Columbus Iselin

Columbus O'Donnell Iselin (September 26, 1851 – November 11, 1933) was an American financier and philanthropists who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Iselin was born in New York City on September 26, 1851. He was fourth of seven children born to Adrian Georg Iselin (1818–1905) and Eleanora (née O'Donnell) Iselin (1821–1897). His siblings were Adrian Iselin Jr., who married Louise Caylus, and Sarah Gracie King Bronson, the widow of Frederic Bronson; William Emil Iselin, who married Alice Rogers Jones; Eleanora Iselin, who married DeLancey Astor Kane, brother of Woodbury Kane and great-grandson of John Jacob Astor; Charles Oliver Iselin, who married Fannie Garner, and later, Edith Hope Goddard; Georgine Iselin, a Papal Countess who did not marry; and Emilie Eleanora Iselin, who married John George Beresford, a cousin of Lord Charles Beresford and grandson of Henry Beresford, 2nd Marquess of Waterford. in 1898. His paternal grandparents were Isaac Iselin, who was born in Basel, Switzerland and emigrated to the United States in 1801, and Aimee Jeanne (née Roulet) Iselin. In Switzerland, the Iselin family had been merchants, public officials, and military and professional men since the 14th century. His maternal grandparents were General Columbus O'Donnell, who was connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and his wife Eleanora (née Pascault) O'Donnell of Baltimore, Maryland. His mother was related to John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States and the founder of Georgetown University. Career Iselin's father, a former dry goods merchant, founded the investment bank of A. Iselin and Co., located at 36 Wall Street, in 1854. Columbus continued his father's work at the firm following their father's retirement in 1878. After his father's death in 1905, he and his elder brother Adrian Iselin Jr. took control of the firm. His nephew, Ernest Iselin, was director of the company from 1929 to 1934 and chairman of the board from 1936 to 1954.