Жорж Вашингтон Риггс: «Президенттің банкірі» өмірі мен қызметі

American banker (1813 1881)

George Washington Riggs (July 4, 1813 – August 24, 1881) was an American businessman and banker. He was known as "The President's Banker." He was a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Peabody Education Fund.

Riggs was born in Georgetown, D. C. (now part of Washington), the son of Elisha Riggs and his first wife, Alice ( Lawrason) Riggs. After his mother's death in 1817, his father remarried to Mary Ann Karrick with whom he had several more children, in 1822. His grandfather was silversmith Lt. Samuel Riggs, and his great grandfather was John Riggs, who was mentioned in a will in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as early as 1716. George was brought up in Baltimore, to which his father removed after he took George Peabody into partnership and established the firm of Riggs & Peabody there. He went to the Round Hill School kept by George Bancroft and Joseph Green Cogswell at Northampton, Massachusetts, and entered Yale College in 1829, but left some time in his junior year. He traveled abroad, and, returning to America, worked for his father in the mercantile firm of Riggs, Taylor & Company in New York City. He was a member of the board of aldermen of the District of Columbia, in 1873 was chairman of a committee to present to Congress a petition asking for an investigation into the conduct of the board of public works, helped to obtain a committee report favorable to the abolition of the existing territorial form of government, and was active in the establishment of the present (1934) form of government that vests all authority in Congress. He built and owned the Riggs House, a famous hotel of his time, and was one of the organizers of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company. He was a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and of the Peabody Education Fund. He was for many years the treasurer of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union. In 1864 he advanced the money to maintain Mount Vernon until the return of peace should make it possible for the society again to raise funds.

On June 23, 1840, he was married to Janet Madeleine Cecilia Shedden, the daughter of Thomas Shedden of Glasgow, Scotland. They had nine children, including:

Alice Lawrason Riggs (1841–1927), who died unmarried. Catherine Shedden Riggs (1842–1881), who married Louis de Geofroy, French Ambassador to China and French Minister to Japan. Cecilia Dowdall Riggs (1844–1907), who married the British diplomat Sir Henry Howard in 1867. Janet Madeleine Riggs (1845–1861), who died young. Elisha Francis Riggs (1851–1910), who married Medora Thayer, a daughter of James Smith Thayer, in 1879. Jane Agnes Riggs (1853–1930), who died unmarried. Thomas Lawrason Riggs (1858–1888). Riggs died at his home, Green Hill, in Prince George's County, Maryland. The Green Hill estate included much of the nearby Maryland suburbs northeast of Washington including Adelphi, Chillum, and Lewisdale. Although an Episcopal Protestant in early life, he received the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. He is buried at Rock Creek Cemetery, near Riggs Road in Washington, D. C.

His grandniece, Kate Cheeseman Riggs, married Edward Newton Perkins, the grandson of U. S. Secretary of State, U. S. Attorney General and U. S. Senator William M. Evarts and the brother of famed editor Maxwell Perkins; uncles of Watergate Scandal special prosecutor Archibald Cox. by Boris Pronsky and Craig Britton.