Alister Greene

Greene was born in New York City on September 28, 1854.{{cite web |title=U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1174/USM1372_339-0604?pid=1366340&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1174%26h%3D1366340%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DxdT50%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=xdT50&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true |website=ancestry.com |publisher=W. Reid Gould, Law Blank Publisher and Stationer |access-date=21 November 2018}} He was the son of Martin E. Greene (1826–1907){{cite news |title=Died. Greene |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/11/05/106766427.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 5, 1907}} and Matilda Mary (née Zabriskie) Greene (d. 1898), who had been well known in the older New York society.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Matilda Mary Greene |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1898/05/24/102562226.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=May 24, 1898}}

His maternal grandparents were Mary (née Ryerson) Zabriskie{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Richard Henry |last2=Stiles |first2=Henry Reed |last3=Dwight |first3=Melatiah Everett |last4=Morrison |first4=George Austin |last5=Totten |first5=John Reynolds |last6=Mott |first6=Hopper Striker |last7=Pitman |first7=Harold Minot |last8=Forest |first8=Louis Effingham De |last9=Ditmas |first9=Charles Andrew |last10=Maynard |first10=Arthur S. |last11=Mann |first11=Conklin |title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record |date=1892 |publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog23gree/page/144 144] |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog23gree |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}} and Andrew Christian Zabriskie,{{cite book |last1=Van Valen |first1=James M. |title=History of Bergen County, New Jersey |date=1900 |publisher=New Jersey pub. and engraving Company |page=[https://archive.org/details/historybergenco00valegoog/page/n177 157] |url=https://archive.org/details/historybergenco00valegoog |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}} and the Zabriskie family descended from Albrycht Zaborowski, a Polish immigrant from Angerburg (Węgorzewo) in Ducal Prussia, who settled in New Jersey in 1662 alongside a Dutch community.{{cite journal

| url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12204c.htm| title=Poles in the United States| first=Felix| last=Seroczynski| work=The Catholic Encyclopedia| volume=12| year=1911| publisher=Robert Appleton Company}} His cousin, Andrew Christian Zabriskie was married to Frances Hunter in 1895, and Alister served as best man.{{cite news |title=Zabriskie--Hunter |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/06/07/102461052.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 7, 1895}} Another cousin, Eliot Zborowski, was married to Margaret Astor Carey, a niece of William Astor Jr., Caroline Astor, and granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor, Sr. of the prominent Astor family.{{cite news|title=Wills of Mr. and Mrs. Carey.; How They Dispose of Two Large Estates.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1881/05/22/archives/wills-of-mr-and-mrs-carey-how-they-dispose-of-two-large-estates.html|access-date=20 March 2018|work=The New York Times|date=22 May 1881}}

He was a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School.

After Greene graduated from law school, he "devoted his life to study and research in law" but never actually practiced law.

He was also a volunteer with the 10th company of New York's 7th Regiment,{{cite book |title=The Seventh Regiment Gazette, Vol. 36-37 |date=1921 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z67lAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA135 |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}} which was referred to as the "silk stocking" regiment or "Blue-Bloods", due to the disproportionate number of its members who were part of New York City's social elite,{{cite book |last1=Lukasik |first1=Sebastian Hubert |title=Military Service, Combat, and American Identity in the Progressive Era |date=2008 |publisher=Duke University, Ph.D. diss. |page=84 |url=https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/909/D_LUKASIK_SEBASTIAN_a_200812.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=21 November 2018}}

In 1892, Greene, who was well known in the "New York club and society worlds," was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.{{cite news|last1=McAllister|first1=Ward|title=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 UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/02/16/108210917.pdf|access-date=26 March 2017|work=The New York Times|date=16 February 1892|language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=Jerry E. |title=The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age |date=2000 |publisher=Random House Incorporated |isbn=9780847822089 |page=217 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLwMAAAAYAAJ |access-date=13 June 2018 |language=en}} Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.{{cite book|last1=Keister|first1=Lisa A.|title=Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way|date=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521536677|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dAtJf1hmAUC&pg=PA36|access-date=20 October 2017|language=en}}

He was a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, serving on its executive committee,{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Richard Henry |last2=Stiles |first2=Henry Reed |last3=Dwight |first3=Melatiah Everett |last4=Morrison |first4=George Austin |last5=Mott |first5=Hopper Striker |last6=Totten |first6=John Reynolds |last7=Pitman |first7=H. Minot (Harold Minot) |last8=Ditmas |first8=Charles Andrew |last9=De Forest |first9=Louis Effingham |last10=Mann |first10=Conklin |last11=Maynard |first11=Arthur S. |title=The New York Genealogical and Biographical record |date=1870 |publisher=New York Genealogical and Biographical Society |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkgenealog00mayngoog/page/n108 |access-date=21 November 2018}} a life member of the New-York Historical Society (since 1896),{{cite book |title=New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin |date=1922 |publisher=New-York Historical Society |page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkhistoric00socigoog/page/n35 27] |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkhistoric00socigoog |access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en}} and was a member of the Union Club of the City of New York, the Metropolitan Club, the University Club, the Army and Navy Club, the New York Yacht Club, and the American Bar Association.

Greene, who did not marry, lived at 65 East 72nd Street in New York City, one of two four story (and basement) dwellings, covering a plot 40 ft. by 102 ft along with 63 East 72nd Street which was owned by his father.

Greene died of pneumonia at his New York residence on March 8, 1923.{{cite news |title=Alister Greene |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/03/10/105852609.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1923 |language=en}} His funeral was held at the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue.{{cite news |title=DIED. Greene |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/03/10/105852629.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=March 10, 1923 |language=en}} A month after his death, the heirs of his and his later father's estates sold the East 72nd Street properties.{{cite news |title=LATEST DEALINGS IN REALTY FIELD; $6,500,000 Lease to 'Schraffts' for Building Site in Times Square Section. A HUNDRED-YEAR TERM Ralph A. Gushee Exercises Option to Purchase Turbell Property for $300,000. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/04/11/105991411.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=April 11, 1923 |language=en}} In November 1923, his estate sold additional property owned by Greene at 102 Franklin Street (in the modern neighborhood of Tribeca) which consisted of a five-story and basement building on a lot of 25 by 100 feet.{{cite news |title=LATEST DEALINGS IN REALTY FIELD; The Vanderbilt Avenue Building Sold by J. Clarence Davies to Robert M. Catts. DEAL INVOLVES $3,000,000 Buyer Will Add Twelve Stories to Structure -- J.H. Eagle Also Buys in Central Zone. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1923/11/14/106019633.pdf |access-date=21 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=November 14, 1923 |language=en}}

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Category:1854 births

Category:1923 deaths

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni

Category:Columbia Law School alumni

Category:Social leaders