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Major George Warren Dresser (September 15, 1837 – May 27, 1883) was an American soldier and civil engineer who was prominent in New York and Newport society.

Early life

Dresser was born on September 15, 1837, at Abington, Windham County, Connecticut. He was a son of attorney George Andrew Dresser (1814–1891) and Hannah W. (née Brown) Dresser (1814–1855), who married in August 1835. His father, who was originally from Brooklyn, New York, was connected with the Queens Insurance Company of London. Among his siblings were Charles Andrew Dresser, William Clark Dresser, Jacqueline Dresser, Mary L. (née Dresser) Randall, and Frances (née Dresser) Smith.

His paternal grandparents were Samuel Dresser and Dorothy (née Ingalls) Dresser. The Dresser family first settled in America in Rowley, Massachusetts, in spring 1639 with Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and sixty other families. His maternal grandparents were Clark Brown and Sally (née Sherman) Brown.

In July 1856, he was appointed to a cadetship in the United States Military Academy at West Point from Massachusetts.

Career

On May 6, 1861, immediately after his graduation from the Military Academy, Dresser was commissioned Second lieutenant of the 4th U.S. Artillery, where he spent two months drilling new recruits for the Union Army. During the Civil War, he entered the Manassas campaign as first lieutenant and was involved in the Battle of Bull Run and in the defense of Washington. In March 1862, he entered the Virginia Peninsular Campaign and was assigned to engineer duty at the Siege of Yorktown.

For two months, he was acting Ordnance Officer of the Third Army Corps and from September 1862 until August 1862, he was Assistant Instructor of Artillery Tactics at West Point. Later in 1862, he was assigned to engineer duty and the command of his company, the 4th Regiment of Artillery, at Chattanooga, Tennessee. In July 1864, he was appointed inspector of the 5th Army Corps, holding the post until March 1865. For the next four months, he served with General William Farrar Smith in New Orleans.

Dresser was brevetted captain in August 1864 for "gallant services during the operations on the Weldon (Virginia) Railroad", and Major in March 1865 for "good conduct and gallant services during the rebellion." He resigned on October 13, 1865.

Engineering career

After he resigned from the military, he started practicing as a civil engineer where he surveyed Block Island breakwater (which were constructed in 1870 to form what is known as "Old Harbor") and the defense of Narragansett Bay in 1866 to 1868. He also served as resident engineer of the Harlem River and Port Chester Railroad, chief engineer of the Wickford Branch Railroad, and assistant engineer in the New York Department of Public Works.

From 1870 to 1873, he worked on the Croton Aqueduct from 92nd Street to 113th Street. In October 1875, he began serving as editor of the American Gas Light Journal and retained this position until his death in 1883. Dresser was described as "a very enthusiastic member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and took and active interest in the discussions of papers, and also in its annual conventions." He was also involved with Fort Adams in Newport.

Personal life

On April 21, 1863, Dresser was married to Susan Fish LeRoy (1834–1883). Susan, a daughter of Daniel LeRoy and Susan Elizabeth (née Fish) LeRoy, was the niece of Hamilton Fish, a former U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Senator, and New York Governor, and the granddaughter of Nicholas Fish, the Adjutant General of New York and a close friend of Alexander Hamilton. Through the Fish family, she was a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of New Netherland. Together, they were the parents of:

• Susan LeRoy Dresser (1864–1960), who married Viscount Romain Le Boeuf d'Osmoy of Paris in June 1899.
• Daniel LeRoy Dresser (1866–1915), who married Emma Louise Burnham.
• Natalie Bayard Dresser (1869–1950), who married John Nicholas Brown I, a son of John Carter Brown, in 1897.
• Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873–1958), who married Vanderbilt heir George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate. After his death in 1914, she married Peter Goelet Gerry, a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.
• Pauline Georgine Warren Dresser (1876–1975), who married Rev. George Grenville Merrill in December 1897. Merrill was an Episcopal clergyman and served as rector of parishes in Tuxedo Park and Buffalo, New York, and Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

His wife died at their home in New York City on April 4, 1883. The following month, Dresser died at the "Reitz cottage" on John Street in Newport on May 27, 1883. After a funeral at Trinity Church, he was buried at Island Cemetery in Newport. At his funeral, the city of New York was represented by then Mayor Franklin Edson. After their deaths, the children were raised by Susan's mother.

Descendants

Through his daughter Edith, he was posthumously a grandfather of Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1900–1976), who married John Francis Amherst Cecil, son of Lord William Cecil and Mary Tyssen-Amherst, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney.

Through his daughter Natalie, he was a grandfather of John Nicholas Brown II (1900–1979), who was dubbed the "richest baby in America" after the death of his father and uncle within months of each other. Brown later became the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Harry S. Truman.

References

Notes

1. The pallbearers at his funeral were Major Throckmorton, Captain Morris, Captain C.C. Churchill, Mr. A. Smith (Superintendent), and Mr. V. Smith (engineer of the Manhattan Gas Works), Mr. Greenough (engineer of the Boston Gas Light Company), Captain F. A. Judson, Mr. Edward A. Crocker, Mr. W. D. King, and Mr. H. A. Bentley.

Sources

1. Vital Records of Grafton, Massachusetts: To the End of the Year 1849. Franklin P. Rice. 1906. p. 196. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
2. ^ Munsell, Frank (1890). American Ancestry: Giving The Name and Descent, In The Male Line, Of Americans Whose Ancestors Settled In The United States Previous To The Declaration of Independence, A. D. 1776. | Volume V. | Embracing Lineages From The Whole of The United States. 1890. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, Publishers. p. 79. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
3. Pierce, Frederick Clifton (1879). History of Grafton, Worcester County, Massachusetts: From Its Early Settlement by the Indians in 1647 to the Present Time, 1879. Including the Genealogies of Seventy-nine of the Older Families. Press of C. Hamilton. p. 471. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
4. ^ "Obituary". Engineering News and American Contract Journal. 10. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company: 261–265. June 2, 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
5. "Arrivals in the City" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 December 1861. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
6. Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer. McGraw Publishing Company. 1883. p. 16. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
7. ^ "Funeral of Major Dresser" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 May 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
8. "Lucky in Love: The Dresser Girls and Marriage – Biltmore". www.biltmore.com. The Biltmore Company. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
9. "Vicomtesse D'Osmoy, 96; Widow of French Vicomte Dies --Fled to U. S. From Nazis" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 July 1960. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
10. "Miss Susan L. Dresser Weds.; She Becomes the Bride of Vicomte D'Osmay at Paris" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 June 1899. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
11. "D. Leroy Dresser, Once Rich Banker, Commits Suicide. Brother of Mrs. G. W. Vanderbilt and Mrs. John Nicholas Brown Shoots Himself. Alone In Fraternity House. Married Seven Months Ago, After Being Divorced, and Was in Financial Straits. Prominent in Shipbuilding Trust, the Collapse of Which Ruined Him. D. Leroy Dresser Commits Suicide" (PDF). The New York Times. July 11, 1915. Retrieved 2011-04-21. Mr. Dresser was a brother of Mrs. George W. Vanderbilt and of Mrs. John Nicholas Brown of Newport, whose son, John Nicholas Brown, 2d, was long known as ...
12. Times, Special To The New York (8 June 1908). "Mrs. Le Roy Dresser In Divorce Colony; Has Taken a Residence in Sioux Falls and Will Sue -- Says She Was Deserted. Is Studying Stenography Didn't Separate from Her Husband Because of His Failure, In Which Her Money Was Lost, She Says" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
13. Times, Special To The New York (11 August 1908). "Mrs. Leroy Dresser Obtains a Divorce; Decree Granted in Sioux City, S.D., on Ground of Desertion. Testimony Not Revealed Alimony Did Not Enter Into Case -- The Couple Had Been Separated for Some Years" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
14. Times, Special to The New York (29 March 1950). "MRS. J.N. Brown, 80, Succumbs in Home; Newport Resident, Noted for Civic Leadership and Help to Needy, Was Political Figure Exhibited Own Paintings" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
15. "Brown -- Dresser" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 September 1897. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
16. "Mrs. Peter G. Gerry" (PDF). The New York Times. December 22, 1958. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
17. "Edith Vanderbilt Wed to P.G. Gerry. Marriage by London Registrar Is Followed by Service at the Savoy Chapel" (PDF). The New York Times. October 23, 1925. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
18. "Mrs. G. Merrill". Newport Mercury. 28 February 1975. p. 2. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
19. "Miss Pauline Dresser to be Married" (PDF). The New York Times. 16 October 1897. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
20. "Merrill-Dresser Wedding.; Will Take Place in Trinity Church, Newport, Dec. 1" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 November 1897. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
21. "Mrs. George Grenville Merrill (ca. 1875-?)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
22. Times, Special to The New York (31 January 1938). "Rev. G. G. Merrill Dies in Newport; Retired Protestant Episcopal" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
23. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 April 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
24. "Newport Notes.; New Mansions and Cottages Building-- Conanicut Island--Recent Arrivals" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 May 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
25. "Died" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 May 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
26. "DIED" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 May 1883. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
27. "Memorial of Susan E. Leroy.; Tablet Unveiled in Trinity Church, Newport, Yesterday" (PDF). The New York Times. 29 June 1899. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
28. "Miss Vanderbilt Weds Hon. J.F. Cecil; Prominent Persons in Social and Diplomatic Circles at Ceremony in Biltmore, N.C. Sir Esme Howard Attends Heiress to George W. Vanderbilt Fortune Bride of Former British Embassy Attache". The New York Times. 30 April 1924. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
29. "John Nicholas Brown II". Brown University. Archived from the original on 2007-12-18. Retrieved 2011-04-22. John Nicholas Brown II (1900-1979) was born February 21, 1900. Two months later, his father John Nicholas Brown I died of typhoid fever, followed two weeks later by the unexpected death of his uncle Harold Brown. Thus, as an infant JNB became heir of his family's fortune and was dubbed by the public the "richest baby in America". John Nicholas Brown traveled the world in his youth and would continue to do so throughout his life." ...

External links

• George Warren Dresser at Find a Grave

• 1837 births
• 1883 deaths
• United States Military Academy alumni
• Engineers from Connecticut
• Union army officers
• American civil engineers