Henry Delafield Phelps (1902-1976)

He was born at New Rochelle, New York, and grew up at Middletown, Rhode Island. Through his mother he was a descendant of Mrs Dorothea (Astor) Langdon, daughter of John Jacob Astor, and on his father's side he was descended from Lewis Morris, U.S. Founding Father and 3rd Lord of the Manor of Morrisania, New York. Soon after graduating from St. George's School, Newport, he started his banking career and later became a partner in Fraser Phelps & Co., Investment Bankers, of Providence, Rhode Island, which later merged to become Miller & George. During the War, he served for three years with U.S. Navy, leaving with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. He was a director of the Newport Historical Society; the Redwood Library, Newport; the Boy's Club of Newport County; and, a trustee of the Newport Hospital. In 1931, he married Muriel Vanderbilt at her mother's home at Manhasset, Long Island. They were divorced just five years later in 1936. In 1942, he married Harriet D. Jackson, of Providence, a skiing champion during the 1930s. They had three children (Mrs Butts, Harriet Phelps & Edgar M. Phelps) before the marriage was dissolved in 1970.