American Folk Figure. Called "America's Greatest Gambler", he started running a small faro parlor in Pawtucket, Rhode Island that landed him in jail. In Providence he established a gambling parlor as well. At separate times he ran two high stakes gambling houses in New York City; one which was across from the famous Delmonico Club. He acquired the Nautilus House in Newport, Rhode Island; another gambling resort as well. This was not too profitable. Perhaps his most famous stint was the owner/proprietor of the Casino in Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York. This gambling paradise was finely furnished and only allowed in high stakes gamblers. Gamblers at Canfield houses were always feted to the finest of foods. It was his Casino at Saratoga Springs that "invented" the Club Sandwich and the gambler's buffet. The solitaire game "Canfield" was named for him. He collected antiques and paintings,, and became a noted critic of art was well as a friend of James MacNeill Whistler (just before his death in 1914 Canfield had the second largest Whistler collection in the world). Whistler's last oil portrait, which was unfinished, was of Canfield titled "His Reverence." Canfield pulled out of gambling shortly after the turn-of-the-century, pursued his collecting and ran a successful glass operation. He died as a result of a fall in a New York subway station – which fractured his skull. He was cremated and his ashes brought back to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where his remains are buried in the Canfield family plot in the Old Section of Oak Grove Cemetery.
American Folk Figure. Called "America's Greatest Gambler", he started running a small faro parlor in Pawtucket, Rhode Island that landed him in jail. In Providence he established a gambling parlor as well. At separate times he ran two high stakes gambling houses in New York City; one which was across from the famous Delmonico Club. He acquired the Nautilus House in Newport, Rhode Island; another gambling resort as well. This was not too profitable. Perhaps his most famous stint was the owner/proprietor of the Casino in Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, New York. This gambling paradise was finely furnished and only allowed in high stakes gamblers. Gamblers at Canfield houses were always feted to the finest of foods. It was his Casino at Saratoga Springs that "invented" the Club Sandwich and the gambler's buffet. The solitaire game "Canfield" was named for him. He collected antiques and paintings,, and became a noted critic of art was well as a friend of James MacNeill Whistler (just before his death in 1914 Canfield had the second largest Whistler collection in the world). Whistler's last oil portrait, which was unfinished, was of Canfield titled "His Reverence." Canfield pulled out of gambling shortly after the turn-of-the-century, pursued his collecting and ran a successful glass operation. He died as a result of a fall in a New York subway station – which fractured his skull. He was cremated and his ashes brought back to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where his remains are buried in the Canfield family plot in the Old Section of Oak Grove Cemetery.
Bio by: Jim Grasela
Family Members
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