Harry Payne Bingham
Oliver Hazard Payne bequeathed at least $2,000,000 and the Esopus
estate to Harry Payne Bingham. Harry Payne Bingham and Harry Payne
Whitney were Oliver's two favorite nephews. Oliver left his Thomasville,
Georgia property, $2,000.000 and a large share of the Payne estate to
PaY.ne
Whitney_
(who dropped the Harry) , about whom much is written, since he
continued his father's love of race horses to become the most prominent race
horse owner of his time.
Harry Payne Bingham was born 9 December 1887 to Charles William
Bingham (b 22 May 1846 in Cleveland; d 1 Mar 1929 in Cleveland) and Mary
Payne, Oliver's younger sister. Charles' parents were William Bingham and
Elizabeth Beardsley. Charles Bingham was identified with the business
interests of Cleveland and was the head of William Bingham Company,
manufacturer and distributor of hardware, founded by Charles' father. Charles
and Mary were married 8 June 1876, and had five children:
• Oliver Perry, b Cleveland on 2 December 1877, d 11 February 1900 at
Palm Beach, Florida, of injuries sustained while a member of the Yale
crew team
• William, b 31 July 1879, listed as unmarried in 1954
• Elizabeth Beardsley, b Cleveland 29 Sept 1881, married Dudley Stuart
Blossom
• Frances Payne b Cleveland, 29 March 1885; d Cleveland, 9 Mar 1977
married Chester Castle Bolton
• Henry Payne (later usually called Harry) b 9 Cleveland December 1887;
d NYC 25 March 1955 was married three times.
Harry Payne Bingham graduated from Yale in 1910 with the degree
B.A. Until at least 1912, he and his wife lived in Cleveland, Ohio. He served
with the Army during World War I with the rank of Captain in the regular field
artillery and saw active service at the front. He was at the estate only
intermittently until his return from Europe in early 1919. He married his first
wife, Harriette Caleb Gowen in Cleveland, Ohio on January 13, 1912. His
wife Harriette and their two children Harry and Barbara, moved into the
mansion to live.
"My sister remembers that they brought a children's brown pony and a
pony cart and coachman. Harriette, 'nouveau riche' as she was, immediately
wanted to show her importance by making changes. My father (the estate
supervisor, Julian Burroughs), who tried to please her, says in his memoirs
that she even wanted to change the driveway with its old trees and
cobblestone gutters. In the mansion, those of the household staff who
remained were distressed because, as they told my father, she did not know
the value of anything. Some of her changes were having the silk curtains of
the long drawing room, which had been made especially for it, dyed and
having the gold tracery of the gold and ebony room removed with chemicals
and the ebony painted a putty color" -- Elizabeth Burroughs Kelly
"The new year, 1918, began with very cold weather and bad news for
us. Captain Bingham was making changes and cutting down expenditures



and my father lost his job and would have to find something else to do. We
had until April 1 to move." -- Elizabeth Burroughs Kelly
The Binghams probably never used the Esopus estate as their principal
residence. The 1920 Federal census lists them as living at Palm Beach
Florida together with twelve servants. The 1930 census lists Harry Bingham
living on 72nd Street in New York City with his wife Grace L. Momand Breese,
whom he married in Paris France in 1927. Harry married a third time, in April
24, 1937 to Melissa W Yuille Burks.
At some later time, the Bing hams moved to 690 Park Avenue (near
68th Street) in New York City and later 834 Fifth Avenue (about 63rd Street).
Bingham donated the Esopus property to the New York Protestant Episcopal
Mission Society of Bleecker Street in 1933.
Eugene Donnelly told me that during the year he cooked (1947-1948) a
gentlemen arrived in a chauffeured limousine outside the mansion and
introduced himself as Harry Bingham. Gene invited him to look inside, but
Harry declined. There was a lady in the car.
Bingham died March 25, 1955 and left a will dated December 7, 1954.
The bulk of the estate of the "philanthropist-sportsman-art patron" was left to
his wife and three children. He directed that his former residence at 690 Park
Avenue be sold with the proceeds going to St. Thomas Church, Lenox Hill
Neighborhood Association, Yale University, Memorial Hospital, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, which also received two Goya paintings and other
art works. He left $10,000 and a life income from a $200,000 trust to his
secretary, Alice Surber. Upon her death, the trust would be shared by the
museum and the Sharon Hospital, Sharon, Conn.
Mr. Bingham also set up trusts for his widow, Mrs. Melissa
Y.
Bingham,
and other members of his family. His three children are: Harry Payne
Bingham Jr., Oyster Bay,
LI.,
Mrs. Barbara Gingham Moore, Washington, and
Burks Bingham, 834 Fifth Avenue.
Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley refers to Harry's wife as Harriette. On the
deed transferring the property to the New York Protestant Episcopal City
Mission Society dated 6 April 1933, the wife is listed as Grace M. Bingham,
and the NY Times obituary notice cited Melissa Y Bingham.
Mr. Bingham was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
American Museum of Natural History, the New York Zoological Society, and
the Peabody Museum of Natural History. An Episcopalian in Religion, he was
a vestryman of St. Thomas's Church, New York City. In politics he was a
consistent Republican. He was interested in outdoor sports, particularly golf
and was a former holder of the Long Island Amateur Championship.
He was a director of the First National Bank of New York and the
Northern Finance Corporation of New York. His various club memberships
include the Knickerbocker, Tennis and Racket, and Piping Rock.
Harry Bingham's oldest son Harry Payne Bingham Jr, was born 3
December 19112. During World War II he joined the US Naval Reserves in
March 1941, and served as a Lieutenant; being attached to the Naval Air
Force he spent sixteen months in the South Pacific; honorably discharged in





January 1946, with the commission of Commander. Married Lilla Fisk 6 April
1935. This marriage produced two children: Harry Payne Bingham 3rd, born
17 March 1936, and Belinda Bingnham, born 27 June 1937.
Barbara Bingham, born 28 November 1914, married Rear Admiral
Edward P. Moore, USS on 5 March 1935. This couple have two children,
Barbara Bingham Moore, born 16 Jan 1936 in San Diego CA, and Susan
Moore, born 3 Jan 1939, in Baltimore MD.
No information available on Burks Yuille Bingham born 20 Jan 1939.
Harry Bingham's older sister was Frances Payne Bingham who married
Chester Castle Bolton. The couple had three children: Charles Bingham
Bolton, Oliver Payne Bolton(1917 - 1972) and Kenyon Castle Bolton. Oliver
Payne Bolton's son Charles Payne Bolton purchased the section of the original
Payne estate containing the dairy and barn buildings just west of route 9-W in
1985.
Frances Payne Bolton served as Congresswoman from Cleveland's
22nd District for 29 years. She was also noted for her financial support of
many projects, particularly in the fields of nursing, health and education.
References
Augusta Payne White, The Paynes of Hamilton, 1912
Elizabeth Burroughs Kelley interview transcribed by Brother James Sheldon,
July 16, 1992
Article about Harry Payne Bingham's last will and testament, New York Times,
June xx, 1955,
Internet biography of Frances Payne Bolton located at
httP-:llfP-b.cwru
.
edu/Welcome/FPB
.
htm
Payne , Bingham, Bolton and Allied Families, Genealogical and Biographical,
issued under the Editorial Supervision of Ruth Lawrence; New York, 1954,
National Americana Publications, Inc.
most recent revision
19 February 2004
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