Russell Risley Sage was an American financier, railroad executive and Whig politician from New York.
22 Facts About Russell Sage
2.
Russell Sage was born at Verona in Oneida County, New York.
3.
Russell Sage received a public school education and worked as a farmhand until he was 15.
4.
Russell Sage started as an errand boy in his brother Henry's grocery in Troy, New York.
5.
On January 23,1840, Russell Sage married Marie-Henrie Winne, who was known as "Maria Winne".
6.
Russell Sage died on May 7,1867, of stomach cancer.
7.
In 1869 at the age of 53, Russell Sage remarried, to Olivia Slocum, who was ten years younger.
8.
Russell Sage was re-elected to this office until 1848, while serving for seven years as treasurer of Rensselaer County.
9.
Russell Sage was elected to the US House of Representatives as a Whig, and served, with re-election as an Oppositionist, from March 4,1853 until March 3,1857.
10.
Russell Sage was the first person to advocate in Congress for the purchase of George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon, by the government.
11.
Russell Sage bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1874, and became known as a financier.
12.
Russell Sage served as director for the American cable company, the Western Union telegraph company, and the Manhattan consolidated system of elevated railroads in New York City.
13.
Russell Sage was a director of the Union Pacific Railroad, which was part of constructing the transcontinental railroad.
14.
Russell Sage was a director and vice-president in the Importers and Traders' National Bank for twenty years, and a director in the Merchants' Trust Company and in the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York City.
15.
Russell Sage honored all demands but withdrew from the sale of options soon afterward.
16.
Russell Sage never paid any settlement and was publicly criticized as a miser because of his great fortune.
17.
Russell Sage was known to have affairs outside marriage both before and after the death of his first wife.
18.
Russell Sage was reported to have had a child by a young chambermaid.
19.
Russell Sage was a member of East Presbyterian Church on West 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, which later merged with Park Presbyterian to form West-Park Presbyterian.
20.
Russell Sage was buried in a mausoleum in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York.
21.
Olivia Russell Sage devoted a major portion of the money she inherited from her husband to philanthropy, including buildings and other memorials to him.
22.
Russell Sage commissioned Ralph Adams Cram, a leading architect, to design Russell Sage Memorial Church, and for Louis Tiffany to create a large stained glass window as a memorial.