Person:Richard Wilson (29)

Richard Thornton Wilson was born near Gainesville, Habersham County, Georgia, about 1829, son of a poor Scottish tanner and shoemaker. After the death of his father in 1849, Richard left home with $40 in gold and a mule.

He went to Dalton, Georgia, and found employment as a clerk in a store owned by Levi Brotherton, a Methodist clergyman and missionary. Saving his money, Richard went into the general merchandise business with W. R. High. He took his business on the road, buying items in Atlanta and selling them or trading for cotton crops. It was during this time he met James Chambers Orme and William P. Orme, both of whom worked for the emerging East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad. As Richard traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, one night he found himself in the town of Loudon. He was so exhausted, he slept on the doorstep of Ebenezer Johnston's merchantile store. Ebenezer Johnston owned 712 acres of handsomely cultivated farmland and a large manor house with slave quarters. Ebenezer was a South Carolina native who had married Hannah Hughes, the daughter of a wealthy Virginia family.

Richard, being a hard worker, made quite an impression on the Johnston family. Ebenezer agreed to finance Richard's business venture, so it was no surprise that Richard also asked Ebenezer for his eldest daughter's hand in marriage. Ebenezer agreed and Richard and Melissa Clementine Johnston were married 23 December 1852 in Roane County, Tennessee. Richard's fortune grew and he built a warehouse on Wharf Street in Loudon in 1852, with the help of his silent partner, James Chambers Orme.

On 4 Dec 1855, with much joy and excitement, Richard and Melissa welcomed their first child, a daughter named Mary Rita Wilson, whom they called "May." May would eventually married Ogden Goelet, a well-known New York millionaire. May and Ogden's daughter, Mary Goelet, would be the future wife of the 8th Duke of Roxburghe.

On 20 June 1860 they welcomed their first son, Marshall Orme Wilson, born in Loudon and named for Richard's business partners. Marshall Orme was known as "Orme" and would eventually marry Caroline "Carrie" Schermerhorn Astor, youngest daughter of William Backhouse Astor and Caroline Schermerhorn Astor -- "The Mrs. Astor" of the famed New York 400.

Richard continued to do business in Loudon, but in late 1860, he moved his family to Nashville. When the Civil War started they quickly moved on to Macon, Georgia, where his confederate sympathies could be put to better use. During the War, Richard T. Wilson was appointed Commissary General of the Confederate Army by Jefferson Davis. Richard would sail to London, England, as a foreign agent for the disposition of the Southern cotton crop. It was at this time that his financial luck really began to change and he turned a tidy profit.

In 1864, their second daughter, Lelia Belle Wilson, was born in Georgia. She would marry Lord Michael Henry Herbert, who became British Ambassador in Washington, and Lelia became Lady Herbert.

After the Civil War, Richard followed many of his contemporaries and began buying up defunct railroads and moved to New York, where he purchased a posh mansion at 511 Fifth Avenue from the corrupt politician, "Boss Tweed." It was here the Richard and Melissa Wilson lived for the remainder of their lives. Melissa was a woman of strong character and with her wealthy family connections she was able to enter and become intimate with old New York society.

In 1866, their second son, Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr., was born, who became an investment banker, and an avid horse lover, track owner and horse racer, and was in many winner's circles. He would marry Marion Steedman Mason of a wealthy Boston family.

On 3 September 1871, Richard and Melissa had their last child, another beautiful daughter, Grace Graham Wilson. Grace would eventually marry Brig. General Cornelius "Nelly" Vanderbilt III.

Richard opened the banking firm of Wilson Galloway & Co., which would later become R. T. Wilson & Co. His firm was the first to take up the question of the New York subway system. He was a director of the American Cotton Oil Co., the Fourth National Bank, Manhattan Trust Co., Castner Electrolytic Alkali Co., National Surety Co., Union Trust Co., United States Casualty Co. and the Mathheson Alkali Works. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Union Manhattan Metropolitan, and Downtown Clubs, the Automobile Club of American, the Southern Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the American Museum of Natural History.

It was reported at Richard's death in 199 that he was worth more than $40 million -- not a bad return on an initial $40 investment.

Richard was a handsome and charismatic man and at one time was rumored to have been the inspiration for the character of Rhett Butler in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Mitchell started writing the book in 1926, and it was published in 1936 long after Richard had died, so he never knew of the rumor.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 MacColl, Gail, and Carol McD. Wallace. To Marry an English Lord. (New York: Workman Publishing, 1989).
2. ↑ Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_T._Wilson,_Jr.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Find A Grave.

   Find a Grave