Saturday 4 February 2006

    For those who e-mailed me about Hetty Green - Took this from the internet...thought you might like to know something about her...glad she is not one of my ancestors...... There is plenty more about her on the net.

THE BREAD BASKET THE WITCH OF WALL STREET

Hetty Green was a mean-spirited, tightfisted, shrewd woman! Born Henrietta Howland Robinson in 1835, she is listed in Guiness Book of World Records as the greatest of misers. Hetty's father, Edward Mott Robinson, and her aunt Sylvia Ann Howland both died in 1865, leaving her an inheritance of nearly $10 million (worth some $185 million in today's dollars). Hetty immediately began investing in the financial markets, scoring her first major success after the Civil War as she bought depreciated U.S. government bonds from skittish investors. Her philosophy was simple: "Buy cheap and sell dear"--and she had an instinct for knowing when which was which!

Hetty herself lived in cheap boarding houses in Manhattan and Brooklyn, taking public transportation to her Wall Street "office"--the vault of Chemical National Bank. There she sat, clipping coupons from her municipal bonds, and diligently pouring over financial reports and forecasts. Known as The Witch of Wall Street," Hetty's disposition was so repugnant that she had no friends and people avoided her.

Even Hetty's son was the recipient of her mean-spirited cheapness. When he injured his knee, Hetty refused to pay for a doctor and treated the injury herself. Two years later, when her son's knee still hadn't healed, Hetty dressed him in rags and pretended to be a charity case. When the doctor learned who she was and demanded payment, Hetty left his office in a rage. Several years later, the boy's leg had to be amputated.

Hetty herself lived off cold oatmeal because she was too stingy to heat it, and died of apoplexy in an argument over the virtues of skimmed milk. The year was 1916, and she left behind every penny of some $100 million (equal to about $1.5 billion today). Friendless and pathetic, Hetty Green was reputedly the wealthiest woman in the U.S. at that time.  

 

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Ally what a sad woman ,..........Jan xx

Anonymous said...

As they say there's nowt as queer as folk...I had a great aunt who was a right miser...When she died they found loads of bank books dating back to the 50's & 60's...As she'd never touched any of the money the inerest had made quite a tidy sum...She didn't leave a will so her money was shared out between her siblings...As my dads mum was dead and my dad was also dead we got some of it...So her money was divided by 5 (siblings), 5 again (my dad and his siblings) then 4 which was us...We all got £600+ each...A distant relative her father had been an only child and was dead and she was an only child and she got £27000...So you can imagine how much my miserly old great aunt had in the bank LOL...We never even got a cup of tea or a biccie when we visited her    Caff xxx

Anonymous said...

Very interesting story Ally had not heard of the lady in question before but its always good to learn something new.Thank you for sharing.  Love Joan

Anonymous said...

They say money doesn't bring you happiness. I've found the most generous people are those whocan't afford to be. Jeannette.  

Anonymous said...

What a ghastly woman...wonder if the son inherited her money?  Poor soul deserved it!  I hope despite what happened to him he had a good life.  Eve

Anonymous said...

Wow, sounds like she had no heart. God, today hopefully the welfare people would of stepped up over  the abuse of her son. Hope he did inherit it all...also hope that she got buried in a paupers grave as she was so lacking in human compassion.  Sandi

Anonymous said...

Hello Ally
That was very interesting ...... Thank you.    Its hard to imagine what makes someone act like that and to see her own son suffer too...... its true, money does not bring happiness.
Take care
Luv Jayne x

Anonymous said...

Hi Ally, thanks for the info, what an unpleasant woman, the sort you`d not want to meet on a dark night...or at any time I would think.  Now what could I do with $10,000,000...lol! :o)))

Sandra xxxx

Anonymous said...

Barney gives you hours of pleasure, he's a darling. Rache xx

Anonymous said...

Oh my and to think that most of us spend more than we make
Terrie

Anonymous said...

ally - I agree -  poverty is a state of mind which money does little to help or can make things worse  

Anonymous said...

What an interesting story. Thank you for sharing that. Some people really let money drive them nuts. I am conservative to a point but I sure eat what I want and wouldn't fail to get medical care for my children. Paula

Anonymous said...

How sad is this .... to have so much, and yet have nothing.  What a waste of that money.  She could have done something with it to enrich alot of lives, and her own while doing it.  There's a lesson here.   Tina

Anonymous said...

What good is wealth when you have noone to share it with, no friends, no family? I will keep my life, thank you very much. :-)

Blessings!~
Susan

Anonymous said...

Hetty was only doing what made her happy.