Part of the American History & Genealogy Project

Helen Miller Gould 1868 ~ 1938

Miss Gould was born m New York, June 20, 1868, daughter of the late Jay and Helen Day Gould; sister of George Jay, Edwin, Howard and Frank Jay Gould. She has been identified with philanthropic work for many years; has made many notable gifts, including: Library building, costing $310,000 to University City of New York, $100,000 to United States Government for war purposes, $10,000 to Rutgers College, $10,000 to Engineering School, University City of New York, $50,000 to the naval branch of the Brooklyn Young Men's Christian Association and numerous other donations for educational and charitable purposes.

Miss Gould is indeed a unique figure, a wealthy woman, born into the New York smart set, she is yet puritanical, conscientious, modest, loyal, conservative, charitable and utterly indifferent to that phase of society which means a laborious career and a heart-burning competition.

Annually she gives in charity tens of thousands of dollars, and with her liberal inclination in this direction it is well that she is a trained business woman (she has had a good course in law) for each year demands come to her for over two million dollars. She has received requests for everything, from her autograph on a blank slip, to her signature on a thousand dollar check. In one week alone she had 1,503 appeals, amounting to $1,500,000.

One of her sweetest charities is the home for poor children at Lyndehurst, and another at Woodycrest, three miles out of Tarrytown, New York, where she cares for twenty-five little ones. To all these benefactions has she given greatly, and then the half has not been told.

Women of America

Source: The Part Taken by Women in American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.