A Letter from the Author
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As famous as Hetty Green was for her miserly ways, her son was
known for his high-spirited living. While Hetty watched her
pennies, Ned Green splurged on lavish homes, luxurious yachts,
jewels, and presents galore for his friends.
From his boyhood, his her nourished him with a gentleman’s
grace, while his mother nurtured him with business training.
Larger than life, at six foot four and 250 pounds, and lame from
childhood accidents, Ned combined his her’s affability with
his mother’s shrewd investing abilities. Considerate and
congenial, he was liked by almost everyone who knew him.
As a young man he painted houses in Chicago, learning what was
involved in managing the suburban homes and downtown office
blocks his mother owned. Sent to work as a section man for the
Connecticut River Railroad, he shambled along the tracks,
learning every aspect of the enterprise. When Hetty sent him to
Texas to buy a bankrupt branch of a railroad, he turned it into
the most successful short line road in the state.
But while his mother’s philosophy was to accumulate her money
so she could pass it on to the next generation, Ned’s theory was
to enjoy it as much as he could while he was alive. Yet he always
kept an eye out for a good investment, increasing his fortune and
his spending power along the way.
In 1893, shortly after Ned arrived in Texas, he sent his mother
a childlike note begging for money to attend the Chicago World’s
Fair. He had obtained free passes for the railroad, but he needed
two hundred dollars for his hotel and daily expenses. The
resulting visit proved to be worthwhile.
Ned stopped by the United States pavilion where postage stamps
were on display. Soon after he started acquiring commemorative
issues and developed a collection so rare it was considered
second in the world only to that of the King of England. Ned’s
unique sheet of “Jennies” are still sought after today. The
stamps marked the inauguration of airmail service between
Washington, New York and Philadelphia. But the picture was
printed upside down. The mistaken image sent the one-seater
airplane into a nose dive, but the value of the airmail stamps
soared. Ned paid $20,000 for the sheet of one hundred stamps. Now
they are worth tens of millions of dollars.
In addition to being a philatelist, Ned was a numismatist. His
rare coins included a set of five nickels minted in 1913. That
year all nickels were supposed to have an Indian Head, but in a
mistake, the Bureau of Engraving created a few coins engraved
with a Liberty Head. In 2007 one of those coins sold at auction
for five million dollars.
Ned owned a fleet of cars including a Pierce Arrow and three
electric/ hybrids. His boats included the whaling vessel
Charles W. Morgan, once owned by his grandher and now owned by
the Mystic Seaport, and the yacht United States, which he
refitted at a cost of one million dollars. His vaults held piles
of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. He built lavish
homes around the country and, on the grounds of Round Hills where
his Quaker ancestors gathered at a spare wooden farmhouse, he
built a huge stone mansion with an eight hundred foot wharf.
There, he developed a cutting edge radio station that served as a
research laboratory for aviation, meteorology, electricity and
communication, and was used by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and the U.S. Navy.
Obeying a promise he made to his mother not to marry until he
was in his forties, Ned wed the love of his life after his mother
died. Although he and his wife were fond of children and generous
to those they knew, the couple produced no heirs themselves. His
fortune was later dispersed to several hundred family members and
dozens of individuals and institutions.
- Used Book in Good Condition.