Name George Gould | Role Financier | |
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Born February 6, 1864 ( 1864-02-06 ) Relatives Edwin Gould I, brother
Helen Miller Gould, sister
Anna Gould, sister
Frank Jay Gould, brother
Howard Gould, brother Died May 16, 1923, French Riviera Spouse Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair (m. 1922–1923), Edith Kingdon (m. ?–1921) Children Kingdon Gould, Sr., Helen Beresford, Baroness Decies Parents Jay Gould, Helen Day Miller Siblings Edwin Gould I, Anna Gould, Frank Jay Gould, Helen Miller Shepard Similar People Jay Gould, Edwin Gould I, Edith Kingdon, Anna Gould, Howard Gould | ||
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).
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Early life
George was born on February 6, 1864, the eldest son of Jay Gould (1836–1892) and Helen Day Miller (1838–1889). His father was a leading American railroad developer and speculator who has been referred to as one of the ruthless robber barons of the Gilded Age, whose success at business made him one of the richest men of his era.
Railroad management
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.
Personal life
He married Edith Mary Kingdon (1864–1921), a stage actress, and had the following children:
George Gould also had a mistress, Guinevere Jeanne Sinclair (1885-1978), and had the following children with her:
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.
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.
Legacy
Gould's estate in Lakewood Township, New Jersey is now the site of Georgian Court University.