Sale 2455 - Printed & Manuscript Americana, September 28, 2017

“SHE ISTEMPORARILY INSANE, IF NOT PERMANENTLY SO” 117 c   (FINANCE.) Archive of letters relating to Hetty Green, the famed “Witch of Wall Street.” 24 letters to Edward H. Mandell as trustee for the Edward M. Robinson estate, plus one telegram and 5 contemporary copies of related letters; condition generally strong, with moderate wear to a few letters. Vp, 1866-91 [800/1,200] Hetty Green (1834-1916) was famous in her day as perhaps the wealthiest woman inAmerica, and less flatteringly as theWitch ofWall Street. Born Henrietta Howland Robinson, she inherited $5,000,000 from her father in 1865, and parlayed it into an estate valued at more than $100,000,000 through conservative investments, aggressive lawsuits, and extreme frugality which crossed the line into eccentric- ity. From a modern perspective, she can be regarded as a visionary success in the all-male world of finance. The present archive relates to the settlement of her father’s estate. Edward Mott Robinson (1800-1865) had built up his family’s whaling fortune in New Bedford, MA. His will left his only child Hetty $919,000 in cash, and most of the remainder to three trustees, Barling, Davis & Mandell, to administer on her behalf. In retrospect, the idea that Hetty Green would need three trustees to manage her money is rather comical. She initiated a protracted legal and tactical struggle to gain full control of the estate.These letters are to one of the trustees, Edward D. Mandell (1821-1897), a New Bedford merchant.The first letter, from the other two trustees to Mandell, is dated 22 June 1866.They inform Mandell of “preliminary steps toward attempting to break the will of Mr. Robinson.”Their lawyer thought the claim was frivolous: “He felt a good deal more worry about a pain he had in his tooth than he did about Miss R’s succeeding. . . . This last move of Miss R’s confirms us in the belief that she is temporarily insane, if not permanently so.”Three days later, they discussed the hire of more lawyers:“It will be very expensive to the estate, but Miss Robinson has elected to do what she has done & must take the consequences.” Still, she persisted.The battle stretched out for decades, from Hetty’s 1867 marriage to banker Edward Henry Green (retaining her rights to all of her inheritance), their move to Bellows Falls,VT, the birth of two children, and her separation from Edward—all while the trustees continued to manage the estate, ostensibly on Hetty’s behalf.Almost all of the letters are from Mandell’s fellow trustee Henry A. Barling, but two are from Hetty’s husband: “Mrs. Green wishes to know if you have a satisfactory offer for the Candle Home property. I think she would be inclined to sell at a fair price” (12 July 1884). The phrasing suggests that Hetty Green was very much in charge of the family finances, with Edward operating as her agent.A 16 May 1889 letter from Edward Green explains that the estate’s mortgages and deeds have been removed to an office in Chemical Bank: “As our family are so largely interested in the bank, they do all they can to help us out.”This produced a hostile response from Mr. Barling, who proposed that the trustees “make a demand upon Mr. Quinlan of the Chemical Bank for all the securities. . . .As to moving our office to the Chemical Bank, it is something that cannot be considered. At any rate, we want our papers here first” (3 June 1889).The acrimonious relationship continued. On 18 February 1890, Barling complained that “Mrs. Green is making things lively in Chicago.” On 21 March 1890, he told Mandell “I will get even with the Madam one of these days.”A 3 April 1890 letter requests that the trustees appoint a new agent for the estate’s Chicago properties: Hetty’s 21-year-old son Edward Howland Robinson “Ned”Green, who “is to settle in Chicago & open a real estate office.” Barling’s 29 January 1891 letter complains of yet another lawsuit:“Mrs. Green has filed another bill. . . . She charges that Barling, Davis & Mandell loaned the estates funds in 1869 & 1870. . . .There is not a word of truth in the charge . . . all of which I showed Mrs. Green by the books some time since.” The broad outlines of this story are known to history, but these letters between Hetty Green’s trustees have apparently remained unknown and unpublished.They shed new light on one of the most powerful and enigmatic women of the Gilded Age.