{{short description|American banker}} {{infobox person | name = Robert Donaldson Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1800|06|15}} | birth_place = Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1872|06|18|1800|06|15}} | death_place = Barrytown, New York, U.S. | alma_mater = University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | parents = Sarah Henderson Donaldson<br>Robert Donaldson Sr. | spouse = {{marriage|Susan Jane Gaston<br>|1828|1866|reason=her death}} | children = five | relatives = William Gaston (father-in-law) }} '''Robert Donaldson Jr.''' (June 15, 1800 – June 18, 1872) was an American banker and patron of the arts.

==Early life== 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.<ref name="Kenny2011"/>

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.<ref name="Powell2000">{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=William S. |last2=Allcott |first2=J. V. |title=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: Vol. 2, D-G |date=2000 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807867013 |pages=91–92 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdAGnn0SZX0C&pg=PA92 |language=en}}</ref> His sister Joanna Donaldson married Dr. Oliver Bronson, "heir to a wealthy Connecticut financier, banker, and real estate speculator."<ref name="KA1881">{{cite book |title=A Biographical Record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass: From Its Foundation to the Present Time. 1833-1881 ... |date=1881 |publisher=Kappa Alpha Society |page=188 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BMVBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA188 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Rinaldi2006">{{cite book |last1=Rinaldi |first1=Thomas E. |last2=Yasinsac |first2=Rob |title=Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape |date=2006 |publisher=University Press of New England |isbn=9781584655985 |pages=92–98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bJ6ai_KRL0C&pg=PA98 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> All of his sisters attended Mordecai Female Academy in Fayetteville.<ref name="Richards2014">{{cite news |last1=Richards |first1=Penny L. |title=The Mordecai Female Academy: 130., 131., 132. The Donaldsons (Eliza, Isabella, and Joanna) |url=http://mordecaischool.blogspot.com/2014/02/130-131-132-donaldsons-eliza-isabella.html |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=The Mordecai Female Academy |date=2 February 2014}}</ref>

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 ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|300000|1820}}}} today) from the estate of Samuel Donaldson,<ref name="Jenrette2005"/> a bachelor uncle who owned a prosperous commission house.<ref name="Kenny2011"/> In 1821, he commissioned Charles Robert Leslie to paint his portrait.<ref name="Beach2012">{{cite journal |last1=Beach |first1=Laura |title=Hudson River Classics: Edgewater and Richard Hampton Jenrette |journal=The Magazine ANTIQUES |date=6 January 2012 |issue=January/February 2012 |url=http://www.themagazineantiques.com/article/hudson-river-classics-edgewater/ |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref>

==Career== [[File:A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening MET DP206382.jpg|thumb|right|The cover of Andrew Jackson Downing's book, ''A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape'' featuring Dondaldson's home, Blithewood.]] 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.<ref name="Ency">''Encyclopedia of North Carolina'', 3rd ed., Vol. 2 (1999), p. 254.</ref>

In the early 1820s, Donaldson relocated to New York City and began working as a banker.<ref name="Bidwell2013">{{cite book |last1=Bidwell |first1=John |title=American Paper Mills, 1690-1832: A Directory of the Paper Trade, with Notes on Products, Watermarks, Distribution Methods, and Manufacturing Techniques |date=2013 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=9781584659648 |page=151 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrbuwbBJZrQC&pg=PA151 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="ncpedia"/> 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."<ref name="Beach2012"/> 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.<ref name="Downing1847">{{cite book |last1=Downing |first1=Andrew Jackson |title=Cottage Residences: Or, A Series of Designs for Rural Cottages and Cottage Villas, and Their Gardens and Grounds. Adapted to North America |date=1847 |publisher=Wiley and Putnam |page=[https://archive.org/details/cottageresidence00down_0/page/3 3] |url=https://archive.org/details/cottageresidence00down_0 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Kenny2011"/>

==Personal life== [[File:Brooklyn Museum - Mrs. Robert Donaldson (Susan Jane Gaston) - George Cooke.jpg|thumb|right|''Mrs. Robert Donaldson (Susan Jane Gaston)'' by George Cooke, {{Circa|1832}}.]] In 1828, Donaldson married Susan Jane Gaston (1808–1866),<ref name="ncpedia">{{cite web |title=Donaldson, Robert, Jr. {{!}} NCpedia |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/donaldson-robert-jr |website=www.ncpedia.org |publisher=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography |access-date=2 April 2019}}</ref> the daughter of William Gaston, a judge and U.S. Representative from North Carolina, and his second wife, Hannah (née McClure) Gaston.<ref name="Edwards2014">{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=Laura F. |title=The People and Their Peace: Legal Culture and the Transformation of Inequality in the Post-Revolutionary South |date=2014 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=9781469619859 |page=307 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0cU3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA307 |access-date=2 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Donaldson wanted to collect and publish his father-in-law's correspondences (including those with Daniel Webster, John Marshall, and John Church Hamilton)<ref name="Connor1933">{{cite book |last1=Connor |first1=R. D. W. |title=William Gaston {{!}} A Southern Federalist of the Old School and His Yankee Friends -- 1778-1844 |date=October 1933 |publisher=American Antiquarian Society |pages=381–446 |url=https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44817392.pdf |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref> and writings while Gaston was living, but he declined.<ref name="Edwards2014"/> Together, they were the parents of:

* Robert Donaldson III (1838–1872),<ref name="NC1975"/> who died in Pueblo, Colorado, in February 1872.<ref name="RDIIIObit1872">{{cite news |title=DONALDSON |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30225138/donaldson/ |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=New York Daily Herald |date=March 9, 1872 |page=9 |language=en}}</ref> * William Gaston Donaldson (1841-1906), who did not marry.<ref name="NC1975"/> * Eliza Donaldson (1842–1897), who did not marry.<ref name="NC1975"/> * Isabel Donaldson (1846–1931), who married her cousin,<ref name="NC1975">{{cite book |title=The North Carolina Historical Review |date=1975 |publisher=North Carolina Historical Commission |pages=635, 428, 433 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1uU7AAAAIAAJ |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Robert Donaldson Bronson (1845–1912).<ref name="Adams2015">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=William R. |title=St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Historical Guide |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781561649006 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5lxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT73 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. J. W. Cromwell |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30224792/mrs_j_w_cromwell/ |access-date=3 April 2019 |work=Asheville Citizen-Times |date=December 27, 1961 |page=3 |language=en}}</ref> * Mary Susan Donaldson (1850–1868).<ref name="NC1975"/>

In 1845, Donaldson was said to be worth $200,000.<ref name="Crimmins1902">{{cite book |last1=Crimmins |first1=John Daniel |title=St. Patrick's Day: Its Celebration in New York and Other American Places, 1737-1845 ; how the Anniversary was Observed by Representative Organizations, and the Toasts Proposed |date=1902 |publisher=The author |page=[https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5847168_000/page/n361 356] |url=https://archive.org/details/ldpd_5847168_000 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

Donaldson died at Edgewater on June 18, 1872, in Barrytown, New York.<ref name="RGObit1872">{{cite news |title=Robert Donaldson |work=Rhinebeck Gazette |date=June 20, 1872 |quote=Robert Donaldson died 6.18 at 72 years in Barrytown.}}</ref>

===Residences=== [[File:Villa for Robert Donaldson, Fishkill Landing, New York (perspective and plans) MET DP169712.jpg|thumb|right|Design by Alexander Jackson Davis for an unbuilt villa for Donaldson in Fishkill Landing, New York, {{Circa|1834}}.]] 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.<ref name="Kenny2011"/> Donaldson hired his friend, the architect Alexander Jackson Davis, to renovate the house which he then decorated with sculptures by John Frazee,<ref name="Voss1986">{{cite book |last1=Voss |first1=Frederick |last2=Frazee |first2=John |last3=Montagna |first3=Dennis |last4=Henry |first4=Jean |last5=Institution) |first5=National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian |last6=Athenaeum |first6=Boston |title=John Frazee, 1790-1852, sculptor |date=1986 |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution |isbn=9780934552462 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_ZJAQAAIAAJ |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> paintings by Samuel F. B. Morse and Charles Robert Leslie, and furniture by Duncan Phyfe.<ref name="ncpedia"/> He owned the house until 1842 when he decided to live at Blithewood year-round.<ref name="Kenny2011"/>

====Blithewood==== In 1835, Donaldson purchased Annandale,<ref name="Kenny">{{cite journal |last1=Kenny |first1=Peter M. |title="The Consummation of Earthly Bliss": – Classical American Homes Preservation Trust |journal=Classical American Homes Preservation Trust |url=https://classicalamericanhomes.org/essay/the-consummation-of-earthly-bliss/ |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref> a {{convert|92|acre|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".<ref name="bard">{{cite web |title=Robert Donaldson (1800–1872) {{!}} Cultivating a Taste for Scenery |url=https://omekalib.bard.edu/exhibits/show/scenery/robert-donaldson |website=omekalib.bard.edu |publisher=Stevenson Library Digital Collections |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Kenny"/>

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),<ref name="Dunwell2008">{{cite book |last1=Dunwell |first1=Frances F. |title=The Hudson: America's River |date=2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231509961 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/hudsonamericasri0000dunw/page/148 148]-150, 152, 177 |url=https://archive.org/details/hudsonamericasri0000dunw |url-access=registration |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and hired friend and horticulturist and landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing to build an English garden with winding roads, waterfalls, and bridges.<ref name="Kenny2011">{{cite book |last1=Kenny |first1=Peter M. |last2=Phyfe |first2=Duncan |last3=Brown |first3=Michael Kevin |title=Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York |date=2011 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9781588394422 |pages=129–130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cO9YUWUq9PMC&pg=PA130 |access-date=2 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> 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).<ref name="Mason2017"/> 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.<ref name="Mason2017">{{cite book |last1=Mason |first1=Willit |title=Guidebook to Historic Houses and Gardens in New England: 71 Sites from the Hudson Valley East |date=2017 |isbn=9781532025419 |page=227 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hDMuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT227 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="omekalib">{{cite web |title=Blithewood Garden: Remember the Past · Blithewood Garden: Structured Beauty |url=https://omekalib.bard.edu/exhibits/show/blithewoodgarden/past |website=omekalib.bard.edu |publisher=Stevenson Library Digital Collections |access-date=3 April 2019}}</ref>

====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.<ref name="Jenrette2005">{{cite book |last1=Jenrette |first1=Richard Hampton |title=Adventures with Old Houses |date=2005 |publisher=Gibbs Smith |isbn=9780941711760 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=668GiB6giAwC&pg=PA98 |access-date=3 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Kenny2011"/>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== * ''Carolinian on the Hudson: The life of Robert Donaldson'', Jean Bradley Anderson, Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina. (1996) * ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/23529564?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Robert Donaldson, the First North Carolinian to Become Prominent in the Arts]'' John V. Allcott, The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 52, No. 4 (October, 1975), pp.&nbsp;333–366.

==External links== *{{find a Grave|48779964|Robert Donaldson Jr.}} * [https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/00272/ William Gaston Papers, 1744-1950 (bulk 1791-1844)] Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Robert, Jr.}} Category:1800 births Category:1872 deaths Category:People from Fayetteville, North Carolina Category:People from Barrytown, New York Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Category:19th-century American businesspeople