Richard James Cross

Richard James Cross (November 3, 1845 – March 30, 1917) was an English born railroad official and banker who was a prominent member of New York society during the Gilded Age. He was the son of William Cross (1809–1862), an English financier with J & A Dennistoun, and Anna Chalmers (née Wood) Cross (1812–1878), his Scottish-born wife. His uncle, William Wood, worked in New York at Dennistoun, Wood & Co. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom. Cross, who was known as "the wittiest man in N.Y." was a member of the Century Association and helped organize the Racquet and Tennis Club in 1890.

Personal life On June 3, 1872, Cross was married to the American Matilda Redmond (1838–1883). She was the daughter of wealthy merchant William Redmond and Sabina Elizabeth (née Hoyt) Redmond. Among her many siblings was Goold H. Redmond, Sabina Redmond Wood, Henry Redmond, Mary Redmond, Emily Redmond, Frances Redmond (the wife of Henry Beekman Livingston). Her grandfather, Goold Hoyt, was a merchant with Hoyt & Tom who was involved with the East India and China trade and was one of the founders of the Merchants' Exchange National Bank. Together, Matilda and Richard were the parents of six children, all born at Hillside (the stone villa of their grandfather in South Orange, New Jersey),

Eleanor Cross (1873–1950), an authority on "the representation and symbolism of flowers and trees in art" William Redmond Cross (1874–1940), a Yale graduate of 1896 who became a partner in the banking firm of Redmond & Co. He married Julia Newbold, the daughter of New York State Senator Thomas Newbold, in 1913. John Walter Cross (1878–1951), an architect. Eliot Buchanan Cross (1883–1949), also an architect.

His wife Matilda died in 1883, just months after the birth of their youngest child Eliot, and the entire Cross family moved into 6 Washington Square in New York, the home of his late wife's family. Matilda's sister Emily, who was called Demi, cared for the children, and two years later on May 16, 1885, Richard married another Redmond sister,

The Crosses also maintained a massive stone Tudor summer home in Newfoundland in northern New Jersey, The estate, built at an estimated cost of $1,500,000, consisted of "365 acres of wooded glens, fields, and farm lands, along with a 77-acre pristine water body known as Hank’s Pond."

Descendants Through his eldest son, he was the grandfather of Emily Redmond Cross ( – 2006), who married John Kenyon Vaughan-Morgan, a Member of Parliament for Reigate who was the son of the Sir Kenyon Vaughan-Morgan and the Lady Vaughan-Morgan of London, in March 1940.