Feb 21, 2008
Window into History
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Our man William Rainsford:
The man who built Le Château
The subject matter for a history column quite often just falls into my lap. Actually, the subject of this column popped out at me as I was reading a book that I picked up at the South Salem Library Fair last fall,
When the Astors Owned New York by Justin Kaplin. One sentence in the book mentioned William S. Rainsford, rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Oh, I thought, how intriguing. The Rev. Mr. Rainsford was once a leading landowner in our fair town, and I’ll bet not many people even know who he was. In short, he was J. Pierpont Morgan’s minister and the recipient of sufficient Morgan funds upon his “retirement” to build for himself the mansion now known as Le Château.
The reference in the Astor book told of Mr. Rainsford’s views on an upcoming lavish ball to be held by the Bradley-Martins at the Waldorf Hotel in February 1897. It was said that he railed against such an “ostentatious display in a difficult time,” that it “was ill-advised, at least for practical reasons. It was bound to furnish ammunition to ‘socialistic agitators, demagogues ... and sentimentalists ... ” Mr. Rainsford never admitted to outright forbidding his parishioners to attend the ball in an interview with a New York Times reporter, but his position on the matter was clear. There were better things to do with the money and time of the very rich. The ball was a costume affair and months were spent preparing for it. Costumes and royal jewels were imported from Europe by the ladies and even the men went all out, one gentleman coming in an authentic suit of armor. Mrs. Bradley-Martin wore jewelry belonging to Marie Antoinette.
One paragraph in Mr. Kaplin’s book has led to weeks of reading and collecting articles about Mr. Rainsford and learning much about the man, enough to make this the first of several columns about his varied life. We shall begin with the man himself, and how he became a confidant of the great financier.
Coming to America
Mr. Rainsford was born Oct. 30, 1850, in Dundalk, Ireland. His father was the Episcopalian vicar preaching Puritan Evangelism in a mostly Roman Catholic town. In 1865 the family moved to London, and in 1876, young Mr. Rainsford, now an Episcopalian minister, emigrated to New York. Not suited to the churches he had been recommended to, he left the metropolitan area for London, Ontario, in 1878. By this time he was thoroughly ensconced in the humanitarianism of the reformist Social Gospel movement that sought to fight poverty and the horrors of the slums, seeking legal justice, better public health and workers’ rights for the underprivileged, not a philosophy dear to the hearts of the great titans of finance and industry who made up the congregation of St. George’s.
In the fall of 1882, the vestry of St. George’s Church, having heard of his success at building a parish, invited Mr. Rainsford for an interview to their struggling church in lower Manhattan. He thought his reformist socialist views would be frowned upon by the wealthy men of the parish. Instead, J.P. Morgan, head of the vestry, agreed readily to all of Mr. Rainsford’s terms and thus began a long and intense friendship between the two men. It is said that Mr. Rainsford was a close confidant of Mr. Morgan. Both men suffered from occasional depression, and even if their social philosophies differed, Mr. Morgan supported many of Mr. Rainsford’s social improvement activities in his fight against poverty. Under Mr. Rainsford, St. George’s became a strong, wealthy parish once again. Upon the minister’s retirement from his duties at St. George’s Church, Pierpont Morgan asked what he and his wife wished for and Mr. Rainsford answered that they had always wanted a house in the country and did not have the means to purchase anything. Not a problem, declared his benefactor, and Mr. Rainsford got his wish.
How did Mr. Rainsford choose the South Salem/Ridgefield, Conn., border? That will always be a mystery, but as I was led via the Internet further and further into the intrigues of his career, I discovered that at one time he had been treated for his depression by Pearce Bailey, the great Manhattan psychotherapist. The Bailey name is associated with the large country estate that is now Four Winds Hospital. Was that the connection leading the former minister to the very wealthy to our little backwater community? Probably the true reason will never be known, but both properties were developed about the same time. The Rainsfords bought the property at the junction of Smith Ridge Road and Route 35 about 1895, from Thaddeus Henry Keeler, probably to settle his father’s estate, according to the Van Norden manuscript at the South Salem Library. The old Keeler house was torn down and later, the elegant Rainsford house was built atop the hillside.
World traveler
Mr. Rainsford, despite his bouts of severe depression and lifelong physical weakness, spent much time traveling about the world. He was fortunate in his lifetime to befriend, or become friends with, many influential people. He seemed to have that knack. Along with Mr. Morgan, he considered Theodore Roosevelt a buddy, even though there was no love lost between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Morgan.
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Rainsford shared a love of adventure and big game hunting in Africa. After his resignation from St. George’s in 1906, Mr. Rainsford spent many months in Africa collecting specimens for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, an institution in which Mr. Roosevelt was prominently involved.
The cure for depression in those glorious late Victorian days was travel. In 1889 Mr. Rainsford suffered a breakdown of some sort and spent several months in California where he was “almost wholly restored in health, which had been impaired by his arduous and unremitting labors as head of this large parish [St. George’s].” (The New York Times, May 27, 1889). Mr. Rainsford told the welcoming members of his congregation that he was greatly improved and would return to his duties in October after a summer vacation that would take him to the Restigouche River in Canada and a bit of salmon fishing.
In 1904 he suffered a nervous breakdown and took off with his wife for a trip abroad. In January 1906, Mr. Rainsford wrote to the vestry from Cairo that his health would not permit him to continue in his position as rector. The resignation was accepted with regret, but was not unexpected. His resignation left more time for travel and, perhaps, relaxation at his grand country house ... not bad for a former minister!
The Rainsfords do not seem to have made any great impression on the locals. Elisha Keeler, born and bred in South Salem, remembered Mr. Rainsford as generous to the schools, offering a school prize at the end of the school year. Mr. Keeler said he had quite a collection of animal heads and stuffed animals, definitely items that would pique a young boy’s interest. At least one of the Rainsford sons married and settled locally, in Bedford or Katonah.
In the next article we will talk about Mr. Rainsford’s skill at big game hunting.
Please send questions and comments to funnyfarm.ss@veizon.net or 763-3326.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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