The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-04-02
ABOUT GOULD.

ABOUT GOULD.
The Early Days and Private Life of the |
Man Who Occupies Such a Large Place |
in the Financial World
New York Graphic
No financier of the past half century |
has secured greater prominence or won
more thorough success than Jay Gould.
The history Of Wall street for the past
twenty years is of necessity peculiarly
his history; and while there may be di-
verse opinions as to his methods, one
fact is beyond dispute-he has been pre-
eminently man of triumphs; and the
fair fortunes of these latter days render
his career all the more marked when it
is known that he was born to poverty on
backwoods farm.
Among the earliest settlers of Della
ware county, New York, was company
of some halfdozen Puritan families
from Fairfield county, Connecticut.
They took up land together only little
distant from the hamlet which has since
developed into the thrifty post village of
RoXbury, near to one of the two small
streams that rise in this county and
which, flowing south, join and fern the
| Delaware river. This was in 1888, when
| Delaware county's 100000 acres were yet
| included within the bounds of
| Ulster and Otsego. Chief among
the party was Capt. AOram Gould, of
revolutionary fame-a grim, earnest,
| honest man-to whom was born IN lI92
the first male child in that wild section
That child, duly christencd John H.,
grew to manhood and married twice :;
by one wife was blessed with Il son, by
the other with n son and four daughters.
One of these sons was Jay Gould-the
subject of our sketch-bOrn in 1885. The
Goulds were recognized by all their
neighbors as "church folkS'-Method-
ists-and Jay was throughout his boy
hood regular attendant upon services
at the little church known to the natives
as the waller meetin' house, spot
that is now probably more dear to him
than any other on earth, for in the little
graveyard adjacent have long slept both
father and mother.
The educational advantages afforded
the boy were extremely meagre. There
was, indeed, the district school, but this
) was all, and its sessions seldom covered
more than half a year, while Jays op
portunities for study were, of course
handicapped To no little extent by tht
varied and tiresome duties that fall tC
the lot of every lad whose fortune ii is tC
: be reared to farm work. But even thi:
district school was closed ere young
Gould was ten years old by the breaking
out of the famed Ambient war of 1874
1 1910.
At Mr.. divers school Jay Gould fin
ished his education at the age of sixteen
= JAY, like every other healthy boy. wa
# not always over anxious to spend tn
;. day in the school room. Once he eN
pressed himself somewhat cmphaticall,
in the matter, not all to his fathers de
+ light 1t was in the morning befor
= breakfast, and master Jay was given +
/. understand that such heresy as his dc
, manded punishment, and oil he wa
marched to n ground cellar, there TO b
II locked in until he should discover Ia
n grievous errors of his way. OF course
n Gould the older expected that an hou
- of such confinement would suffice TO col
vince the boy that country schoo
|. with its reading, 'riting and 'rithmctic.
d was the sole end and aim of life. w
have no reason to believe that he WI
wrong in that view-Jay never intimate
that he was. But for some reason I'll
old gentleman forgot his imprisoned sor
the day went by, tea WAS served and I'll
II family began TO worry because Jay W;
M so unusually late in getting home fro
school. Then his dinner basket was di
covered all packed and untouche
~ This was thorough surprise, and q
- sorts of wild fancies and fears sprang u
Suddenly the memory OF the pattern
I'd frightened, and right hastily he arc
n, from before the huge oldfashioned fiji
place and hurried to his outbuilding
49,. jay was liberated delightfully."- hungT
1t is not known that he ever again urgI
nf an objection to a regular attendance
Vi school, nor did his father ever aga
mete out such punishment
lis In 1851, having quit school, your
its Gould began the real battle ofliie on i
If own account. He had employed hi
self with much energy in the study
surveying while under the teaching
uu Mr. Oliver, and he now put his kno
on ledge to practical use and engaged to ;
IN sist in the making of map of Ulst
iss county During his career as survey
he mapped Albany, Delaware and Sui
he van counties, New York, two counties
100 Ohio and one or more in Michigan.
nv At one time he aspired to the editor
10 chair, and performed gratuitously VI
IDS deal of hard work in a country newspaI
Office. At this period hewas conduct
hardware store and tin shop in r
NJ bury; but in addition to all these labC
o. o.. he found opportunity to write compl
VI history of Delaware county.
Ph Young Gould carly displayed r,
business capacity, and the term
ess sharp as Jay Could was soon curr
one shrewd and Yankee-like in trade.
md reputation soon spread beyond 10
ess bounds and in 1857 the eccentric
ket man, Zadoc Pratt, the rich tanner 8
ex-member OF congress, Offered him
remarkably fine opportunity for advan
zen ment Mr.. Pratt had purchased la
90 hemlock forest in the wilderness
IN northern Pennsylvania, and built thu
res in the largest tannery then in the Uni
OIL | 10 40 Mr. GntTIA
lea copartnership in this business, only s.
ulating that Jay Gould assume the m
ON agement. Affairs progressed splendid
Bile. and the hamlet of Gouldsborough 81
airs. became a busy little center. Profits "
tor large, and Gould was fast obtainin
ow competency. He left the forest, Civ
nu- over the SUPPLEMENTARY of the worl
the care of an agent and opened an of
in New York, on Spruce street.
a purchased q tannery in northern \
COZ York on his own account, and at
same time became interested in a sn
ON ON railroad running into Vermont I
49, was his first railroad enterprise.
US New York he received each night
Ten wire the record of the days WORK
both of his tanneries-number of I
ion employed, and how; number of hi
her received, number shipped, number
lore hand, with other like data to the 1
ices All was system mus engaged, MS
tur tune in 1860 approximated $4,000
anv clear cash. In that year there sprang
f. an intimacy between him and Henry
Smith, and u firm of brokers was org
lied known as Smith, Gould & Maj
ade This firm fiourished and made MOI
Iale Subsequently Gould won the favol
IN uncle Daniel Drew and was soOnpr
one inent in the management of the
Gus road, at the same time bringing
Luil- Fisk to the front.
meet There is nothing striking in
tne Gould's personal appearance he
ever small man, not weighing more than
pounds. He is fluent talker,
on,s short sentences and never gets excl
first vet, as he expresses it, is "bashfui"
rvpt fore strangers. There is nothing of
the swaeeer or buster about him.
heir home on Fifth avenue, corner of Fo
per seventh street, is not extravaga
hen furnished, though made most iniei
ave ing by valuable collection of
TO paintings and rare sculpture He b
mes. large library of standard books
ated show the marks of much use.
NON. Gould is a cultivated man, but the S
ced | which has been floating through
that newspapers telling of his familia
4 of with the Greek and Latin classics Is
] 600 purest fiction 1t is true, however,
his evenings are, as rule, spent