George Merritt

George Merritt (August 14, 1807 – October 5, 1873) was a businessman from New York. He owned the mansion Lyndhurst on the Hudson River, which was sold to financier Jay Gould by Merritt's widow after Merritt's death in 1873.

Early life Merritt was born on August 14, 1807, in White Creek in Washington County, New York. He was a son of Benjamin Merritt and Thankful ( Scott) Merritt. Beginning at the age of five, was educated at the Friends Boarding School at Nine Partners.

Personal life

right|Map of Lyndehurst, 1873 On November 5, 1845, Merritt was married to Julia Douglas (1823–1904), a daughter of Ann ( Sutherland) Douglas (daughter of Solomon Sutherland) and Alanson Douglas, in Troy, New York. She was a direct descendant of Roger Williams, who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Douglas Merritt (1847–1927), who married Elizabeth Cleveland Coxe, a daughter of the Rt. Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of Western New York, in 1876. Julia Douglas Merritt (1859–1892), who married Dr. Benjamin Franklin Dawson in 1884. Cornelia Merritt (1853–1853), who died young. the youngest daughter of Danish broker Otto Wilhelm Christian Schack. and was separated from his third wife, Alma Desajo, when he took his own life at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City.

Merritt died of Bright's disease on October 5, 1873, at his Lyndhurst mansion. After a funeral at the Irvington Parish Church, he and was buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Lyndhurst

In 1864 Merritt bought Knoll, the former country estate of William S. Paulding Jr. and hired architect Alexander Jackson Davis to expand the estate, doubling the house's size in the Gothic Revival style between 1864 and 1865, renaming it "Lyndenhurst" for the estate's linden trees. His new north wing added an imposing four-story tower, new porte-cochere (the old one was reworked as a glass walled vestibule) and a new dining room, two bedrooms, and servants quarters. After his death, his widow, Julia sold the Irvington house to financier Jay Gould.