George W. Dresser

Major George Warren Dresser (September 15, 1837 – May 27, 1883) was an American soldier and civil engineer who was prominent in New York and Newport society.

Early life Dresser was born on September 15, 1837, at Abington, Connecticut. He was a son of attorney George Andrew Dresser (1814–1891) and Hannah W. (née Brown) Dresser (1814–1855), who married in August 1835. His father, who was originally from Brooklyn, New York, was connected with the Queens Insurance Company of London. His maternal grandparents were Clark Brown and Sally (née Sherman) Brown.

In July 1856, he was appointed to a cadetship in the United States Military Academy at West Point from Massachusetts. where he spent two months drilling new recruits for the Union Army. During the Civil War, he entered the Manassas campaign as first lieutenant and was involved in the Battle of Bull Run and in the defense of Washington. In March 1862, he entered the Peninsula campaign and was assigned to engineer duty at the siege of Yorktown. In October 1875, he began serving as editor of the American Gas Light Journal and retained this position until his death in 1883. Dresser was described as "a very enthusiastic member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and took and active interest in the discussions of papers, and also in its annual conventions."

Susan LeRoy Dresser (1864–1960), who married Viscount Romain Le Boeuf d'Osmoy of Paris in June 1899. Daniel LeRoy Dresser (1866–1915), who married Emma Louise Burnham. Natalie Bayard Dresser (1869–1950), who married John Nicholas Brown I, a son of John Carter Brown, in 1897. Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873–1958), who married Vanderbilt heir George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate. After his death in 1914, she married Peter Goelet Gerry, a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. Pauline Georgine Warren Dresser (1876–1975), who married Rev. George Grenville Merrill in December 1897. Merrill was an Episcopal clergyman and served as rector of parishes in Tuxedo Park and Buffalo, New York, and Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

His wife died at their home in New York City on April 4, 1883. The following month, Dresser died at the "Reitz cottage" on John Street in Newport on May 27, 1883. After a funeral at Trinity Church, he was buried at Island Cemetery in Newport. At his funeral, the city of New York was represented by then Mayor Franklin Edson. (The pallbearers at his funeral were Major Throckmorton, Captain Morris, Captain C.C.) Churchill, Mr. A. Smith (Superintendent), and Mr. V. Smith (engineer of the Manhattan Gas Works), Mr. Greenough (engineer of the Boston Gas Light Company), Captain F. A. Judson, Mr. Edward A. Crocker, Mr. W. D. King, and Mr. H. A. Bentley.

Descendants Through his daughter Edith, he was posthumously a grandfather of Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1900–1976), who married John Francis Amherst Cecil, son of Lord William Cecil and Mary Tyssen-Amherst, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney.

Through his daughter Natalie, he was a grandfather of John Nicholas Brown II (1900–1979), who was dubbed the "richest baby in America" after the death of his father and uncle within months of each other. Brown later became the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Harry S. Truman.