Thomas Buchanan Winthrop (November 11, 1841–December 25, 1900) was an American philanthropist and lawyer who was prominent in New York society during the Gilded Age.
Early life
Winthrop was born on November 11, 1841. He was the only son of Henry Rogers Winthrop (1811–1896) and Margaret (née Hicks) Winthrop. After his mother's death, his father remarried to Mary Gelston, the daughter of Maltby Gelston. His sister Harriett R. Winthrop, was married to the Rev. Haslett McKim, and were the parents of Winthrop McKim.
His maternal grandfather was Thomas Hicks. His paternal grandfather was John Still Winthrop, brother of Thomas Charles Winthrop (father of Robert Winthrop) and Francis Bayard Winthrop Jr. (father of Theodore Winthrop), all descendants of Wait Winthrop and Joseph Dudley (both Massachusetts Bay Colony leaders). Through his father's family, he was also descended from the colonial New York merchant and politician Leonard Lispenard.
After Columbia, Winthrop passed the bar exam and began practicing law in New York City until he "inherited a fortune from his father which made him independent." He then managed the large estate of various members of his family. Bishop Potter appointed Winthrop treasurer of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, serving for several years.
He was also a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and from 1891 until his death in 1900, served as a Fellow of Yale University, following the death of Thomas C. Sloane.
Society life
In 1892, Winthrop along with his wife, daughter Marie, and several members of his extended family, were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom. There were other Winthrop branches included in McAllister's list, but his was considered the elder branch. His wife was a prominent horse breeder who won awards at the Bar Harbor Horse Show in 1904.
↑Greene, Richard Henry; Stiles, Henry Reed; Dwight, Melatiah Everett; Morrison, George Austin; Mott, Hopper Striker; Totten, John Reynolds; Pitman, Harold Minot; Forest, Louis Effingham De; Ditmas, Charles Andrew; Mann, Conklin; Maynard, Arthur S. (1894). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Retrieved 12 May 2017.