George Beach de Forest Jr. (October 15, 1848 – July 1932) was an American capitalist, bibliophile, and art collector who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.
[1] His father and family were involved in the dry goods business trade, between the U.S. and the West Indies,[4] with the firm of B. DeForest & Co.[5][6] He was a sportsman and noted book collector (selling his library of rare volumes for $300,000 in 1907).
[7] Before he retired, he was involved in banking and brokerage services with James Gordon Bennett Jr., J. Pierpont Morgan, Seth B. French, William K. Vanderbilt and Edward Julius Berwind.
[11] The de Forests were known for their extensive entertaining at their cottage in Newport, Rhode Island (Train villa near Bailey's Beach) and their townhouse in New York City.
[16] She was born in Mexico City and her grandfather,[17] Jean Illion Hargous (who resided in Bayonne, France and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania),[17] was a captain in command of the French ship Jason during the American Revolutionary War under Count François de Grasse.