W. Gerard Vermilye, Jr.
The career of W. Gerard Vermilye illustrates the kind of mobility Wall Street jobs seemed to offer. Vermilye had begun working at the firm in 1889, at the age of 21, earning a salary of $250. He received six raises over the following three years and by the end of 1892 his annual salary was $900. Then, in February 1893, his salary was further advanced to $1,200, and that same year he was married. The depression of the 1890s probably explains why he did not receive another raise until the end of 1896, but that year his salary was raised to $1,500. In early 1899, it was raised again to $2,500, and at the end of the year he shared in the one-third-of-salary bonus that all Brown Brothers employees enjoyed. In 1900, he lived at Chestnut St. in Englewood, N.J. and was recorded as a head of household. Once again he received additional salary bumps over the following years, as well as bonuses, so that by mid-July 1910 he was earning $7,000 in annual salary. By 1910, he was living on Anderson Rd. in Closter, N.J. on a 23-acre estate which he described as a farm and was recorded as a head of household.
Vermilye's article "Camping Trips in Maine" illustrates how Wall Street careers enabled men to relax in nature on vacation while also enjoying the pleasures of a companionate marriage. While men had opportunities to prove their virility by hunting and fishing, Vermilye insisted this was not the only reason to undertake a camping trip. He noted that his family wanted to take the trip because "We wanted a vacation of the satisfying kind that would not only prove enjoyable at the time, but that would give us something by way of reminiscence to carry with us through the winter, and perhaps a little of it always." He framed the vacation as an opportunity for both men and women to learn from and enjoy their observation of nature while getting away from urban life and its inferior experiences, happily recalling the opportunity to eat "some juicy venison steaks that would never have been recognized as being even distantly related to the kind sold in city markets."
