Edward Neufville Tailer

Edward Neufville Tailer (July 20, 1830 – February 15, 1917)[1] who was a New York merchant and banker, and a prominent member of New York Society during the Gilded Age.[2]

E. N. Tailer
Born
Edward Neufville Tailer

(1830-07-20)July 20, 1830
DiedFebruary 15, 1917(1917-02-15) (aged 86)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse
Agnes Suffern
(before 1917)
Parent(s)Edward Neufville Tailer
Ann Amelia Bogert
RelativesEarl E. T. Smith (grandson)
Robert Reginald Livingston (grandson)
Signature

Early life edit

Tailer was born on July 20, 1830, in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. He was the son of New York merchant[3] Edward Neufville Tailer (1797–1873) and Ann Amelia (née Bogert) Tailer (1802–1883).[4] His younger brothers included lawyer Henry Austin Tailer, who was born in 1833,[3] and William Hallett Tailer, who was born in 1842.[5] His father "retired with a fortune in 1837."[6]

His grandfather was Edward Neufville Tailer, Sr. and they were all descendants of Sir William Tailer, a colonial governor of Massachusetts.[5]

Tailer was educated at the well known "Penquest's French school" located on Bank street.[6]

Career edit

In December 1848, he began his career with the firm of Little, Alden & Co.[7] on Broad Street.[1] In the early part of his career, he was associated with the firms of W. & S. Phipps & Co. of Boston and New York as well as Fanshaw, Milliken & Townsend, Reimer & Meche, and Sturges, Shaw & Co., as a buyer and salesman.[6]

He eventually founded the successful importing and commission house of Winzer & Tailer (later known as E.N. & W.H. Tailer & Co.).[6] The firm was a prominent dry goods merchant, importing cloth company located in New York City.[8] In his travels, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean more than forty times.[6]

He was also a director of several banks,[9] including The German-American Bank and The Northern Dispensary. He retired from business in 1893.[1]

Beginning in 1848, when he was just 18 years old,[4] Tailer kept a daily diary of social matters and other events.[2][10] Annually, he bound these diaries and kept them in his library.[1] Upon his death, his son Thomas inherited the diaries.[11]

Society life edit

Tailer was a member of the controversial "Four Hundred" of New York Society,[12] as dictated by Mrs. Astor and Ward McAllister and published in The New York Times on February 16, 1892.[13][14] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[15] In 1874, he joined the Patriarchs, a group of the city's elite men that was established by McAllister. He succeeded James Alexander Hamilton.[6]

He was a member of the vestry of Ascension Church. He was a member of the Union Club of the City of New York, the Union League Club, the Tuxedo Club, the Country Club, Westchester Polo Club, and Merchants' Clubs and The New England Society and St. Nicholas Society.[6][16]

Personal life edit

Tailer was married to Agnes Suffern (1830–1917),[17] the daughter of Thomas Suffern,[9] an Irish immigrant who made a fortune importing Irish linens.[12] They lived in a house at 11 Washington Square North built in 1834 by her father,[10] and traveled extensively around Europe.[4] Together, they were the parents of:[18]

Tailer died in New York City on February 15, 1917.[1] He was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.[10] His wife died shortly thereafter on March 17, 1917, reportedly overcome by grief for the loss of her husband.[17]

Descendants edit

Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Assemblyman Robert Reginald Livingston Jr.[22] Through his daughter Frances, he was a grandfather of Earl Edward Tailer Smith (1903–1991), a diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Cuba as well as the mayor of Palm Beach, Florida.[34]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e "Edward N. Tailer Dead – Retired Merchant Was Member of an Old New York Family". The New York Times. February 16, 1917. p. 11. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Tailer, Edward Neufville". newyorkdiaries.com. New York Diaries (1609-2009). Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Yale University Class of 1896 (1907). Decennial Record of the Class of 1896, Yale College. De Vinne Press. p. 599. Retrieved May 19, 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c Henkin, David M. (1998). City Reading: Written Words and Public Spaces in Antebellum New York. Columbia University Press. p. 130. ISBN 9780231107440. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1902). Genealogical Record of the Saint Nicholas Society: Advanced Sheets, First Series. Society. p. 61. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Hall, Henry (1895). America's Successful Men of Affairs: The city of New York. New York Tribune. p. 639. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  7. ^ Luskey, Brian P. (2011). On the Make: Clerks and the Quest for Capital in Nineteenth-Century America. NYU Press. p. 37. ISBN 9780814753101. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  8. ^ O'Reilly, Edward (September 22, 2015). ""With a happy open smile": An New Yorker's 1859 Visit to the Vatican". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Folpe, Emily Kies (2002). It Happened on Washington Square. JHU Press. p. 142. ISBN 9780801870880. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  10. ^ a b c "An Old New Yorker". The New York Times. February 18, 1917. p. E2. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Art Works to Mrs. Tailer – Retired Merchant's Son Gets His 48 Volume Scrapbook". The New York Times. March 6, 1917. p. 11. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ a b c Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House. p. 229. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  13. ^ McAllister, Ward (February 16, 1892). "The Only Four Hundred – Ward M'Allister Gives Out the Official List – Here Are the Names, Don't You Know, On the Authority of Their Great Leader, You Understand, and Therefore Genuine, You See" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 5. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
  14. ^ King, Moses (1899). Notable New Yorkers of 1869-1899: A Companion Volume to King's Handbook of New York City. Moses King. p. 568. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  15. ^ Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  16. ^ Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1333. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Mrs. A. S. Tailer Dead – Social Leader Expires in the House She Spent Her Life". The New York Times. March 19, 1917. p. 11. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Mrs. Agnes S. Tailer's Will – Estate Divided Among Her Daughters and Brother". The New York Times. April 11, 1917. p. 12. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Mrs. H. L. Burnett". The New York Times. December 12, 1932. p. 15. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  20. ^ "Miscellaneous City News – A Brilliant Wedding – Marriage of Gen. Herry L. Burnett to Miss Agents S. Tailer". The New York Times. February 1, 1882. p. 8. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Mrs. Livingston Hostess – Gives a Dance for Her Son, R. R. Livingston, and Fiancee, Miss Dean". The New York Times. February 17, 1922. p. 15. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ a b "Mrs. Livingston, 82, Nursery Advocate – Member of Noted Family Dies – Ex-Delegate Had Served on Democratic State Group". The New York Times. October 19, 1944. p. 23. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  23. ^ Dutchess County Historical Society (1928). Year Book of the Dutchess County Historical Society. The Society. p. 67. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  24. ^ Burke, Arthur Meredyth (1908). The Prominent Families of the United States of America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 38. ISBN 9780806313085. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  25. ^ "T. Suffern Tailer Buried – Many Residents of Newport Attend the Funeral Services". The New York Times. December 28, 1928. p. 16. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  26. ^ "Mrs. M. L. Baring Dies in London". The New York Times. April 4, 1922. p. 17. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "How Mr. Lorillard Divided His Estate – Bequest of Rancocas to a Woman Arouses His Family – Clubmen Talk of a Contest – Tuxedo Property Guarded by Strict Provisions – The Widow's Annuity – The Will Disposes of $4,000,000". The New York Times. July 14, 1901. p. 10. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Wedded Before Many Friends; Miss Maud Lorillard Becomes Mrs. T. Suffern Tailer. Dr. Satterlee Performs a Simple Ceremony in Calvary Church—Wedding Breakfast at the Lorillard Residence—Showered with Rice as They left the House—One Hundred Thousand Dollars' Worth of Presents—To Spend a Few Months at the World's Fair and Then to go Abroad". The New York Times. April 16, 1893. p. 10. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Separation Reported of Suffern Tailers – Wife Probably Will Ask Divorce, His Secretary Says in Washington". The New York Times. November 5, 1933. p. 29. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  30. ^ "Mrs. T. Suffern Tailer Obtains Her Divorce – Wife of Clubman and Whip Granted a Decree in North Dakota – She Went to the Western State for the Purpose, Charging Desertion – History of Their Troubles". The New York Times. Salem, North Dakota. August 15, 1902. p. 1. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "C. Ledyard Blair, Banker, 82, Dead".The New York Times, February 8, 1949. Accessed March 12, 2008.
  32. ^ "Mrs. Taller Carpenter". The New York Times. January 2, 1953. p. 15. Retrieved May 19, 2018.
  33. ^ "Mrs. F. T. Smith a Bride – Weds C. W. Carpenter, Jr., at Home of Her Brother, T. Suffern Taller". The New York Times. May 30, 1916. p. 9. Retrieved December 5, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  34. ^ a b "Mrs. F. Tailer Carpenter Estate Split Between Sons". Newport Daily News. January 13, 1953. p. 5. Retrieved May 19, 2018.

External links edit