George Washington Riggs
George Washington Riggs | |
---|---|
Born | Georgetown, D.C., U.S. | July 4, 1813
Died | August 24, 1881 | (aged 68)
Resting place | Rock Creek Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Education | Round Hill School |
Alma mater | Yale College |
Spouse |
Janet Madeleine Cecilia Shedden
(after 1840) |
Children | 9, including T. Lawrason Riggs |
Parent(s) | Elisha Riggs Alice Lawrason |
George Washington Riggs (July 4, 1813 – August 24, 1881) was an American businessman and banker. He was known as "The President's Banker." He was a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Peabody Education Fund.
Early life
Riggs was born in
His grandfather was
Career
In 1840, William W. Corcoran took him into partnership in the banking firm of Corcoran & Riggs at Washington, D.C. The firm was immediately successful; it was able to obtain a major share of the loans required by the federal government, acquired a reputation in financing the Mexican–American War, and made large profits. In 1848 he gave up his connection with the firm, to which, however, his younger half-brother Elisha succeeded so that the firm name remained the same. When Corcoran retired in 1854, Riggs bought his interest. Under the firm name of Riggs & Company (since 1896 Riggs Bank), he directed the business until his death.[4]
From 1855 to 1862 he served on the Levy Court of Washington County. The Levy Court acted as County Commission for what was by then all of Washington, DC.[5]
He was a member of the board of aldermen of the District of Columbia, in 1873 was chairman of a committee to present to Congress a petition asking for an investigation into the conduct of the board of public works, helped to obtain a committee report favorable to the abolition of the existing territorial form of government, and was active in the establishment of the present (1934) form of government that vests all authority in Congress. He built and owned the Riggs House, a famous hotel of his time, and was one of the organizers of the
Personal life
On June 23, 1840, he was married to Janet Madeleine Cecilia Shedden,
- Alice Lawrason Riggs (1841–1927), who died unmarried.[8]
- Catherine Shedden Riggs (1842–1881), who married Louis de Geofroy, French Ambassador to China and French Minister to Japan.[9]
- Cecilia Dowdall Riggs (1844–1907), who married the British diplomat Sir Henry Howard in 1867.[10]
- Janet Madeleine Riggs (1845–1861), who died young.[11]
- Mary Griffith Riggs (1847–1849), who died young.[11]
- George Shedden Riggs (1849–1856), who died young.[11]
- Elisha Francis Riggs (1851–1910), who married Medora Thayer, a daughter of James Smith Thayer, in 1879.[12]
- Jane Agnes Riggs (1853–1930), who died unmarried.
- Thomas Lawrason Riggs (1858–1888).
Riggs died at his home, Green Hill, in
Relations and descendants
His grandniece, Kate Cheeseman Riggs, married Edward Newton Perkins, the grandson of U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator
In fiction
George Riggs is a character in the historical novel Forty-Ninth[14] by Boris Pronsky and Craig Britton.
References
- ^ Wallace, John Hankins (1901). Genealogy of the Riggs Family: With a Number of Cognate Branches Descended from the Original Edward Through Female Lines and Many Biographical Outlines. The Author. pp. 112–120. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ Warfield, Joshua Dorsey (1905). The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland: A Genealogical and Biographical Review from Wills, Deeds and Church Records. Kohn & Pollock. p. 359. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ "Samuel Riggs". www.americansilversmiths.org. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d "George Washington Riggs." Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
- ^ Tindall, William (1903). Origin and Government of the District of Columbia. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 6. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
- ISBN 9780873384728. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ "Riggs, George Washington, 1813-1881". research.frick.org. Frick Art Reference Library. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- ^ Times, Special to The New York (4 September 1927). "ALICE LAWRASON RIGGS.; One of Last Survivors of Noted Washington Family Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (22 September 1946). "M. ANTOINE DE GEOFROY; Ex-Member of French Diplomatic Corps Dies in Switzerland". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ Lodge, Edmund (1882). The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing. Hurst and Blackett. p. 445. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ a b c Rose, Ann (1990). Portrait of a Family. A. Rose. p. 4. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. J.T. White. 1916. p. 229. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ "Obituary -- GEORGE W. RIGGS, BANKER". The New York Times. 25 August 1881. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- ISBN 9798201386238.
Further reading
A few letters in the Lib. of Cong.; information from his son, the Rev. T. Lawrason Riggs, New Haven, Conn., and from the Riggs National Bank, Washington; Third Record of the Class of 1833 in Yale College (1870); Report of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, 1866, 1882; Grace King, Mount Vernon (1929); A Hist. of . . . Washington . . . by The Washington Post (1903), ed. by A. B. Slauson; W. B. Bryan, A Hist. of the National Capital, vol. II (1916); H. W. Crew, Centennial Hist. of . . . Washington, D. C. (1892); J. H. Wallace, Geneal. of the Riggs Family, vol. II (1901); Evening Star (Washington), Aug. 24, 1881.