(March 2, 1877 - December 6, 1964) Consuelo Vanderbilt was born in New York City on March 2, 1877, the only daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt, heir to one of America’s greatest railroad fortunes, and Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt, a southern-born socialite who became a force in New York society and later an ardent suffragist. Her Spanish name honored her godmother, the half-Cuban socialite María Consuelo Yznaga del Valle, whose friendship with the Vanderbilts reflected the tight-knit ties of the Gilded Age elite. Petit Chateau Consuelo grew up in the grand surroundings of her parents’ Fifth Avenue mansion and their country estates, including Idle Hour on Long Island. She was tall, strikingly beautiful, and heiress to a vast fortune, traits that made her one of the most sought-after young women of her generation. Yet her life was shaped less by her own choices than by the iron will of her mother, Alva. While Consuelo was deeply attached to Winthrop Rutherfurd and hoped to marry him, Alva arranged a marriage that would bring her daughter into the ranks of the British aristocracy. Idle Hour On November 6, 1895, at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York, Consuelo married Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. The ceremony was one of the most glittering society events of the age, watched by thousands, but the bride was unwilling. Accounts recall her weeping behind her veil, coerced into the match by her mother’s insistence that it was her duty. The marriage produced two sons, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill, later the 10th Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill. Despite heirs and appearances, the marriage soon became one of convenience, as the Duke pursued his own interests and Consuelo, admired for her poise and beauty, adapted to life at Blenheim Palace, the vast ancestral seat of the Marlborough family. She became a popular figure in English society, admired by the public for her grace, but privately she endured a loveless union. Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough Her relationship with her mother was permanently marked by this episode. Alva later admitted openly that she had coerced her daughter into the marriage, even testifying to that effect during the Vatican annulment proceedings in 1926. Alva insisted she had “absolute control” over her daughter, words that revealed the extent to which Consuelo’s early life had been directed by her mother’s ambitions. In 1921 Consuelo divorced the Duke of Marlborough, and only months later, on July 4, she married Jacques Balsan, a French aviation pioneer and industrialist. Jacques Balsan This second marriage was a source of genuine happiness and companionship. With Jacques, she lived between their residences in France and in the United States, finding the personal freedom and affection that had eluded her in her youth. Their homes included estates in the French countryside and in Paris, where she cultivated a circle of friends in intellectual and artistic society. Consuelo remained active throughout her life in charitable causes, particularly in women’s welfare and later in war relief. She published her memoir, The Glitter and the Gold , in 1953, a work that offered both a portrait of Gilded Age society and a candid account of her own life, from a gilded childhood through her years as a duchess, to her eventual independence. Widowed in 1956, she spent her last years quietly, dividing her time between Europe and Southampton, Long Island. When she died in Southampton on December 6, 1964, at the age of eighty-seven, she chose to be buried not in the Vanderbilt mausoleum in New York, nor in France where she had made her second home, but at St. Martin’s Churchyard in Bladon, Oxfordshire, near Blenheim Palace. There, she was laid to rest beside her younger son, Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill, who had died prematurely in 1956.

(January 17, 1853 - January 26, 1933) Alva Erskine Smith was born on January 17, 1853, in Mobile, Alabama, to Murray Forbes Smith, a wealthy cotton merchant, and Phoebe Ann Desha, daughter of Congressman Robert Desha. She spent her early years in the South until the Civil War disrupted her father’s business. The family relocated north and eventually abroad, where Alva received her schooling in France before returning to New York as a young woman. William Kissam Vanderbilt She married William Kissam Vanderbilt, grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, on April 20, 1875. Determined to gain her new family acceptance in New York’s rigid society, she commissioned Richard Morris Hunt to design the château-inspired townhouse at 660 Fifth Avenue. On March 26, 1883, she hosted the legendary Vanderbilt Ball, which forced Caroline Astor, the reigning social leader, to formally acknowledge the Vanderbilts. Alva thus secured her place as one of the era’s dominant hostesses. She also played a decisive role in establishing the Metropolitan Opera, helping shift social and cultural influence from old New York families to the new industrial elite. She and William K. Vanderbilt had three children: Consuelo (1877–1964), William K. Vanderbilt II (1878–1944), and Harold Stirling Vanderbilt (1884–1970). Consuelo, famously coerced by her mother into marriage with Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, wed him in 1895. The union produced two sons but ended in a 1921 divorce and a 1926 annulment granted by the Catholic Church, in which Alva herself testified to the coercion. Consuelo later married Jacques Balsan, a French aviation pioneer. Petit Château Alva’s building projects were extensive. Her residences included the Petit Château on Fifth Avenue, Marble House in Newport (completed 1892), Belcourt in Newport (remodeled after her second marriage), Brookholt on Long Island (1897), and later Beacon Towers at Sands Point (1917). She also purchased and restored the Château d’Augerville in France in 1926. Marble House became especially significant; after her husband gave it to her as a birthday present, she later built a Chinese Tea House on its grounds in 1913, a pavilion that served as a stage for suffrage rallies. Marble House In 1895 Alva shocked society by divorcing William K. Vanderbilt, citing adultery. She retained Marble House and custody of the children along with a generous settlement. Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont On January 11, 1896, she married Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont. They lived at Belcourt and Brookholt until his sudden death in 1908. After his passing, she commissioned Hunt & Hunt to design a mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, a limestone Gothic chapel modeled on the Chapel of St. Hubert at Amboise, completed in 1913. Beacon Towers Widowed and wealthy, Alva turned her formidable energy to women’s suffrage. In 1909 she founded the Political Equality Association, and by 1913 she was closely allied with Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party. She funded parades, demonstrations, and the defense of pickets arrested at the White House, and eventually served as president of the NWP. In 1929 she financed the organization’s purchase of the historic Sewall House in Washington, D.C., dedicated as the Alva Belmont House, now preserved as the Belmont–Paul Women’s Equality National Monument. Château d’Augerville Her later years were spent largely in France, dividing time between Paris, the Riviera, and Augerville. Alva Belmont died in Paris on January 26, 1933. Her funeral was held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York, where, in recognition of her suffrage work, women served as pallbearers. After the service her coffin was taken to Woodlawn Cemetery, where she was placed beside Oliver in the Gothic mausoleum she had built. Alva's Funeral Belmont Mausoleum, The Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx Ny. Courtesy of Neil Funkhouser Alva's Crypt Courtesy of Neil Funkhouser Alva Belmont’s life spanned the transformation of the Gilded Age into the modern era. She rose from Southern merchant’s daughter to the highest echelons of New York society, reshaped the architectural landscape with her palatial homes, broke convention with a socially scandalous divorce, and finally devoted her fortune and willpower to securing the vote for women. Her legacy endures in the houses she built, the mausoleum she designed, and the suffrage movement she helped to victory.

(May 7, 1838 - February 23, 1915) Theodore Montgomery Davis was born in Springfield, Otsego County, New York, on May 7, 1838. He trained as a lawyer in Iowa City and later practiced in Washington and New York, where he prospered in both law and business. The Reef, Newport, Rhode Island With the wealth he acquired, Davis settled in Newport, Rhode Island, and commissioned one of the city’s notable Gilded Age estates. Known as The Reef, the shingle and stone villa was built in 1885 by the Boston firm Sturgis and Brigham. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who created an extensive coastal landscape at Brenton Point, maintained for many years under the care of head gardener Angus Macmillan. The house stood as a Newport landmark until its demolition in 1963, while its carriage house and stables, later called “The Bells,” remained a familiar sight for decades. The Reef, Newport Rhode Island In 1860 Davis married Annie Buttles, a union that endured throughout his life. During the late 1880s his household also included Annie’s cousin, Emma Buttles Andrews, who became his close companion and hostess. Andrews moved into The Reef in 1887 and thereafter accompanied Davis on his long winter seasons in Egypt. Her detailed diaries of these journeys remain a vivid record of the social world of American travelers along the Nile. Davis’s interest in Egypt grew after an 1890 voyage, when fellow Rhode Islander Charles Wilbour introduced him in Luxor to the dealer Muhammad Mohassib. Mohassib supplied many Western collectors, and Davis, like others, began to acquire antiquities. Before long, however, he turned his attention to sponsoring excavations. In 1902 he agreed to fund the Egyptian Antiquities Service in the Valley of the Kings. That first season brought notable results, including the clearing of KV45, the tomb of Userhet, and objects from above KV36, the tomb of Maiherpri. Encouraged by these discoveries, Davis renewed his sponsorship annually, with the work in his name directed first by Howard Carter and then by James E. Quibell, each serving as inspector general of antiquities for Upper Egypt. In 1905 Davis secured a formal concession to excavate and began employing his own teams. Over the next decade his field directors included Edward R. Ayrton, E. Harold Jones, and Harry Burton, all of whom later held distinguished positions in Egyptology. The results of these campaigns were extraordinary. Between 1902 and 1913, excavations under his sponsorship uncovered or cleared about thirty tombs, among them KV46, the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu, KV55, often called the Amarna cache, KV57, the tomb of Horemheb, and KV54, a cache associated with the embalming of Tutankhamun. Finds were presented primarily to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, which established the Salle Theodore Davis in recognition of his contributions, while other objects entered the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other American institutions. Davis published seven volumes describing his discoveries, among them The Tomb of Thoutmosis IV, The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, and The Tombs of Harmhabi and Touatânkhamanou, works that disseminated detailed records of his expeditions to scholars and the public alike. Despite these achievements, Davis grew convinced by 1912 that the Valley of the Kings had yielded all it had to offer. In his final report he declared that the site was exhausted. After 1913 his concession passed to Lord Carnarvon, and in November 1922 Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, only a short distance from where Davis had ended his own excavations. Later accounts emphasized how close Davis’s last trenches had come to the sealed entrance, and his pessimistic conclusion became one of the most famous misjudgments in the history of archaeology. Yet his record remains remarkable, for his teams carried out some of the most productive campaigns ever conducted in the Valley, discoveries that continue to shape the study of ancient Egypt. Davis was also an important art collector. At his death he bequeathed significant works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including paintings by Italian masters such as Gentile da Fabriano and Giovanni Bellini, together with a large group of antiquities now catalogued as the Theodore M. Davis Collection. These gifts reflected his wide-ranging cultural interests and secured his reputation in the art world as well as in Egyptology. In his later years Davis wintered abroad or in warmer climates. In 1915 he rented Villa Serena in Miami, the home of Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan. He died there on February 23 of that year at the age of seventy-six. His body was cremated, and his ashes were returned to Rhode Island for burial in Section E, Lot 24, 25, Grave 1 of Island Cemetery in Newport.

Cornelius Vanderbilt II was born on November 27, 1843, in New York City, the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam. He was the grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of the family fortune built on shipping and railroads. As heir to this vast empire, Cornelius was groomed from a young age to manage the family business. He entered the offices of the New York Central Railroad as a boy and advanced steadily, eventually becoming chairman. Under his leadership, the railroad remained one of the most powerful corporations in America, linking New York to the Midwest and ensuring the continued dominance of the Vanderbilt name in finance and transportation. In 1867 he married Alice Claypoole Gwynne, daughter of a prominent Cincinnati lawyer. Alice brought her own strong character and sense of duty to the marriage. Over time she became known as one of the most admired hostesses in New York society and, later in life, as a respected philanthropist. Together Cornelius and Alice raised seven children, though the family knew both triumph and tragedy. Their eldest daughter, Alice, died in early childhood. William Henry Vanderbilt II succumbed to typhoid fever in 1892 at only twenty one. Cornelius Vanderbilt III pursued a military career and achieved distinction as an inventor and officer, though he was disinherited after marrying against his father’s wishes. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney became an accomplished sculptor and the founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt established himself as a businessman but perished in 1915 when the Lusitania was torpedoed, remembered for giving his lifejacket to a fellow passenger. Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt led a shorter life but carried on the family line as father of Gloria Vanderbilt and grandfather of Anderson Cooper. The youngest, Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, married into the Hungarian aristocracy, becoming Countess Széchenyi and linking the family to European nobility. Cornelius Vanderbilt II Mansion Cornelius Vanderbilt II was equally renowned for the grandeur of his residences, which epitomized the opulence of the Gilded Age. His New York City mansion, begun in 1882 and completed two years later, was located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty Seventh Street. Designed by George B. Post with interiors by John LaFarge and Augustus Saint Gaudens, it was the largest private home ever constructed in Manhattan. The mansion occupied an entire city block and boasted ballrooms, art filled drawing rooms, and a level of ornament intended to rival the palaces of Europe. It became a center of social life in New York, where Alice Vanderbilt presided over glittering gatherings. The house stood until 1926, when it was demolished and replaced by Bergdorf Goodman. Original Breakers Mansion For summer seasons the family turned to Newport, Rhode Island, where Cornelius built The Breakers after his earlier wooden home burned down. Completed in 1895, The Breakers was designed by the celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt. The seventy room residence, modeled after the Renaissance palaces of Italy, incorporated marble, rare woods, gilding, and craftsmanship imported from Europe. The interiors were filled with frescoes, mosaics, and elaborate carvings, while the landscaped grounds by Ernest Bowditch extended to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The Breakers soon became the most magnificent of Newport’s summer “cottages” and symbolized the scale of Vanderbilt ambition. Unlike the New York mansion, it survives today and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, serving as the enduring architectural legacy of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The Breakers By the mid 1890s his health began to fail. A stroke in 1896 left him partly paralyzed and forced him into retirement. He never fully recovered. On September 12, 1899, Cornelius Vanderbilt II died at his Fifth Avenue mansion at the age of fifty five. He was laid to rest in the private Vanderbilt family mausoleum on Staten Island, which stands on land immediately adjacent to Moravian Cemetery. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the mausoleum is one of the most imposing family tombs in America and serves as the final resting place for many members of the Vanderbilt dynasty. The Vanderbilt Mausoleum Interior View of the back half of the Vanderbilt Mausoleum

(March 17, 1862-February 17, 1944) S. Z. Mitchell was born on March 17, 1862, in Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, Alabama, the youngest of three sons of Dr. William Alexander Mitchell and Elmira Sophia Jordan Mitchell. His early childhood was shaped by the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction. After his mother’s death in 1865, Sidney and his brothers were raised by their widowed grandmother, Ann Spivey Jordan, on her Coosa County plantation. There, he learned discipline, self-reliance, and two guiding principles that shaped his life: to always put himself in another’s place when in doubt, and to complete his work before starting anything new. Mitchell attended local schools and received additional lessons from his grandmother, while also helping on the farm. He developed a lifelong love of horseback riding and hunting, pursuits he would enjoy well into adulthood. A pivotal moment in his youth came when a family friend nominated him for a competitive appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. After six months of intense study, he won the appointment and graduated from Annapolis with the Class of 1883. Serving aboard the U.S.S. Trenton  and later the U.S.S. Quinnebaugh , Mitchell earned his commission during two years of naval service, during which he helped install and operate the world’s first incandescent lighting system on a battleship. Although he valued his naval career, he sought greater opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, resigning his commission in 1885. That year, Mitchell traveled to New York, where he was introduced to Thomas Edison. Impressed by his enthusiasm, Edison hired him to work at his Goerck Street factory, where Mitchell learned the intricacies of electrical engineering and power distribution while attending Edison’s night school. Later that year, Mitchell secured the exclusive rights to represent the Edison Electric Light Company and the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting in the Pacific Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia. With his former Naval Academy classmate Frederick H. Sparling, Mitchell established the first central electric light station west of the Rocky Mountains in Seattle, helping the city promote itself in its rivalry with Tacoma. He soon expanded operations, forming the Northwest Supply & Construction Company, which organized electric light plants in more than a dozen cities. By 1890, Edison General Electric acquired his company and appointed him to lead its Northwestern District office in Portland. As the demand for electricity grew in the 1890s—for lighting, transportation, and industry—Mitchell’s expertise as a power developer and financier made him an influential figure in the emerging electric utility sector. In 1892, Edison’s companies merged with Thomson-Houston to form the General Electric Company, giving Mitchell resources to expand utilities throughout the region. In 1893, he married Alice P. Bell of Portland, and the couple had one son, Sidney A. Mitchell. Mitchell’s reputation as a visionary in hydroelectric development eventually brought him to New York, where he was invited to help organize the Electric Bond and Share Company, a subsidiary of General Electric. As president and later chairman, he oversaw financing and development for a vast network of utility companies, earning recognition as one of the most influential leaders in the global power industry. in 1924 Sidney built an estate designed by James O'Connor in Matinecock with landscaping by the Olmsted Brothers and O'Connor. The House was demolished in 1950. A 1925 Forbes  profile hailed him as “a torchbearer for advancing civilization,” noting he had guided more utility plants and raised more capital for electrical infrastructure than any other individual of his time. In 1927, Mitchell was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Alabama during the dedication of the Jordan Dam, named for his mother and honoring both Sidney and his brother Reuben for their contributions to electrification. Inspired by a visit to his boyhood home, Mitchell purchased 5,000 acres in Coosa County and established Ann Jordan Farm, a hunting lodge and retreat named for his beloved grandmother. It became a gathering place where he entertained colleagues and friends with Southern hospitality and field sports. After Alice’s death in 1941, Mitchell married a widow, Mrs. Palmer. He continued to work and travel until his death from a heart attack on February 17, 1944. Sidney was laid to rest in Addition 2, Lot 151 of Locust Valley Cemetery. Sidney Zollicoffer Mitchell’s life traced the arc of America’s electrification. A pioneering engineer, entrepreneur, and financier, he transformed the Pacific Northwest’s cities with power infrastructure, helped shape General Electric’s national reach, and built Electric Bond and Share into one of the largest holding companies in the world. Remembered as a trailblazer and a builder, he embodied the innovative spirit of his generation.

(February 26, 1849 - May 16, 1938 Edward Townsend Stotesbury was an American financier, industrialist, and society figure whose immense wealth and legendary estates epitomized the extravagance of the Gilded Age. He was born in Philadelphia on February 26, 1849, into a middle-class Quaker family and was educated at Friends' Central School. At seventeen he entered Drexel & Company as a clerk and quickly distinguished himself in the banking world. Rising through the ranks, he became a partner of the firm and later a senior partner of Drexel, Morgan & Company, working in close collaboration with J. P. Morgan. Morgan himself declared that Stotesbury "knew more about the banking business than any man in America." For decades he was one of the most powerful figures in finance, guiding the firm through vast mergers, industrial investments, and the consolidation of American railroads and corporations. Stotesbury married Frances Berman Butcher in the 1870s. Their first daughter, Helen Lewis Stotesbury, died in infancy in 1874. Frances died in childbirth on November 7, 1881, leaving him a widower with two young daughters. He did not remarry until more than thirty years later. Eva Roberts Cromwell Stotesbury On January 18, 1912, he wed Eva Roberts Cromwell, the widowed mother of Oliver Eaton Cromwell Jr., diplomat James H. R. Cromwell, and Louise Cromwell Brooks. Through this marriage he became stepfather to one of the most prominent families in American society. With Eva, he began a period of extraordinary building and display. Together they redecorated his Philadelphia townhouses and then commissioned three palatial estates that became symbols of their wealth and taste. Whitemarsh hall The most celebrated was  Whitemarsh Hall , outside Philadelphia, designed by Horace Trumbauer and completed between 1916 and 1921. Often called the "Versailles of America," the Georgian Revival mansion contained 147 rooms, 45 bathrooms, a theater, a barber shop, billiards room, nine elevators, and some of the finest collections of tapestries, porcelains, rugs, and paintings in the country. It cost over $8 million to build and furnish and required a staff of seventy, though it was only used for half the year. Architect Addison Mizner’s El Mirasol was built in 1919 and destroyed in 1959 In Palm Beach, they built  El Mirasol , a villa of vast scale, where they entertained hundreds of guests at a time. The 42-acre estate was entered off North County Road, which ran through the entire property. The eastern part was for the residence on the ocean and across the road to the west for gardens and pavilions. Another sprawling fantasy villa, it was always being expanded according to the Stotesburys’ whims. It also was the scene of magical parties and galas. The Stotesburys had El Mirasol as their winter residence Wingwood House In Bar Harbor they commissioned  Wingwood House , completed in 1927, another monumental summer residence. By 1927 Stotesbury's fortune was estimated at $100,000,000, making him one of the wealthiest men in America. But the Depression and his own prodigious spending drained his resources. Between 1933 and his death he withdrew over $55,000,000 from his Morgan accounts. At the time of his death in 1938, his estate was valued at only $4,000,000. Much of his fortune had been consumed by the enormous expense of maintaining his three palaces. Edward T. Stotesbury died at his home, Whitemarsh Hall, in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, on May 21, 1938, at the age of eighty-nine. He was buried in The Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia. His name remains associated with the grandeur and decline of the Gilded Age, a symbol of both the power of American finance and the transience of its fortunes. Whitemarsh hall was demolished in 1980. Below you will find a gallery on Whitemarsh Hall

(March 27, 1900 - September 14, 1985) Inventor, Socialite. Lydia O'Leary was born in Massachusetts into a large Irish-American family headed by Henry and Hannah O'Leary. From birth she bore a port-wine stain, a deep raspberry-colored birthmark that covered much of the left side of her face. What began as a limitation eventually became the catalyst for one of the most influential cosmetic inventions of the twentieth century. After attending high school she enrolled at Fitchburg Normal School for Teachers, graduating in 1921. She worked briefly as a teacher before moving to New York City, where she hoped to find opportunity in retail. Instead she was turned away by department-store interviewers who deemed her appearance "unsuitable" for public-facing work. In New York she found back-room work painting placards. It was here that she conceived the idea of a cosmetic preparation that could conceal her own birthmark as effectively as pigment could cover a painted flaw. She experimented with bases and colors until she produced a product that provided coverage yet moved flexibly with the skin. Lydia O'Leary without Covermark Her initial patent application was rejected, but she appealed, and in a dramatic demonstration before the examiners removed her makeup to reveal the birthmark they had not noticed. She then reapplied the product, proving its effectiveness beyond argument. In 1932 she was awarded U.S. Patent No. 1,877,952 for her "dermal cover preparation," which became the foundation of the Covermark brand. Lydia O'Leary with Covermark Through her company she introduced the world to corrective makeup, a category that bridged beauty and medicine. Dermatologists began recommending her products for patients with birthmarks, burns, vitiligo, and scars. During and after World War II she worked with plastic surgeons and dermatologists to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers, showing how pigment could restore confidence while physical healing continued. On June 14, 1949 she was interviewed on the national talk show We, the People about her pioneering work as a cosmetics entrepreneur. Her products became widely used, and by the latter half of the century many other companies had followed her lead. By the 1980s Covermark was marketing camouflage makeup to men and even to children who had never used cosmetics before, a reflection of how far her concept had spread. In 1945 she married James Reeves, who with his brother Daniel had built a successful grocery chain before selling to Safeway in 1941. The marriage ended with his death in 1957, but O'Leary continued to lead Covermark and was active in New York society. In 1954 Salvador Dalí painted her full-length portrait, later sold at Christie's and remembered by family as once displayed in the foyer of her Park Avenue home. She lived for many years at 740 Park Avenue, one of Manhattan's most prestigious addresses. In her later years O'Leary suffered a stroke that left her in fragile health, though she remained a respected figure in the world she had transformed. She died in 1985, leaving behind a company that endured through successors and international licensees and a legacy that redefined the purpose of cosmetics. Remembered as a pioneer, she transformed her own adversity into an invention that gave countless others the means to face the world with renewed confidence. Lydia was laid to rest in the O'Leary family plot in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

(October 17, 1851 - November 23, 1928) Thomas Fortune Ryan was an American financier who played a central role in many of the major mergers and reorganizations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was instrumental in the creation of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company and the American Tobacco Company, two of the most significant business consolidations of their era. Signature of Thomas . Ryan Born in Nelson County, Virginia, Ryan moved to Baltimore as a teenager before relocating to New York City at the age of 21. In 1874, he became a member of the New York Stock Exchange, launching a career that would make him one of the wealthiest men in America. Working alongside prominent financiers such as William C. Whitney , Ryan developed a reputation for quiet yet masterful deal-making, especially in the consolidation of urban utility and transit companies. Metropolitan Street Railway Company Share In 1892, Ryan organized the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, a massive traction syndicate in New York City. Its securities-holding arm, the Metropolitan Traction Company, is widely considered the first corporate holding company in the United States. By acquiring and consolidating streetcar lines, Ryan and his associates created a near-monopoly on New York’s urban transit system. In 1905, Metropolitan Street Railway merged with August Belmont Jr . 's Interborough Rapid Transit Company , cementing Ryan’s influence over the city’s transportation infrastructure. Ryan also played a pivotal role in the founding and expansion of the American Tobacco Company in the 1890s. American Tobacco Stock Through aggressive acquisitions, the company gained control of nearly the entire U.S. tobacco market, becoming one of the most powerful industrial trusts of its time before being dissolved by federal antitrust action in 1911. His investments extended far beyond tobacco and transportation. Ryan built a diversified empire that included railroads, utilities, coke and coal operations, real estate, oil, rubber, lead, and even diamond interests in the Belgian Congo. He was known for his secrecy and avoidance of publicity, so much so that despite his enormous fortune—estimated at more than $200 million by the 1910s—he remained relatively unknown to the public. That anonymity faded in 1905 when Ryan purchased control of the struggling Equitable Life Assurance Society, prompting public criticism and a storm of policyholder protests. He eventually placed the company in the hands of trustees. In 1908, he faced accusations of financial misconduct, but a grand jury investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. Oak Ridge Estate, Nelson Co. Virginia By 1912, Ryan announced his intention to retire from active business. He returned to Virginia, where since 1901 he had maintained Oak Ridge, a vast estate in Nelson County that had previously belonged to prominent Confederate statesman William Porcher Miles. Ryan became active in state and national Democratic politics, serving as a Virginia delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1912, which nominated fellow Virginian Woodrow Wilson for the presidency. Ryan was also a key figure in early firearms development. In 1916, he became the primary financial backer of John T. Thompson’s Auto-Ordnance Company, which developed the Thompson Submachine Gun, later famously nicknamed the “Tommy Gun.” Ida Barry Ryan On October 17, 1917, Ryan’s wife of more than four decades, Ida Barry Ryan, died suddenly of heart disease. Less than two weeks later, Ryan married widow Mary Townsend Nicoll Lord Cuyler. The couple spent much of their later years together at Oak Ridge, though Mary’s health began to decline. Mary Townsend Nicoll Lord Cuyler Ryan Thomas Fortune Ryan died on November 23, 1928, in Manhattan. His body was placed temporarily in the receiving vault at Calvary Cemetery in Queens while his widow and son Clendenin Ryan commissioned a grand mausoleum for him at Oak Ridge. The neoclassical structure, designed by the renowned architectural firm Carrère and Hastings, began construction in mid-1929 and was completed that December. The mausoleum’s monumental bronze doors were created by celebrated sculptor Lawrence Tenney Stevens. Ryan’s remains were kept at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia, until the mausoleum’s completion, after which he was permanently entombed at his beloved Oak Ridge estate. Ryan Mausoleum at Oak Ridge Estate, Nelson Co. Virginia

(February 5, 1897 – July 10, 1983) Socialite, fashion icon, philanthropist. The daughter of horse breeder and trainer Robert Strader and of Birdie Schockency Strader , was born in Louisville, Kentucky, Her parents were divorced in 1902 and she and her brother were then reared, in an atmosphere of chaos and sadness, by their paternal grandmother. Mona was beautiful even as a child and developed into a stunning woman. Mona as a child One of her father's clients, Henry J. Schlesinger (1879 – 1955), was 18 years older than she. His family was said to be the wealthiest in Wisconsin. He purchased Fairland Farm in Lexington in 1916 where her father bred and trained horses. On 24 January 1917, Mona married Henry Schlesinger. Her wedding gift from the groom was "a magnificent rope of pearls." After a honeymoon trip north, the young couple moved to Milwaukee where the Schlesinger family owned an iron and coke company. They took a home there and kept Fairland Farm for annual visits. The next year, they had a son, Robert, who would cause his mother much heartache as an adult. Henry Schlesinger While living in Milwaukee Mona met the very handsome James Irving Bush (1883 – 1961) of Racine, a stellar college athlete who was described as "the handsomest man in America." When his wife died in 1920, his relationship with Mona deepened and she divorced Schlesinger. Mona gave her husband custody of their son in exchange for a trust fund guaranteeing her between $30,000 and $50,000 per year, and she retook her maiden name. Mona moved to New York City soon followed by Bush who was in December of 1920 named Vice President of the Equitable Trust Company. In October of 1921 she married him at New York City's Central Presbyterian Church. He and Mona honeymooned in Havana then moved into their home at 300 Park Avenue. That marriage, too, was unhappy and it was said that her husband was an alcoholic. Mona divorced him in Paris 25 July 1925 (in 1931 Bush would marry Virginia Van Sant Alvord and in 1938 he married Ethel Post Dieterich). James Irving Bush Mona returned to New York City where in 1926 she opened a dress shop with a close friend, Laura Merriam Curtis, daughter of former Minnesota Governor William R. Merriam. Laura's fiancé had been Harrison Williams , supposedly the wealthiest man in America with a fortune of $600 million. Williams left his modest bicycle business in Ohio in 1903 and moved to New York City as part of a tire manufacturing venture with his brother-in-law. His first wife, Katherine Gordon Breed of Pittsburgh, whom he married in 1900, died in 1915. In 1906 he created a gas and electric company that eventually owned many public utilities in the United States and by 1909 he was included in the Social Register. In 1923 he financed a zoological expedition to the Galapagos Islands where a volcano was named in his honor. Three years later, along with Vincent Astor and Marshall Field, he financed William Beebe's expedition to the Sargasso Sea. On 2 July 1926, at Williams' apartment on Madison Avenue, Mona Strader Schlesinger Bush married Harrison Williams. She was 29 and he was 53. In 1924 Williams had purchased the Krupp-built Vanadis, the largest yacht afloat, originally built for New York financier C. K. G. Billings (who once gave a white-tie dinner party where each guest was seated on horseback and attended by a personal liveried footman). He renamed it the Warrior and he and Mona frequently sailed around the world entertaining lavishly. It was eventually sold to Barbara Hutton in 1939 and is now a floating hotel in Stockholm. One of her acquisitions during the cruise was a 98.6-carat deep blue Sri Lankan sapphire, It is known today as the Bismarck Sapphire Necklace . Harrison Williams Williams had for years leased J. P. Morgan's estate at Glen Cove, but in 1926 he and Mona purchased Oak Point, a beautiful estate on Long Island, and commissioned popular architects Delano and Aldrich to design for them a palatial mansion with a fifty feet by twenty-five feet drawing room. Separately there was a sports pavilion with a tennis court and a swimming pool that hydraulically converted to a dance floor. It all added up to what photographer and designer Cecil Beaton called, "a sumptuous country house." In 1928 they also acquired 1130 Fifth Avenue, a beautiful home built for diplomat Willard Straight and his wife, a daughter of multi-millionaire William C. Whitney, then purchased by Elbert Gary, president of U. S. Steel. There, Mona had an all-white drawing room designed by Syrie Maugham graced by a Sorine portrait of Mona above the mantel and a stunning view of Central Park. There was also an apartment in Paris and a home in Palm Beach with 600 feet of ocean frontage, redone top-to-bottom in white by Syrie Maugham. Mona became a constant attraction in the fashion magazines of the day. In 1936 she acquired a villa, Il Fortino, on the Isle of Capri with a stunning view of the Bay of Naples. Attached to the ocean by a private underground passage, Il Fortino boasted unequaled gardens nourished each day by a boatload of fresh water from the mainland. As one social observer wrote at the time, "The only reason the Harrison Williamses don't live like princes is that princes can't afford to live like the Harrison Williamses." Having survived the stock market crash and the succeeding Depression, the Williams were forced to make financial concessions. They sold their yacht in 1939, then sold both their Long Island estate (it was demolished in 1950) and their Palm Beach home. By 1942, they were occupying only two floors of their Fifth Avenue mansion and placed their eight cars in storage. They remained friendly with a pro-German set during the War and were suspected of pro-Nazi sentiments. Harrison Williams quietly worked to restore his fortune and, having accumulated $100 million, he died at Bayville, New York, on 10 November 1953 at the age of 80. He left $10 million to his sister, Zella, who outlived him by only six weeks. The remaining $90 million was left to Mona. In 1955 her son, Robert Schlesinger (who was described in contemporary news accounts as a "playboy"), fell in love with actress Linda Christian. Schlesinger began sending Linda very expensive jewelry eventually exceeding $132,500 in value. When his $100,000 check to Van Cleef & Arpels bounced, the jeweler sued Linda seeking return of the gifts. Mona's son was then indicted on eight counts of using his mother's name and reputation to swindle three prominent businessmen in an elaborate oil scheme. Schlesinger had even pretended in a telephone conversation to be his mother's official financial advisor as the noose began tightening around his neck. In the end, Robert Schlesinger didn't get the money or the girl. Linda Christian married British actor Edmund Purdom. Count Eddie von Bismarck On 7 January 1955, Mona Williams married in a private civil ceremony at the municipal court in Edgewater, New Jersey, Count Eddie von Bismarck (they would later have a religious ceremony in Rome on 14 February 1956). She was 57 and the groom was 51. At the time, he was thought to be suffering from terminal colon cancer. The count, formerly an interior decorator (his work included the Embassy Club of the Hotel Ambassador in New York City), began dealing privately in antiques. Mona must have been aware that he was homosexual, but they enjoyed a fifteen-year companionable marriage that worked well for both of them. In 1956 the von Bismarcks bought a home in a fashionable section of Paris and had it luxuriously decorated by Stephan Boudin who would later help Jackie Kennedy at the White House. They alternated between winters in Paris and spring and summers at Capri and both converted to Catholicism. For whatever its purposes, their marriage worked well until Count Eddie von Bismarck's death at Geneva on 16 October 1970. Mona and Umberto di Martini Perhaps Mona was not designed for life alone, for on 6 November 1971, she married in Geneva her late husband's doctor, Umberto di Martini. She was 74 and he was 60. Though he was multilingual (Mona spoke only English) Mona's friends were not pleased at her most recent husband. Through her old friend, Italy's exiled King Umberto II, Mona purchased a title for him and he was created Count Umberto di Martini on 10 January 1973. Even in their elegant French home Martini served simple pasta dishes with inexpensive wines. He dismissed her long-time employees and was alleged to keep her medicated. On 30 June 1979, Mona's last husband was killed when the sports car he was driving careened off a bridge near Naples and landed in the river below. Inevitably Mona's friends referred to the accident as "Martini on the rocks." His will made it evident that he had planned to outlive her and inherit her fortune. Having told her that he was opening a clinic, he had already pocketed $3 million in a Swiss bank account and made bequests to an embarrassing number of relatives of whom Mona was unaware. She quickly dropped his name and resumed calling herself "Countess Bismarck." Mona's old friend Cecil Beaton visited her at Capri and was shocked to find that all traces of her famous beauty had left her. "She is now suddenly a wreck. Her hair, once white and crisp and a foil to her aquamarine eyes, is now a little dried frizz, and she has painted a grotesque mask on the remains of what was once such a noble-hewn face, the lips enlarged like a clown, the eyebrows penciled with thick black grease paint, the flesh down to the pale lashes coated with turquoise… Oh, my heart broke for her." Mona spent her last years putting her affairs in order and making arrangements for various paintings to be disbursed to institutions of her choosing. On 10 July 1983, she died at her house in Paris. Of the $90 million she had inherited from Williams, approximately $25 million remained. She gave one million dollars to her wayward son and the balance, including the proceeds from the sale of Il Fortino as well as her famous jewels, established the Mona Bismarck Foundation still headquartered in her Paris home, the premier showcase for American art & culture in Paris. Mona 's body was returned to America, she was buried between her third and fourth husbands in Addition 1, Lot 3 of Locust Valley Cemetery , Locust Valley, New York.

(February 1, 1900 - December 18, 1993) Marion Barbara “Joe” Carstairs, the speedboat champion and eccentric heiress, often said she was “never a little girl.” Born on February 1, 1900, in London, she was the first child of American heiress, Frances Evelyn Bostwick. Frances Evelyn Bostwick Joe was the Grand daughter of Jabez Bostwick , a founding partner of Standard Oil. Her legal father was C aptain Albert Carstairs of the Royal Irish Rifles—though even Joe doubted his paternity, as he re-enlisted in the army just before her birth and quickly divorced her mother. Joe’s childhood was chaotic. Her mother struggled with addiction and cycled through lovers and husbands, the most memorable to Joe being Count Roger de Périgny . He treated Joe more like a friend than a stepdaughter, introducing her to speed, thrill, and racecars. By 16, she was behind the wheel of one of his modified racers. The marriage didn’t last, but her love of adrenaline did. Determined to escape her upbringing, Joe persuaded her grandmother, Nelly Bostwick whom she idolized to let her join the American Red Cross during World War I. Stationed in Paris, she drove ambulances and forged a new identity, spending her free time among artists and bohemians, including Dolly Wilde, niece of Oscar Wilde, who became Joe’s first great love. It was the start of a long and prolific romantic life. By her death, Joe had a photo album of 120 lovers, among them Marlene Dietrich , Greta Garbo, and Tallulah Bankhead . Joe behind the wheel Joe & Lord Tod Joe Carstairs When word of her relationships reached Evelyn, Joe was summoned home and threatened with disinheritance unless she married a man. In characteristic defiance, Joe wed a French aristocrat rumored to be her mother’s lover, secured her dowry, and parted ways with him immediately after the reception. With her inheritance, Joe pursued independence. She worked odd jobs, including running a chicken farm and a Bugatti showroom, before opening X-Garage, an all-women chauffeur service staffed by former ambulance drivers. The business thrived, attracting high-profile clients. Around this time, she fell in love with Ruth Baldwin , Catherine Ruth Baldwin a woman she reportedly loved above all others. For Christmas 1925, Ruth gave Joe a leather Steiff doll she named Lord Tod Wadley. Joe became inseparable from the doll, who would remain her constant companion for life, impeccably dressed in bespoke Savile Row suits and Italian shoes. Joe’s passion soon turned to speedboats. Joe Carstairs With her grandmother’s fortune, she commissioned a series of hydroplanes, beginning with Gwen , which famously flipped during testing and was rechristened Newg —“Gwen” spelled backward. In 1925, she earned the title “the fastest woman on water” after racing on the Thames. She went on to set records and rack up victories, ultimately competing for the prestigious Harmsworth Trophy in a custom-built black boat, Estelle II . Despite setbacks, crashes, and financial losses, Joe was undaunted. By 1930, she had set an American water-speed record, though she retired from racing soon after, joking, “You’d better get a good look at me, because I am not coming over again.” Whale Cay Facing tax troubles in the U.S. and Britain, Joe purchased Whale Cay, a Bahamian island. Enchanted by its beauty, she transformed it into her private kingdom, building roads, plantations, a lighthouse, a church, and homes for the island’s residents—provided they followed her strict rules. Joe on Whale Cay To her loyal subjects, Joe was generous; to those who crossed her, she was ruthless, banishing offenders. Whale Cay became legendary: Joe often donned a military uniform and false mustache to preside over her domain and thrilled visiting dignitaries, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Once, she staged a mock attack on her home to amuse guests. Another visitor recalled being greeted at gunpoint by the “short, stock-built dame” with “dull menace in her lovely orbs.” More of Joe At Whale Cay, 1. Aerial View. 2, Joe in the library. 3, Joe with the Duke & Duchess of Windsor. 4, Joe in the trophy room. 5 Joe With a bow & arrow. 6, Joe Relaxing by a palm tree smoking. When Whale Cay lost its charm, Joe moved to Miami and later Naples, Florida. She died in 1993 at age 93, with Lord Tod by her side. True to her wishes, the doll was cremated and buried with her and Ruth in Oakland Cemetery, Sag Harbor, New York.