She read shipping statistics, tariff news, currency debates, the latest on securities and investments, and trade news from New York. And so from a young age Hetty read the financial news to her father, and to her maternal grandfather, Gideon Howland, a partner in the firm. Perhaps the only thing about Black Hawk Robinson that could be described as weak was his eyesight. Her father first made his fortune in the Massachusetts whaling industry (as my ancestors had), and when his vision began to fail, he called upon sharp-witted little Hetty to help him Slack points out is that Hetty's financial acumen started very early in her life. Hetty Green has crossed my path in a number of ways through the years, and I'm glad to finally know of her from a more sympathetic source. She is remembered largely for her eccentricities and parsimony, but this biography revealed a much more complex and competent woman, and one for whom I now feel tremendous respect. Hetty Green, AKA 'the Witch of Wall Street'. When I was a child, I remember looking at this photograph of the woman who topped the list of the world's greatest misers in The Book of Lists: Mrs.
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