To Know a Vail, Part 1

The original owner of Willow Hall was a self-described “blacksmith, engineer, and manufacturer”, but George Vail was also a businessman, politician, diplomat and judge. George seems to have inherited these traits from his industrious father Stephen Vail, founder of the Speedwell Iron Works. Stephen passed on the Iron Works business to George in 1844 who continued his father’s tradition of hardworking and innovative industrialism.

George’s life extended far beyond his home in Speedwell as he became a member of the New Jersey Legislature in 1843 and a U.S. Congressman in 1852. He was also a New Jersey Delegate to the World’s Fair in London, a member of the U.S. Consulate in 1858, a Judge in the Court of Errors and Appeals and a founder of the Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.

To give credit where credit is due, this clever title was borrowed from an article run in the Star Ledger several years ago.