According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Hetty Green may have been the biggest miser who ever lived.
Her father died when she was 30 leaving her an inheritance
of more than $100 million in today’s money. Though it was unusual for a woman
to be involved with banking & investments at the time, she concentrated all
of her efforts & attention on growing the family fortune.
Her focus on money drove a wedge between her husband &
their two children. And the family was scattered. Known for eating cold oatmeal
to save money for heating & washing only the hem of her dress to save money
on soap, she was sometimes called the “Witch of Wall Street.”
When her son, Ned, broke his leg as a boy, she tried to have
him treated in a free clinic for the poor, before treating him at home. His leg
would later have to be amputated.
When she died, Hetty Green was worth the equivalent of some
4 billion dollars today, but she was alone & miserable.
1 Tim 6:10 (TLB): “For the love of money is the first step
toward all kinds of sin. Some people have even turned away from God because of
their love for it, and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows.”
- (ministry127.com)
“Never was a miser a brave soul.” - George Herbert.
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