Elbridge Thomas Gerry: An Exceptional Life in Gilded Gotham

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Description

Winner of the American Association of Law Libraries 2017 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award. Extensively illustrated. Elbridge T. Gerry, grandson of Founding Father Elbridge Gerry who signed the Declaration of Independence, was once a prominent and influential Gilded Age New York trial lawyer, philanthropist and bibliophile whose 30,000 volume library turned into the foundation of the US Supreme Court Library. He founded the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children which still operates these days. This extensively illustrated biography shows that Gerry’s circle of relatives and links to other prominent New York families the Gallatins, Goelets, Livingstons accentuated his fascinating life and contributions to society.

Dowling explores Gerry’s social, legal, and personal life; he was once Commodore of the New York Yacht Club and the father of gifted children, two famous polo players and a United States Senator. Gerry built the first steam yacht, the Electra, which turned into the flagship of the New York Yacht Club. He was once a delegate to the 5th New York State Constitutional Convention and Chaired the Commission on Capital Punishment that ushered-in the usage of the Electric Chair. He commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to build a mansion at 61st and Park Ave (now occupied by the Pierre Hotel) to deal with his magnificent two-story library.

This biography of Gerry may be the story of Gilded Age New York within the Industrial Revolution as it moved from horse carriages to the automobile, as New York saw institutions built such as the subway, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Public Library. This was once Boss Tweed’s New York within the Progressive era, the era of the Astors and Vanderbilts, social clubs, fancy balls, and yachting. As Dowling shows, Gerry’s brilliance and passion was once on the heart of it all. xix, 738 pp. 490 b&w illustrations.

Published by Talbot Publishing, an imprint of the Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

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