Andrew C. Zabriskie

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}

{{infobox person

| name = Andrew C. Zabriskie

| image = Andrew C. Zabriskie.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Andrew Christian Zabriskie

| birth_date = {{Birth-date|May 30, 1853}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death-date and age|September 15, 1916|May 30, 1853}}

| death_place = Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, U.S.

| alma_mater = Columbia University

| occupation =

| spouse = {{marriage|Frances Hunter|June 1895}}

| children =

| relations = Alister Greene (cousin)
Eliot Zborowski (cousin)

| signature = Signature of Andrew Christian Zabriskie (1853–1916).png

}}

Andrew Christian Zabriskie (May 30, 1853 – September 15, 1916) was an American heir and real estate investor.

Early life

Zabriskie was born in New York City on May 30, 1853. He was the son of Sarah Jane (née Titus) Zabriskie (1822–1892) and Christian Andrew Zabriskie (1806–1879), who was prominent in Episcopal church circles in Bergen County, New Jersey.{{cite book |last1=Van Valen |first1=James M. |title=History of Bergen County, New Jersey |date=1900 |publisher=New Jersey pub. and engraving Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historybergenco00valegoog/page/n177 157]-159 |url=https://archive.org/details/historybergenco00valegoog |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}} His father never engaged in business, instead preferring the "quiet enjoyments of county life."{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Henry |title=America's Successful Men of Affairs: The City of New York |date=1895 |publisher=New York Tribune |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000/page/n840 749]-751 |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6221441_000 |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en}}

His paternal grandparents were Mary (née Ryerson) Zabriskie, a direct descendant of Joris Jansen Rapelje, and Andrew Christian Zabriskie, who was born in Paramus at the ancestral homestead.{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Kevin |title=Zabriskie Family History |url=https://www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/zabriskie.html |website=www.bergencountyhistory.org |publisher=Bergen County Historical Society |access-date=4 April 2019}} Besides his father, his paternal uncles were Martin, John, and John Jacob Zabriskie,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|His uncle, John Jacob Zabriskie, owned a cotton mill in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey and built what is today known as the Zabriskie House there.}} all descended from Albrycht Zaborowski, who left Ducal Prussia after the Thirty Years' War, and came to New Amsterdam on the Dutch ship De Vos ship in 1662. Through his paternal aunt, Matilda Mary (née Zabriskie) Greene, he was a first cousin of Alister Greene, who served as Zabriskie's best man at his 1895 wedding. Through his uncle Martin,{{refn|group=lower-alpha|His uncle, Martin Zabriskie, changed his surname to the original Zborowski. His daughter, Anna, who married Charles de Montalbon, Baron de Fontenoy (or the Comte de Montsaulnin).}} he was also a first cousin of Eliot Zborowski, who married Margaret Astor Carey, a granddaughter of William Backhouse Astor, Sr.{{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}} His maternal grandparents were Captain William M. Titus, who served in the War of 1812, and Maria (née Gardner) Titus.

Zabriskie was educated in private schools and, later, graduated from the School of Mines at Columbia University.

Career

Zabriskie was one of the largest real estate owners in New York City and devoted much of his time to managing the estate. His office was located at 52 Beaver Street in a building built by his grandfather, William M. Titus, on land once owned by his great-grandfather, Thomas Gardner, "a wealthy resident of Paramus, and who was somewhat eccentric in disposition." He also served as president of the Bergen Turnpike, which was originally incorporated in 1802 with Colonel John Stevens as its first president.

After joining the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society in 1874, he became a life member in 1894, served as third vice-president from 1880 to 1883 and then as first vice-president from 1884 to 1896, and lastly, the president for ten years beginning in 1896. He resigned in protest in December 1904 (and was succeeded by Archer M. Huntington) following a financial crisis where he advocated for the merger of the Society with the New-York Historical Society, but was rejected by the membership.{{cite web |title=ARCHER {{!}} Authorities: Zabriskie, Andrew C. (Andrew Christian), 1853-1916 (zabriskie) |url=http://numismatics.org/authority/zabriskie |website=numismatics.org |publisher=American Numismatic and Archaeological Society |access-date=3 April 2019}}

=Military service=

In 1873, he joined Company B of the 7th Regiment, N.Y.N.G. and served as Inspector of Rifle Practice for the 71st Regiment, where he served as Captain of Company C until his resignation in 1897. He was known as Captain Zabriskie for the rest of his life. Zabriskie donated a bronze trophy, known as the Zabriskie Trophy, "which is annually shot for by the various companies of the 71st Regiment."{{cite news |title=Will Try to Break Weston's Record.; Company D Takes Zabriskie Trophy. Metropolitan Handicap Weights. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/04/18/104852424.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=18 April 1908}}

=Political career=

In Duchess County, he was a member of the Democratic State Executive Committee and chairman of the Duchess County Board of Supervisors. In 1879, he served as treasurer of the Independent Republicans in the "revolt against Governor Cornell's reelection."

In 1908, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate to represent the 21st District of New York in the U.S. Congress.{{cite news |title=DEMOCRATS TO MAKE FIGHT.; Andrew C. Zabriskie Nominated in Lieut. Gov. Chanler's Congress District |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/10/01/104759143.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=1 October 1908}} He ran against the sitting Assistant Treasurer of the United States, Hamilton Fish II, who was a son of former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.{{cite news |title=TERRY TO SUCCEED FISH.; Appointed Assistant Treasurer of the United States at New York. City Seeks to Learn Lighting Cost. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/11/14/104769058.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=14 November 1908}} Also from his district was neighbor and the incumbent Democratic Lt. Gov., Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, who was running for Governor against the incumbent Republican, Charles Evans Hughes (later the Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the United States).{{cite news |title=CHANLER'S PIGS, $15,000 -- AND NOT DELIVERED YET -- Andrew C. Zabriskie Learns Some Things About Dutchess Politics |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2303305/andrew_zabriskie_1908political_piece/ |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=New-York Tribune |date=October 28, 1908 |page=3 |language=en}} Both Zabriskie and Chanler lost in their bids.{{cite news |title=CITY VOTE; Taft Carries New York by 9,378. CHANLER BY 56,000 Hughes Loses Kings by 5,241 and Queens by 4,635 -- Trading at Bryan's Expense Shown in Brooklyn. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/11/04/104766358.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 November 1908}}{{cite news |title=TAFT WINS; Falls Only 22 Short of Roosevelt's Electoral Vote. GETS 187,902 IN THIS STATE Has 314 Electoral Votes -- The House Republican by Increased Majority -- But Some Western States Vote for Bryan. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/11/04/104766353.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=4 November 1908}} Fish received 22,832 votes to Zabriskie's 19,725 votes.{{cite book |last1=United States Congress |title=Official Congressional Directory |date=1910 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYr8lhWdlcsC&pg=PA84 |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en|author1-link=United States Congress }}

=Residences=

In New York City, the Zabriskies variously lived at 12 East 30th Street, 2 West 56th Street and 34 West 53rd Street. In addition, the Zabriskie's owned two country estates, Province Island on Lake Memphramagog and Blithewood at Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.{{cite news |title=A.C. ZABRISKIE DIES; RICH REALTY OWNER; Member of Old New York Family Succumbs at His Country Home in His 64th Year. PROMINENT IN POLITICS Ex-President of American Numismatic and Archaeological Society Was Known for His Charities. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/09/16/100339157.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 September 1916}}

Province Island, at 77 plus acres, is the largest island on Lake Memphremagog and is located mostly in Magog, Quebec, Canada with 7 acres at the southern tip located in Newport, Vermont.{{cite book |last1=Farfan |first1=Matthew |title=The Vermont-Quebec Border: Life on the Line |date=2009 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738565149 |pages=38–39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ld4--3_vuCgC&pg=PA38 |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} Around 1886, Zabriskie built a large mansion, a boathouse, and wharf on the Canadian side and the island was known as Zabriskie's Island. Zabriskie kept his steam yacht Dodo docked at the island.{{cite book |last1=Malloy |first1=Barbara Kaiser |title=Newport and the Northeast Kingdom |date=2004 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738535531 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newportnortheast00barb/page/66 66] |url=https://archive.org/details/newportnortheast00barb |url-access=registration |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} In 1917, after his death, the island was bought by Benjamin Howard, father of Canadian Senator Charles Benjamin Howard and was renamed Howard's Island. Around 1968, the residence built by Zabriskie was demolished due to the cost of its maintenance.{{cite web |title=The History of Province Island |url=http://www.magogquebec.ca/en/the-history-of-province-island/ |website=www.magogquebec.ca |access-date=4 April 2019}}

In 1899, Zabriskie purchased Blithewood from John Bard's 1,000-acre estate and commissioned Francis L. V. Hoppin, a McKim, Mead and White alumnus, to tear down the old home and build a new 42-room Georgian-style manor house in the Beaux-Arts style. Bard had purchased Blithewood in 1853 from Robert Donaldson Jr., who had hired landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to transform the grounds upon his 1835 purchase of the 92-acre estate, then known as Annandale (owned by John Church Cruger, the father of Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger and son-in-law of Stephen Van Rensselaer).

Personal life

File:Julia Zabriskie (in costume) LCCN2014701403.jpg

In June 1895, Zabriskie was married to Frances Hunter (1866–1951) at the Madison Square Presbyterian Church. Frances was the daughter of Juliana M. W. (née Zabriskie) Hunter and Charles Frederick Hunter, former president of the People's Bank of New York.{{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}} Frances' maternal grandparents were George Zabriskie and Susan Van Campen (née Romeyn) Zabriskie.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Through her maternal aunt, Susan Maria (née Zabriskie) Gray (1814–1904), Frances was a first cousin of John Clinton Gray and George Zabriskie Gray.}}{{cite book |last1=Revolution |first1=Daughters of the American |title=Lineage Book - National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution |date=1918 |publisher=Daughters of the American Revolution |page=203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GkZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA203 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}} Together, were the parents of two children:{{cite news |title=A DANCE FOR DEBUTANTE.; Mrs. A.C. Zabriskie Entertains for Her Daughter at Metropolitan Club. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/02/03/100188606.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 February 1916}}

  • Julia Romeyn Zabriskie (1897–1931),{{cite news |title=JULIA Z. JONES DIES IN 11-STORY PLUNGE; Socially Prominent Widow of Lawyer Had Been in IllHealth Four Years.HER MOTHER NEAR AT TIME Fatal Fall Follows the Visit of Physician Summoned to theFifth Avenue Home. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/10/14/94242942.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=14 October 1931}} a débutante who married Edward Powis Jones (1880–1927),{{cite news |title=E. POWIS JONES DIES ABROAD; New York Lawyer, 47, Is Victim of Septic Poisoning In Italy. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/08/03/104221544.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 August 1927}}{{cite news |title=Capt. E. P. Jones's Funeral Today. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/08/23/98417097.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=23 August 1927}} a Harvard Law School educated lawyer, in 1918.{{cite news |title=MISS ZABRISKIE IS HURRIED WAR BRIDE; Guests Invited by Telephone to Her Wedding of Capt. E.P. Jones in Church of the Incarnation. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/03/29/102683295.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 March 1918}}
  • Christian Andrew Zabriskie (1899–1970),{{cite news |title=Deaths |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9507E7DE1439E63BBC4153DFB366838B669EDE&legacy=true&status=nf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=May 8, 1970}} a noted bibliophile and collector of art.{{cite news |title=Bard Getting Gift of $335,000 Zabriskie Estate {{!}} Grant Adds 825 Acres, Buildings to College Campus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/114531264/?terms=Andrew%2B%2BZabriskie |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=Poughkeepsie Journal |date=October 30, 1951 |page=1 |language=en}} In 1937, he donated a Mortlake tapestry known as "The Seizure of Cassandra by Ajax from a set of The Horses", {{Circa|1650-70}} to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.{{cite news |title=MUSEUM RECEIVES A RARE TAPESTRY; Mortlake Art, Presented by C. A. Zabriskie, Goes on View Today at Metropolitan |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/08/16/118986932.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 August 1937}}

He was a noted collector of medals, giving speeches and writing a book on the topic.{{cite news |title=OUR POLITICAL MEDALS; Andrew C. Zabriskie on United States History as Illustrated by Them. FROM THE TIME OF JACKSON Some Inscriptions Which Recall the Issues of the Presidential Campaigns -- A Lying Medal and Another Singularly Absurd. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1897/12/03/100432756.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=3 December 1897}} He was "particularly proud of his collection of medallions of Abraham Lincoln."{{cite news |title=Medallions of Lincoln.; Andrew C. Zabriskie Exhibits Some and Reads a Paper. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/12/18/103357695.pdf |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=18 December 1891}} Zabriskie was a member of the St. Nicholas Society,{{cite book |title=The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: history, customs, record of events, constitution, certain genealogies, and other matters of interest. v. 1- |date=1916 |publisher=The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York |page=62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bskpAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA62 |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} the Holland Society,{{cite book |title=Year Book of the Holland Society of New-York |date=1917 |publisher=The Secretary of the Holland Society of New York |pages=277–278 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uxSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA277 |access-date=4 April 2019 |language=en}} the Society of Colonial Wars, the Military Society of the War of 1812, the Union Club of the City of New York, the Army and Navy Club, the Riding Club the Aero Club of America, and the Metropolitan Club.

On September 15, 1916, Zabriskie died at Blithewood, his country home in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.{{cite news |title=CAPT. ANDREW C. ZABRISKIE -- Dies at His Country Home After Illness of Several Months |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30255957/capt_andrew_c_zabriskie_dies_at/ |access-date=4 April 2019 |work=The Sun |date=September 16, 1916 |page=5 |language=en}} He was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. His estate, consisting mainly of an estimated $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 of real estate, was left entirely to his widow.{{cite news |title=FORTUNE TO MRS. ZABRISKIE; Widow Gets the Entire Estate of Wealthy Realty Holder. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/09/22/104692080.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=22 September 1916}} After the death of his widow in 1951, Zabriskie's son donated 825 acres of the Blithewood estate, including its manor house, seven other houses, three barns, and two garages on the property, to Bard College,{{cite news |title=BIG ESTATE GIVEN TO BARD COLLEGE; C.A. Zabriskie's $330,000 Gift Increases Size of School's Campus Almost 20-Fold |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/10/31/94093568.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=31 October 1951}} in exchange for $1.{{cite web |title=Blithewood North Lawn: Bard College |url=https://www.hrvh.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/bard/id/399/rec/5 |website=www.hrvh.org |publisher=Bard College Archives |access-date=4 April 2019}} Today Blithewood is home to the Levy Economics Institute.{{Cite web|url = http://www.levyinstitute.org/about/blithewood/|title = Levy Economics Institute | Blithewood|date = |access-date = August 1, 2014|website = Levy Economics Institute|publisher = |last = |first = }}

References

;Notes

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