Adrian Iselin

Iselin was born in Scotland on January 17, 1818, while his parents were making a tour of the British Isles. In Switzerland, the Iselin family had been merchants, public officials, and military and professional men since the 14th century. Adrian's father Isaac, who began his career in New York at Gouverneur & Kemble and later at LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers, ==Career==

Iselin first joined the New York dry goods company of Messers, Cattenet, Barbey and Co., shortly thereafter going independent and in 1840 forming Moran & Iselin, an imported dry goods firm that expanded to become involved with banking. In 1881, Iselin formed the Pittsburgh and State Line Railroad after Rochester and State Line Railroad was put into receivership. At his death, he left the management of his investments and companies to two of his sons, Adrian Jr. and Columbus. Adrian Jr., who joined the firm in 1868, The firm was in existence until 1936 when it was merged with Dominick & Dominick, an investment and merchant banking firm that exists to this day. When he retired from business in 1878, Iselin decided to focus much of his attention on improving conditions within his community of New Rochelle. Using the family's large expanses of farm land in the northern end of town, he constructed a reservoir system which became the area's first water company. He also established the first City Savings Bank and built a fully equipped "gymnasium" for the resident public to use. Adrian and his wife, and subsequently their daughters Miss Georgine and Mrs. Elenora (Delancey Kane) were major funders of Catholic causes, establishing Saint Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church and its parochial school, as well as New Rochelle Hospital. Sons Adrian, Jr., William E., Columbus O'Donnell, and Charles Oliver were all successful businessmen. Adrian and Columbus bought extensive property in the community and developed the Residence, Neptune, Homestead and Sycamore "residence park" neighborhoods. ==Personal life==

, 1888 On December 11, 1845, married Eleanora O'Donnell (1821–1897), the daughter of General Columbus O'Donnell and his wife Eleanora (née Pascault) O'Donnell, in Baltimore, Maryland. • Adrian Iselin Jr. (1846–1935), who married Louise Caylus (1862–1909) in 1872. After her death, he married Sarah Gracie King Bronson (1850–1931), the widow of Frederic Bronson in 1914. • William Emil Iselin (1848–1937), who married Alice Rogers Jones (1850–1932). • Eleanora Iselin (1849–1938), brother of Woodbury Kane and great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, • Columbus O'Donnell Iselin (1851–1933), who married Edith Colford Jones (1854–1930). • Charles Oliver Iselin (1854–1932), who first married Fannie Garner (1861–1890). After her death, he married Edith Hope Goddard (1868–1970) in 1894. • Georgine Iselin (1857–1954), • Emilie Eleanora Iselin (1860–1916), who married John George Beresford (1847–1925), a cousin of Lord Charles Beresford and grandson of Henry Beresford, 2nd Marquess of Waterford, in 1898. Socially, Adrian Iselin and his family were among the wealthiest of New York high society. Iselin was one of the incorporators of the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. For many years he was the Consul of the Swiss Republic in New York. Iselin's wife died in 1897 and left her entire estate to him. He died at his residence in New York City, 23 East 26th Street, on March 28, 1905. His funeral service was held at his New York City home followed by a burial at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. According to his obituary in The New York Times, Iselin's wealth was estimated to be between $20 and $30 million. Descendants Through his son Columbus, he was the great-grandfather of Columbus O'Donnell Iselin (1904-1971), the oceanographer who was the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a professor of Physical Oceanography at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through his son Charles, he was the grandfather of Eleanora "Nora" Iselin (1881–1939), who married Count Ferdinand von Colloredo-Mansfeld (1878–1967), an attache of the Austrian Embassy at Rome and a nephew of Prince Colloredo-Mansfeld, in 1909. Family legacy The coal-mining town of Iselin, one of the many company towns in Indiana county founded by the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company, was named after him. The Iselin family also controlled the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company, which transported coal from Pennsylvania to markets along the Great Lakes and Canada. He and his family were responsible for the building a number of Roman Catholic churches in his coal company towns, including St. Adrian's in Adrian, Pennsylvania, as well as several hospitals, including the Adrian Hospital in Punxsutawney, and the Indiana Hospital in Indiana, Pennsylvania. In the 1870s, Unionville, New Jersey, previously known at Perrytown, was renamed Iselin after Adrian Georg Iselin. The town of Adrian Mines, Pennsylvania, was named after the family as well. The town of Adrian, Minnesota, was also named after the family. ==References==