Ward McAllister

Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of America, widely accepted as the authority to which families could be classified as the cream of New York society (The Four Hundred).[1][2] McAllister wrote that after his marriage in 1853, he bought a farm on Narragansett Bay, planted trees and left for a three-year journey throughout Europe's great cities and spas—Bath, Pau, Bad Nauheim, and the like—where he observed the mannerisms of other wealthy Americans and titled nobility, returning to New York with his wife and two small children on October 15, 1858.[a][3][4][5] Using his wife's wealth and his own social connections, he sought to become a tastemaker amongst New York's "Knickerbocracy", a collection of old merchant and landowning families who traced their lineage back to the days of colonial New Amsterdam.[7] Although purported to be an index of New York's best families, McAllister's list was suspiciously top-heavy with nouveau riche industrialists and his southern allies, seeking a new start in the nation's financial capital after the American Civil War.[8] He was an early summer colonist of Newport, Rhode Island, and was largely responsible for turning the town into a Mecca for the pleasure-seeking, status-conscious rich of the Gilded Age.[9] Among the undesirables McAllister endeavored to exclude from the charmed circle of the Four Hundred were the many nouveau riche Midwesterners who poured into New York seeking social recognition.
"Snobbish Society's Schoolmaster". Caricature of Ward McAllister as an ass telling Uncle Sam he must imitate "an English snob of the 19th century" or he "will nevah be a gentleman". Published in Judge , November 8, 1890.
Ward McAllister Jr.Ward McAllister (actor)Savannah, GeorgiaMatthew Hall McAllisterSamuel WardJulia Ward HoweSamuel Cutler WardBenjamin Clark CutlerGilded AgeThe Four HundredJulia Rush CutlerWilliam Backhouse Astor Sr.John Jacob AstorNorfolk County SheriffGold RushUncle SamNarragansett BayEuropeBad NauheimNew Amsterdamnouveau richeAmerican Civil WarCaroline AstorNewport, Rhode IslandWorld's Columbian ExpositionChicagoChicago JournalCaroline Schermerhorn AstorAstor mansionThe New York TimesThe Four MillionO. HenrySociety of PatriarchsDelmonico'sMadison, New JerseyThomas GibbonsGibbons MansionDaniel DrewDrew Theological SeminaryDrew UniversityHavre de Grace, MarylandHarvard Law SchoolFederal district judgeTerritory of AlaskaSheldon JacksonUnion ClubChauncey DepewCornelius Vanderbilt IIGreen-Wood CemeteryBrooklynNew YorkNathan LaneThe Gilded AgeUniversal Exposition of 1855Imperial PrinceArno RiverU.S. Supreme CourtGibbons v. OgdenCornelius VanderbiltSusan Barclay ParsonsWilliam Barclay ParsonsLuther KountzeChester ArthurAlaska Commercial CompanyWilliam Brandt's Sons and CoNew-York Historical SocietyKnopf Doubleday Publishing GroupCambridge University PressThe New York SunHarperCollinsArcadia PublishingUniversity of Washington PressSan Francisco CallProject GutenbergLibriVoxAdolphe YvonFind a Grave