Hope Goddard Iselin

{{Short description|American sportswoman}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Hope Goddard Iselin

| image = Edith Hope Goddard (Fernand Paillet, 1891).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Miniature portrait by Fernand Paillet (1891)

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1868|1|17}}

| birth_place = Providence, Rhode Island{{cite web|url=http://emuseum.nyhistory.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/5597/13/title-asc?t:state:flow=9e3a8b7c-5da3-4c92-add7-01beb0c2270a |title=Edith Hope Goddard (1868-1970) |publisher=New York Historical Society |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914024157/http://emuseum.nyhistory.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/5597/13/title-asc?t%3Astate%3Aflow=9e3a8b7c-5da3-4c92-add7-01beb0c2270a |archivedate=September 14, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1970|04|05|1868|01|17|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Aiken, South Carolina

| resting_place = Woodlawn Cemetery
Bronx, New York

| occupation = Yachtswoman, racehorse owner, philanthropist, social leader

| spouse = {{marriage|C. Oliver Iselin
|1894|1932|reason=his death}}

| parents = Colonel William Goodard
Mary Edith Jenckes Goddard

| children = William Goddard Iselin
(1903-1909)
Edith Hope Iselin Jones
(1905-2001)

}}

Edith Hope Goddard Iselin (January 17, 1868 – April 5, 1970) was an American heiress and sportswoman who was the first American woman to compete as a crew member in the America's Cup yacht race.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aikenracinghalloffame.com/Hope_Goddard_Iselin.html|title=Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame & Museum - Hope Goddard Iselin|website=www.aikenracinghalloffame.com}}{{cite magazine|title=Hope Iselin|url=https://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944055,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715060558/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944055,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 15, 2009|accessdate=2 March 2018|magazine=Time|date=April 20, 1970}} She also owned thoroughbred racehorses.

Hope Goddard was the daughter of Mary Edith (née Jenckes) Goddard (1844–1921) and Colonel William Goddard (1825–1907) of Providence, Rhode Island, a chancellor of Brown University and a scion of a family that had accumulated great wealth from mercantile and manufacturing activities.{{cite web|url=http://library.brown.edu/cds/portraits/display.php?idno=157 |title=Portrait Collection: Iselin, William Goddard (1903 - 1909) |publisher=Brown University Office of the Curator}} In 1894, she married Charles Oliver Iselin, a banker and sportsman who was described by Time magazine as "probably the most famed yachtsman in the U.S." during the latter part of the 19th Century.{{cite magazine|title=Star Boats |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745152-2,00.html |magazine=Time |date=February 13, 1933 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429123239/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745152-2,00.html |archive-date=April 29, 2007}} The headline of their wedding announcement in the New York Times read, "Hope Goddard Engaged to C.O. Iselin, Well-Known Yachtsman to Marry Heiress of millions."{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-hope-goddard-engaged/157132417/ |title=Hope Goddard Engages to C. O. Iselin |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Providence, Rhode Island |page=1 |date=1894-05-05 |publication-date=May 6, 1894 |access-date=2024-10-14 |via=Newspapers.com}} Oliver Iselin was himself already a millionaire at the age of 40, made wealthy by his grandfather's investments in coal mining and railroads.{{cite web|title=Edith Hope Goddard (1868-1970)|url=https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibit/edith-hope-goddard-1868-1970|website=www.nyhistory.org|publisher=New-York Historical Society|accessdate=2 March 2018|language=en}} The couple had a son, William Goddard Iselin (1903–1909), who died in childhood, and a daughter, Edith Hope Iselin (1905–2001), who married Archer G. Jones.

The Iselins owned many homes, including their primary residence in New Rochelle, New York, "All View", a palatial waterfront estate on a private peninsula overlooking Long Island Sound.{{cite book|title=Scientific American Building Monthly|date=1902|publisher=Munn and Company|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9isxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA123|accessdate=2 March 2018|language=en}} The home was designed by architect Stanford White and the grounds by landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted. A breakwater was constructed adjacent to Premium Point in Echo Bay so that they could dock their yachts, the Vigilant, the Defender, and the Columbia, safely next to their home.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DR5_a1StRxgC|title=New Rochelle|first=Barbara|last=Davis|date=April 21, 2009|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-6509-5 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-big-yachts-to-race-ag/157132965/ |title=Big Yachts to Race Again |newspaper=The New York Times |page=3 |date=1899-07-08 |access-date=2024-10-14 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-defender-out-sailing/157133055/ |title=Defender Out Sailing |newspaper=The New York Times |page=3 |date=1895-07-27 |access-date=2024-10-14 |via=Newspapers.com}} They were influential in bringing the popularity of yacht racing to the communities on the shore of the Long Island Sound in Westchester County, making New Rochelle a focal point of racing activity.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Iselin and her husband were noted for their philanthropy. In Aiken, South Carolina, where they maintained a winter residence named "Hopelands", they organized the Aiken Hospital and Relief Society, which built and equipped Aiken's first hospital in 1917. They continued to support the hospital until it was replaced by the county hospital in 1937.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Iselin also served for many years as a director of the Martha Schofield School for the education of young African-Americans. On her death she bequeathed Hopelands Gardens, where the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum is located, to the city of Aiken.{{cite web|url=http://www.aikenregional.com/community-information/aiken-history/the-iselins-winter-colonists-and-philanthropists |title=The Iselins: Winter Colonists and Philanthropists |date=January 16, 2017 |publisher=Aiken Regional Medical Centers}} A bust of Iselin at Hopeland Gardens was sculpted by Maria Kirby Smith.{{Cite web|url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM28P0|title=Hope Goddard Iselin - Aiken, South Carolina - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com|website=www.waymarking.com}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-mrs-adrian-iselin-de/157132725/ |title=Mrs. Adrian Iselin Dead.; She Had Been Seriously Ill Since September, but Recently Had Improved. |newspaper=The New York Times |page=7 |date=1897-11-28 |access-date=2024-10-14 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Iselin died in her home in Aiken, South Carolina in 1970 at the age of 102.{{cite news|title=Mrs. Charles Iselin, Turf Figure And Social Leader, Dies at 102|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/06/archives/mrs-charles-iselin-turf-figure-and-social-leader-dies-at-102.html|accessdate=2024-10-14|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 April 1970|page=39}}