Hetty Green – America’s First Female Tycoon
I was first introduced Hetty Green during the Bicentennial. LIFE Magazine had put out a special issue on noted American women during the previous two hundred years of the nation’s existence and Hetty was one of the women. Of course, they chose the least flattering picture they could find, Hetty during her later years when she was noted for her eccentricities. She was nicknamed “The Witch on Wall Street,” which is interesting when you consider there were hardly any women on Wall Street or in business in the 19 th century. All of which makes Hetty’s accomplishments all the more remarkable. Unlike Victoria Woodhull and her sister Tennessee Claflin, Hetty didn’t get her stock tips from a railroad tycoon like Cornelius Vanderbilt. She studied the markets closely, bought low and sold high (Warren Buffett would have been proud), and kept her expenses low by borrowing a desk in the offices of Chemical bank (which later merged with J.P. Morgan). ...