Andrew Gordon Hamersley (1806-1883)

He was born in New York City and was trained for the Bar but never practiced after inheriting a share of his father's sizeable fortune. Described as, "a cultivated man, of extended knowledge and delightful manners," he was attache to the U.S. Legation at Paris under William Cabell Rives. He lived between Paris (where he witnessed the 1848 Revolution) and New York City. He was a large stockholder in the Chemical Bank and, "received from his wife a considerable addition to an already large fortune". He married Sarah, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of John Mason, President of the Chemical Bank. They had one son, Louis (heir to some $5 million), whose widow became the 8th Duchess of Marlborough, then Lady Beresford.