Robert Goelet (1809-1879)
Robert Goelet, of 5 State Street, New York City
He and his brother (who died without children) were among the principal early investors in the Chemical Bank of New York, but they were not among the six co-founders who adjusted the company's charter to include banking in 1824 as is most popularly told. Nonetheless, the brothers and each succeeding generation of the Goelet family have served as directors of the Chemical Bank right up until the present day, most recently represented by Robert Guestier Goelet (1923-2019). They also prospered through the farmland inherited from their maternal grandfather that grew into the second largest real estate empire in Manhattan after the Astors. Robert lived at 5 State Street which he appears to have bought from his wife's brother-in-law, Joseph Ogden, the husband of Grace Ogden. Robert had two sons who inherited the combined fortune of him and his brother, even then (1879) estimated to be worth in the region of $40 million.
