T. Jefferson Coolidge | |
|---|---|
 Coolidge in 1889 or 1890 | |
| United States Minister to France | |
| In office May 12, 1892 – May 4, 1893 | |
| Appointed by | Benjamin Harrison |
| Preceded by | Whitelaw Reid |
| Succeeded by | James Biddle Eustis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (1831-08-26)August 26, 1831 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | November 17, 1920(1920-11-17) (aged 89) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | Archibald Cary Coolidge (nephew) |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Joseph Coolidge Ellen Wayles Randolph |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (1850) |
| Signature | .png) |
Thomas Jefferson Coolidge (August 26, 1831 – November 17, 1920) was a U.S. ambassador and a leading Boston businessman.[1]
Coolidge was born to a Joseph Coolidge (1798–1879) andEllen Wayles (Randolph) Coolidge (1796–1876). He was the brother of six siblings.
He was born to a prominentBoston Brahmin family and was a great-grandson of the 3rd United States PresidentThomas Jefferson, through his maternal grandparents,Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. andMartha Jefferson Randolph. His uncles wereThomas Jefferson Randolph,George Wythe Randolph, His father was a distant relative ofCalvin Coolidge.[2] He was an uncle toArchibald Cary Coolidge (1866–1928) through his older brother, Joseph Randolph Coolidge.
Coolidge was educated in private schools in Europe, and graduated fromHarvard in 1850.[3]
Coolidge was involved in numeroustextile mills, and banks. In 1853, he formed a partnership with Joseph Peabody Gardner, the father ofU.S. RepresentativeAugustus Peabody Gardner, in the East India trade.[4] In 1875, he became the manager of the largest textile mill in America, theAmoskeag Mill in Manchester New Hampshire.[4] Coolidge turned his attention to financing the rapidly growing industrial economy, with major interests in textiles banking, railroads, publishing and electricity.[5]
In 1880, he ended his manufacturing career and "took up railroading."[4] Coolidge served as president of theAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. In the early 1890s he retired from the railroads and returned to the Amoskeag Company, becoming president in 1898.[4] He organized theUnited Fruit Company, of which his son, Thomas J. Coolidge, Jr., was president. Coolidge was involved in numerous civic enterprises Boston area, especially the design of the region's park system.[3]
A Republican, he was appointed byBenjamin Harrison to succeedWhitelaw Reid asUnited States Ambassador to France on May 12, 1892, a role his great-grandfather had held from May 1785 to September 1789. Coolidge presented his credentials on June 10, 1892 and he presented his recall on May 4, 1893, terminating his mission.[6] In 1898 and 1899, he was a member of the American delegation to the commission to resolve theAlaska boundary dispute.[7]
Historian Ernest May says Coolidge was, "a prototype member of what today we call the foreign policy establishment."[8]
Coolidge donated the Grand Army Hall and a public library to the town ofManchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts that cost more than $40,000. At Harvard, where he was an overseer from 1886 to 1897, he donated theJefferson Research Laboratory and a chemical laboratory for quantitative analysis (as a memorial to his son), which all together cost over $165,000.[3][4] In 1889, he gave another $5,000 to Harvard to be used as a prize for intercollegiate debates.[4]
In 1898, Coolidge donated a collection of Thomas Jefferson's personal papers to theMassachusetts Historical Society in Boston. The collection contained more than 8,000 items: Correspondence, including 3,280 letters that Jefferson had written and 4,630 letters that he had received; Jefferson's garden book (1766-1824) and farm book (1774-1824); annotated almanacs from 1771-1776; account books for 1783-1790; manuscript expense accounts from 1804-1825; notes on the weather spanning the years 1782-1826; plans of American forts in 1765; law treatises, 1778-1788; legal papers, 1770-1772; and Jefferson's 1783 catalog of his personal library.[9]
In 1852, he married Mehitable "Hetty" Sullivan Appleton (1831–1901), daughter of William Appleton, a leading financier of the New England cotton textile industry. They owned a residence in Boston and a summer home atCoolidge's Point inManchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.[4] Together, they were the parents of:
Coolidge died at his home, 315 Dartmouth St. inBoston, Massachusetts, on November 17, 1920.[3]
He purchasedEl Jaleo byJohn Singer Sargent and gifted it toIsabella Stewart Gardner in 1914.[11]
Through his son, he was the grandfather of Thomas Jefferson Coolidge III, Armory Coolidge andWilliam A. Coolidge.[4] Through his daughter Sarah, he was the grandfather of Thomas Jefferson Newbold, who married Katherine Hubbard in 1914.[10]
A granddaughter,Eleonora Sears, became a prominent American sportswoman.
The Coolidge family donated 42 acres of land toThe Trustees of Reservations in 1990 and 1991.[12] The donated land is now part of theCoolidge Reservation.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to France 1892–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by | President ofAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 1880–1881 | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| Envoys to France (1776–1779) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Ministers Plenipotentiary to France (1778–1815) | ||
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France (1816–1893) | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France (1893–present) | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
