John R. Drexel

John Rozet Drexel (March 3, 1863 – May 18, 1935) was an American banker and socialite.

Early life Drexel was born on March 3, 1863, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest surviving son, of nine children, born to Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826–1893) and Ellen ( Rozet) Drexel (1832–1891). Among his siblings were: Emilie Taylor Drexel, Frances Katherine Drexel, Mae E. Drexel, Sarah Rozet "Sallie" Drexel (the wife of Alexander Van Rensselaer), Anthony Joseph Drexel Jr., and George William Childs Drexel.

In 1871, his father founded Drexel, Morgan & Co with John Pierpont Morgan as his junior partner. His father also founded Drexel University in 1891. His maternal grandparents were Mary Ann ( Laning) Roset and John Roset, a Philadelphia merchant of French birth.

Career After an education by tutors and in private schools, Drexel began working for his father's firm, Drexel & Co. in Philadelphia, and was made a partner. After a short time, he retired from the business and instead managed his inheritance. In 1929, the Drexels sold their New York mansion was sold to 65-year old James Blanchard Clews, senior partner of the brokerage house Henry Clews & Co. (After Clews' death in 1944, his heirs divided the building into upscale apartments and later residents included Ernest Hemingway and Joan Rivers.) Fairholme had been designed in the Stick style by Frank Furness and built between 1874 and 1875 for Philadelphia arts patron and engineer Fairman Rogers. Fairholme was sold to Robert R. Young in 1942.

At the start of the Great Depression, the Drexel's relocate to Paris following their daughter's elopement with Captain Barrett. After several years at the Hotel Ritz, they bought a large townhouse at 34 Rue François Premier in Paris and filled it with French antique furniture. They also developed a large art collection which they built an addition to their Paris townhouse to house it. To accommodate the 40,000 flower beds his wife had purchased at auction, they purchased the home behind them and demolished it, allowing for a large garden to be constructed.

Personal life

On April 27, 1886, Drexel was married to Alice Gordon Troth (1865–1947) at St. James' Episcopal Church in Philadelphia by the Rev. Dr. Morton. Together, they were the parents of four children:

Lillian Mae Drexel (1889–1894), who died young. who married Elizabeth Hough Thompson (1896–1943), a daughter of James Beaton Thompson, in 1918. They divorced in 1924, and he married Jane Barbour, a daughter of John Robert Taliaferro Barbour and a descendant of President Zachary Taylor, in 1925. Alice Gordon Drexel (1892–1959), a debutante who eloped Captain William Barrett, of the Army Air Service, a son of Oregon State Senator William N. Barrett. They separated a year later. who never married and "passes most of his time traveling." When John died in 1935, he left most of his estate to John Jr. and Alice. The estate within the jurisdiction of Philadelphia courts was $1,285,292. Upon his wife's death in 1947, He also inherited her Paris property, New York property, Newport property, Philadelphia property and a large trust.

Descendants Through his son John Jr., he was a grandfather of John Rozet Drexel III (1919–2007), who married Noreen Stonor, a daughter of Ralph Stonor, 5th Baron Camoys (and his American wife Mildred Constance Sherman) of Stonor Park, David Anthony Drexel (1927–2003), who married Joan Gripenberg (daughter of Georg Achates Gripenberg, the Finnish Minister to London, Sweden, and the United Nations), and Jane Barbour Drexel (1929–2008), who married Harry Marshall Vale Jr., and John Porteous II,

Through his daughter Alice, he was a grandfather of Edwin Gerald William Barrett (1920–1921), who died aged 10 months from meningitis.