GEORGE FABYAN
George Fabyan was born on March 15, 1867 in Boston, Massachusetts to George Francis and Isabella Fabyan. He was the oldest of five and had two brothers and two sisters. His father was co-owner of Bliss, Fabyan and Company—a large company known for producing and selling textiles and dry goods. The company became famous for a fabric called Ripplette, which was similar to seersucker.
When George was 17, his father insisted he enroll in medical school. George refused and instead headed west. He found his success in the western part of the United States and worked for different companies, one of them being Union Pacific Railroad.
Around 1890, George met Nelle Wright, who was from Marinette, Wisconsin, and they married in March of 1891. Shortly thereafter, George reconciled with his father and began working at the Bliss, Fabyan and Company office in Chicago.
George was a very patriotic American, serving on several military committees whereby he was given the honorary title of Colonel from Illinois Governor Richard Yates in 1901. In 1905, George was asked by President Theodore Roosevelt to help with negotiations between the Russians and Japanese at the end of the Russo-Japanese War. His work on the resulting Treaty of Portsmouth earned George the Order of the Rising Sun award from the Empire of Japan.
As the oldest son, George inherited his father’s company when his father passed away in 1907. The Fabyans’ net worth at that time was estimated at $10 million which is equivalent to over $300 million today. With his inheritance, George built a lavish estate with farms, exotic animals, concrete sculptures, greenhouses, a Dutch windmill, a Japanese Garden, science laboratories and more about one mile south of Geneva. He and Nelle called their estate “Riverbank.”
George died in 1936 in Geneva and is buried in his family’s hometown of Boston.
