Benjamin Robert Winthrop (1804-1879)

He was born in New York City and was descended on his father's side from John Winthrop, the first English Governor of Massachusetts, and, on his mother's side from Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Governor of New York. He began his career in the employ of Jacob Barker but after inheriting a substantial estate from his parents retired early to focus on his investments into real estate. He was also President of the Marine Insurance Company; Vice-President of the Bank for Savings of Merchant Clerks; Trustee of the old Public School Society; Governors of the Lying-in Hospital; and, up until he left New York for London where he lived for twelve years he was Vice-President of the New-York Historical Society. He was intimate friend of the poet Fitz-Greene Halleck whose statue stands in Central Park. He married Elizabeth Ann Coles Neilson, daughter of William Neilson Jr., and they were the parents of five children.