Businessman, US Congressman. The son of financier August Belmont Sr., he was born into a family of wealth and privilege. He attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, graduating in 1880. He served a year as a Midshipman before resigning his commission in 1881. When his father died in 1890, he inherited much of his wealth, throwing some of it into the construction of Belcourt Castle, his summer home in Newport, Rhode Island. In 1896 he married Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, who had once been married to business magnate William Kissam Vanderbilt. He worked for his fathers banking operation, and parlayed that to a run for Congress in 1900. He was elected as a Democrat to represent New York’s 13th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, serving a single term from 1901 to 1903. His family mausoleum, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, where he and his wife are interred, is an exact replica of The Chapel of Saint Hubert at Chateau Amboise in France, which was designed by Leonardo DaVinci. His maternal grandfather as Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry. (bio by: Russ Dodge)  Family links:  Parents:  August Belmont (1816 – 1890)  Caroline Slidell Perry Belmont (1829 – 1892)  Spouse:  Alva Smith Belmont (1853 – 1933)  Siblings:  Perry Belmont (1851 – 1947)*  August Belmont (1853 – 1924)*  Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (1858 – 1908)  Raymond Rodgers Belmont (1863 – 1887)* *Calculated relationship