Archive:NEHGR, Volume 82

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"RECENT BOOKS: GENEALOGICAL," NEHGR, vol. LXXXII (1928), p. 385.

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Whitney genealogy. Whitney, Wyne and allied families, genealogical and biographical. [Ancestry of Dr. George Franklin Whitney and his wife, Mary Catherine Wyne.] Prepared for Mrs. Mary C. Whitney by The American Historical Society, Inc. New York, 1928. 141+[3] p. facsim. pl. por. F^o

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"Memoris," NEHGR, vol. LXXXII (1928), p. 473.

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PAYNE WHITNEY, B.A., LL.B., of New York City, capitalist, philanthropist, a Pilgrim Tercentenary member since 1919, was born in New York City 20 March 1876, the son of Hon. William Collins and Flora (Payne) Whitney, and died at "Greetree," his country place at Manhasset, Long Island, N. Y., 25 May 1927.

He was a descendant of John¹ Whitney, who came from London in 1635, in the Elizabeth and Ann, with his wife and five sons, and settled at Watertown, Mass., where he died 1 June 1673, aged 84 years, through Richard², who was born in England, Richard³ of Watertown and Stow, Mass., Lieut. Richard⁴, Gen. Josiah⁵, 1731-1806, of Stow and Ashby, Mass., a colonel in the Revolution, a brigadier general later, a member of the Massachusetts General Court and of the Convention that ratified the Constitution, Josiah⁶, 1753-1827, of Harvard, Mass., and Nelson, N. H., a soldier of the Revolution, who married Anna Scollay, Hon. Stephen⁷, 1784-1852, of Nelson, N. H., and Deerfield, Mass., who married Mary A. Burgess, Gen. James Scollay⁸, 1811-1878, of Conway and Brookline, Mass., prominent Democrat, superintendant of the United States Arsenal at Springfield, Mass., in 1854, collector of the Port of Boston in 1860, who married Laurinda Collins, and Hon. William Collins⁹ of New York City, his father, B.A. (Yale, 1863), M.A. (ib., 1866), LL.D. (ib., 1888), Secretary of the Navy in the first administration of President Cleveland, 1885-1889, who was born at Conway, Mass., 5 July 1841 and died in New York City 2 February 1904. His mother, Flora (Payne) Whitney, was born in 1848 and died 5 February 1893, the daughter of Hon. Henry B. Payne, 1810-1896, of Cleveland, Ohio, A.B. (Hamilton College, 1832), lawyer, prominent Democrat, member of the United States House of Representatives, 1875-1877, United States Senator from Ohio, 1885-1891. Through his Grandfather Payne the subject of this memoir traced an ancestral line to William Bradford of the Mayflower, Governor of the Plymouth Colony.

Payne Whitney entered Yale University and received there the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1898. He then studied law for three years at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Laws at Harvard in 1901. His share in his father's large estate was increased by his own business ability; and several millions came to him from the estate of his uncle, Col. Oliver Payne, one of the founders of the Standard Oil Company. He soon became influential in New York financial circles and a director or executive officer of several large corporations, including the Great Northern Paper Company, the First National Bank of New York, the Whitney Realty Company, and the Northern Finance Corporation.

While in college, Mr. Whitney rowed for two years on the Yale "Varisty" crew, of which he was captain in 1898, thus following in the footsteps of his father and uncle, both of whom had been college oarsmen. He never lost his interest in the rowing achievements of his alma mater, gave liber-

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ally to their support, and was the donor of a dormitory for the "Varsity" crew at Gales Ferry. For fifteen years he was a member of the rowing committee of Yale graduates. Interested in horse racing, he had a racing stable of his own and engaged in the raising of thoroughbred horses. He was also a member of many social, athletic, and sporting clubs.

He was a constant and oftentimes anonymous benefactor of worthy educational and charitable institutions, making large gifts to Yale, to the New York Hospital, of which he was a trustee and vice president, to the New York Public Library, of which also he was a trustee for many years and to which he gave in 1923 $12,000,000, and to many other foundations that serve the public. In his will, in which he disposed of an estate roughly estimated, after his death, to be worth more than one hundred million dollars, he provided generously for his widow and children and several personal friends, and left approximately one-third of his property to charitable and educational institutions (including those mentioned above), some of which he named, while others were to be selected by his trustees.

Mr. Whitney married in Washington, D. C., in 1902, Helen Hay, daughter fo the distinguished man of letters and statesman, the late Hon. John Hay, A.M., LL.D., who was United States Ambassador to Great Britain, 1897-98, and Secretary of State, 1898-1905, and his wife, Clara (Stone) Hay. Mrs. Whitney, who is an authoress of high repute, survives her husband, together with two children, Mrs. Charles Shipman Payson (Joan Whitney) of New York City and Manhasset, and John Hay Whitney of New York City. Mr. Whitney's elder brother, Harry Payne Whitney of New York City, B.A. (Yale, 1894), and his sister, Mrs. Leonard K. Elmhirst (Dorothy Payne (Whitney) Straight) of New York City, have been Pilgrim Tercentenary members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society since 1919.

Cf. memoir of Payne Whitney, with portrait, in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 58, pp. 301-302 (October 1927). Mr. Whitney was a life member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.

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