Adrian Iselin

Adrian Georg Iselin (January 17, 1818 – March 28, 1905)[1] was a New York financier who invested in and developed real estate, railroads, and mining operations.

For many years during his early business career he was engaged in importing with his brother, William Iselin, being one of the most successful merchants of New York in the middle of the century.

Adrian's father Isaac, who began his career in New York at Gouverneur & Kemble and later at LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers,[3] amassed a large fortune in the importing business which was passed down to him and his siblings.

[3] An avid yachtsman, Adrian was drawn to the Long Island Sound shore community of New Rochelle, New York in 1858 as the site of his country estate All View.

Using the family's large expanses of farm land in the northern end of town, he constructed a reservoir system which became the area's first water company.

[1] Eleanora was related to John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States and the founder of Georgetown University.

[b] Her father was at the head of one of the foremost families of that city, and was a leading financier of Maryland, being connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and other important corporations.

Together, they were the parents of seven children, including:[16] Socially, Adrian Iselin and his family were among the wealthiest of New York high society.

[1] In New York City Iselin was a stockholder in the Metropolitan Opera House and Real Estate Company, along with other wealthy men that included Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P.

The Iselin family also controlled the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway Company, which transported coal from Pennsylvania to markets along the Great Lakes and Canada.