James Blanchard Clews

James Blanchard Clews (August 4, 1859 – December 17, 1934) was an American railroad executive and banker.

Early life Clews was born in Dunkirk in Chautauqua County, New York on August 4, 1859. Among his many cousins were Elsie Clews Parsons (wife of U.S. Representative Herbert Parsons) and artist Henry Clews Jr., who lived at the Château de la Napoule in France. His paternal grandparents were Bessie (née Kendrick) Clews and James Clews, a prosperous manufacturer of Staffordshire ware. Leta, the widow of Oscar Frederick Livingston (1824–1901), was a daughter of Washington Romaine Nichols and Alicia (née MacKay) Nichols and a great-granddaughter of General Benjamin Romaine of prison ship martyr fame. Together, James and Leta lived at 1039 Fifth Avenue, and were the parents of:

Leta Clews (1912–1991), who married Seymour LeGrand Cromwell Jr. (1902–1965), a son of Seymour L. Cromwell (a former president of the New York Stock Exchange), in 1936. Leta Cromwell was a resident and philanthropist in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

After the death of his first wife, he married Mary Ann Payne (1890–1973), a daughter of Mrs. Edward Raphael Payne of Baltimore, in the White and Gold Room at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on October 2, 1926. Mary Ann was a direct descendant of Sir Robert Payne, one of the first settlers of Virginia. They owned a summer home, La Lanterne in Brookville on Long Island.

Clews died at his home, 1 East 62nd Street in Manhattan on December 17, 1934. After a funeral at St. Bartholomew's in New York, he was buried at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley, New York. After his death, his widow married George Blumenthal, a banker and president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After Blumenthal died in 1941, she married Gen. Ralph K. Robertson. After Robertson died in 1964, she married Russian Baron Charles P. von Wrangell-Rokassowsky in 1968 before her death in 1973 at the age of 84.