During the 1907 financial meltdown, New York City became bankrupt and Hetty Green, also called the ‘The Witch Of Wall Street’ had to come to its rescue. She gave the city a million dollars to be returned with interest, of course. The thing more fascinating was that this was the third time that she was bailing the bankrupt city.
The stories of the greatest misers in History will not be complete without mentioning the famous ‘The Witch of Wall Street’. She was known as one of the notable business tycoons during the Gilded Age. She was from a business-minded family that by the time she was 13, she was already in charge of the family’s family business accounts.
At her death on July 3, 1916, Hetty had an estimated net worth of over $100 million which is valued at over $2.49 billion today.
Who is The Witch of Wall Street?
The Witch of Wall Street was born Henrietta Howland Robinson on November 12, 1834, in New Bedford, Massachusetts to Edward Mott Robinson and Abby Howland. Her family was a Quaker family that had business interests in whaling and shipping which were run by her father and grandfather, Gideon Howland.
She started living with her grandfather, Gideon Howland, and her aunt Silvia Howland at the age of 2, it was here that she cultivated her business sense.
Notably, she developed an interest in business while observing her grandfather and father deal with business activities at the waterfront. She read newspapers for them after which she asked questions about financial topics. After her grandfather died, her father took over the business.
Through close observation, she learned how to read the company’s ledgers and commodities. It is not surprising that she became the company’s bookkeeper at the age of 13. In later years, this desire for controlling money through different means will earn her the name, The Witch of Wall Street.
She Made her Wealth Through Investment
Known also as the ‘Wizard of Finance’ and The Richest Woman in America, Hetty Green started building her financial empire at a young age. Through careful planning, she strategically bought stocks, bonds, and trust funds.
In her words, ‘I buy when things are low and nobody wants them’.
Throughout her lifetime she maintained this strategy also referred to as contrarian or value investing that allowed her to stay above the challenges of the civil war and later the Panic of 1907.
Over time her investment in railways, mines, and money lending paid off, and she became a money lender to individuals and the government. Also, many came to her for financial advice.
Through these activities, she grew a reputation that made a personality cult develop around her methods. Some claimed that she was ruthless while many explain that the notoriety around her was because she was a woman doing things that only men are known for.
In 1865, she inherited a fortune worth $919,000 and other properties from her father when he died.
Described to be among the rebel women who defied Victorianism by stepping beyond the lines drawn for women and challenging all expectations on the basis of their gender, this woman did not always play by the books, or so was it alleged.
Not too long after the death of her father, Aunt Silvia also died and in total, around $7 million was kept in trust for her. This did not go down well with the witch of Wallstreet. She considered it a slap for other people to manage her money.
So what did she do? It was claimed that she first tried to bribe one of the executors of her father’s will to have the funds released to her and then she went to court, claiming that all the money her aunt left to others in her will was actually hers.
To prove it, she produced a second will that left everything to her. While it was actually her aunt’s signature on the will, it was believed that it was forged. People did not find it hard to believe that she forged the will because there were hardly many things difficult for the Witch of Wall Street. She also had a reputation for being very petty.
Her Marriage and Children
Considering her interest in growing money, it took her family’s intervention before she considered getting married. Her aunt Sylvia Howland, who was a spinster, pressured her into getting married when she was 20.
Aside from Silvia, other members of her family were so serious about her getting married that her father got her a wardrobe full of the latest clothes worth $1200. However, her love for money made her sell everything and invested the money in government stock and bonds.
The cantankerous miser was also a beauty to behold. She was sent to New York to find a rich suitor but when she got there, she attended lavish parties not to find a man, but to eavesdrop on discussions about the dramas on Wall Street. One of the men she charmed with her beauty and wit was the Prince of Wales, during his visit to the United States. She described herself to him as the Princess of Wales.
Years later, she met and married Edward Henry Green, a millionaire who made his fortune as a merchant in the Philippines. Her father encouraged the wedding because he was concerned that his daughter’s failing health wouldn’t allow her to manage the family’s wealth. But then, soon after she got married, she reached an agreement with her husband that he was not going to have anything to do with her wealth.
During the marriage, they welcomed two children, Edward Jr. also known as Ned, and Harriet(Silvia).
It was not surprising that the marriage later came to an end because of money. Hetty found out that her husband had put his hand into her wealth and had lost around $700,00. Touching her money was a sin big enough, but losing it was something she could never forgive.
She Broke the Guinness Record for the Greatest Miser
According to a Guinness Record entry, Hetty Green is the Greatest Miser that ever lived. Starting from her investment sense to her frugal lifestyle, Hetty lived up to the title. It is reported that despite growing a huge financial empire, Hetty also knew how to cut extra costs by conducting her businesses at the Seaboard National Bank in New York to avoid paying office rent. While there, Hetty was usually surrounded by her trunkload of papers. At other times, she only lived in apartments or boarded cheap carriages in running her businesses.
Her decision to not flaunt her wealth did not go unnoticed during the Gilded Age when many were showcasing their wealth through parties and lifestyle. She did not spend on her wardrobe as she was known to repeat the same black dress and undergarments till they became old. Reportedly, her laundrywoman was only allowed to wash her hem to save money on soap. In her defense, she claimed it was due to her background as Quaker but many capped it as the height of frugal living.
Since she could deprive herself of what she saw as a luxury, her family members were not left out. At one point, she is said to have allowed her son, Ned’s leg to get amputated because she refused to pay for better medical care. Also, Hetty lived on only simple meals consisting of oatmeal, eggs, and onions which she did not heat up to avoid spending.
Even in old age, she continued to live without spending much. When she had a hernia, Hetty chose to use a stick to push the swelling rather than spend money at the hospital.
See Also: Roy Demeo – How Did One Of The Most Notorious Hitmen Die? All Facts
How Did The Witch of Wall Street Die?
The Greatest Miser died on July 3, 1916, just a few months before her 82 birthday. The cause of her death is linked to many ailments. The Guinness Book of world records state it was caused by apoplexy, a rupture of an internal organ and its accompanying symptoms.
Other sources claim her death was caused by a series of strokes that the former world’s richest woman had suffered. Whatever the true cause of her death, she is said to have argued with a maid over skimmed milk in the moments before she died.
Following Hetty’s death over a century ago, her legacy is passed on through movies like You Can’t Buy Everything and beneficiaries of her estate that are still standing today.
