- Godfrey M. Hyams
Godfrey M. Hyams (1859-1927) was an American
metallurgist ,civil engineer ,financier , andphilanthropist .Hyams was born in
Baltimore, Maryland . His family moved toBoston, Massachusetts while he was a child. He graduated from Boston English High School and attendedHarvard College , where he graduated in 1881. [ http://www.hyamsfoundation.org/history.html ]Hyams became an investment banker based in Boston, and specialized in natural resources. He was responsible for the growth of such companies as the
Anaconda Mining Company . In the early 20th century, he was the principal financial manager for the construction of theDeepwater Railway inWest Virginia and theTidewater Railway inVirginia , which were combined in 1907 to form theVirginian Railway (VGN), completed in 1909. The new railroad, ostensibly headed by coal mining managerWilliam Nelson Page ofAnsted, West Virginia , was financed almost entirely from the personal fortune of asilent partner , industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, a native ofFairhaven, Massachusetts . It opened up major new areas ofbituminous coal in some of the most rugged terrain in southern West Virginia for shipment toHampton Roads , where a newcoal pier was built atSewell's Point .Godfrey M. Hyams remained an officer of the Virginian Railway for the rest of his life. He remained unmarried, and when he died in 1927, he left the bulk of his estate in trust for charitable purposes. It was one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever made in Massachusetts. [ http://www.hyamsfoundation.org/history.html ]
His funds and those of a sister were combined later, and are now handled by The Hyams Foundation, Inc. [ http://www.ebcwestford.net/history.php ]
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.