We often hear of folks such as "Clark Rockefeller" who are born poor and masquerade as rich people. But what about a fellow born rich who wants to be poor?
A picture of Cyrus Eaton III circa the runaway period.
No doubt it was hard being the grandson of Cyrus Eaton the First, creator of the family fortune.
Here's Grandpa leading the pack in 1958, with Cyrus the Third appearing as the third child behind Grandpa.
Cyrus Eaton the Second followed pretty much in his father's mode, as we learn from the obituary of Cyrus Eaton II.
And guess what else we learn from that obit? Cyrus Eaton the Third has become "Cyrus Wind Dancer." A little googling finds out he now runs a clock repair business in Santa Rosa, CA.
The gist of the article is summed up in the first paragraph:
The poor do not have to worry about what they are going to wear or where they will spend the summer or winter. They have good appetites and enjoy their food when they get it. They lead hard lives and so grow strong and healthy and do not have dyspepsia. They do not have to buy a burial cloth or order a mausoleum. As they have no money to leave, no one is anxious to see them die.
As far as I can tell, the Duke of Manchester (William Montagu), wrote this without a hint of irony or sarcasm. He seemed to genuinely believe that being born rich was a great burden. So it's interesting that he did his best to relieve himself of his riches and become poor. From wikipedia:
Manchester was a notorious spendthrift, and as a result of the excessive spending of both him and the prior two Dukes, the family's fortune (already low) was completely exhausted, culminating in the sale of the family's lands during the tenure of the tenth Duke. He spent much of his life abroad, evading creditors, seeking out wealthy consorts, and attempting to extract money from wealthy acquaintances. He is perhaps most well known in America from the leading case of Hamilton v. Drogo, 150 N.E. 496 (N.Y. 1926), which concerned the establishment of a spendthrift trust for the benefit of the young Duke.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 10, 2013 -
Comments (4)
Category: Money, 1910s
The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, a dedicated altruistic soul who ran it until his death in 1912.
But he also had to be a canny businessman, and in 1878 he had the entire holdings of the enterprise put into his name as sole proprietor.
That paragraph above comes from this Australian newspaper, which state that at time of Booth's death the Australian holdings alone amounted to "over half a million pounds."
I find the figure of £975,000 for worldwide holdings from this 1912 biography of Booth. An online inflation calculator for British pounds figures that sum equals £81,700,000.00 today.
So the selfless General was a multimillionaire when he was Promoted to Glory and passed on the Sally to his son Bramwell.
I can't find any data on when the Booth family gave over control of the Army to some kind of board of directors. I assume they did. Did they?
Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.