Robert Donaldson Jr.

Robert Donaldson was born on June 15, 1800, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the eldest of six children of Sarah (née Henderson) Donaldson and Robert Donaldson Sr., a Scottish born merchant who had consolidated his business at the trading center on Cape Fear River.^[1]

Donaldson was orphaned at the age of eight and was sent, along with his younger siblings, to live with relatives living nearby.

His brother James Donaldson married Alethea Lenox, a daughter of the New York based, Scottish-American merchant Robert Lenox.^[2] His sister Joanna Donaldson married Dr. Oliver Bronson, "heir to a wealthy Connecticut financier, banker, and real estate speculator."^[3][4] All of his sisters attended Mordecai Female Academy in Fayetteville.^[5]

In 1818, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, after which he traveled for five months through the mid-Atlantic. In 1820, he traveled to England, Scotland, and France. While in London, he inherited $300,000 (equivalent to $6,910,714 today) from the estate of Samuel Donaldson,^[6] a bachelor uncle who owned a prosperous commission house.^[1] In 1821, he commissioned Charles Robert Leslie to paint his portrait.^[7]

After returning to Fayetteville, Donaldson built the Lafayette Hotel in anticipation of the visit by General Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (to a town named in his honor) on March 4-5, 1825, during his grand tour of the United States.^[8]

In the early 1820s, Donaldson relocated to New York City and began working as a banker.^[9] He returned to North Carolina in 1828 where he married, after which he returned to New York with his wife, his younger brother, James, and two sisters. Once there, he became a patron of young artists and writers of the Romantic movement.^[10] In his 1837 book, Rural Residences, Donaldson's friend and architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, acknowledged Donaldson's support by describing him as "an ardent amateur of the rural arts."^[7] Downing also dedicated his 1847 book, Cottage Residences: Or, A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Cottage Villas, and their Gardens and Grounds adapted to North America. to Donaldson.^[11] He was friends with many prominent painters of the Hudson River School, including Asher Brown Durand, owned several important artworks including Gypsying Party by Leslie, The School of Athens, a copy of Raphael's fresco made by Morse for Donaldson in 1831, some Italian paintings, portraits, and several Dutch landscapes.^[1]

In 1828, Donaldson married Susan Jane Gaston (1808–1866),^[10] the daughter of William Gaston, a judge and U.S. Representative from North Carolina, and his second wife, Hannah (née McClure) Gaston.^[12] Donaldson wanted to collect and publish his father-in-law's correspondences (including those with Daniel Webster, John Marshall, and John Church Hamilton)^[13] and writings while Gaston was living, but he declined.^[12] Together, they were the parents of:

• Robert Donaldson III (1838–1872),^[14] who died in Pueblo, Colorado, in February 1872.^[15]
• William Gaston Donaldson (1841-1906), who did not marry.^[14]
• Eliza Donaldson (1842–1897), who did not marry.^[14]
• Isabel Donaldson (1846–1931), who married her cousin,^[14] Robert Donaldson Bronson (1845–1912).^[16][17]
• Mary Susan Donaldson (1850–1868).^[14]

In 1845, Donaldson was said to be worth $200,000.^[18]

Donaldson died at Edgewater on June 18, 1872, in Barrytown, New York.^[19]

Residences

In 1827, Donaldson purchased a house at 15 State Street in Manhattan, overlooking the Battery, previously owned by the merchant Archibald Gracie, and in 1819 the birthplace of the author Herman Melville.^[1] Donaldson hired his friend, the architect Alexander Jackson Davis, to renovate the house which he then decorated with sculptures by John Frazee,^[20] paintings by Samuel F. B. Morse and Charles Robert Leslie, and furniture by Duncan Phyfe.^[10] He owned the house until 1842 when he decided to live at Blithewood year-round.^[1]

Blithewood

In 1835, Donaldson purchased Annandale,^[21] a 92 acres (37 ha) estate on the Hudson River from John Church Cruger, the son-in-law of Stephen Van Rensselaer and the father of Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger. Donaldson renamed the estate "Blithewood".^[22] The property was originally part of the Schuyler patent. In 1795 John Armstrong Jr. purchased a part of the Van Bentheusen farm, and converted the existing barn into a two-story twelve-room Federal style home.^[21]

Donaldson hired his friend Alexander Jackson Davis to turn the home into the rural Gothic style (as well as build a gatehouse (similar in style to the Henry Delamater House),^[23] and hired friend and horticulturist and landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to build an English garden with winding roads, waterfalls, and bridges.^[1] In 1853, he sold part of Blithewood to John Bard, who maintained the home and landscape and donated a portion of the estate to found St. Stephen's College (today known as Bard College).^[24] In 1899, after Bard's death, Andrew C. Zabriskie purchased the remaining estate, and hired the architect Francis L. V. Hoppin to raze Blithewood and build a new mansion, also known as Blithewood, which stands to this date.^[24][25]

Edgewater

In 1853, Donaldson purchased the Edgewater estate in Barrytown, New York, after the death of its original owner, Rawlins Lowndes Brown, from Brown's widow, Margaretta (née Livingston) Brown.^[6] In 1902, the executor of the Donaldson estate sold the house to Elizabeth Astor Winthrop Chanler. Years later, it was owned by writer Gore Vidal and financier Richard Jenrette.^[1]