Henrietta Howland Green; Another Look at the “Witch of Wall Street”

Henrietta’s Family Life and Legacy
Henrietta bore two children, a son Edward Howland Robinson “Ned” Green on August 23, 1868, and daughter Hetty Sylvia Ann Howland Green on January 7, 1871. In spite of keeping their finances separate, her husband Edward was given special privileges and even loaned money based on who he was married to. His financial house John J. Cisco & Son benefited not only by who he was married to, but also because Henrietta was one of those who actually invested in the company. Investors thought that the husband of the richest woman on earth who also had a financial interest, wasn’t someone you would have to be concerned about defaulting on a loan on. When the house began to collapse, it was learned that the firm had actually loaned Edward money based on who he was wed to. Her primary bank tried to recover some of Edward’s debts by seizing some of her assets. They certainly didn’t know who they were dealing with!

Henrietta withdrew her money immediately and deposited it in Chemical Bank, a leading consolidator of the banking industry. This economic fiasco, caused them to separate and Edward to move out. However, as I mentioned earlier, we’re here to cover the lesser highlighted aspects of Henrietta’s life; she reconciled with him later in life and personally took care of him in the last years of his life when his health failed. Not good press for a “witch.”

Henrietta passed away at age 81, in 1916 after a lengthy period of strokes. She willed her entire massive fortune to her children. Her children did not inherit her shrewdness and frugality. Her son Ned did work under her managing some of her properties in Chicago, but liked to spend money and amassed one of the largest and finest stamp collections in the world at that time. History records him as living rather lavishly, but it appears he lifted off of the interest of his $100 million dollar inheritance, which hovered somewhere around $1 million dollars per year. Daughter Sylvia married minor heir to the Astor fortune, Matthew Astor Wilks. Her mother of course, made her force a prenuptial agreement on Matthew.

Both children maintained their inheritances and finances through the Great Depression, surely using the tactics, and conservative methods of their matriarch. Ned, of course, owned the Round Hill estate with its famous WMAF radio transmitters and prototype atom smasher. Sylvia left her $200 million (excepting $1.3 Million) to 64 different charities primarily involving churches, hospitals, and universities.

Henrietta Howland Green was the “Witch of Wall Street.” That will never change, but she also paved the way for women in the world of finance, or in the workforce period for that matter. She showed that a woman was more than capable to do the job of a man and even do it better. She was a loving wife and in spite of being a miser, left her children her entire fortune. She employed thousands, supporting an untold number of families. This is the other element of the bouquet that is the Hetty Green personage. Perhaps “witch” is too harsh a word. How about “Honey Badger of Wall Street”?

Nah. “Witch of Wall Street” has a nice ring to it.

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