. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  23. "T. A. HAVEMEYER, 2D, WEDS.; Former Fiance of Miss Bispham Marries Miss MacLean in Vancouver". The New York Times. August 27, 1915. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  24. "Charles F. Havemeyer". Motor Boating: 126. February 1961. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  25. "STEWART IS NAMED TO BE COMMODORE; Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club Renominates Him for the Year 1925. CURTIS WILL SERVE AGAIN Vice Commodore Selected for Another Term -- All Flag Officers Active as Racing Helmsmen". The New York Times. December 27, 1924. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  26. "Miss Randolph Wed to C. F. Havemeyer. Marriage at St. Thomas's Church Is Performed by the Rev. Dr. Stires. Reception at Colony Club". The New York Times. February 2, 1923. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  27. "ESTATE OF T.A. HAVEMEYER; Mr. Parsons Thinks It Will Not Be "Less Than Might Have Been Expected." NO WILL HAS BEEN FOUND The Heirs Will Proceed on the Idea that Mr. Havemeyer Died Intestate --A Plan Had Been Drawn Up but Never Executed". The New York Times. 12 May 1897. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  28. Pommer, Alfred; Pommer, Joyce (2013). Exploring Manhattan's Murray Hill. Arcadia Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 9781625845153. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  29. "Funeral of Charles F. Havemeyer". The New York Times. May 12, 1898. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  30. "WEALTHY CLUBMAN TO BE BROUGHT TO TRIAL FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER". Daily Journal (Telluride). January 25, 1913. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  31. "Mrs. Charles Frederick Havemeyer (ca. 1869-1935)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  32. "Phillipps-Wolley -- Havemeyer". The New York Times. August 9, 1936. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
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