- George P. Wetmore
George Peabody Wetmore (
August 2 ,1846 -September 11 ,1921 ) was aUnited States Senator fromRhode Island . Born in London, England, during a visit of his parents abroad, Mr. Wetmore received his early education at the private schools of Messrs. Reed and Thurston and of the Rev. William C. Leverett inNewport, Rhode Island . He graduated fromYale College , where he was a member ofSkull & Bones .After graduation he studied for two years at the
Columbia Law School . He received the degree of LL.B. in 1869, and was admitted to the bars of Rhode Island and New York the same year, although he never practiced. He had always taken an active interest in politics and in 1880 and 1884 was apresidential elector . He was electedGovernor of Rhode Island in 1885 and served two terms, but was defeated for a third term. He was a member of the commission that built the newRhode Island State House at Providence.In 1894 he was elected as a Republican to the
United States Senate , receiving the unanimous vote of the General Assembly in Senate, House, and joint convention. In 1907, he was challenged for his seat by another Republican, industrialistSamuel P. Colt . The three-way contest between Wetmore, Colt and Democrat Robert H.I. Goddard resulted in months of deadlocked ballots and a vacant seat in Rhode Island's delegation to the60th Congress . Eventually Colt withdrew, and Wetmore returned to the Senate onJanuary 22 ,1908 . Ironically, Colt's brother,LeBaron B. Colt , was elected to succeed Wetmore upon Wetmore's retirement from the Senate.In the Senate, Wetmore was, first, chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, and then chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library for sixteen years. He was also a member of the Appropriations, District of Columbia, Naval Affairs, Public Buildings and Grounds, and other committees. His last term in the Senate ended
March 4 ,1913 .He had a deep interest in the building up of the Navy and the development of the naval base in
Narragansett Bay . He served as chairman of the joint commission appointed by Congress to prepare plans for the completion of theUnited States Capitol in Washington; was chairman of the firstLincoln Memorial Commission and a member of the commission that erected the National Lincoln Memorial in Washington; and was a member of theGrant Memorial Commission, as well as many others for the erection of statues and memorials. He was greatly interested in the improvement and development of Washington and the District of Columbia on a definite artistic plan, and was particularly identified with the legislation creating theNational Commission of Fine Arts .In private life Mr. Wetmore was for many years associated with various organizations for promoting the fine arts. He was one of the organizers of the
Metropolitan Opera in New York and a member of the committee in charge of the construction of the Metropolitan Opera House. He was a trustee of thePeabody Museum of Natural History at Yale and of thePeabody Education Fund . In 1888 he was nominated as aFellow of the University, but declined to have his name considered. He was one of the founders of the Jockey Club, vice president of the National Horse Show Association of America, and a director of other organizations for improving the breeding of horses.At his home in Newport he was a trustee of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum, president and a trustee of the Newport Hospital, and president of the Newport Reading Room and the Newport Casino. He was a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati .He was married December 22, 1869, in New York City, to Edith Malvina Keteltas. Her father, Eugene Keteltas, had been a member of the Yale College Class of 1822, but left before graduation, and was graduated at
Union College in 1822. Yale gave him the honorary degree of M.A. in 1870. Mrs. Wetmore's grandfather, Philip Doddridge Keteltas, was Yale 1792; her great-grandfather, Rev. Abraham Keteltas, graduated at Yale in 1752 and was admitted to the M.A. degree at Yale andPrinceton University in 1755; and her great-great-grandfather, William Smith, was Yale 1719.Mr. and Mrs. Wetmore had four children: Edith Malvina Keteltas; Maude Alice Keteltas; William Shepard Keteltas (B.A. 1897); and Rogers Pickman Derby Keteltas.
Mr. Wetmore died September 11, 1921, in
Boston .
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.