Elizabeth Muhlenberg Brooke was born on April 25, 1916, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family whose name already carried history. Her father, George Brooke Jr., was a banker and steel manufacturer whose family roots were embedded in Pennsylvania industry. Her mother, Lucile Stewart Polk of Baltimore, descended from President James K. Polk and had survived the sinking of the Titanic four years before Elizabeth's birth. That tragedy would shadow the family name, though Elizabeth herself later dismissed it with impatience. It had happened before she was born, she would say, and she refused to let it define her. George Brooke & His daughter Elizabeth She was raised at Almondbury on the Main Line, in a world of formal gardens, long drives, and inherited expectations. Almondbury Her education carried her from Miss Wright's School to Westover in Connecticut, and then to Paris, where she spent three formative years. In Paris she discovered art not as decoration but as revelation. Under the guidance of Madame Chapon, she visited the Louvre several times each week. Standing before eighteenth and nineteenth century masters, she asked herself a question that would quietly shape her life. If such beauty existed in the past, what were artists creating now. Lucile Stewart Polk Brooke Her mother died on October 26, 1934. Elizabeth was eighteen. She had made her debut the previous season, stepping into society just as the most complicated influence in her life disappeared. On May 29, 1936, she eloped to Elkton, Maryland, and married Thomas Wilton Phipps, nephew of Lady Astor. The marriage was impulsive and romantic. Soon after, they sailed for London. In London she entered a vivid Anglo American circle of writers, decorators, and aristocratic families. She did not drink, but she drove friends from party to party and absorbed the energy around her. On November 24, 1937, her son Wilton, called Tony, was born in Twickenham. She was twenty one. Edward James Reeves The marriage fractured within three years. In July 1939, she obtained an uncontested divorce in Reno on grounds of cruelty. Less than a month later, on August 21, 1939, she married Edward James Reeves in Bar Harbor, Maine. Reeves was a New York stockbroker, and she returned to Manhattan life. On March 20, 1942, their daughter Joan was born in New York City. Ten months later, on January 26, 1943, Reeves died at the age of thirty seven. Elizabeth was twenty six, widowed with two small children. Betty Brooke Reeves 1943 On February 1, 1944, she married John Randolph McLean in Bryan County, Oklahoma. Jock & Betty Mclean Through that marriage she entered Texas life, dividing her time between Dallas and Newport. Dallas in the 1940s was wealthy and ambitious but culturally cautious. Elizabeth was neither cautious nor timid. In 1951 she opened the Betty McLean Gallery in Dallas, the first gallery in Texas devoted exclusively to contemporary European and American art. She hung Picasso and Monet on walls in a city that was not yet comfortable with modernism. She exhibited living artists whose names were unfamiliar to most collectors. The gallery did not make her rich. It made her influential. Her marriage to McLean ended on April 30, 1953, when a divorce decree was finalized in Miami. Thomas Walter Blake Jr. On September 12 of that same year, she married Thomas Walter Blake in Dallas. Two sons followed in close succession. Thomas Brooke Blake was born on June 6, 1954. Douglas Walter Blake was born on July 17, 1955. Her gallery closed in the mid 1950s, but its effect endured. She shifted from dealer to institutional force. She became deeply involved with the Dallas Museum of Contemporary Arts and later helped guide its merger with the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, shaping what would become the Dallas Museum of Art. She served in leadership roles with the American Federation of Arts and for decades sat on acquisitions committees, most notably at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. She trusted her own eye. She bought what moved her rather than what was fashionable. Wilton "Tony" Phipps On July 9, 1959, her eldest son Tony died in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, at the age of twenty one. Her marriage to Thomas Walter Blake ended in the early 1960s. Samuel Allen Guiberson III at Dallas Love Field, Dallas Texas in June 1940 On September 27, 1962, she married Samuel Allen Guiberson III, an inventive Texas oilman. That marriage lasted until May 25, 1973, when it ended in divorce in Dallas. After that, she did not marry again. The remaining forty three years of her life were lived independently. She divided her time between Dallas and Newport, where she had summered as a girl and where she had first stepped into society. In Newport she was known as Boop, a nickname from her youth. She swam in the ocean into her nineties. She drove herself long after others surrendered their keys. She read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal daily, using a magnifying glass when necessary. She remained a practicing Christian Scientist and abstained from alcohol and tobacco. She traveled widely and even trekked in Nepal in her late eighties. Artists found in her not a decorative patron but a champion. She supported emerging painters and sculptors before they were safe choices. She hosted gatherings where artists and collectors mingled easily. Her homes in Dallas and Newport were filled with serious art and serious conversation. Over time, her collection grew to include major figures of twentieth century art. Much of it would pass to her children or to museums, extending her influence beyond her lifetime. Elizabeth Muhlenberg Brooke 1934 On August 8, 2016, at the age of one hundred, Elizabeth Muhlenberg Brooke Blake died in Newport, Rhode Island, following complications from a fall at her home. She was buried at Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard in Portsmouth. She had been a Philadelphia heiress, a London bride, a Manhattan widow, a Texas pioneer in modern art, and a Newport matriarch. Through marriage, widowhood, reinvention, and independence, she remained unmistakably herself. Her legacy is not merely the art she owned, but the cultural confidence she helped instill in a city still learning to look forward.

Abraham Kingsley Macomber was born 7 March 1875 in Morristown, New Jersey, the son of Henry Kirke Macomber and Amelia Montague Collerd. While still young he moved with his family to Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, where his father became known locally as Dr. H. K. Macomber. Kingsley grew up in a city that was expanding in the closing years of the nineteenth century, and later reminiscences recalled him as one of the boys of early Pasadena, first on El Molino Avenue and later on Colorado Street. As a young man he developed strong interests in horses and travel. In 1894 he joined Frederick Russell Burnham and a small party of Americans on an expedition into Central Africa. The group spent approximately six months surveying and mapping mineral regions in what is now Zimbabwe. During hostilities associated with the Matabele uprising, they were caught in the Siege of Bulawayo, where a small force held out until relieved by British troops. After leaving Africa, Macomber traveled to London and was later associated with the Royal Geographical Society before returning to the United States. By the late 1890s his name appeared frequently in connection with Southern California horse shows and sporting events. In March 1899 newspapers announced his engagement to Laura Myrtle Harkness of New York City. She was the daughter of Lamon Vanderburgh Harkness. The marriage was celebrated 27 September 1899 at the Harkness residence on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, with Rev. Dr. Wilton Merle Smith officiating. Afterward, Kingsley and Myrtle divided their time between New York and Pasadena. Their daughter, Priscilla Amelia Macomber, was born 22 May 1902 in Pasadena. She died there 10 March 1903. Rancho Cienega de los Paicines During the first decade of the twentieth century Macomber acquired Rancho Cienega de los Paicines in San Benito County, California. The ranch encompassed thousands of acres and operated as a large scale cattle and horse enterprise. Contemporary accounts described extensive herds, saddle horses, ranch employees, and a substantial main residence supported by outbuildings. The property became both a working agricultural operation and a base for his bloodstock interests. Macomber Residence in Pasadena, California A Pasadena feature in 1907 presented his South Orange Grove Avenue residence and its orchid collections. Two years later, on 23 March 1909, his father Henry Kirke Macomber died in Pasadena. Reports in 1910 placed Macomber abroad and noted his purchase of a Bleriot monoplane, reflecting his interest in early aviation. His activities increasingly alternated between California and Europe. Horse racing became the dominant public element of his life in the 1910s. His colt Star Hawk finished second in the 1916 Kentucky Derby. War Cloud In 1918 his colt War Cloud ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby and later won the Preakness Stakes. His stable won other major American races including the Travers Stakes, the Suburban Handicap, and the Withers Stakes. When anti betting legislation in 1911 disrupted racing in the United States, Macomber shifted substantial operations to Europe. By 1919 the Paicines ranch was reported in connection with a significant lease arrangement while his racing interests were increasingly centered overseas. In 1920 he purchased the racing establishment of William K. Vanderbilt in France, including bloodstock and training facilities. From that point forward he was regularly identified in American newspapers as an American sportsman residing in Paris. His horses competed successfully in major European races. In 1923 his colt Parth won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Gold Bridge won the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1933 and again in 1934. During these European years he owned the steam yacht Crusader, which was counted among the notable yachts seen in prewar Deauville. Rancho Cienega de los Paicines was sold in 1927. On 23 June 1928 his brother Henry Jewell Macomber died in San Francisco. By the early 1930s Macomber's base was firmly in France, though he continued to maintain residences in the United States, including Pasadena, New York City, and Stamford, Connecticut. On 5 April 1932 his mother, Amelia Montague Collerd Macomber, died in Seattle. During the 1930s his name continued to appear in racing coverage in both Europe and the United States, and he was frequently described as a leading American owner abroad. In 1941 newspapers reported that his extensive natural history collection, assembled over many years and associated with Frederick Russell Burnham, remained stored near Paris during the war. On 3 December 1944 his brother Leroy Alexander Macomber died in San Francisco. After the Second World War he continued to reside in France while retaining ties to the United States. Abraham Kingsley Macomber died 5 October 1955 at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, France. He was returned to New York and was entombed 8 June 1956 in the Harkness Mausoleum. Seminole The Pullman car, "Seminole," was owned by A. Kingsley Macomber, a business man who was born in 1874 and died in 1956. Macomber was also a racehorse owner and breeder. In 2011, the car was owned by the Old Smoky Railway Museum. For interior photos Click Here

Joshua Seney Cosden was born on 8 July 1881 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was raised in modest circumstances and began working as a drugstore clerk while still a young man. In 1903 he married Ottilie Fowitz. Soon afterward he left Baltimore to seek opportunity in the oil fields of Oklahoma, arriving during the early years of rapid development that transformed small towns into centers of production. He began with manual labor, driving teams and working as a rigger, learning drilling operations from the ground up. After saving enough capital he established a small refinery at Bigheart, Oklahoma. The venture proved profitable and enabled him to expand. In 1913 he built a larger refinery in West Tulsa and organized Cosden and Company. The plant initially processed fewer than five thousand barrels of crude per day. In 1915 he constructed nearly one hundred miles of pipeline to connect the refinery with the Cushing oil field, forming the basis of what became the Mid Continent pipeline system. He organized the Cosden Pipe Line Company and the Cosden Oil and Gas Company to control production, transportation, and refining. In 1917 his interests were consolidated in Cosden and Company, incorporated in Delaware. Within a few years his personal fortune was widely estimated at fifty million dollars. In 1918 he constructed the Cosden Building in Tulsa, regarded as the city’s first skyscraper and a symbol of its growth as an oil capital. That same year his marriage to Ottilie ended in divorce. He later married Eleanor Neves, the former wife of Charles Roeser of Tulsa. As his wealth increased he divided his time between business in the Southwest and residences in the East. He maintained homes in New York, Florida, and Rhode Island, owned a racing stable, and traveled by private railroad car and yacht. In 1924 he and his wife entertained the Prince of Wales during his visit to the United States. In 1923 Cosden commissioned a winter residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on approximately twenty seven acres of oceanfront property at 947 North Ocean Boulevard. The seventy three room mansion, named Playa Riente, was designed by Addison Mizner in a Moorish style and reportedly cost about 1.8 million dollars to construct and furnish. The interiors included murals by José Maria Sert that had originally been painted for Alfonso XIII. Contemporary accounts described the residence as one of the largest and most elaborate in Palm Beach. Its scale, imported architectural elements, and decorated rooms reflected Cosden’s position at the height of his fortune. The property was completed as his financial position began to weaken. By 1925 he had lost control of key holdings, and Mid Continent Petroleum Company acquired his refinery and related assets. In 1926 Playa Riente was sold for approximately the amount invested in it to Anna Thomson Dodge, widow of automobile manufacturer Horace Elgin Dodge. Cosden’s ownership of the estate had lasted only about three years. After the sale he rebuilt part of his fortune. In 1928 he established headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, and invested in West Texas oil fields, accumulating wealth again estimated at fifteen million dollars. The Great Depression, however, substantially reduced his holdings. He continued in oil ventures but never regained his earlier standing. On 17 November 1940 he suffered a fatal heart attack aboard a train near Willcox, Arizona, while traveling to El Paso. He was fifty nine years old. After cremation, his ashes were entombed at Ferncliff Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York.

Carolyn Mary Skelly was born on December 2, 1905, in Marion, Grant County, Indiana, the elder daughter of William Grove Skelly and Gertrude Elizabeth Frank Skelly. When she was born, her father had not yet reached the level of wealth that later defined the family. As his oil interests expanded, the family relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he built a large home that became their primary residence. Carolyn was educated at Mrs. Merrill's School in Mamaroneck, New York, a fashionable eastern boarding school attended by daughters of wealthy families. She completed her schooling there and returned to Tulsa in 1925, resuming residence in her parents' 25-room home. William Grove Skelly & Gertrude Frank Skelly On May 18, 1926, Carolyn Skelly married Freeman Weedman Burford in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Freeman Burford Burford was then a law student who also worked as a truck driver for Skelly Oil Company and was beginning to advance within Skelly's business operations. Following their marriage, Carolyn Skelly Burford and her husband moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Freeman Burford managed the Crystal Oil Refining Corporation. Their life there was structured around refinery operations and his growing responsibilities in the oil industry. Here they welcomed their son William in 1927, and daughter Carolyn in 1929.  By the early 1930s, the Burfords relocated to Dallas, Texas, where Freeman Burford became an oil-company executive. Carolyn Burford became active in Dallas society, and her spending expanded sharply, particularly on clothing, furnishings, and entertaining. Rosewood Mansion aka The Sheppard King Mansion In 1933, the Burfords exchanged residences with Sheppard King, acquiring "Rosewood" the large Italian-Spanish palazzo he had built in the 1920s. The Burfords added $76,000 in cash to complete the exchange and moved into the house, which later became known as the Mansion on Turtle Creek. The property contained elaborate architectural and decorative elements assembled from European sources, including a library modeled after Bromley Palace in England, gates and columns from a cathedral in Spain, and a dining room inspired by the Davanzatti Palace in Florence with a ceiling inlaid with thousands of pieces of wood. After taking possession, Carolyn began an ongoing process of redecoration. Family members later described the scale of her expenditures. Her brother-in-law, Harold Stuart, called her a heavy spender, and her son, Bill Burford, said that even her father was startled by the extent of her spending. Carolyn Burford featured on the cover of the Dallas News in 1933 By the mid-1930s, Carolyn and Freeman Burford were prominent figures in Dallas society during the Depression years. They entertained extensively and hosted major political figures, including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Louisiana governor Huey Long. Rumors circulated that Freeman Burford was being positioned for higher political office. In 1937 their daughter Ann was born.  Carolyn became known for after-hours shopping at Neiman Marcus, where staff remained late to accommodate her. Stanley Marcus later described her as one of the store's most demanding customers. When she selected a fabric, she sometimes ordered matching items made from the same material, requiring special production. Her spending extended to home renovations. In an earlier Dallas residence, she ordered an oak floor removed and replaced with marble without informing her husband. Freeman Burford later returned from the oil fields late at night and fell through the unfinished floor into the basement, breaking his leg. Grand Foyer of Rosewood Mansion Tensions intensified in the late 1930s. Accounts of the separation differ within the family. One version held that Carolyn and her father believed Freeman Burford was violating the Connally "hot oil" act and that legal action followed. Another version held that Freeman Burford moved out first, and that Carolyn threatened to expose him if he did not return. In 1939, Freeman Burford was indicted on charges related to the Connally act. He did not stand trial. The Burfords officially divorced on August 1, 1940. After the separation, the children were divided. Ann remained with her mother, while Freeman Burford raised the two older children, Bill and Carolyn. For a short time Carolyn continued entertaining, but the finances collapsed. William Skelly cut her allowance and agreed to pay only her personal bills. Household staff left. She began selling antiques and furnishings. Clothing purchased on her father's Neiman Marcus account was resold for cash. She rented out cottages on the property for income, and Tennessee Williams occupied one for a time. William Skelly Burford (B.1927) Carolyn Burford (B. 1929) Ann Burford (B.1937) During this same period, Carolyn's physical condition deteriorated and her appearance changed dramatically. No single cause was ever confirmed. Family and acquaintances offered multiple explanations over time, including a skin condition complicated by treatments used in the 1930s and 1940s, injury from a permanent-wave machine, and other theories. Carolyn herself gave differing accounts across the years. Rosewood Mansion in the 1940's By the end of the decade, burdened by debt and declining health, she sold the Dallas mansion and moved with her youngest daughter into a Dallas hotel. As her condition worsened, her daughter appealed to William Skelly for help. He arranged a private flight in the middle of the night, transporting Carolyn to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, where she underwent years of treatment and reconstructive surgery under Dr. James Barrett Brown. 25 Portland Place, St. Louis, Missouri After the collapse of her marriage and the loss of her Dallas home, she withdrew for many years from public life. In the early 1940s she was based in St. Louis. She lived in large private residences, including a Beaux Arts mansion at 25 Portland Place , but remained intensely private. Visitors were limited, and she was often seen in darkened rooms, with her face concealed by veils or wigs. After the deaths of her parents in the 1950's, she became financially independent. Rather than returning immediately to society, she focused on managing and growing her wealth. By the mid-1960s, she placed a discreet advertisement seeking a qualified accountant. Frank Bono Jr. answered and was summoned to her home. When he arrived, she stopped him at the doorway of her upstairs bedroom and asked him to disregard her appearance, attributing her injuries to an oil-field explosion. She questioned him closely about his habits and reliability. After he satisfied her concerns and stated he was bonded, she hired him immediately.   Their working arrangement was controlled and ritualized. Bono slit the envelopes, and she reached inside and pulled out the dividend checks herself. She was receiving checks from dozens of oil companies. She followed her finances closely and instructed Bono that her investing would be in Skelly Oil stock. Bono later described long work sessions that extended into the evening and late dinners afterward. When his wife called to say dinner was ready, Carolyn would ask who was calling and insist he stay until the work was finished, a pattern he attributed to her loneliness. At the same time, she entered prolonged legal conflict with her sister, Joan, and her brother-in-law, Harold Stuart, over the handling of family estates and trusts. She accused them of wrongdoing and hired investigators to follow them. The dispute expanded into countersuits alleging harassment and defamation and dragged on for years. When the litigation finally resolved, she remained in St. Louis. Her daily habits showed sharp contradictions. She clipped grocery coupons and watched expenses closely, but insisted her checking account never fall below two million dollars. She lived in grand surroundings, but her life remained constrained and private. In 1978, at age seventy-two, after years of isolation, she made a deliberate change. Encouraged by Bono to begin spending, she decided she would reenter the world. She lifted the veil she had used for years and replaced it with oversized sunglasses and wigs. She began using Skelly as her last name again after Freeman Burford's death, then she purchased her Newport estate Bois Doré, a French chateau-style mansion built in 1927 in Newport, Rhode Island. It was designed by New York architect Charles A. Platt for William Fahnestock, a New York banker. It was previously owned by the Campbell's Soup heiress Eleanor Dorrance Hill Ingersoll. Jewelry became central to how she presented herself. She bought large, conspicuous pieces in New York and London, favoring scale and visibility. She retained her St. Louis estate but added residences and long-term rentals, including an apartment at River House in Manhattan and a rental in Southampton known as Keewayden. Mr. McMahon & Carolyn Skelly From the late 1970s through the 1980s, she became a constant presence in Newport, Palm Beach, Manhattan, and Dallas. She built a wide circle that mixed society figures with diplomats, jewelers, entertainers, and a revolving cast of escorts. Her routine was structured: early mornings, business handled from her bedroom, staff directed daily, correspondence managed, and an escort chosen each evening from what was known as the "Bachelor Book." Escorts were housed in a designated wing at Bois Doré and were expected to announce themselves formally before the evening began. Financial requests from companions were routed through Bono, who became expert at saying no. Beginning in the early 1980s, she also became the target of an extraordinary series of jewel thefts spanning multiple cities and more than a decade. In March 1982, after arriving at LaGuardia Airport from a weekend in Newport, she entered a limousine headed to her Manhattan apartment. A masked gunman forced his way into the vehicle, held a gun to her head, and directed the driver to stop about a mile from the airport. He stripped her of the jewelry she was wearing, ordered her and the driver onto the floor, and removed four suitcases from the trunk, including one said to contain about one million dollars' worth of jewelry. Carolyn Skelly at The Breakers, Newport, Rhode Island In the early hours of August 16, 1984, Newport police were called to the apartment of one of her maids, where a domestic dispute led officers to a pile of glittering jewelry. The maid had taken it from Bois Doré after a dispute over back wages. Police recovered the jewelry in pillowcases and returned it to the mansion. Items described during the return included a platinum-and-pearl bracelet with diamonds and rubies valued at $585,000 and a necklace said to have belonged to the Empress Joséphine. Late in 1984, she reported the disappearance of about $1.6 million in newly purchased jewelry after returning from London. She had hidden the purchases in a shoe closet at Bois Doré before traveling to St. Louis for a funeral. When the jewelry was to be retrieved afterward, the bag was missing. An anonymous letter titled "The Skelly Jewels" was later received by her and others, alleging mistreatment of employees and giving a contradictory story about the jewelry being lost at J.F.K. airport. The jewelry was not recovered. In August 1985, after arriving at J.F.K. from London with more than a dozen pieces of luggage, she later discovered that several bags were missing, including the jewelry case said to contain five to ten million dollars' worth of jewelry. Two bags later surfaced at J.F.K., but the jewelry case did not. Polygraphs were administered to the pilot, cabdriver, and a companion, and they passed, The jewelry was not recovered. In the early morning hours of August 18, 1986, during a severe storm in Newport, a masked intruder entered her bedroom at Bois Doré while she slept. He carried a knife, addressed her by name, and demanded the rest of her jewelry. When she could not unlatch her bracelets, he removed his gloves and snapped them off himself. He left with what she later estimated at three to five million dollars' worth of jewelry, including diamond and ruby necklaces, a pearl-and-diamond choker, and her favorite ring, a fifty-carat diamond she called "the J Boat." The next night, she went dancing. Through the late 1980s, jewelry continued to vanish after trips and parties, including a turquoise-and-diamond necklace valued at $300,000, a $500,000 diamond pin, a $320,000 set of South Sea pearls, and a $90,000 diamond butterfly bracelet. On August 16, 1990, during a formal gathering at Bois Doré attended by international guests, she went upstairs around 1:30 a.m. while the party continued. The next morning she discovered a necklace valued at one million dollars missing, along with additional jewelry valued at about $200,000. Guests asked to be searched. She refused and dismissed the police, saying she could replace jewels but not friends. Across these incidents, investigators considered a wide range of suspects, including employees, escorts, houseguests, relatives, and close associates. Fingerprints were taken and polygraphs administered in some cases. A large diamond necklace later appeared in a Sotheby's "Magnificent Jewels" auction catalogue in October 1997 and was withdrawn before sale after her family intervened, reopening questions about where some of the stolen pieces had gone. Even as the thefts accumulated, she did not lock down her household. She continued to host, travel, and move through public life as she wished. In 1995, while ascending the staircase at Bois Doré beneath her father's portrait, she fell backward and struck her head on the marble floor. In the hospital afterward, she insisted she would be dancing again. Carolyn was never the same. Carolyn Skelly died in Newport, Rhode Island, on December 10, 1996, at age ninety-one, with the cause of death listed as bacterial pneumonia. After her death, her ashes rested in a jewelry box on her bed at Bois Doré. Later Carolyn's ashes were eventually spread in the garden of her beloved estate.

Marjorie Winifred Kendall was born on September 3, 1898, in Pevely, Jefferson County, Missouri. She was the daughter of Benjamin F. Kendall and Martha Elizabeth Kendall. Her father worked for the railroad, and she spent her early childhood living in modest circumstances near the railroad yards. In 1917 she left Missouri and traveled to New York City. Winnie Kendall After arriving in New York she became involved in theatrical circles. She was engaged as a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies after being noticed by Florenz Ziegfeld. During this period she performed on stage and lived independently while pursuing a career in entertainment. Wallis Clinton Bird Wallis Clinton Bird was the only son of a wealthy Wall Street attorney who was also a major stockholder in Standard Oil. He had a strong interest in the arts and theater and attended Broadway productions regularly. He first saw Winifred Kendall performing in the Ziegfeld Follies and afterward sought her acquaintance. They began seeing one another in New York, where he introduced her to the city's nightlife and social scene, including prominent clubs and restaurants. Marjorie and Wallis were married on May 16, 1930, in Elkton, Maryland. After their marriage they moved to Farnsworth, the former C. K. G. Billings estate Wallis purchased in 1925 on the Gold Coast of Long Island in Locust Valley, New York. At Farnsworth the Birds maintained an extensive estate operation. Bird kept a stable of approximately forty horses and assembled a large automobile collection housed in a purpose built garage. The collection included Hispano Suiza, Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Stutz, Bentley, and Alfa Romeo vehicles, all maintained by a staff of mechanics. The estate became known for large scale entertaining, including outdoor events and performances held on the grounds. Bird also undertook extensive motion picture filming at Farnsworth. Using professional grade cameras, projectors, and editing equipment, he recorded daily life, parties, and staged entertainments at the estate. These films were screened regularly in the ballroom. Marjorie Bird appeared prominently in the footage, which documented social life on the Gold Coast during the interwar years. During this period she traveled frequently, acquired couture clothing and jewelry, and became a visible figure in society. She was featured in fashion publications and appeared on best dressed lists. Her public appearances and presentation became closely associated with the Birds' social standing and the spectacle of life at Farnsworth. On June 5, 1940, Wallis Clinton Bird departed in his private airplane for a flight to the Catskills. While flying over the Hudson River region, the plane encountered a violent storm and was struck by lightning, causing it to crash near the water's edge. His body was recovered the following day. His death ended the marriage and marked a turning point in Marjorie Bird's life. After his death she continued to reside at Farnsworth but gradually spent less time there. She traveled extensively and lived for long periods abroad, particularly in Europe. Over time she became increasingly isolated and dependent on those around her. In 1949, while living in Paris, she became involved with Nicolas Sturdza, a man who presented himself as a Romanian prince. He assumed control over her personal affairs and finances. Around the same period she came under the care of Dr. Gerard Savoy, who presented himself as her personal physician. During the following years she was administered large quantities of sedatives and other drugs, leaving her frequently incapacitated. Her access to independent communication was restricted, and valuable jewelry and assets were removed from her control. In July 1961, while staying at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, Marjorie Winifred Kendall Bird died at the age of sixty two. Her death was initially certified as cerebral hemorrhage. Subsequent investigation and autopsy determined that she died from respiratory failure caused by prolonged drug administration. Both Savoy and Sturdza were later convicted and sentenced to prison. A significant portion of her jewelry was never recovered. After her death Farnsworth and its contents were liquidated under court supervised estate proceedings. In May 1962 the furnishings, automobiles, and personal property of the estate were sold at auction on the premises. Marjorie Winifred Kendall Bird was entombed in the Bird Mausoleum at Hillside Cemetery in Cortlandt Manor, Westchester County, New York.

Claradon Court was built on Bellevue Avenue in Newport between 1903 and 1904 for Edward Collings Knight Jr., a Philadelphia native who had been part of Newport’s summer colony for more than thirty years. Born in Philadelphia on December 14, 1863, he was the son of Edward Collings Knight Sr. and Anna Maria McGill Knight. Edward Collings Knight Jr. He pursued a business career that combined interests in sugar manufacturing and railroads, and for many years was associated with the Pennsylvania Railroad, from which he later retired. By the turn of the twentieth century, Knight had established himself as a seasonal resident of Newport and a participant in its social life, holding memberships in the Reading Room and the Clambake Club. The house was designed by Horace Trumbauer and closely followed an early eighteenth century English design by Colen Campbell. From the outset, it was conceived as a formal summer residence that reflected established taste and permanence rather than architectural display. Clarendon Court, Colorized by AI. from American Homes & Gardens The house was originally known as Claradon Court. Named for his wife and daughter, it was constructed on Bellevue Avenue near Beaulieu, an established neighboring estate that predated it by several decades. At the time of its construction, the surrounding properties reflected an earlier phase of development along the avenue, before the later expansion of large twentieth century houses to the south. Clarendon Court, Colorized by AI. from American Homes & Gardens Knight occupied Claradon Court during the Newport seasons with his wife, Clara Waterman Dwight, whom he married on June 3, 1886. Clara was the daughter of Edward Parsons Dwight of Philadelphia and the granddaughter of Isaac S. Waterman, a Philadelphia merchant and financier. The couple divided their year between Newport and New York, maintaining Claradon Court as their summer home while spending winters in the city. Clara died in January 1910 at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Clarendon Court, Colorized by AI. from American Homes & Gardens In 1922, he married his second wife, Marie Louise Joséphine LeBel. In 1928 Knight commissioned a smaller and less formal residence known as Stonybrook, designed by Horace Trumbauer. As Stonybrook became his primary residence, Claradon Court was no longer central to his household. In the summer of 1929, Knight sold the Bellevue Avenue property to Harry St. Francis Black. Clarendon Court, Colorized by AI. from American Homes & Gardens Harry St. Francis Black. Claradon Court entered a brief transitional period under Harry St. Francis Black. Born in Cobourg, Ontario, on August 25, 1863, Black was the son of Thomas Black, a British army officer, and Elizabeth Wickens Black. He came to the United States at a young age and built a formidable financial career, beginning with engineering and surveying work in the American West before entering banking in Washington State during the 1880s. By the close of the nineteenth century, Black had become closely associated with the George A. Fuller Company, one of the most influential construction and real estate firms of its era. He rose to the presidency of the company following the death of its founder in 1900 and later became chairman of the board of the United States Realty and Improvement Company after a major corporate merger. His professional life placed him at the center of large-scale development in New York and beyond, including involvement in prominent hotels, railroads, and financial institutions. Black maintained his primary residence in New York City, occupying an apartment at the Plaza Hotel, and was widely connected in social and business circles through his club affiliations in New York, Washington, Chicago, and Paris. Although well known among Newport’s summer residents, Black did not establish Claradon Court as a personal residence. Contemporary accounts indicate that the house had been rented prior to his purchase and continued to be rented afterward, with Black never intending to occupy it himself. His ownership of the Bellevue Avenue property was brief and largely administrative. Harry St. Francis Black died on July 19, 1930, at his summer residence known as Allondale in Huntington, Long Island. Following his death, Claradon Court was sold later that year by his widow to Mrs. William Hayward. Mae Cadwell Claradon Court entered a period of renewed residential use following its sale late in 1930 to William Hayward and his wife, Sarah Mae Cadwell. Mae Cadwell had been born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on October 16, 1880, the daughter of Martin Cadwell and Rowena Morgan Cadwell, and had moved within prominent social and financial circles from an early age. Before her marriage to Hayward, she had been widowed twice, first from Selden Bailey Manwaring and later from Morton Freeman Plant, one of the principal figures of New York finance. These marriages placed her firmly within the world of wealth and influence that shaped Newport society in the early twentieth century. William Hayward William Hayward , born in Nebraska City in 1877, was a lawyer whose career took him from the Midwest to New York, where he became deeply involved in public service and military leadership. During the First World War, he commanded the 369th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard, later known as the Harlem Hellfighters, leading the unit through extended combat service in France. After the war, Hayward continued his legal career in New York, serving as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and later returning to private practice. With the purchase of Claradon Court, the Haywards brought the house back into active seasonal use. Under their ownership, the name was altered from Claradon Court to Clarendon Court , the form by which it would thereafter be known. The estate once again functioned as a Newport summer residence. William Hayward died in 1944, leaving Mae as the surviving owner of Clarendon Court. She continued her association with Newport after his death, maintaining the house as part of her seasonal life. In 1945, she married John Edward Rovensky, an international banker and industrial executive. John Edward Rovensky Rovensky had been born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, in 1880 and moved to Pittsburgh as a child. He built a long financial career that began in banking and expanded into international finance and industry. By the middle of the twentieth century, he had served as a senior executive with major banking institutions and later became associated with American Car and Foundry, where he played a role in large scale industrial management during the postwar years. Rovensky maintained a seasonal life divided between Palm Beach, New York, and Newport, and was a longtime member of Newport social institutions including the Reading Room, Bailey’s Beach, and the Newport Country Club. Mae Cadwell Hayward Rovensky died in Newport in 1956. After her death, Clarendon Court passed out of the immediate continuity that had linked it to the Hayward household. Rovensky survived her by more than a decade and died in 1970. Within a short time of his death, the Bellevue Avenue house would pass into new ownership, opening the most publicly scrutinized chapter in its history. Sunny von Bülow Clarendon Court entered its most publicly documented and consequential period in 1970, when it was purchased by Martha Sharp Crawford von Bülow, known as Sunny, for $250,000. With her husband, Claus von Bülow, she brought the house back into full residential use after years of relative quiet. Early in their ownership, Sunny undertook substantial work on the property, investing approximately $600,000 in restoration and modernization. These improvements included updated mechanical systems, security, landscaping, and interior work intended to preserve the house while adapting it to contemporary living. The Von Bulows were responsible for clearing the allee. (Courtesy of Newport Lost & Found, Mike Franco, James Michael & Newport Historical Society) Throughout the 1970s, Clarendon Court functioned as the von Bülows’ Newport residence. The house was used for formal entertaining and family life and remained private, though its occupants were well known within Newport society. Sunny von Bülow In 1979, Sunny von Bülow suffered a medical emergency at Clarendon Court, from which she recovered. A second and far more serious incident occurred in December 1980, when she was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of the house. She never regained consciousness and remained in a coma for the rest of her life. The floorplan of the first floor of Clarendon Court. The red dot marks the bathroom where Sunny was found unconscious. (The Von Bulow Affair by William Wright, 1983). What followed was a prolonged legal and personal unraveling that permanently altered the house’s place in public consciousness. Criminal charges were brought against Claus von Bülow, leading to a trial that resulted in conviction, later overturned on appeal. A second trial ended in acquittal in 1985. During these years, the house stood as a silent witness to events that drew international attention, though it itself remained physically unchanged. Claus von Bülow In December 1985, Claus and Sunny von Bülow were divorced. As part of the settlement, Claus von Bülow relinquished all claims to Sunny’s fortune and ceased living at Clarendon Court. Legal control of the property rested thereafter with Sunny’s interests under court supervision, as she remained incapacitated and institutionalized in New York. From that point forward, Clarendon Court was no longer occupied as a family home. By 1988, the decision was made to sell the estate. The sale required judicial approval and followed a period during which the property was marketed at varying asking prices. That year, Clarendon Court was sold for $4.25 million, formally closing the von Bülow chapter. Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Following its court approved sale in 1988, Clarendon Court entered a period of renewed privacy. The house was purchased for $4.25 million by Glenn Randall, a Washington art dealer and longtime Newport summer resident. After years of public scrutiny during the von Bülow era, the property returned to use as a private residence, and the intense attention that had surrounded it quietly receded. Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics for Private Newport In the years that followed, Clarendon Court remained intact as a single family estate. Unlike many of Newport’s great houses that were converted to institutional use or opened to the public, it continued to serve the residential purpose for which it had been built. The house passed through subsequent private ownership without controversy, its architectural character preserved and its role within the Bellevue Avenue landscape unchanged. Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport In 2021, Clarendon Court was sold again, this time for approximately $30 million, one of the highest residential prices recorded in Rhode Island. The sale reflected both the renewed market for Newport’s historic estates and the enduring appeal of Clarendon Court as a private home rather than a museum or commercial property. Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Today, Clarendon Court remains privately owned, standing as a rare example of a Bellevue Avenue house that has passed through more than a century of changing fortunes while continuing to be lived in as a residence, its story shaped by the lives that passed through it rather than by public display. Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Photo Credit: Vibrant Optics  for Private Newport Special Note: My sincere thanks go to those who so generously shared their time, knowledge, and images in support of this work. I am deeply grateful to Gary Lawrence of Mansions of the Gilded Age , the Newport Historical Society , the historians behind Newport Lost and Found, James Michael, and Mike Franco . I also extend special thanks to Bettie Bearden Pardee of Private Newport and to Vibrant Optics , whose photography and collaboration were invaluable. Their collective generosity made it possible to tell the story of Clarendon Court .

William Douglas Sloane was born on February 29, 1844, in New York City, New York County, New York. He was the third son of William Sloane and Euphemia Douglas, natives of Kilmarnock, Scotland, who emigrated to the United States and established a successful carpet and furnishing business. He was raised in a household closely associated with commerce and skilled craftsmanship, influences that shaped his lifelong involvement in business and philanthropy. At the age of fifteen, Sloane entered his father’s business, which had been founded in 1843. In 1852 his uncle, John W. Sloane, joined the firm, thereafter known as W. and J. Sloane. Sloane advanced steadily within the enterprise and became a full member of the firm in 1866. Under the direction of successive family members, the business grew into one of the leading interior furnishing and decorating firms in the United States. When the company was incorporated in 1891, Sloane became a director and later served as treasurer, remaining actively engaged in its affairs until his death. During the American Civil War, Sloane enlisted on October 31, 1862, as a private in Company H of the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard. The regiment was ordered to Washington in 1863 for federal service. After the war he continued his association with the regiment and was promoted to corporal in 1866 and to sergeant in 1868. He was honorably discharged on May 19, 1871, completing his service as a veteran. Emily Vanderbilt Sloane by Artist: Benjamin Curtis Porter Date Created ~ 1888 On April 20, 1872, Sloane married Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. Through this marriage he became closely connected to one of the most influential families of the Gilded Age, and the couple assumed prominent roles in the social and philanthropic life of New York and Newport. Sloane and his wife devoted substantial resources to charitable work, particularly in the field of medicine. In 1888 they provided the principal endowment for the establishment of the Sloane Hospital for Women in New York City, contributing more than one million dollars. The hospital became an important center for the treatment of women and for medical education and later formed part of the Columbia University and NewYork Presbyterian medical system. Their philanthropic efforts also extended to the Children’s Aid Society and other charitable institutions. His support of higher education was significant. In 1889 Yale University conferred upon him an honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1912 he and his brother, Henry Thompson Sloane, donated more than five hundred thousand dollars to establish the Yale Physics Laboratory as a memorial to their father. Sloane served as a trustee of Columbia University and was a fellow of the New York Historical Society. He also held directorships in numerous corporations, including the Guaranty Trust Company, United States Trust Company, National City Bank of New York, Eastern Steel Company, and the Central and South American Telegraph Company. Elm Court in 1886 Sloane maintained residences in New York and elsewhere and was regarded as a cultivated man of society and a sportsman. With his wife, he commissioned Elm Court in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, designed by the firm of Peabody and Stearns. The estate became one of the largest and most notable country houses in the Berkshires and was a prominent feature of the region’s Gilded Age summer colony. William Douglas Sloane died on March 19, 1915, in Aiken, Aiken County, South Carolina, after a short illness, at the age of seventy one. Funeral services were held at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. He was entombed in the Sloane Mausoleum at the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery in New Dorp, Richmond County , New York. Elm Court was a large Gilded Age country estate constructed in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, for William Douglas Sloane and his wife, Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane. The property was assembled in the mid 1880s on approximately eighty nine acres of land straddling the boundary between Lenox and Stockbridge. Construction of the main house began in 1885 and was completed in 1886. Exterior Photos The mansion was designed by the architectural firm Peabody and Stearns and executed primarily in the American Shingle Style with Tudor and Romanesque influences. When fully completed in 1900, Elm Court contained one hundred six rooms and encompassed approximately fifty five thousand square feet, making it the largest Shingle Style residence ever built in the United States. Rather than a single dominant facade, the house was arranged as an extended horizontal composition with multiple wings, towers, and service sections, reflecting both its scale and its function as a fully operational estate. Grounds & Gardens designed and created by Olmsted The grounds were developed as an integral part of the property. Landscape planning involved Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm, including John Charles Olmsted. The estate included formal gardens, terraces, carriage drives, and extensive lawns designed to merge with the surrounding Berkshire countryside. Numerous outbuildings supported the operation of the household, which required a substantial staff during the summer season. Exterior Photos Elm Court quickly became one of the most prominent residences in the Berkshires summer colony. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Sloanes used the estate as a seasonal residence and entertained extensively. The property was widely regarded as one of the most imposing and socially significant houses in Lenox, frequently referenced in contemporary accounts of Berkshire society. Interior Photos After the death of William Douglas Sloane in 1915, Elm Court remained in family use. In 1919 the estate served as the location for a series of informal diplomatic discussions known as the Elm Court Talks. These meetings brought together American and European political and intellectual figures engaged in post World War One planning and contributed to the broader climate surrounding the Treaty of Versailles and the establishment of the League of Nations. Following the death of Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane in 1946, Elm Court ceased to function as a private family residence. In 1948 the mansion was opened to the public as an inn and social venue, a role it maintained through much of the 1950s. Rising maintenance costs and changing economic conditions led to its closure by the end of that decade. For several decades thereafter, Elm Court stood largely vacant. During this period the building suffered deterioration, vandalism, and loss of interior elements, though the main structure remained standing. Unlike many other Berkshire estates, Elm Court was not destroyed by fire or demolition. In the late twentieth century, preservation efforts were undertaken by descendants of the original owners, and work began to stabilize the structure and protect it from further decay. In the early twenty first century the property changed ownership several times, with successive plans emphasizing restoration and adaptive reuse. In 2022 Elm Court entered a new phase of stewardship focused on preservation of the historic mansion while integrating residential and hospitality development on the surrounding land. Elm Court survives today as one of the most important remaining Gilded Age estates in the Berkshires, distinguished by its unprecedented scale, its architectural significance, and its long association with the social and political history of its era.

Sarah Mae Cadwell was born on October 16, 1880, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Martin Cadwell and Rowena Morgan Cadwell. She was raised in Hartford County within a family well established in civic, political, and social life during the late nineteenth century, and her upbringing reflected the expectations placed on young women of her class. On February 14, 1900, she married Selden Bailey Manwaring of Waterford, Connecticut. The wedding took place at the Wethersfield Congregational Church and was reported as a formal evening ceremony attended by family and friends from across the region. After their marriage, Sarah Mae entered the world of her husband’s hotel and hospitality business. The couple lived in southeastern Connecticut, where Selden Manwaring served for many years as proprietor of the Oswegatchie House in Waterford, a seasonal resort operated by his family. They later spent winters in New London, and Selden eventually worked in New York City as manager of Mendell’s Restaurant in the Grand Central Terminal. In August 1901, Sarah Mae gave birth to their only child, Philip, in Waterford. Her early years of motherhood coincided with growing strain in the marriage. By the early 1910s, the relationship had deteriorated, and Sarah Mae returned with her son to Hartford, where they lived with her mother. In March 1914, after several years of separation, she was granted a divorce from Selden B. Manwaring by the Superior Court. Contemporary reporting made clear that the divorce was final before any remarriage and that Philip remained in her care. Morton F. Plant Only weeks later, in May 1914, Sarah Mae married Morton Freeman Plant, a financier, yachtsman, and heir to the transportation fortune of Henry Bradley Plant. The wedding took place at Plant’s estate at Eastern Point in Groton, Connecticut. With this marriage, her life changed dramatically. Morton Plant formally adopted her son, who thereafter was known as Philip Morgan Plant, establishing him legally as his heir. Philip was raised within the Plant household, surrounded by wealth, property, and the expectations that accompanied one of the largest private fortunes in the country. As Mae Plant settled into her new role, she and her husband divided their time between Connecticut and New York City. Morton Plant commissioned architect Guy Lowell to design a new residence for them at Fifth Avenue and East 86th Street in Manhattan. Conceived as an Italian Renaissance palazzo, the house was among the most architecturally significant private residences built on Fifth Avenue in the early twentieth century and reflected the permanence and ambition of the Plant fortune. Morton F. Plant Mansion During these years, Mae Plant became closely associated with one of the most famous jewelry transactions in American history. In 1917, she selected a rare double strand natural pearl necklace from Pierre Cartier’s New York showroom. Natural pearls of that caliber were then considered more valuable than diamonds and among the most coveted symbols of wealth. The transaction that followed became legendary when the Plant family’s earlier Fifth Avenue mansion was transferred to Cartier in a deal recorded for one hundred dollars, with the necklace included as part of the consideration. The building became Cartier’s permanent New York headquarters, and the necklace became one of the most celebrated jewels of the Edwardian era. Plant Pearl Necklace In 1918, Morton Freeman Plant died, leaving Mae a widow with a teenage son and immense responsibilities tied to a complex estate. His will placed her not merely as a beneficiary but as an active fiduciary. She was named as one of the executors and granted life income from one third of the residue of the estate, both real and personal, with full testamentary power over that share. She also received fee simple ownership of specific New York property. The estate included substantial institutional bequests and remained under structured trust and corporate management, giving Mae long term financial independence and authority. As Philip Morgan Plant matured, he emerged as a wealthy sportsman and gentleman farmer. After graduating from Yale, he began extensive travel abroad, which led to a deep interest in big game hunting in Africa. He made multiple expeditions to East Africa, collecting specimens for the American Museum of Natural History. These included a lion group, a warthog group, and a colobus monkey group that became permanent exhibits. Philip designed a modern trailer used on his expeditions and filmed his travels in color, later using the footage in illustrated lectures he delivered for clubs and charitable benefits across the United States. Colonel William Hayward In 1919, Mae married Colonel William Hayward, a New York attorney and distinguished veteran of the First World War. Hayward had organized and commanded the 369th Infantry Regiment, later celebrated as the Harlem Hellfighters, for its service in France. He later served as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1921 to 1925. During these years, Mae divided her time between New York and New England while Philip continued to establish himself independently. In 1925, Philip married actress Constance Bennett. The marriage attracted intense national publicity and placed both Philip and his mother firmly in the public eye. The union ended in divorce in 1929. Philip later married Edna Dunham, also known as Princess Edna Carlton Dadiani, in 1934. That marriage likewise ended in divorce. During the late 1920s and 1930s, Philip devoted himself increasingly to his Oswegatchie Farms estate in Waterford, Connecticut. There he developed one of the most notable private fancy poultry operations in the eastern United States and assembled a collection of hundreds of rare birds from around the world. The estate became a showplace visited by hundreds each summer. Although his rare birds formed one of the most extensive private collections of their kind, he took particular pride in his poultry, winning hundreds of prizes in major competitions and frequently refusing substantial offers for his champion birds. Philip also played an active role in civic and cultural life. He was a member of the Oswegatchie Fire Department and participated in local political affairs, including seeking the Republican nomination for state representative. He sponsored the Oswegatchie Girls Fife and Drum Corps and later the Connecticut Yankees Boys Fife and Drum Corps, personally arranging programs, motion picture showings, and entertainments for local youth. He was affiliated with numerous fraternal, scientific, and social organizations, including Masonic bodies, the Explorers Club, and institutions associated with natural history and zoology. Clarendon Court By 1930, Mae and Colonel Hayward acquired the estate at 626 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. Completed in 1904 for Edward Collings Knight Jr. and Clara Waterman Dwight and executed by architect Horace Trumbauer from an English design, the limestone mansion was renamed Clarendon Court by Mae and Hayward. The estate became the central residence of Mae’s later life. She converted portions of the former service areas into gallery space and housed a significant art collection there, some of which later entered major American museum collections. Clarendon Court later gained additional cultural notoriety as the home of socialite and heiress Sunny von Bülow. Bust of Philip Morgan Plant (1901-1941) Philip Morgan Plant died in June 1941 at the age of thirty nine after suffering from a heart ailment. He died in a New York hospital with his wife and his mother at his bedside. His funeral services were held at his mother’s Fifth Avenue residence, followed by Masonic services in New London. Through inheritance and reversion, Mae consolidated control over assets that had passed through her son, reinforcing her position as sole steward of major properties, investments, and personal effects. Philip was entombed in the family mausoleum at Cedar Grove Cemetery. Colonel William Hayward died in 1944. Mae continued to reside primarily at Clarendon Court, remaining active in Newport’s civic and charitable life. Her long experience managing complex estates allowed her to maintain her properties and philanthropic commitments without interruption. John Edward Rovensky On July 22, 1954, she married John Edward Rovensky, a prominent New York banker and industrial leader who served as chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Mae Rovensky continued to live at Clarendon Court and remained active in charitable causes, particularly in support of medical institutions. She died in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 21, 1956, one day before her seventy sixth birthday. Her funeral was held at Trinity Church in Newport. She was entombed with her son in the Plant Hayward Rovensky Mausoleum at Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London, Connecticut. After her death, her name was memorialized through philanthropic gifts that led to the construction of the Rovensky Building at Newport Hospital, completed in 1962.

(8 January, 1862 - 30 January, 1934) Franklin Nelson Doubleday was born January 8, 1862, in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, the son of William Edwards Doubleday and Ellen Maria Dickinson Doubleday. His father was a journalist and Civil War correspondent, and the household emphasized writing, publishing, and public affairs. Franklin was educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and later attended Harvard College, where he studied literature and developed an interest in publishing, though he left before completing a degree. Frank N. Doubleday by V. Floyd Campbell After college, Doubleday worked in the publishing industry, gaining practical experience at Charles Scribner’s Sons. In 1897, he entered into a partnership with magazine publisher Samuel S. McClure to form Doubleday and McClure Company. The firm initially focused on publishing books by American authors and leveraged McClure’s magazine network for promotion and distribution. Among the early successes were works by writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Stephen Crane, and Theodore Roosevelt, which helped establish the company’s reputation and financial stability. In 1900, Walter Hines Page joined the firm as a partner, and the company was reorganized as Doubleday, Page and Company. Under Doubleday’s leadership, the firm expanded rapidly, becoming one of the most influential publishing houses in the United States. He emphasized large print runs, national distribution, and close collaboration with authors, helping to modernize American book publishing. The company published fiction, nonfiction, and reference works and became known for both literary quality and commercial success. The Memoirs of a Publisher  — this is Doubleday’s own account of his business and publishing life. Doubleday served as president of the company for many years and was closely involved in editorial direction and business strategy. In 1927, Doubleday, Page and Company merged with the George H. Doran Company to form Doubleday, Doran and Company. At the time of the merger, it was the largest publishing enterprise in the English-speaking world. Following his resignation as president, operational leadership increasingly passed to his son, Nelson Doubleday Sr., who continued to expand the business in the following decades. Franklin Doubleday was married twice. His first marriage was to Neltje Blanchan DeGraff, a naturalist and author known for her popular books on nature and wildlife. She died in 1918. Later that same year, he married Florence Van Wyck Doubleday. He was the father of two children, Nelson Doubleday Sr., who became a leading figure in American publishing, and Dorothy Doubleday Babcock. Franklin Nelson Doubleday died on January 30, 1934, in Coconut Grove, Miami-Dade County, Florida, at the age of seventy-two. He was buried at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York.

(December 9, 1822 – September 12, 1914) American attorney, rancher, investor, art collector, and a major owner and breeder in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. Haggin was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a descendant of one of the state's pioneer families who had settled there in 1775 and a descendant of Ibrahim Ben Ali, who was an early American settler of Turkish origin. He graduated from Centre College at Danville, Kentucky, then entered the practice of law. On December 28, 1846, Eliza Jane Sanders James Ben Ali Haggin married Eliza Jane Sanders of Natchez, Mississippi with whom he had five children. in opening a law office in Sacramento. They moved to San Francisco in 1853. He built a large and impressive Nob Hill mansion on the east side of Taylor Street between Clay and Washington streets, which stood until the earthquake and fire of 1906. Haggin and Tevis married sisters, daughters of Colonel Lewis Sanders, a Kentuckian who had emigrated to California. Haggin and Tevis acquired the Rancho Del Paso land grant near Sacramento. The two invested in the mining business with George Hearst as one of their partners. Hearst, Haggin, Tevis and Co. became one of the largest mining companies in the United States; its operations included the Ontario silver mine in Park City, Utah, the Homestake Mine in South Dakota, and with Marcus Daly, the Anaconda Copper Company in Montana. Share of the Homestake Mining Company, issued 5 November 1879; signed by President JBA Haggin Haggin purchased the Rancho Del Paso horse farm near Sacramento, California in 1859. He made it one of the country's most important horse breeding and Thoroughbred racing operations whose horses competed from coast-to-coast. Haggin owned the colt Tyrant which in 1885 he sent to compete as a three-year-old on the U.S. East Coast where he won the prestigious Withers and Belmont Stakes, the latter becoming the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. The following year his colt Ben Ali won the 1886 Kentucky Derby. Sadly his wife Eliza died in 1893 and on December 30, 1897, the seventy-five-year-old Haggin married twenty-eight-year-old Margaret Pearl Voorhies at her stepfather's residence in Versailles, Kentucky. Miss Voorhies was a niece of his first wife. Haggin bought Elmendorf Farm in Lexington in 1897 and expanded the property by purchasing many of the farms surrounding it. Haggin transformed Elmendorf into a nationally renowned stud farm with horses sporting distinguished bloodlines. It also was a dairy operation noted for its progressive practices. During the 1890s and 1900s, the 500-acre farm expanded to 13,000 acres. After Haggin purchased Elmendorf Farm, he built a grand mansion as a wedding gift to his new wife. In March 1900, the Haggins began planning and reviewing improvements to the farm, including the new main residence. The mansion was built on a hill overlooking North Elkhorn Creek to the north and the stallion barn and training track to the west. The house was more than 12,000 square feet and built of brick and white marble. It included three stories and a full basement. A stone balustrade surrounded the roofline. Mrs. Haggin named the mansion Green Hills because of the beautiful view of Bluegrass country. Green Hills had 40 rooms, and its estimated construction cost was $300,000, which would translate to  approximately $10 million today. To outfit the home’s interior, Haggin hired New York’s Herter Brothers—Gustave and Christian Herter—famed interior designers who catered to the affluent. They previously had designed the interior of Haggin’s brownstone on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Villa Rosa Haggin died September 12, 1914, at his Newport, Rhode Island, residence Villa Rosa, brought by train to New York and after a private funeral Mr. Haggin's Mahogany casket was entombed in the Haggin Mausoleum, Lake View Plot, Section 74 of Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. Mausoleum Photo by Neil Funkhouser Mausoleum Photo by Neil Funkhouser Mausoleum Window Photo by Neil Funkhouser

(February 25, 1848 – September 9, 1909) Edward Henry Harriman was born on February 25, 1848, in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York. He was the son of Orlando Harriman and Cornelia Neilson Harriman. Both parents came from families with social standing but limited financial success, and the household lived with a strong sense of pride coupled with persistent economic insecurity. Orlando Harriman was educated and intellectually inclined, and at various points in his life worked in business and served as a Presbyterian deacon, but he never achieved lasting financial stability. Cornelia Harriman was protective of her children and deeply conscious of social position. These circumstances shaped Harriman from an early age, instilling ambition, discipline, and an intense drive to escape the vulnerability he associated with poverty. Young E. H. Harriman Harriman’s childhood was marked by physical smallness, high energy, and a combative temperament. He attended public schools in New Jersey and New York and later Trinity School in Manhattan, commuting long distances each day. He showed little interest in formal schooling unless a subject engaged him directly, preferring physical activity and competition. By his early teens, Harriman had resolved to leave school and enter the working world. In 1862, at the age of fourteen, he began work on Wall Street as an office boy and messenger for brokerage firms, including the firm of DeWitt C. Hays, a respected member of the New York Stock Exchange. Harriman entered finance during a period of extreme volatility. The Civil War and its aftermath transformed Wall Street into a fast-paced, speculative environment shaped by new technologies such as the telegraph and expanding railroad networks. As a messenger and later a clerk, Harriman learned the mechanics of securities trading, the psychology of speculation, and the importance of speed, accuracy, and trust. He proved reliable and observant, absorbing lessons from the daily crises, panics, and market battles that defined the era. By his early twenties, he had risen to managing clerk, earning responsibility well beyond his years. On August 13, 1870, at the age of twenty-two, Harriman purchased a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. He financed the purchase largely through loans from family members, particularly his uncle Oliver Harriman. With limited capital but extensive knowledge and connections, Harriman began operating as a broker. His early years were cautious and methodical. Rather than engaging in reckless speculation, he focused on learning control, leverage, and the long-term value of ownership. This approach distinguished him from many contemporaries and laid the groundwork for his later success. During the 1870s and early 1880s, Harriman built his fortune gradually through brokerage work and selective investments. He developed a growing interest in railroads, recognizing their central role in the national economy and their vulnerability to mismanagement. In 1879, he married Mary Williamson Averell, daughter of William J. Averell, president of the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad. The marriage strengthened Harriman’s ties to the railroad industry and expanded his access to influential networks. The couple had six children and maintained a closely knit family life. In 1881, Harriman purchased his first railroad outright, a thirty-four-mile line in upstate New York. Though modest in scale, the acquisition marked a turning point. Harriman was no longer merely an investor but an owner and operator. His focus shifted toward restructuring, efficiency, and long-term stability. Over the next decade, he continued acquiring railroad interests, refining his philosophy that railroads should be managed as permanent industrial systems rather than speculative instruments. Original vintage magazine ad for the Union Pacific Railroad. With extensive informative text, as well as a photo of railroad exec E.H. Harriman. The financial panics of the 1890s created opportunities that Harriman was uniquely prepared to seize. Many major railroads collapsed under debt and poor administration. In 1897, working with Kuhn, Loeb and Company, Harriman took control of the bankrupt Union Pacific Railroad. He immediately undertook a comprehensive reorganization, reinvesting profits into infrastructure, equipment, and personnel. In 1898, he personally inspected the railroad, traveling by daylight from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast. He examined track, rolling stock, stations, and facilities mile by mile, insisting that deficiencies be corrected. Within a short period, Union Pacific was transformed into a profitable and reliable system. Harriman expanded this model across the western rail network, gaining control or influence over the Southern Pacific, Oregon Short Line, and other connecting lines. His consolidation created an integrated transportation system that reduced duplication and improved freight movement across vast regions of the country. While these efforts stabilized rail operations, they also attracted increasing public and governmental scrutiny as concerns over corporate concentration intensified. In 1899, following years of relentless work and declining health, Harriman undertook what became known as the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Originally conceived as a recuperative voyage, the trip evolved into a major scientific undertaking. Harriman organized the expedition in a matter of months, recruiting leading scientists, naturalists, and artists and refitting the steamer George W. Elder. The expedition sailed from Seattle on May 31, 1899, exploring the Alaskan coastline and documenting its geography, wildlife, and natural resources. Harriman took an active role throughout the journey, participating in exploration and hunting while supporting the scientific mission. Features discovered during the expedition were later named Harriman Fjord and Harriman Glacier. After the voyage, Harriman financed the analysis and publication of the expedition’s findings, contributing significantly to American scientific knowledge of Alaska. Arden ~ The Harriman Estate As his wealth increased, Harriman established Arden, his country estate in the Ramapo Highlands of Orange County, New York. Arden served as both a retreat and a working estate, reflecting Harriman’s interest in land management, forestry, and order. He entertained business leaders, politicians, and intellectuals there, and it became a center of family life. In his later years, as illness increasingly confined him, Arden became his primary residence. Bust of Edward H. Harriman by Auguste Rodin By the early twentieth century, Harriman was one of the most powerful figures in American transportation and finance. His railroad empire played a central role in shaping federal regulatory policy during the Progressive Era. Despite ongoing legal challenges and antitrust scrutiny, he remained deeply involved in management and strategic planning. Edward Henry Harriman died at Arden on September 9, 1909, at the age of sixty-one. He was buried in the Harriman family plot at Saint John’s Episcopal Church Cemetery in Arden, Orange County, New York.

(September 27, 1952 – August 8, 1996) Michio Hoshino was born on September 27, 1952, in Ishikawa, Japan. He became a nature photographer whose work was closely associated with the landscapes and wildlife of Alaska. After first visiting Alaska as a university student, he returned repeatedly and eventually spent many years working there, documenting animals, wilderness, and the relationship between people and the natural world. His photographs were widely published and recognized for their quiet strength, patience, and respect for the subjects he photographed. Hoshino was regarded by peers as one of the leading nature photographers of his generation and was often noted for his ability to convey emotional depth without sensationalism. In addition to his photographic work, he formed lasting friendships with fellow wilderness guides, writers, and photographers. Lynn Schooler later wrote about their friendship and time spent together in Alaska in the book The Blue Bear , describing Hoshino's influence on his own development as a photographer. Writer Kim Heacox also documented Hoshino's journeys and character in The Only Kayak , reflecting on their shared experiences in Glacier Bay and other remote regions. On August 8, 1996, while on assignment in the South Kamchatka region of Russia near Kurilskoye Lake, Michio Hoshino was killed in an encounter with a brown bear. He was 43 years old. A memorial marker was later placed at the location of his death in his memory. In Alaska, where much of his life's work was created, a memorial totem pole was raised in Sitka on August 8, 2008, marking the twelfth anniversary of his passing. Family members, including his widow Naoko, attended the dedication. Michio Hoshino's life and work left a lasting impression on those who knew him personally and on many who came to know the wilderness through his photographs. False fact: This photo The alleged wildlife photographer’s last photograph of a bear is spreading through internet like wildfire. A lot of people believe the story and repast it in the discussion forums and send it by email. But fewer people know that the photo (above) is a fake and has no relevance to the tragic accident that happened on August 8, 1996. From Source