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Oliver Belmont
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (November 12, 1858–June 10, 1908) was a wealthy American socialite and Congressman.
Born in New York City to August and Caroline Belmont. Oliver's father was August Belmont, a Prussian Jew who came to the United States in 1837 as an agent for the Rothschilds, and accumulated enormous personal wealth. (The oldest race in the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, is named for August Belmont). His mother was the daughter of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, who was renown for commanding the naval expedition that opened Japan in 1853-54. His maternal great uncle and namesake was Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the victor of the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.
In 1882, Oliver married Sara Swan Whiting, who was pregnant with his child, in Newport, but they divorced the very same year. He was never permitted to see his daughter, Natica, who was adopted by her stepfather and died in her early 20s.
Oliver received a huge inheritance when his father died in 1890. Oliver was a bachelor at the time of his father's death and decided to build a summer house in Newport. Richard Morris Hunt was the architect for Oliver's Newport mansion, Belcourt Castle. Belmont designed Belcourt as he pleased. Hunt was hesitant with the design of Belcourt, but he concentrated on his guiding principle that it was his client's money he was spending. The entire first floor was composed of a multitude of stables for Belmont's prized horses. The monumental Gothic rooms with their huge stained-glass windows were emblazoned with the Belmont coat of arms.
On January 11, 1896 Belmont married Alva Vanderbilt, the ex-wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt.
Belmont served as United States Congressman from New York's 13th District from 1901 to 1903.
Oliver Belmont died on June 10, 1908 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. His mausoleum, designed by Richard Morris Hunt, is an exact replica of the Chapel of St. Hubert at Château d'Amboise in France.