Alice Green Hoffman is often described as an eccentric
New York socialite, but her life was more complex than that. In 1920, at the
age of 57, she controlled a real estate portfolio that included holdings in
Paris, New York City, Connecticut, and Carteret County, NC. She regularly dealt
with the highest ranks of business and government players in those locales. She
never hesitated to call on her connections and expected attention and results.
Where did this wealth come from? How did these
character traits take form, this attitude of entitlement? An understanding of
the life and times of her Grandfather Theron R. Butler and his influence helps
explain her life.
Butler Family History
According to a Butler Family History[i], compiled and
published in 1919 by Henry Langdon Butler, the first Butler of the line from
which Theron R. Butler descends left Sandwich, Kent, England, on the ship
“Hercules” on June 9, 1637. That hearty and adventurous soul was one Nicholas
Butler. The ship’s manifest identified 80 passengers, including Nicholas, his
wife, Joice, three children and five servants. They arrived in New England two
months later and built a home on a land grant Nicholas received in Dorchester,
Massachusetts.
The Family History sketches the story of the expanding Butler clan and
eventually arrives at the 10th generation, when Theron Rudd Butler, the
youngest son of Charles and Mary Thompson Butler, was born in Poughkeepsie, New
York, on March 9, 1813. As a young man, he left New York and moved to Ohio,
where, in 1839, he married Mary Beach. Their daughter, also named Mary, was
born on December 6, 1840. Mary Butler, in 1860, married Albert W. Green of
Ohio. This union produced three daughters: Alice Green (1862-1953), Grace Green
(1865-1938), and Mary Butler Green (1872-1947).
Mrs. Mary Butler Green
preferred living in New York City and resided with her parents in their
five-story home at 433 Fifth Ave. between 38th and 39th
Streets. Albert Green spent much of his time attending to business in Ohio. He
was part owner of the Green-Joyce Department Store chain.
Alice, along with her
sisters, spent formative years living in the Butler home on Fifth Ave., being
raised by Mr. and Mrs. Butler and her sister. This was especially so after
Alice’s mother died in 1872, after her daughter Mary’s birth. The U.S. census
of 1880 shows Albert Green and his three daughters along with Theron and Marie
Butler and her sister Helena living at 433 Fifth Ave., along with three servants.
The record does not reveal
when Theron Butler moved from Ohio to New York, perhaps after his wife Mary
Beach died in 1845 and after he married his second wife Marie E. Miller some
years later. However, it is clear that by time the Green sisters are born—
under his roof—he is well established, an influential citizen and successful
businessman.
New York City 1860 – 1890
During the second half of the
19th century, New York City was as dynamic as it has ever been, and its
citizenry represented the full spectrum of the human condition.[ii] Governance was in
the hands of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed was its head. They used city finances
to enrich themselves while at the same time, through a vast network of ward
organizations and patronage, kept the city running. The Erie Canal, railroads,
telegraph and telephone made New York the trade and industrial hub of the
United States. Half the populations of the city were immigrants filling the
tenements of lower Manhattan and the shantytowns of midtown. This constant
arrival of new immigrants provided the cheap labor needed for new industries
and major construction projects taking place throughout the city—public and
private buildings, railroads, water and sewer systems, subways, and bridges.
These conditions produced wealth and privilege for some while many faced low
pay in dirty, dangerous work, crowded unsanitary living arrangements, limited
opportunities, and the day-to-day struggle to pay rent or buy food. Orphanages
and religious agencies worked to accommodate the thousands of abandoned and
parentless children. The city was visited by a series of
epidemics—tuberculosis, cholera, influenza, measles, and typhoid—with the
impact not sparing any social class but weighing heaviest on the poor.
In this caldron the Butler-Green
family thrived.
Parenting
The Green sisters received
much of their parental nurturing from their Butler grandparents, who generously
shared their home, wealth, social standing, and ideals. The Butlers were
storybook doting grandparents.
As early as the 1860s, Fifth
Avenue was a developed thoroughfare as far north as the 50th
Streets, with a mixed streetscape of residential, public, social, and retail
establishments. The Butler family carriages and horses were kept in a stable
located a block east on 38th Street. When the girls were young, Mr.
Butler also kept a dairy cow at the stable. One of the servants would milk the
cow every morning and bring the milk to the Butler kitchen before breakfast
each day.[iii]
The prospects fluency in a
foreign language, particularly French, were considered in the selection process
when hiring servants, to expose the girls on a regular basis to the languages
of Europe. Music lessons, both singing and piano were provided. Piano
production in the US reached it peak during the last half of the 19th century,
and a piano was a fixture in all proper homes. Educational opportunities
extended beyond the home. Primary instruction was provided at the Williams
School, located a few streets north on Fifth Ave. In her late teens, Alice
attended Miss Porter’s School for Girls, a prestigious finishing school in
Farmington, Connecticut, for four years.
When Alice was eight and in
poor health, she had an extended stay with her father’s parents at their farm
near Warren, Ohio. This exposure to outdoor activities and the farm had a
positive effect on her health and started a lifelong appreciation for the
outdoors.
The entire Butler household
typically left the city in the heat of July and August, summering in Maine. The
Profile House resort in the White Mountains was a favorite destination.
Home Life
The wide-ranging interests of
Theron Butler, many of which he brought home with him, exposed the girls to the
better elements of the gilded age. The girls became aware of the family’s various
business ventures, the politics of the day, the ins and outs of how business
and government worked, and the important decision-makers around town. The home
was a center for art and music, charitable activities and, of course, proper
society.
New York Public Library Digital Collection
Business Activities
In addition to real estate,
Theron Butler had extensive investment holdings in the form of stocks, bonds
and mortgages. His holdings included railroads, utilities, toll roads, canals,
and interests in textile mills in southern states. These securities were
considered passive holdings, while he was actively involved with several
businesses.
The annual meeting of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad
Company was held November 29, 1881. Along with other business, shareholders
elected Theron R. Butler to the Board of Directors.[iv]
He was a member of the board from the railroad’s founding in 1878 through 1884.
The trust executor sold Butler’s stock holdings in this railroad in 1914 for
$1,050,000. Adjusting for inflation, that would be $14,500,000 in today’s
purchasing power.
A report in The New York Times of February 15, 1883,
identified Theron R. Butler as the president of the Sixth-Avenue Line.[v] During this time,
public commuter transportation was evolving in New York City. Surface railroads
that ran on tracks at street level had existed for several decades. They
started out as horse-drawn omnibuses, in some cases converting to steam engine
power. In the late 1870s, as congestion of the city’s main thoroughfares grew
intolerable, enterprising businessmen built elevated tracks to run steam-
powered trains.
As innovations tend to be,
these were very controversial, and legislation was passed that forbad them from
the better paths of town. Fifth Ave. was never to be cast in the shadow and
danger of elevated tracks. These streetcar lines, whether street level or
elevated, were private monopolies run with the intent of maximizing profits for
the owners. The rapidly expanding population meant that the cars were nearly
always filled to capacity, assuring steady profits. A report in the Grange Library Museum News of September
1, 1881, included the following note: “Theron R. Butler is one of the principal
street railroad monopolists of New York city.”
Depicted below are the holdings of the Theron
Butler trust as of 1909.
Transportation Stocks
Railroads, streetcars, toll roads . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . $ 690,000
Industrial
Stocks
Gas utility, publishing, printing,
insurance . . . . . . . $ 63,000
Bonds and Mortgages
In Manhattan and Bronx . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .$ 664,000
Real Estate
Manhattan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 617,000
Art Works
Paintings and Statuary . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . $ 264,000
An accounting of the estate
as of 1919, produced by United States Trust Company of New York, gave a total
value of $3,313,000. In today’s economics, that equates to $52,860,000.
Art Collection
A music room, library, and
personal art collection were additions to enhance the grandeur of a gilded era
home. Over the years, Theron assembled a notable collection, including over 50 works
by both American and European artists such as Marie-Francois Firmin-Girard
(1838-1921), William Bouguereau (1825-1905), Charles Baugniet (1814-1886),
Jehan Vibert (1840-1902), Eduardo Zamacois (1841-1871), Felix Ziem (1821-1911),
Vicente Palmaroli (1834-1896), Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904),
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Coret (1796-1875), Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier
(1815-1891).
Firmin-Girard LE QUAI
AUX FLEURS acquired from the artists in 1876 for $22,500 (over $480,00
today)[vi]
To aid the Baptist Home For
The Aged, Butler opened his home and art collection for public exhibition. “The
pictures of Theron R. Butler...have been arranged for public exhibition in the
drawing-rooms of the dwelling No. 433 Fifth-avenue.” [vii]
Mrs. Theron R. Butler is
included in a list of “collections of great merit” in the 1889 issue of Art Attractions of New York, published
by the National Academy of Design. [viii]
In 1910, Theron Butler’s
estate executors auctioned the Butler collection. Today much of the collection
is on exhibit in Art Museums around the country.
The Butlers appear in the Society pages with
frequency.
Under the heading “Society
Topics of the Week” was the note that a “Tuesday Tea was given by Mrs. Theron
Butler to introduce Miss Mary Butler Green.” The list of Teas was preceded by
the following paragraph that paints a grand picture of life on the avenue,
Fifth Avenue, in 1891.
"There seems to be a general
disposition to enjoy the winter’s gayeties
to the utmost and to start the ball rolling at the liveliest of paces. The week has been gay from start to
finish, and the up-town
fashionable avenues and streets have presented a picture dear to the lover of urban scenes, with
throngs of handsome women and
men richly costumed promenading at late afternoon, and with a creaseless
movement of equipages during the afternoon
and evening hours. All is and has been for the past few days glitter and gayety, and the cool, crisp air has made the
first events of the season all
the more enjoyable."[ix]
Society
Page Editor
Political Affairs
After President Abraham
Lincoln was assassinated in April 1865, Theron R. Butler took an active part in
Republican politics in New York City to assure the transition of executive
branch power to Vice President Andrew Johnson.
At the meeting advertised
above, The New York Times reported
that Theron Butler was elected a vice president of the New York National Union
organization.
That
same year, The New York Times reported:
Union electors of the Eleventh Assembly District of New York City
organized a Marshall O. Roberts Club with THERON R. BUTLER as president to lead
the effort. Resolutions were adopted naming MARSHALL O. ROBERTS and MURRAY
HOFFMAN as the candidates of the club for Mayor and Corporation Counsel, The
club agreed to meet nightly, till Mr. ROBERTS is elected . . .
Public Service
The New York Times of July 1874 reported that President Ulysses Grant appointed Clifton
B. Fisk, Henry H. Sibley, and Theron R. Butler to the Board of Indian
Commissioners.[x] Congress, on April 10, 1869,
authorized President Grant to organize this board of not more than ten persons
"to be selected by him from men eminent for their intelligence and
philanthropy, to serve without pecuniary compensation.[xi]
Impact on the Green Sisters
The Butler and Green family
fortunes provided income and property to the Green sisters—Alice, Mary, and
Grace—from their late teens and for the remainder of their lives. They did not
own these assets and property directly, but shared them through trusts
stipulated in the wills of Theron R. Butler and Albert Green respectively. At
its peak in early 1920s, the Theron Butler trust was valued in today’s
economics at $55,000,000 and the Green trust at a lesser amount but still in
the millions.
Being born into, and raised
in a home with seemingly limitless financial where-with-all exposed Alice to
all the advantages the guided age could bring. Alice’s later life indicates
that she absorbed the world of Grandfather Butler and made it her own. She
approached life with the same wide-ranging interest that Theron did, perhaps
not always as successfully as Grandpa, but with the same jump-in-with-both-feet
attitude and willingness to take on many challenges simultaneously.
Post Author: Walt Zaenker
[i] Tales of Our
Kinsfolk, Our Butler Ancestors, by Henry Langdon Butler, published in New York,
1919
[ii] This paragraph based on material from Lights and Shadows of New York Life, by
James D. McCabe, Jr., first published in 1872.
[iii] Alice Green
Hoffman papers, collection #127, Joyner Library, ECU, Greenville, NC
[iv] The New York
Times, business section, Wednesday, November 30, 1881
[v] The New York Times,
Tuesday, February 1883
[viii] National Academy
Notes, No.9 (1889), published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art
[ix] The NewYork Times,
Sunday, December 13, 1891
[x] The Papers of
Ulysses S. Grant, 1874, page 378