William Proctor Douglas
Ancestors of Mr. William Proctor Douglas (born 1842) were of the great
Scottish family of that name, of high rank and imperishable renown.
That branch of the family to which Mr. Douglas belongs has been
settled in this country for a hundred years. Its members were large
land owners in Scotland, but disposed of their possessions there and
emigrated to this country in the early years of the present century.
George Douglas, the father of Mr. William Proctor Douglas, was born
in Scotland in 1792. Coming to the United States early in life, he
was one of the leading merchants of his generation. The house of
George Douglas & Co., which he founded, did an East India commission
business not excelled in extent and importance by any of their
rivals in the city, and had an enviable commercial renown even in
Europe.
George Douglas was an intense Democrat, and his firm
was one of the few business establishments in New York that sided
with President Andrew Jackson in the warfare of that executive
against the United States Bank. In the Presidential campaign of
1844, he was a Democratic elector at large for the ticket headed by
James K. Polk. He was a staunch temperance man throughout his life
and carried his temperance principles so far that he refused to
receive consignments of brandy and wine sent to his firm, which was
the first establishment in the city to take such action.
The
Douglas city residence was at 55 Broadway, in a house built by Mr.
Douglas when lower Broadway and Battery place were the fashionable
residence localities of the city. After that he lived in Park Place,
and then in West Fourteenth Street. Later in life, he bought the
famous Van Zandt estate, at what is now called Douglaston, Long
Island, and thenceforth made that his family residence. This place,
on the east side of Flushing Bay, was formerly part of the Weekes
farm. Wynant Van Zandt, the New York merchant and alderman, 1789-
1804, bought the land in 1813 and built there the residence, which
is still standing and which has been for nearly three quarters of a
century the home of the Douglas family. The wife of George Douglas
was a daughter of Dr. Maxwell, a celebrated physician of Scotland.
Dr. Maxwell died in Scotland, and after his death his wife and three
daughters came to the United States and made their home in New York.
The daughters were handsome women of distinguished character. One of
them married James Scott Aspinwall and another became the wife of a
member of the Rogers family of Long Island.
Mr. William
Proctor Douglas was born in New York in 1842, and was educated in
Edinburgh, Scotland. He inherited from his father the estate at
Douglaston, Little Neck Bay, comprising nearly three hundred acres,
where he has made his home. His only business pursuit has been in
caring for the estate and the corporate investments which his father
left to the family. He is a large stockholder in several of the
leading banks of New York. Mr. Douglas' interests in gentlemanly
sports have made him famous the world over. He has been particularly
known for his untiring efforts in promotion of yachting and for his
activity in measures for the defence of the America Cup against its
British challengers. One of the first yachts that sailed in defence
of the America Cup, the Sappho, which defeated the Livonia, in 1871,
was owned by him. In later years, he was part owner of the
Priscilla, built for a cup defender. He is a member of the New York
Yacht, New York Athletic, Racquet, Carteret Gun, Seawanhaka-Corinthian
Yacht, Douglaston Yacht, Westminster Kennel, Rockaway Hunt, Meadow
Brook Hunt and Coaching clubs, the Country Club of Westchester
County and other organizations of similar character. He is also a
member of the Metropolitan, Tuxedo and Union clubs. The Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the New York Academy of Design have him enrolled
among their patrons. He is also a member of several European clubs,
among them the Austrian Yacht Club.
In 1879, Mr. Douglas
married Adelaide L. Townsend, daughter of Effingham Townsend, of the
old Long Island family of that name. Two children have been born of
this alliance, Edith Sybil and James Gordon Douglas. The city
residence of the Douglas family is in West Fifty-seventh Street,
near Fifth Avenue.
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Mrs Douglas Robinson and Mrs J. Gordon Douglas
New York Journal-American society columnist “Suzy Knickerbocker” (Aileen Mehle) wrote in April 1967: “...and
Mrs. J. Gordon Douglas Sr. of Newport. It is Mrs. Douglas
who is responsible for one of the most trenchant remarks of
recent years. ‘A woman,’ quoth she, ‘can never be too thin
or too rich.’”
Wife of J. Gordon Douglas was the son of
William Proctor Douglas, who had a New York mansion on West
Fourteenth Street that was an early location for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. William Proctor Douglas was a
yachtsman who won the America’s Cup; in 1876, he helped
introduce polo to America. James Gordon Douglas (who died in
1960) was a stockbroker with E. F. Hutton & Co.
Mrs
Douglas Robinson is (probably) the former Fannie (Frances)
Monroe, a relative of the US president. Her mother, Mary
Douglas married James, brother of Sir William Douglas of
Castle Douglas.
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Adelaide Townsend Douglas -
1895.
She married William in 1879. |
See also:
• Douglaston Yacht
Squadron, and Sappho
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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