William R. Travers
| William Riggin Travers | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 1819 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died |
March 19, 1887 Hamilton, Bermuda |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Children |
Three sons: William R. Travers, Jr. John Travers Reverdy J. Travers Six daughters: Mary Mackall Travers Hecksher Maria Louisa Travers Wadsworth Harriet Travers Fearing Ellen T. Travers Duer Matilda E. Travers Gay Susan B. Travers |
William Riggin Travers (July, 1819 – March 19, 1887) was an American lawyer who made a fortune on Wall Street. A well-known cosmopolite and high liver, Travers was a member of 27 private clubs, according to Cleveland Amory in his book Who Killed Society?
Biography
He was born in 1819 and graduated in 1838 from Columbia College, where he was a member of the Philolexian Society.
Along with John Hunter, in 1863 he founded Saratoga Race Course and served as its first president. Saratoga's Travers Stakes is named in his honor and is the oldest major Thoroughbred horse race in the United States. In 1884, William Travers became one of the backers of the Sheepshead Bay Race Track on Coney Island.
He married Maria Louisa, the fourth daughter of Reverdy Johnson. They had nine children. One of their five daughters, Matilda, married the painter Walter Gay and moved to Paris, France in 1876 where she remained until her death in 1943.
Travers was a partner in Annieswood Stable with John Hunter and George Osgood. The operation had considerable success both in racing runners and with breeding at their Annieswood Stud farm in Westchester County, New York. Their horse, the Hall of Famer Kentucky won the first running of the Travers Stakes in 1864. One of their most famous horses was Alarm, considered one of the best sprint race horses in American Thoroughbred horse racing history.
Travers was a long-time president of the New York Athletic Club. On January 13, 1887 the club purchased Hogg Island in Long Island Sound and Pelham, New York shoreline from the estate of John Hunter and renamed it Travers Island in his honor.[1]
Travers died in Bermuda on March 19, 1887 from complications of diabetes. In his obituary, The New York Times wrote that he was "probably the most popular man in New York." [2]
References
- ↑ "Travers Island". New York Times. June 9, 1889. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
The now Summer home of the New-York Athletic Club on Travers Island, near Pelham Manor, on the Sound, was opened yesterday for inspection by the members and their friends. The building, designed by Douglas Smythe, is a handsome structure of wood in the prevailing...
- ↑ "William R. Travers Dead; Final Rest Of A Man Universally Popular. Dying At Bermuda After A Long And Languishing Illness. Sketch Of His Career.". New York Times. March 28, 1887. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
William R. Travers, well known for the last 30 years in Wall-Street, in the leading clubs, and in society in this city, died in Bermuda March 19. He was unconscious during the last hours, when his wife, his son, R.J. Travers, his daughter Susie, and his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Duer, stood around his bed.
Further reading
- New York Times obituary
- Alarm at Thoroughbred Heritage.com
- Matilda Travers Gay information published by the Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art
- William R. Travers information at the History of the Town of Pelham, New York