Image of Oaklawn, home of James Stillman. From George Champlin Mason’s “Newport and Its Cottages, 1875” part of the NHS collection.
John D. Rockefeller was one of the few great industrialists who did not have a presence in Newport because he preferred the hills of upstate New York. Son John D. Jr. married Abigail Aldrich of Providence and brother William established connections to Newport through business partner, friend and in-law James Stillman. Descended from early Seventh Day Baptist settlers of Westerly, James Stillman (1850-1918) was a partner in Standard Oil, president of the National City Bank of New York and had interests in railroads with J.P. Morgan and E.H. Harriman. In 1892 he purchased “Oaklawn,” the old Charles Russell cottage on Narragansett Avenue and spent summers there with his two daughters, who were married to William Rockefellers’ two sons. The house remained in the family until 1922 and was later demolished to make way for “Bois Dore” in 1926.
Interior at Oaklawn, by Ludovici’s Photographic and Crayon Studios of New York and Newport. Image from the NHS collection.