James Wallace Pinchot (1831-1908)

He was born in Milford, Connecticut, and left home aged-19 to become a clerk in a dry goods company in New York City. He established Pinchot, Warren & Co., at 6 Cortland Street, supplying and manufacturing wallpaper and furnishings.

In 1864, he married Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Amos R. Eno, one of New York's wealthiest real estate developers. The following year, he retired from business having realized that he had more than enough money. He was an ardent Francophile and often visited Paris where he was on the Committee to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York. General William T. Sherman was a frequent travelling companion of the Pinchots in Europe and on several occasions they were the guests of President Benjamin Harrison at the White House. In 1900, after Mrs Pinchot built a mansion at 1615 Rhode Island Avenue in Washington D.C. to advance their sons prospects, they moved there from New York although they still spent their summers at their chateau in Milford, Grey Towers.

While the Pinchot fortune had been established by extensive logging, James became vitally concerned with the rapid disappearance of America's woodland and served as vice-President of the American Forestry Association. He and his wife endowed the Forest School at Yale University and their son, Gifford (one of their three surviving children) would most famously become known as the "Father of American Forestry".