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229:. William had been living beyond his means for several years, and Collis Huntington had bailed him out as needed, but in 1900, Huntington died unexpectedly at Pine Knot. Between his divorce, his creditors and his sister's suit, William's financial position deteriorated rapidly, and by 1904, he declared bankruptcy. His ex-wife Janet followed suit, claiming bankruptcy in 1913.
222:. In 1893, Ella brought suit to attempt to force her brother to render a public accounting of the estate; William's legal stratagems would delay the trial for six years. When the case finally came to trial, it generated a substantial public interest. The court ruled against William, and he was ordered to pay Ella $ 753,931. William appealed, and lost again.
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and was privately tutored. Although in his biographies
William states he was educated at Bonn University, the University has no record of his attendance between 1866-1875. A review of his collection of letters housed at the Library of Congress does not reveal any indication that he undertook a formal
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He married a
Canadian woman 23 years his junior who kept a boardinghouse in New York City and dabbled in real estate. He tried a number of modest ventures, and then returned to the Adirondacks to manage a hotel on Long Lake, and then another on Lake Harris. This was followed, in 1910 by an attempt
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in the center of the
Adirondacks to entertain potential investors in the railroad and in his land development schemes. William had first seen Raquette Lake the summer before and spent the following winter living there in a tent. This group of simple cabins would become Camp Pine Knot, which would
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in 1863, accumulating half a million acres of land at State auctions for five cents an acre. He also sold a large parcel of land in
Brooklyn for the development of Prospect Park for two hundred thousand dollars. His goal for the Adirondack Railroad was to cross the Adirondacks to
189:, who would prove instrumental in advancing William's fortunes, lending William over $ 200,000 using the Adirondack Land holdings as collateral. In 1895, William and his wife initiated divorce proceedings against one another. William sold Pine Knot to Huntington and
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In 1890, William had granted his sister a monthly $ 200 allowance. She had doubts about whether she was receiving her fair share of their father's estate, especially when, in 1890, William bought a $ 200,000, 191-foot (58 m) ocean-going luxury yacht,
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on June 1, 1934, age 83, and was interred in the family's mausoleum, built in
Brooklyn's fashionable Greenwood Cemetery in 1873 for $ 60,000. His sister Heloise was not to have a place there. According to a letter he wrote in 1932 to his old friend
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William West Durant's life has been written about in
Donaldson's, Hochschild's and Gilborn's non-fiction biographies. Sheila Myers wrote a trilogy of novels on the Durant family which includes William West Durant as a main character.
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be hugely influential in the development of the Great Camp style. William had a hand in its development from the start, but especially after 1879, when tourism to the area exploded following the publication of
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Letter from
William West Durant to Poultney Bigelow. December 26, 1932. Poultney Bigelow papers. Manuscripts and Archives Division. The New York Public Library. Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations
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education while living abroad. He did however travel extensively as a youth in Europe. He toured Egypt in the years 1869 and 1873. While in Egypt he was escorted by a tutor. At 24, his father,
411:"Mrs. Rose Wins a Victory; Justice Beach Says W.W. Durant Must Give an Accounting. A Decision from the Bench Outcome of the Suit Was Foreshadowed by the Remarks of the Judge After Court Opened"
200:. It was to be the largest and most expensive of Durant's camps, centered on a three-story, 27-by-62-foot (8.2 by 18.9 m) main lodge, with a raised stone cellar adding to the height, and
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at mushroom farming in Maine that went nowhere. He worked for three years for a development on Long Island, and then worked doing title searches for
Adirondack land sales.
177:. William promptly set out to raise capital by selling land and timber, and sought a buyer for the Adirondack Railway, finally succeeding in 1899 with a sale to the
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Durant, William West, Bernice
Eugenie Durant. The 1868-1869 and 1873 Egyptian Diaries of William West Durant. The Family Document Series. 1979.
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Personal
Correspondence, June 16, 2014, Ruxandra Burchel, B.A., Studentische Hilfskraft, Universität Bonn to Sheila Myers.
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Myers, Sheila. Durant Family Sagas. Imaginary Brightness (2015), Castles in the Air (2016), The Night is Done (2017).
158:, a family with which the Durants had had business and family relationships for several generations. They settled in
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In 1884, William married Janet Lathrop Stott, 19, the only surviving daughter of the Stotts of Bluff Point and
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to allow steamboat travel from Blue Mountain Lake through to Eagle and Utowana Lakes, and built steamboats
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bought Uncas. He and his wife Janet were granted a divorce, which was sealed from the public in 1898.
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on St. Hubert's Isle, and created a telegraph company to provide service through to Raquette Lake.
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on Raquette and Blue Mountain Lakes, respectively. He also arranged for the construction of the
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St. Hubert's Isle - History of Durant's Great Camps on or near Raquette Lake
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than he was forced to sell it, along with 1,526 acres (618 ha), to
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William started work on a new camp complex on Shedd Lake, later renamed
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St. Hubert's Isle - History of the Durant family work at Raquette Lake
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Durant: Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the Adirondacks
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Durant: Fortunes and Woodland Camps of a Family in the Adirondacks
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35:(1850–1934) was a designer and developer of camps in the
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Hochschild, Harold. Township 34. Adirondack Museum, 1961.
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In 1876, Durant built a rustic compound on Long Point in
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on three levels. No sooner was the work completed on
115:. By 1871, tracks had been laid from Saratoga to
90:While working to complete the eastern half of the
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78:, in 1850. He attended Twickenham School in
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166:where many of William's dealings took him.
339:. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1981.
278:. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1981.
225:Ella's victory, however, proved largely
169:Dr. Durant became ill in 1883 and died,
287:The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 31, 1869.
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181:. He also started work on a new camp,
432:University of Bonn Attendance Records
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375:, Utica, North Country Books, 1989,
387:William West Durant correspondence
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373:Raquette Lake: A Time to Remember
179:Delaware and Hudson Canal Company
94:in 1869 as vice-president of the
74:William West Durant was born in
92:First transcontinental railroad
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321:. New York: Century, 1921.
319:A History of the Adirondacks
236:William West Durant died at
133:Adventures in the Wilderness
149:Church of the Good Shepherd
56:National Historic Landmarks
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492:University of Bonn alumni
296:"Mrs. Durant Bankrupt".
467:Rustic style architects
64:Crédit Mobilier scandal
25:William West Durant at
472:Adirondack Great Camps
389:. Library of Congress.
317:Donaldson, Alfred L.,
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117:North Creek, New York
58:. He was the son of
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487:People from Brooklyn
438:Brooklyn Daily Eagle
238:Mount Sinai Hospital
210:Alfred G. Vanderbilt
187:Collis P. Huntington
156:Stottville, New York
113:Saint Lawrence River
100:Dr. Thomas C. Durant
85:Dr. Thomas C. Durant
52:Great Camp Sagamore
33:William West Durant
452:Durant Family Saga
445:The New York Times
419:. January 14, 1899
298:The New York Times
104:Adirondack Company
76:Brooklyn, New York
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16:American developer
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482:1934 deaths
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191:J.P. Morgan
102:formed the
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253:References
183:Camp Uncas
129:WHH Murray
54:which are
44:Camp Uncas
40:Great Camp
37:Adirondack
423:August 9,
202:verandahs
171:intestate
141:Killoquah
70:Biography
111:and the
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219:Utowana
80:England
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164:Albany
109:Canada
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