One of the fun things for fans of The Gilded Age is to look for the stories that inspired the series and that are part of its narrative. Here in Miscelana, there are several illustrated moments that have already made or will make a difference in the series. The most cited are the mirrors of Alva and Consuelo Vanderbilt in Bertha and Gladys Russell, since Caroline Astor, Ward MacAllister, and other “real” ones circulate among the fictional ones. To date, however, I have not addressed the inspiration for George Russell, who many have assumed to be Alva’s husband, William Kissam Vanderbilt. It is not. George already mentioned in episode 3 of the second season: the robber baron, Jason ‘Jay’ Gould.

We don’t know much about George Russell’s past, only that he was one of the rising railroad millionaires in the United States in the 1880s. Loving with his children, and in love with his wife, George is ruthless when it comes to business. Compared to his source, George is an angel as Jay was known as Machiavellian and even one of the most hated men in America. In times when rich people were rare, millionaires were even less so, being a billionaire was an achievement and Jay Gould reached that level, being attacked, threatened, and arrested (without spending a day behind bars) before dying at the age of 56, in 1892, of tuberculosis. Without exploring George, let’s understand who Jay was? By the way, Jay made an appearance in the first episode of season 2, during a meeting with George…

Jay Gould may have been a billionaire in the Gilded Age, but he was born poor. One lesson he learned early was to be unscrupulous: no law, person, or relationship would get in the way of his goal of achieving fortune. At the age of 17, still working as a surveyor on a railway, work was interrupted, but it was young Jay who suggested “screw legality”, convincing the executives and starting his career. A workaholic, he did not fight in the Civil War. Because he was methodical, he stood out at work. Investments in railways began in 1859, adopting corruption to avoid the legal barriers he encountered.

As George did with greedy men, Jay scammed men from traditional, or “new” money families, like the Vanderbilts, from whom he took more than seven million dollars. He bought justice, tried to monopolize the gold market in 1869, and threatened the entire US economy. Intelligent and almost sociopathic, he was almost like Scrooge McDuck: obsessed with money and even mentioned by Mark Twain as “the most powerful disaster that ever befell this country.” He was soon the most hated man in his country.

And if there is one point that balances Jay Gould’s bad reputation, it is his dedication to his family. Faithful to Helen Day Miller, with whom he had six children, he fell out with none other than Caroline Astor and Ward MacAllister, precisely because of the Four Hundred list. Because Mrs. Astor disliked Jay Gould, she refused to recognize his family as worthy of being on the list. Eventually, she relented.

Today Jay Gould is considered the most astute stock market analyst in American history. Passionate about railways, he came to control 25,000 kilometers of tracks, dominating 15% of the country’s largest and most important industry. If George is like him, I only worry about his health and whoever wants to disrupt his business. As we are seeing again!

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