Amy Hewitt Green

Born February 28, 1856. Died May 25, 1922.

Of all his grandchildren, Amy Hewitt Green was the closest to Peter Cooper. She was the eldest child of his only surviving daughter, Sarah Amelia Hewitt, and was born at his residence, No. 9 Lexington Avenue, built by him when Mrs. Hewitt was eighteen years old, and where she was married and always lived until her death, in order to be as close as possible to her parents and to care for her rather during his wonderful and beautiful old age.

As a small child, Mrs. Green endeared herself especially to her grandfather by the great sweetness of her disposition, her winning ways, unusual intelligence, and her marked desire to understand the thoughts and ideas of older people. Therefore, as soon as she was old enough, he made her his constant companion, frequently driving her himself down to the Cooper Union, in his one-horse four-wheel carriage, with its open front (so well known to all the old New Yorkers, as to be almost a landmark), where she went with him all over his beloved building, during the daily visits which he so rarely missed.

Then later, although still a very young girl, she accompanied him to the Free Lectures, held every Saturday evening in the Big Hall of the Cooper Union, about which he talked to her afterwards, even when some of the scientific subjects must have been far too abstruse for her to grasp, and doubtless very wearisome for a girl of her age, as those were the days when very few of even the most popular lectures were illustrated by magi-lantern slides thrown upon a screen, and more often the lectures only emphasized their points upon the humble and depressing blackboard.

In spite of this unusually severe mental training, which most high spirited children would have resented, Mrs. Green's invariable patience, sweetness of disposition, and sympathetic interest, together with a genuine thirst for knowledge never failed her, and as she grew up this early training bore fruit by developing in her heart that love and understanding of the Cooper Union and the hopes and aims of its Founder that was only equalled by that of her mother. Mrs. Hewitt's constant care for an invalid mother, partially blind, and a family of six children prevented her from taking her daughter Mrs. Green's place, which the latter did so simply and unselfishly, while Mrs. Hewitt, throughout her entire life, proved her abiding love and ever increasing interest in the Cooper Union by the extraordinary sacrifices she constantly made for it.

Amy Hewitt Green, therefore, devoted much of her time to the work of the Ladies' Advisory Council of the Woman's Art School and of the School for Typewriting and Stenography of the Cooper Union, of which she was the permanent Secretary, with the exception of seven winters spent in Europe with her husband after their marriage. No personal or money sacrifice was too great for her, and it was largely owing to her beautiful example and profound interest in everything concerning the Cooper Union, and the inspiration derived from her personal devotion and constant interest that first aroused in her two younger sisters the desire to be of service to it also.

For many years, Mrs. Green's generosity was quite out of proportion to her somewhat limited means, and through succeeding years she was always the first to come forward with both hands wide open, whenever she saw an opportunity to start or develop some plan that would prove beneficial to the Cooper Union by upholding it's high standard and expanding its usefulness. At the time she relinquished her share of her grandfather's trust fund she had practically no other income. Doubtless she always bore in mind those beautiful and characteristic lines that Joaquin Miller wrote about Peter Cooper at the time of his death:

The above text was taken from a Memorial in the Annual Report of the Cooper Union, 1923.

The following text is taken from a statement by the Friends of Ringwood Manor:

Amelia was the only Hewitt daughter to wed. She married Dr. James O. Green (1842-1924), the future President of Western Union Telegraph, in a great society wedding held at Ringwood in 1886. The wedding was one of the most impressive events to ever occur at Ringwood Manor.

Amelia was the mother of two children - Norvin Hewitt Green (1893-1955) and Eleanor Margaret Green (1895-1966). Margaret married Prince Viggio of Denmark in 1924. The wedding took place in New York City, and a room at Ringwood Manor was decorated for the honeymoon.

Note: There is a narrative account of the wedding of Amy Hewitt by Louis West, who grew up on the estate. This account will be included here in the future.