Francis Vinton Greene (1850 - 1921)

Born 27 Jun 1850 in Providence, Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Belle Eugenie (Chevallie) Greene — married 19 Feb 1879 in St. John's Church, Washington D.C., USA

Descendants

Died 13 May 1921 at age 70 in New York City, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Rick Pierpont [send private message]

Biography

Called "Frank" by his family - JGP

1870: Graduated West Point. 1st in class at age 20. Graduated West Point, June 15, 1870, at the head of his class. Served 16 years in the army as a lieutenant of artillery.

At the outbreak of the war between Russia and Turkey he was sent to observe and report the military operations of these armies. He was assigned as military attache to the United State Legation of St. Petersburg, and while in the field as attached to the staff of the Emperor of Russia. He was present at all the principle battles in Turkey and the marches from the Danube to Constantinople, and received various decoration from the Emperor of Russia and the King of Roumania.

An award is given each year to the 1st in class at West Point in memory of F.V. Greene. This was given one year by Joan Greene Pierpont. Margaret (Peggy) Greene made the presentation for many years. Donna and George Sears Greene IV have continued presenting the award after Peggy Greene passed on. From The Greenes of Rhode Island: Served in Army for 16 years. Lt. and Capt. of Engineers on the survey of northern boundary of U.S. Chief of Engineers of Public Works in Washington, D.C. Instructor of Military Engineering at West Point. 1876-77 on duty in Office of Sec't. of War in Washington, D.C. Sent to Russia as Military Attache in St. Petersburg, during Russia and Turkey War. Resigned Army. 1886 joined National Guard, NYC. Colonel of 71st Regiment, NY National Guard in 1892. 1898 Brig. Gen. of Volunteers in Philippines. Aug. 13, Battle at Manila and Havana, Cuba in 1898. 1899 returned to Asphalt Industry. Later became head engineer of Niagara Mohawk Power Co. in Buffalo, NY. Police Commissioner of NY, NY. Turned down military govenorship of Havana, Cuba. Author of several books. I have two of them and also articles in bound volumes of Harpers. Pictures of him and his family are in my file and I have his top hat, army uniform belt JGP See The Greenes of Rhode Island p 610-11 for sketch of his life. There is a portrait of him at West Point.

• Francis Vinton Greene was born at Providence, Rhode Island, June 27, 1850.
• His parents were General George Sears and Martha (Dana) Greene.
• He was appointed from Washington, D.C. and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1870.
• He married Belle Eugenie Chevaelie, February 25, 1870.
• He served as Second Lieutenant, 4th United States Artillery, June 15, 1870.
• He was transferred to the Corps of Engineers, June 10, 1872.
• He was promoted to First Lieutenant January 13, 1874 and to Captain, February 20, 1883.
• He served on the International Commission for survey of northern boundary of the United States as Assistant astronomer and surveyor, 1872-76.
• He was on duty in the War Department, and as military attache to U.S.
• Legation in St Petersburg, 1877-79.
• With the Russian Army in Turkey, 1877-78.
• Present at battles of Schipka, Plevnia, Sophia, Phillipopolis and other minor engagements, receiving medals of St Vladimir and St Anne and campaign medal from Emperor of Russia.

Afterward on US engineer duties. Engineer in charge of public works in Washington, D.C., 1879-85. Professor, practical military engineering, United States Military Academy, 1885. Resigned, December 31, 1886. Colonel, 7th New York Infantry, May 2, 1898. Brigadier General, US Volunteers, May 27, 1898, Major General, U.S.Vols, August 13, 1898. Commanded 2nd Division, 7th Army Corps at Jacksonville, Florida, Savannah, Georgia, and Havana, Cuba, October to December 1898. Resigned Feb 28, 1899. Chairman, Commission on Canals, New York, 1899. Delegate, Republican National Convention, Philadelphia, 1900. President, Republican Committee, NY, July-December 1900. New York City Police commissioner, January 1, 1903-04. President, Niagara-Lockport and Ontario Power Co. Author:

• The Russian Army and its Campaigns In Turkey, (2 vol), 1879,
• Army Life in Russia, 1881,
• "The Mississippi Campaigns of the Civil War," 1881,
• Life of Nathanael Greene, Major General in the Army of the Revolution in 3 Volumes, 1893
• "The Revolutionary War and the Military Policy of the US," 1911,
• The Present Military Situation in the US, 1915
• Our First Year in the Great War, 1918.

"He made his home in New York City and died there on May 13, 1921. Both he and his wife, Belle Eugenie Chevaelie Greene (1852-1934) are buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery." (Arlington National Cemetery)

The following is from a website, 1/11/2003 "In 1898, he raised the 7th New York Infantry regiment in May 1898, for the Spanish-American War. He was rapidly promoted to Brigadier General and Major General, U.S. Volunteers, August 1898, where he commanded 2nd Division, 7th Army Corps, and resigned his commission in February 1899.

He later served as Chairman, Commission on Canals, New York, 1899; Delegate, Republican National Convention, Philadelphia, 1900; President, Republican Committee, NY, 1900; New York City Police Commissioner, 1903-04; and President, Niagara-Lockport and Ontario Power Company.

He built Armsea, a Newport RI "cottage" (Miller), and was a personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt.

From the "Manuscripts & Archives Division" of the "New York Public Library" "The Papers of Francis Vinton Greene"

Francis Vinton Greene (1850 - 1921), was a soldier, business executive, author and Police Commissioner of the city of New York.

Greene received his early education at Trinity School, N.Y., and Burlington College, N.J. He graduated head of his class at West Point in 1870. After two years on duty in the mountains of N.C., he spent four with the International Boundary Commission marking the northern border of the U.S. In 1877 the government sent him to Russia as Military Attache to accompany the Russian army in the field in the war against Turkey. Greene received three decorations from the Czar, and on his return wrote a military history of the war that was regarded as "a standard work on the subject." When duties permitted Greene continued to write; among his books are: "Army Life in Russia," "The Revolutionary War" and "The Mississippi Campaigns in the Civil War."

From 1879 to 1885 Greene was Chief Assistant to the Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia and in charge of the public works of the district. From August 1885 to January 1886, he was an instructor in the Department of Practical Military Engineering at West Point. Greene was on leave from January 1886 to December of that year, when he resigned from the army and went into business. In 1889 Greene joined the National Guard of New York as Major and Engineer of the first brigade and in 1892 was elected Colonel of the 71st Regiment.

For his services during the Spanish - American war, Greene was made a Major - General of volunteers on August 13, 1898. In September of 1898 he returned to the U.S. and was assigned to command a division of the seventh army corp, then stationed in Georgia, but was soon sent to Havana, Cuba, having been selected governor of the city. Greene declined the assignment and resigned from the volunteer army on February 28, 1899. At this time Greene went back into business.

Resigning from the army in 1886, he engage in the introduction of smooth pavements in New York, in place of the cobblestone...

In 1903 Mayor Seth Low appointed Greene Police Commissioner. After his term of one year, Greene resumed business relations with several important organizations. In 1915 he moved from Buffalo to New York City, and from that year until the time of his death his business activity was only that of consulting engineer.

General Greene was married in 1879 at Washington to Miss Belle Chevallie' and had five children.

Sources

• Clarke, Louise Brownell. The Greenes of Rhode Island (Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1903) Page 474.
• Wikipedia: Francis_Vinton_Greene
• Find A Grave: Memorial #19333055: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia
• New York Public Library
• The New York Times, May 16, 1921
  • Gen. F.V. Greene Dies After Long Illness; Ex-Police Commissioner and Colonel of 71st Regt. Passes Away at His Home Here. IN HIS SEVENTY-FIRST YEAR Had Long and Varied Career as Soldier, Author and Business Executive. Major General Francis Vinton Greene, Police Commissioner under Mayor Low in 1903 and from 1904 to 1915 President of the Niagara, Lockport Ontario Power Company, died last night at his residence, 62 East Seventy-seventh...
• Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
• http://www.google.com/patents/US481489
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/2312*.html
• Correspondence between Rufus B. Cowing, Jr., Esq., Attorney for the United States of Venezuela and Hon. William J. Calhoun, Special Commissioner of the Department of States. Testimony Taken Under Letter Rogatory.
• Josephine Greene, FVG's niece told Joan Greene Pierpont that Francis Vinton Greene lost the asphalt business because the federal government considered that he had a monopoly.
• Publications of The Buffalo Historical Society (Bigelow Brothers, Buffalo, N.Y., 1921) Vol. 25, Page 362-5: Obituary.
• Miller, Paul F. Lost Newport: Vanished Cottages of the Resort Era (J.J. Little & Co., Astor Place, New York, 1889)
  • Page 124-6: "Armsea Hall (1901) Greene-Hoffman-Johnson Estate. F.L.V. Hoppin, architect. Ridge Road. Demolished."
• The Preservation Society of Newport County
• Armsea: American Homes and Gardens, Jan. 1906, page 11
• http://www.beyondthegildedage.com/2012/06/armsea-hall.html
• Evening times Thursday, Jul 20, 1899 Washington, DC Page: 2 "General Greene Keeps Mute", "He Declines to Discuss Reports of Cabinet Honors."
  • "New York, July 30. - Many personal friends of Major General Francis Vinton Greene, called at his office, 11 Bowling Green, today to express the hope that President McKinley would appoint him to succeed Gen. Russel A. Alger, as Secretary of War. Some of his friends went so far as to congratulate him upon having already received assurances that he would get the appointment. If these congratulations were offered to draw the general out they were without effect, for he refused to intimate in any way whether he thought his chances for the appointment were good or whether, if appointed, he would accept. One of his friends suggested that as General Greene was now getting $25,000 a year as president of an asphalt company and that as Secretary of War he would get only $8,000, it would be a bad move financially."
• Arlington National Cemetery: Francis Vinton Greene
• Sickles, Daniel & Fox, William. In Memoriam, George Sears Greene, Brevet Major-General, United States Volunteers (J.B. Lyon Co., Albany, 1909)
  • Page 32: "Major-General Francis Vinton Greene, the youngest of the sons, was graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, June 15, 1870, at the head of his class. He served for sixteen years in the regular army — in the artillery and in the corps of engineers. Resigning from the regular army in 1886, he was commissioned colonel of the Seventy-first Regiment of the National Guard of New York in 1892, a command he retained until his promotion during the war with Spain as Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He was given command of the second expedition to the Philippine Islands, arriving in Manila Bay July 17, 1898. After his services in the capture of Manila, he was made a Major-General of Volunteers to date from August 13, 1898. In September he was ordered to return to the United States and assigned to duty in Cuba as commander of a division in the Seventh Army Corps. He resigned from the army February 28, 1899."
• 1900 United States Federal Census: Census Place: Manhattan, New York, New York; Roll: 1111; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 0687; FHL microfilm: 1241111

Name: Belle Griene [Belle E Greene] Age: 46

Birth Date: Dec 1853 Birthplace: Pennsylvania

Home in 1900: Manhattan, New York, New York

Race: White Gender: Female Relation to Head of House: Wife

Marital Status: Married

Spouse's Name: Frank Griene

Marriage Year: 1879

Years Married: 21

Father's Birthplace: Virginia

Mother's Birthplace: Connecticut

Mother: number of living children: 5

Mother: How many children: 6

Frank Griene 49

Belle Griene 46

Warwick Griene 20

Anna G Griene 16

Edith Griene 13

Eleanor N Griene 12

Katherine Griene 8

Susan Deville 55 (Servant)

Freda Meyer 27 (Lady's maid)

Helga Johnson 29 (Laundress)

Bessie Johnson 35 (Cook)

Lena Johnson 40 (Waitress)