George Washington Riggs

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.

The firm was immediately successful; it was able to obtain a major share of the loans required by the federal government, acquired a reputation in financing the Mexican–American War, and made large profits.

[5] 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.

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.

They had nine children, including:[7] Riggs died at his home, Green Hill, in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Senator William M. Evarts and the brother of famed editor Maxwell Perkins; uncles of Watergate Scandal special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

[4] George Riggs is a character in the historical novel Forty-Ninth[14] by Boris Pronsky and Craig Britton.