Richard Thornton Wilson Jr.

Richard Thornton Wilson Jr.
Born (1866-09-11)September 11, 1866
New York City, New York
United States
Died December 29, 1929(1929-12-29) (aged 63)
New York City
Resting place Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York
Residence New York City
Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina
Occupation Banker/businessman
Racehose owner/breeder
Religion Episcopalian
Spouse(s) Marion Steedman Mason
Children Marion Mason Wilson
Louisa Steedman Wilson
Parent(s) Richard Thornton Wilson Sr.
Melissa Clementine Johnston

Richard Thornton Wilson Jr. (September 11, 1866 – December 29, 1929) was an American banker and businessman who was a prominent figure in Thoroughbred horse racing in the early decades of the 20th Century.

Wilson was born in New York City one of five surviving children of Richard Thornton Wilson Sr. and Melissa Clementine Johnston. Richard Sr. was a multimillionaire investment banker originally from Loudon, Tennessee who served on the staff of Lucius B. Northrop, the Commissary-General of the Confederate States of America.

Wilson followed in his father's footsteps and was successful in banking and business. He married Marion Steedman Mason on March 11, 1902, daughter of Amos Lawrence Mason and Louisa Blake Steedman. They had two daughters: Marion Mason Wilson and Louisa Steedman Wilson.

Wilson died on December 29, 1929. His funeral service was held at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. He was interred in the family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

Thoroughbred racing

In 1896, Wilson hired Thomas J. Healey to manage his racing stable. Together for three decades, they would win a number of the most important East Coast races including the Travers Stakes three times, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.

Richard Wilson Jr.'s sister Grace Graham Wilson married Cornelius "Neily" Vanderbilt III of the Vanderbilt family. Neily's sister Gertrude was married to prominent horseman Harry Payne Whitney. In 1896, Richard Wilson Jr. and Harry teamed up with a group of investors to purchase Saratoga Race Course which had fallen into the hands of an undesirable New Jersey brothelkeeper, Gottfried Waldbaum. Wilson then served as president of the Saratoga Racing Association which operated the facility. Wilson's other siblings also married into very prominent families. His older brother, Marshall Orme Wilson, married Caroline Schermerhorn "Carrie" Astor, youngest daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn of the Astor family. Carrie's brother was Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, richest passenger on the RMS Titanic. Wilson's other two sisters, Mary (May) and Belle, married, respectively, New York real estate heir, Ogden Goelet, and the Honorable Sir Michael Henry Herbert, brother of the Earl of Pembroke and British ambassador to the United States, during Theodore Roosevelt's administration. Wilson's niece, Mary Goelet, married the Duke of Roxburghe. Because of all the family's advantageous marriages, the Wilsons were known in New York and Newport society as the "Marrying Wilsons."

In 1902, Richard Wilson Jr. purchased an estate at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina from John Holbrook Estill where in 1910 he built a mansion and maintained a stable and a blacksmith shop. The home burned down in 1926 and the property was sold.

Among Wilson's successful racehorses were:

Further reading

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