Louis Gordon Hamersley

Hamersley was born on July 20, 1892, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was the youngest child and only son of James Hooker Hamersley (1844–1901){{Citation | title = Died| newspaper = The New York Times | date = 19 September 1901| url =https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1901/09/19/102627156.pdf }} and Margaret Willing (née Chisolm) Hamersley (1863–1904).{{Citation | title = Mrs. J. H. Hamersley Dead| newspaper = The New York Times | date = 6 January 1904| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05EEDC1E3AE733A25755C0A9679C946597D6CFF }} His only surviving sibling, Catherine Livingston Hamersley, married Samuel Neilson Hinckley, and, after their 1921 divorce, Henry Coleman Drayton, a grandson of Caroline and William Backhouse Astor Jr.

His paternal grandparents were Col. John William Hamersley and the former Catherine Livingston Hooker.{{cite book|last1=Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York|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=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain/page/n75 72]|url=https://archive.org/details/saintnicholassoc01sain|access-date=12 March 2018|language=en|author1-link=Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York}} Among his extended family were aunts Helen (wife of New York State Assemblyman Charles D. Stickney); Virginia (wife of Cortlandt de Peyster Field, son of Benjamin Hazard Field),{{cite book|last1=Chisholm|first1=William Garnett|title=Chisholm Genealogy: Being a Record of the Name from A. D. 1254; with Short Sketches of Allied Families|date=1914|publisher=Knickerbocker Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chisholmgenealo00chisgoog/page/n67 54]-55|url=https://archive.org/details/chisholmgenealo00chisgoog|access-date=12 March 2018|language=en}} and Catherine (wife of John H. Livingston).{{cite book|last1=Livingston|first1=Edwin Brockholst|title=The Livingstons of Livingston Manor: Being the History of that Branch of the Scottish House of Callendar which Settled in the English Province of New York During the Reign of Charles the Second; and Also Including an Account of Robert Livingston of Albany, "The Nephew," a Settler in the Same Province and His Principal Descendants|date=1910|publisher=Knickerbocker Press|url=https://archive.org/details/livingstonslivi00unkngoog|access-date=10 August 2017|language=en}} Through his father, he was a direct descendant of Sir Hugh Hamersley, a 17th-century merchant who was Lord Mayor of London, and Robert Livingston the Elder, the Scottish immigrant who was granted the Livingston Manor by royal charter.{{Citation | last = Hall | first = Henry | title = America's Successful Men of Affairs: The City of New York|volume=1 | date =1895|publisher=The New York Tribune | pages = 293–4| url =https://archive.org/stream/americassuccessf01hallrich#page/292/mode/2up}} His maternal grandparents were William Edings Chisolm and the former Mary Ann Rogers,{{cite news|title=Mrs. J.H. Hamersley Dead; Expires at Her Fifth Avenue Home in This City. Family Millions May Again Be Tied Up by Litigation – Provisions of Her Late Husband's Will.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/01/06/101383907.html|access-date=6 June 2017|work=The New York Times|date=January 6, 1904|language=en}} a niece of William Augustus Muhlenberg.{{cite book|last1=Mackenzie|first1=George Norbury|title=Colonial Families of the United States of America: In which is Given the History, Genealogy and Armorial Bearings of Colonial Families who Settled in the American Colonies from the Time of the Settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775|date=1917|publisher=Grafton Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/colonialfamilie00rhoagoog/page/n156 142]|url=https://archive.org/details/colonialfamilie00rhoagoog|access-date=12 March 2018|language=en}}

Hamersley attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1916 where he was one of the editors of the Lampoon.

File:Ward Manor Bard College.jpg

In 1913, while at Harvard, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that he was the legal heir of the $7,000,000 estate of Louis Carré Hamersley, his father's cousin who died in 1883. The will stipulated the bulk of his estate went to his male issue, or if there was none, to his cousin (Louis' father) and his male descendants, but was appealed by several parties, including his cousin's late wife, Lily, who by then had married both George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough and Lord William Beresford before dying herself in 1909.{{cite book |title=Supreme Court Appellate Division-Second Department |date=1912 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8Z002kzAUUC&pg=PT67 |access-date=27 July 2020 |language=en}} Prior to his maturity, the Chemical National Bank managed the Hamersley estate. From 1937 to 1940, he served as president of the First Avenue Association and managed his large real estate empire out of 70 Pine Street in Manhattan.

In 1914, Hamersley purchased the former John Armstrong Jr. estate in Dutchess County and erected a tudor revival mansion and gatehouse designed by Francis Hoppin.{{cite book |title=Education for the Common Good: A History of Bard College The First 100 Years, 1860-1960 |last=Kline |first=Reamer |year=1982 |publisher=Bard College |location=Annandale-on-Hudson, NY |url=http://www.bard.edu/archives/links.htm}} He expanded his estate, acquiring several farms to the north, and Maizeland on Cruger's Island in 1920, eventually owning what was described at one time as the second largest in Dutchess County. In 1926, he sold the combined estate to William B. Ward who immediately donated it to the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor in memory of his father Robert (founder of the Ward Baking Company).

He also owned an estate at Sands Point on Long Island. In 1923, he had the family mansion at 1030 Fifth Avenue torn down and commissioned architects James Carpenter and Rosario Candela to build a modern apartment building on the site that featured a 23-room penthouse for Hamersley, which was completed in 1924.

After Harvard, Hamersley went to the Mexican border with Battery A of the Massachusetts National Guard, followed by a post as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service in France. While there, he attended the French Artillery School at Fontainebleau and, although the position of teaching horsemanship was offered to him, he joined the Sixth Field Artillery of the A.E.F's First Division as a lieutenant. He served in many engagements, and after the Armistice of 1918 was with the United States Army of Occupation in Germany for nine months. Hamersley later became a major in the Field Artillery Reserve and was a commander of the Jeff Heigl Post of the American Legion.

File:Coolidge presents President's Cup, Rogers, Hammersly, Coolidge, Wilbur, 10-14-26 LCCN2016842505.jpg

He was also a well-known speed boat pilot and, in 1925, he made a record run of 2 hours and 38 minutes from New York to Albany in his speedboat Cigarette Jr. In 1926, Cigarette IV won the first national speedboat regatta on the Potomac River and Hamersley received the President's Cup from President Calvin Coolidge. He also raced his schooner named Countess.

In 1926, Hamersley was married to Hilles Morris (1907–2000),{{cite news |title=Paid Notice: Deaths Timpson, Hilles Morris |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/25/classified/paid-notice-deaths-timpson-hilles-morris.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=25 April 2000}} the daughter of Elizabeth (née Wynkoop) Morris stock broker Stuyvesant Fish Morris Jr. and granddaughter Stuyvesant Fish Morris and Elly (née Van Buren) Morris (granddaughter of President Martin Van Buren).{{cite news |title=Miss Hilles Morris to Marry L. Gordon Hamersley – Other Ceremonies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/10/31/archives/miss-hilles-morris-to-marry-l-gordon-hamersley-other-ceremonies.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=31 October 1926}} Together, they had residences in Southampton on Long Island, in Palm Beach in Florida, and at 1030 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan,{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Tom |title=The Lost J. Hooker Hamersley Mansion - No. 1030 Fifth Avenue |url=http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-lost-j-hooker-hamersley-mansion-no.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=Daytonian in Manhattan |date=4 April 2016}} and were the parents of one daughter and three sons:

• Louis Gordon Hamersley Jr. (1928–2008){{cite news |title=L. Gordon Hamersley Jr. |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2008/09/25/obituaries/l-gordon-hamersley-jr/ |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=Bangor Daily News |date=25 September 2008}}
• Stuyvesant Morris Hamersley (1932–2014){{cite news |title=Irmy Borowski Is Wed Upstate To a Rancher; / Bride in Sloatsburg of Stuyvesant Hamersley of Vanderhoof, B.C. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/01/10/archives/irmy-borowski-is-wed-upstate-to-a-rancher-bride-in-sloatsburg-of.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=10 January 1960}}
• Hilles Elizabeth Hamersley (1935–2014){{cite news |last1=Cantor |first1=Irving |title=Miss Hamersley is a Future Bride; Pine Manor Ex-Student to Be Wed to Terrence Martin, a Graduate of Lehigh |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/08/10/archives/miss-hamersley-is-a-future-bride-pine-manor-exstudent-to-be-wed-to.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=10 August 1956}}{{cite news |last1=Cantor |first1=Special to The New York Times Irving |title=Miss Hamersley Becomes a Bride; She Is Married to Terence Martin in St. Andrew's Dune Church in Southampton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/10/07/archives/miss-hamersley-becomes-a-bride-she-is-married-to-terence-martin-in.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=7 October 1956}}
• James Hooker Hamersley II (1937–1999), a writer, photographer and pilot.{{cite news |title=Miss Woleslagle Is Married to Pilot |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/12/style/miss-woleslagle-is-married-to-pilot.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=12 April 1981}}{{cite news |title=Obituaries {{!}} James Hooker Hamersley, 62 Pilot, writer and photographer flew commercially from Hyannis |url=https://www.capecodtimes.com/article/19991226/obits/312269975 |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=Cape Cod Times |date=December 26, 1999 |language=en}}

After a brief illness, he died on June 2, 1942, at Southampton and was buried at Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan.{{cite news |title=L.G. Hamersley, 49, Heir to $7,000,000; Sportsman Who Fought in World War Dies in Hospital at Southampton, L. I. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/06/03/archives/lghafflersley49-heir-to-7000000-sportsman-who-fought-in-world-war.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=3 June 1942}} After his death, his widow remarried, and was widowed from George Leslie Bartlett and Robert C. L. Timpson, managing partner of W. E. Hutton & Co.

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Category:1892 births

Category:1942 deaths

Category:People from Newport, Rhode Island

Category:St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:The Harvard Lampoon alumni