Estate of Eleazar Lord, president Erie Railroad, Piermont NY. Survey.
Ca. 1873. Manuscript survey of Piermont NY, showing the vast estate of Eleazor Lord, first president of the New York and Erie Railroad, titled "75 acres more or less" and signed "W. H. Whiton". Lord was a banker and rail road builder (the RR line shown here at the western edge of the Lord estate) and William H. Whiton was Lord's son in law.
Lord (1788 - 1871) was also founder of the Manhattan Insurance Co. and first president of the Erie Railroad, in 1833. He moved to Piermont NY in the 1840s, changed the village's name from Tappan Landing to Piermont, and built a 30 room Gothic revival castle he called "The Cedars". Lord became friends with Washington Irving, visiting him across the Hudson River at "Sunnyside" in Irvington.
William Whiton, the signatory on the survey, was married to Lord's only surviving child, Sarah. Lord died in 1871 and Whiton and his wife (who has an adjoining property on this survey, noted as "2 85/100 acres property of Mrs. W. H. Whiton"), who had lost their fortune in the Panic of 1873, struggled to hold on to the estate. The survey is undated, but ca. 1873, due to the Panic of that year which necessitated the sale of the property.
This survey was likely drawn up during the difficult period following Lord's death in 1871; the estate was finally sold in 1890 to Alexander Blair Thaw, a Pittsburgh railroad and banking heir. Thaw's brother, Harry would later murder American architect Stanford White over White's attack on Thaw's wife, actress Evelyn Nesbit.
The Lord property is delineated with a tan wash. The property extends from Hudson Terrace in the south, the New York and Erie Rail Road in the west, and is diagonally bisected by a road marked "Public road from Lower Piermont to Upper Piermont". There are 2 Lord homes on the survey, one named "E. Loyd Residence", the second "Mansion House, E. L."
Adjoining properties named here are: Heirs of Mrs. Manning, D. Hopson & others; Mrs. H. C. Seymour; Heirs of J. Bell; and Peter H. [Taulman?].
Laid paper, with embossed crest upper left corner, 8 x 10". 2 old folds, flattened, some loss at lower right corner, o/w very good condition. Item #23965
Price: $375.00