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3. The Private Henry Morrison Flagler, 1830–1883
- University Press of Florida
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21 3 ∑ The Private Henry Morrison Flagler, 1830–1883 I was hard on Flagler, but I would rather be my own tyrant. —Henry Flagler to newsman James Morrow, 1906 In 1903 Henry Morrison Flagler concluded a letter of reply to John F.Forbes, president of Stetson University in Deland, Florida, with an admonition: “I note that the envelope containing your letter bore the imprint of the President’s office of the Stetson University. I think it would be more prudent if you would do as I do, use plain envelopes.”1 The letter is revealing of Henry Flagler’s habitual mode of thinking. He had just donated money for the construction of a building at Stetson that would be called simply Science Hall, with no acknowledgment that Flagler had provided the funding. Typically, he wished to maintain this high level of confidentiality in his philanthropies, but far beyond that, Flagler also desired to keep his entire private life sealed in a “plain envelope.” One of his chief lieutenants was once asked to give an assessment of Flagler’s character, and he offered a few cursory observations before giving up, saying, “I do not know if I have helped you to form an estimate of Mr. Flagler. His innermost self? I don’t know it. He keeps it under lock and key.”2 Henry Flagler never wrote a book, never put down his memoirs, and seldom submitted to interviews by journalists. In fact, only twice did he volunteer information on his personal life story for publication. The first time, in 1906, newspaperman James B.Morrow managed to land an interview with Flagler in the Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway. (The second interview would be given to Wall Street, reported Edwin Lefevre in 1909.) Morrow left this description of his encounter: 22 · Mr. Flagler’s St. Augustine “Twelve stories up I found Mr. Flagler in a large corner room from the windows of which could be seen the North River, its hurrying ships and its fleets of hungry gulls, winged scavengers of the water. Seventy-six years old is this business giant, but in body and intellect a tall, erect and handsome man in the full sweep of his powers, and with no sign of uncertainty or unsoundness. A major general of cavalry, you might say, trained to ride the field. Excellent head; fine gray eyes; short white hair parted in the center; straight, classic nose; closely trimmed mustache. That is his picture. In familiar discourse ready and brusque with philosophy, reflection, experience and the sense of humor.”3 Atthestartoftheinterview,Flagler,aswashisrule,informed Morrowthat the talk would be limited to questions relating to his business career. “No one can understand how I dislike to see my name in print,” said Flagler. “But my work is another matter. It concerns the public. Flagler’s personal history doesn’t.” Still, Morrow managed to insert some queries of a personal nature into the dialogue, opening a crack in Flagler’s wall of silence. Flagler began the interview with a simple enough answer to the safe question of where he was born: “In a little village south of Rochester and near the town of Canandaigua. State of New York.” (The settlement was Hopewell and the year 1830.) When asked about his family background, Flagler responded with a story: “My father was a preacher, but away from the pulpit he was a reserved, I might say, a silent man. When my mother died the editor of the town in which we lived printed a notice of her death and funeral. I remember that while I was wrapping up a number of papers for friends and relatives my father came in. After watching me for several minutes, he said I might send one to a married woman in Indiana whose address he gave. In five minutes he mentioned the name of another woman. I had never heard of them, and so asked: ‘Who are they?’ ‘My sisters,’ he replied. He hadn’t seen either of them for thirty years.” Flagler offered the opinion that he had inherited his reticence from his father. During his conversation with Morrow, Flagler did not mention the names of either his father or his mother, nor did he even so much as allude to the three women who had been his wives during his lifetime. In a letter written some sixteen years earlier, Flagler had been equally unhelpful to a woman who had inquired about his ancestry: “I left my home when...