Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander (June 5, 1858 – July 25, 1946) was an American heir and real estate magnate who was prominent in New York Society during the
Gilded Age.[1]
Early life
Rhinelander was born on June 5, 1858, in New York City.[2] He was one of three sons born to William Rhinelander (1825–1908),[3] who grew up in
Washington Square, and Matilda Cruger (
née Oakley) Rhinelander (1827–1914), who grew up in
Gramercy Park.[4] His younger brother was Philip Jacob Rhinelander (1865–1940),[5] who married Adelaide Brady Kip,[6] and was the father of his namesake, Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander II, who died fighting in France during
World War I,[7] and
Kip Rhinelander of the 1924
Rhinelander v. Rhinelander infamy.[8][9]
Rhinelander's ancestor, Philip Jacob Rhinelander, was a German-born French Huguenot who immigrated to the United States in 1686 following the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes,[14] settling in the newly formed French
Huguenot community of
New Rochelle, where he amassed considerable property holdings which became the basis for the Rhinelander family's wealth.[15]
After his grandfather's death in June 1878, he inherited great wealth in the form of shares that held his grandfather's estate,[17][18] which was conservatively valued at $60,000,000 upon his death.[12] By 1893, the estate was said to be worth $75,000,000 with annual income in excess of $3,000,000.[12] He was elected a director and served as president of the Rhinelander Real Estate Company,[18] one of the largest landholders in New York City,[19] rivaling the
Astor,
Goelet, and
Stuyvesant families.[20] Upon his father's death in 1908, the entire was estate left to his mother.[21] Upon her death in 1914, T.J. and his younger brother inherited all of her $2,000,000 estate, with their elder brother receiving just $1,000 due to his brother's marriage to a chambermaid employed by the family.[22]
Rhinelander served with the
7th Regiment, also known as the "Silk Stocking" regiment, and was generally called "Major".[1] He served 35 years with the Regiment, thirteen years with the Veterans Corps of Artillery and two with the Ninth Coast Artillery.[23]
Society life
In 1884, T.J. and his brother Philip purchased the ancient castle of
Schönburg in
Oberwesel on the
Rhine river in Germany, where his famous emigrant ancestor was born.[3] Rhinelander restored the castle, which poet
Ferdinand Freiligrath called "the most beautiful retreat on the Rhine," between 1885 and 1920.[24]
On June 6, 1894,[30] Rhinelander was married to Edith Cruger Sands (1874–1923),[31] bringing together two old New York families.[32] She was the daughter of Charles Edwin Sands (son of
Ferdinand Sands) and Letitia S. (née Campbell) Sands.[30][33] Her older sister, Letitia Lee Sands, was married to Maturin Livingston Delafield Jr., a
Livingston family descendant. Together, they lived at 36
West 52nd Street,[2] and were the parents of one child:[31]
Philip Rhinelander II (1895–1973),[34] who married Hortense LeBrun Cruger Parsons (1894–1968) in 1916.[35] She was a descendant of
suffragetteLucretia Mott and colonial New York City mayor
John Cruger.[19] They divorced in 1935,[36] and he married Hazel (née Marquis) Stuart (1892–1977), the widow of Charles Buchanan Stuart, that same year.[37]
After his wife's death, he continued to live in their ornate brownstone until three years before his death when he moved to 470
Park Avenue in New York City. Rhinelander died at his New York home on July 25, 1946.[1] He was buried in
Woodlawn Cemetery in the
Bronx.
Descendants
Through his son Phillip, he was the grandfather of socialites[38] LeBrun Cruger "Brunie" Rhinelander (1917–2012),[39][19] wife of financier William G. McKnight Jr.;[40][41] and Thomas Jackson Oakley Rhinelander (1920–1989).[42]
^"MRS. P. RHINELANDER IS BURNED TO DEATH; Alcohol Lamp in Her Tuxedo Home Explodes, Enveloping Her in Flames. LINGERS FOR TWELVE HOURS Physicians Work All Night in an Effort to Save Her ;- Two Sons on Way from the Coast". The New York Times. September 12, 1915. p. 1.
^"REAL ESTATE FORTUNES"(PDF). The New York Times. May 12, 1878. Retrieved 4 November 2018. In this City the ownership of real estate is commonly associated with the possession of wealth. The enormous possessions of the ASTORS, GOELETS, STEVENSES, LENOXES, STUYVESANTS, LORILLARDS, RHINELANDERS,...