Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (November 12, 1858 – June 10, 1908) was an American banker, socialite, and politician who served one term as a United States Representative from New York from 1901 to 1903.[1]
Belmont was a member of the banking firm of August Belmont and Co., New York City. He became publisher of the Verdict, a weekly paper.
Belmont was a member of the banking firm of August Belmont and Co., New York City. He became publisher of the Verdict, a weekly paper.[6]
Belmont served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1900, and was elected as a Democrat from New York's 13th District to the Fifty-seventh Congress serving from March 4, 1901, until March 3, 1903. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1902.[6]
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. 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 first floor had stables and carriage areas incorporated into the main structure in order to accommodate Belmont's prized horses. The monumental Gothic rooms with their huge stained-glass windows were emblazoned with the Belmont coat of arms.
Memberships
Belmont was an early member of The Lambs, elected in 1887. He was a charter member of the Rhode Island Society of the Sons of the Revolution in 1896. He was eligible for membership in the Society by right of his descent from Captain Christopher Raymond Perry who served as a privateer in the American Revolution.
Personal life
In 1882, without his parents' consent, Oliver proposed marriage to debutante Sara Swan Whiting, a popular and beautiful socialite. His parents, August and Caroline Belmont, objected to the engagement, thinking Oliver was not mature enough for marriage because of his gambling and playboy lifestyle. As a result, he was sent to Bremen, Germany, to learn the banking trade from the Rothschild family, where his father had been trained. Oliver became dissipated and developed a penchant for absinthe. When Mrs. Belmont realized his decline, she agreed to the marriage.[citation needed] Oliver Belmont married Sara Swan Whiting in Newport, Rhode Island, on December 27, 1882, at her family home, "Swanhurst".[7]
The newlyweds traveled to Paris for their honeymoon, where they were joined several weeks later by Sara's mother and two older sisters. Oliver, having originally agreed to the visit, now objected. He took to frequenting gambling houses and brothels, drinking absinthe to escape the situation. His personality was affected by the absinthe and he had a violent and abusive argument with his new wife, leaving her terrified. Oliver abandoned her in Paris and was later seen in Bordeaux, traveling with a French dancer. Shamed and heartbroken, Sara and the Whiting family returned to America. In April, Sara realized she was pregnant with Oliver's child, but the two divorced and he was prevented from seeing the child. Natica Caroline Belmont (1883-1908) was born on September 5, 1883. Oliver disowned her, claiming that she was not his daughter and not a Belmont heir. Sara remarried; Natica was adopted by her stepfather, former Assistant Secretary of StateGeorge Lockhart Rives and took his last name. Natica became a prominent New York socialite. In 1907, Natica married Williams Proudfoot Burden, brother of James Abercrombie Burden, Jr.[citation needed]
Belmont remarried on January 11, 1896, to Alva Vanderbilt,[8] the ex-wife of his good friend William K. Vanderbilt.[9] He had been a friend of the Vanderbilts since the late 1880s, having accompanied them on at least two long voyages aboard their yacht the Alva. According to scholars, it seemed obvious that he and Alva were attracted to one another upon their return from one such voyage in 1889.[10] After his death, Alva took on the new cause of the women's suffrage movement.[11][12]
Death
Belmont's final resting place, the Belmont Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery.
^"To Wed O. H. P. Belmont". New York Times. January 3, 1896. Retrieved 2011-05-28. Mrs. Alva S. Vanderbilt announced to her friends today that she is engaged to be married to Oliver Belmont. She Is the Divorced Wife of William K. Vanderbilt and the Mother of the Duchess of Marlborough, Whose Recent Wedding Was at Great Social Event. Mr. Belmont Is the Son of the Late August Belmont and Is Himself a Divorced Man. Date of the Domestic Infelicity. Objected to Nights Ashore. Groom to Be Is Popular in Society.
^Patterson, Jerry E. The Vanderbilts., page 152. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989. ISBN0-8109-1748-3
^Patterson, Jerry E. The Vanderbilts., pages 146-148. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1989. ISBN0-8109-1748-3
^"Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont Dies at Paris Home". New York Times. January 26, 1933. Retrieved 2010-12-09. Shock Suffered Last Spring. Complicated by Bronchial and Heart Ailments. Society Leader was 80. Former Wife of W. K. Vanderbilt. Long Held Sway in New York and in Newport Colony
^"Mrs. Belmont Dies at 80 in Paris Home". Chicago Daily Tribune. January 26, 1933. Retrieved 2010-12-09. Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont, leader of New York's '400' for a period of many years before and after the turn of the century, died today at her residence here. She was 80 years old. ...
