Theodore Frelinghuysen (New York socialite)

Theodore Frelinghuysen (April 17, 1860 – January 30, 1928)[1] was an American clubman and member of the Frelinghuysen family who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age.[2]

For others, see Theodore Frelinghuysen (disambiguation).
Theodore Frelinghuysen
Born(1860-04-17)April 17, 1860
Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedJanuary 30, 1928(1928-01-30) (aged 67)
New York City, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Alice Dudley Coats
​
​
(m. 1885; died 1889)​

Elizabeth Mary Thompson
​
​
(m. 1898; his death 1928)​
Children2
Parent(s)Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen
Matilda Elizabeth Griswold
RelativesFrederick Frelinghuysen (brother)
George Frelinghuysen (brother)

Early life and education

Frelinghuysen was born in Newark, New Jersey on April 17, 1860.[3] He was the youngest of six children born to Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1817–1885)[4] and Matilda Elizabeth Griswold (1817–1889).[5] His father was a lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator and later as Secretary of State under President Chester A. Arthur.[6] His siblings included:[3] Matilda Griswold Frelinghuysen,[7] who married Henry Winthrop Gray,[8] a prominent merchant;[3][9] Charlotte Louisa Frelinghuysen;[10] Frederick Frelinghuysen,[11] who married Estelle B. Kinney;[12][lower-alpha 1] George Griswold Frelinghuysen,[15] who married Sara Linen Ballantine, granddaughter of Peter Ballantine;[16] and Sarah Helen Frelinghuysen (1856–1939),[17] who married Judge John Davis, and after his death, Brig. Gen. Charles Laurie McCawley.[17][lower-alpha 2]

His paternal grandparents were Frederick Frelinghuysen and Mary (née Dumont) Frelinghuysen. His grandfather died when his father was just three years old, so his father was adopted by his uncle, Theodore Frelinghuysen.[lower-alpha 3] Both grandfather and adopted grandfather were sons of Frederick Frelinghuysen, the eminent lawyer who was one of the framers of the first New Jersey Constitution, a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, a member of the Continental Congress, and a member of the United States Senate.[6] His maternal grandfather George Griswold,[3] was a merchant in New York City who "made an immense fortune in the time of the clipper trade with China."[5]

Career

Frelinghuysen was the Treasurer of the J. & P. Coats Ltd.,[21] a large British thread company that was run by his father-in-law Sir James Coats and located at 347 Broadway in New York City.[2] Upon his marriage in 1885 to Alice Coats, his mother and father-in-law wanted him to be brought into Auchincloss Brothers as an equal partner. The American firm was run by the younger brothers of Alice's mother, John Winthrop Auchincloss and Hugh Dudley Auchincloss Sr. (the father of Hugh Auchincloss).[22] When they said no, their refusal ended the Auchincloss relationship with the Coats firm and nearly bankrupt John.[22]

In 1906, he became a director as well as financier of the Brunswick Refrigeration Co., a consolidation of the New Brunswick Refrigeration Company and Union Refrigeration Company which had merged.[23] The other directors included W. Campbell Clark, head of Clark Thread Company and A. M. Coats, president of the Coats Thread Company.[23] Frelinghuysen retired from business in 1910.[1]

Society life

In 1892, was Frelinghuysen included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[24] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[25][26]

Frelinghuysen was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the Union Club of the City of New York, the Harvard Club of New York, the Merchants' Club, the Country Club, the Lawyers' Club and the Suburban Riding and Driving Club.[2] He was also a philanthropist who donated to the Floating Hospital and Seaside Hospital Fund in 1897.[27]

Personal life

On August 25, 1885, Frelinghuysen was married to Alice Dudley Coats (1861–1889) in Newport, Rhode Island.[28] Alice was the daughter of Sir James Coats, 1st Baronet and Lady Sarah Auchincloss, an American.[22] The wedding was attended by former President Chester Arthur.[28] Her brothers included Sir Stuart Coats, 2nd Baronet, and Alfred Mainwaring Coats (1869–1942), who married Elizabeth Barnewall (1867–1940) (niece of Louisa Barnewall Van Rensselaer).[29] They lived at 25 West 15th Street near Stuyvesant Square.[2] Together, Theodore and Alice were the parents of:[30]

  • Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1886–1967), who married Mai Duncan Watson (1896–1958)[31] in 1914.[32] After their divorce, he married Katherine (née Kendall) Fisk (1883–1962), the widow of Charles W. Fisk, in 1927.[33]
  • James Coats Frelinghuysen (1888–1890), who died young.[30]

After Alice's death in 1889, he married Elizabeth Mary "Lily" (née Thompson) Cannon (1871–1967),[34] the widow of Henry Le Grand Cannon,[3] on June 2, 1898 at Grace Episcopal Church in New York City by Bishop Henry C. Potter.[2] At the wedding, his ushers were R. Livingston Beeckman and William Cutting Jr. and his best-man was Elisha Dyer Jr.[2] Lily was a daughter of William G. Thompson and descendant of Elijah Brush, both Mayors of Detroit and had two children, a boy and girl, from her first marriage.[2] After their marriage, they lived at her home, 60 Fifth Avenue and maintained a winter residence in Palm Beach, Florida known as "Southways,"[35][lower-alpha 4] and another house at Tuxedo Park, New York.[1][lower-alpha 5]

Frelinghuysen died of heart disease on January 30, 1928 at his residence, 66 East 55th Street in Manhattan.[1] Previous to East 55th Street, he had been living at the Hotel Plaza in New York.[1] His widow lived at their Palm Beach home until her death in 1967, at the age of 97, when she was referred to as "a grand dame of a bygone era."[34]

Descendants

Through his son Frederick, he was the step-grandfather of Lilla Fisk, who married Harry Payne Bingham Jr.[37][lower-alpha 6] and George C. Rand in 1956;[39][40] and Felicia Fisk,[41] who married Albert B. Dewey, the brother of U.S. Representative Charles S. Dewey.[42]

References

Notes

  1. Through his brother Frederick, he was the uncle of George Griswold Frelinghuysen II, who married Anne de Smolianinof; Estelle C. "Suzy" Frelinghuysen, who married fellow painter George Lovett Kingsland Morris; Frederick Frelinghuysen; Thomas Frelinghuysen; and Theodore Frelinghuysen.[13][14]
  2. Through his sister Sarah and niece Mathilda Elizabeth Frelinghuysen (née Davis) Lodge (1876–1960), who married George Cabot Lodge, he was the grand-uncle of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902–1985), the diplomat and United States Senator from Massachusetts,[18][19] and John Davis Lodge (1903–1985), also a diplomat, U.S. Representative, and Governor of Connecticut.[20]
  3. His grand-uncle and adopted grandfather, Theodore Frelinghuysen, was Attorney General of New Jersey from 1817 to 1829, was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1829 to 1835, was the Whig candidate for Vice President of the United States on the Henry Clay ticket in the 1844 Presidential election, and was Chancellor of New York University from 1839 until 1850 and president of Rutgers College from 1850 to 1862.
  4. Southways was designed between 1919 and 1920 by Col. Francis L. V. Hoppin of Hoppin & Koen.[35] The home was known as the "Winter White House" after President Warren Harding stayed there as a guest.[36]
  5. Reportedly, Col. Francis L. V. Hoppin and Hoppin & Koen also designed Frelinghuysen's Tuxedo Park house, now known as the Charles W. Cooper House, built c. 1899.[35]
  6. After their divorce in 1955, Harry Payne Bingham Jr. married Mrs. Marleigh Kramer Gerry, the former wife of Robert Livingston Gerry Jr.[38]

Sources

  1. "THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN DIES IN HIS 68TH YEAR; Member of Old New Jersey Family Was Son of Secretary of State in Arthur Cabinet". The New York Times. January 31, 1928. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. "WEDDINGS OF EARLY JUNE; Mrs. H. Le Grand Cannon and Theodore Frelinghuysen Are Married at Grace Chantry. BISHOP POTTER OFFICIATES The Rev. Percy S. Grant Assists Him -- Prominent Society People Among the Guests". The New York Times. 3 June 1898. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  3. Lee, Francis Bazley (1910). Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey ... Lewis historical Publishing Company. p. 14. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  4. "Death of Mr. Frelinghuysen.; the Career of President Arthur's Secretary of State". The New York Times. 21 May 1885. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  5. "MRS. F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN". The New York Times. 4 February 1889. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  6. "FRELINGHUYSEN, Frederick Theodore - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  7. "MRS. M.G.F. GRAY OF OLD FAMILY DIES; Daughter of F. T. Frelinghuysen, Once Secretary of State-Funeral Today". The New York Times. 25 March 1926. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  8. "DIED. Gray". The New York Times. 15 October 1906. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  9. "In Bonds of Matrimony; Marriage of Mr. Gray and Miss. Frelinghuysen. a Quiet Ceremony at the Homestead of the Bride's Family". The New York Times. 17 May 1889. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  10. "Charlotte Frelinghuysen". The New York Times. 19 July 1930. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  11. "Frederick Frelinghuysen. Ex-President of Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company Dies". New York Times. January 2, 1924. Retrieved May 30, 2007. Frelinghuysen was President of the Benefit Life Insurance Company in Newark for ... to become President of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. ...
  12. "Frederick Frelinghuysen's Engagement". The New York Times. 7 July 1902. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  13. "G.G. Frelinghuysen Weds Russian Girl. Anne de Smolianinoff, Daughter of Former Grand Master of Imperial Court, His Bride". New York Times. December 14, 1934. Retrieved May 30, 2007. Daughter of Former Grand Master of Imperial Court, His Bride. Mrs. Vladimir N. de Smolianinof of West Seventy-fifth Street announced yesterday the ...
  14. "Obtains Decree in Reno; Former Anne de Smolianinof Divorces G. G. Frelinghuysen". The New York Times. June 7, 1938. Retrieved May 30, 2007. Mrs. Anne de Smolianinoff Frelinghuysen obtained a divorce here today from George Griswold Frelinghuysen of Princeton, New Jersey, on grounds of cruelty. They were married on December 12, 1934, in Los Angeles.
  15. "G.G. FRELINGHUYSEN DIES AT AGE OF 84; Son of Arthur's Secretary Of State Was Lawyer Here for Half century. KIN OF NOTED GENERAL Parent, Great-Uncle, Cousin All Served New Jersey in the United States Senate" (PDF). The New York Times. April 22, 1936. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  16. "G.G. Frelinghuysen Dies. Son of Arthur's Secretary Of State Was Lawyer". New York Times. April 22, 1936.
  17. "MRS. S.H. M'CAWLEY, WASHINGTON HOSTESS; Grandmother of Senator Lodge Dies in Home at Capital". The New York Times. 20 February 1939. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  18. "Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Photographs II". The Massachusetts Historical Society. MHS. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  19. Jackson, Kenneth T. (1998). The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives: 1981-1985. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 9780684804927. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  20. "LODGE, John Davis, (1903–1985)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  21. United States Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1895. p. 440. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  22. Gelderman, Carol W. (2007). Louis Auchincloss: A Writer's Life. University of South Carolina Press. p. 8. ISBN 9781570037115. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  23. "REFRIGERATOR CONSOLIDATION". Electrical World. McGraw-Hill: 295. February 3, 1906. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  24. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  25. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  26. Homberger, Eric (2004). Mrs. Astor's New York: Money and Social Power in a Gilded Age. Yale University Press. pp. 199, 289n.99. ISBN 0300105150. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  27. St John's Guild (New York N.Y.) (1897). Report of St. John's Guild, New York City. The Guild. p. 52. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  28. "Married at Newport.; Miss Coats and Mr. Frelinghuysen". The New York Times. 26 August 1885. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  29. Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland, for ...: Including All the Titled Classes. S. Low, Marston & Company. 1923. p. 193. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  30. Buck, Albert Henry (1909). The Bucks of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and the Families with which They are Connected by Marriage: A Biographical and Genealogical Sketch. Stone Printing and Manufacturing Company. p. 121. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  31. "Mrs. Duncan Douglas". The New York Times. 18 September 1958. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  32. "MRS. WATSON LEAVES $1,000,000 ESTATE; Property of Society Leader Goes to Relatives and After Them to Charity. GIVES FAMILY HEIRLOOMS Husband and Children Share Equally in the Division Under Testator's Will". The New York Times. 8 December 1914. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  33. "MRS. FISK TO WED F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN; Their Troth Reveals Divorce of Fiance and Former Wife, Who Was Mai Watson, FLORIDA DECREE GRANTED Fiancee Is Widow of C. N. Fisk, Who Was Killed at Hunt Meet of Meadow Brook Hounds in 1923". The New York Times. 12 May 1927. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  34. "Elizabeth Frelinghuysen, 97, Of Jersey Political Family". The New York Times. 13 June 1967. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  35. Columbia, David Patrick (1 October 2009). "Ecole de Beaux Palm Beach". New York Social Diary. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  36. Rose, Rick (2017). Palm Beach: The Essential Guide to America's Legendary Resort Town. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 49. ISBN 9781493028900. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  37. "LILLA FISK ENGAGED TO H.P. BINGHAM JR.; She Is Daughter of Mrs. F.T. Frelinghuysen -- Cousin Is Ambassador Grew". The New York Times. 1 April 1935. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  38. "H. P. BINGHAM JR. WEDS MRS. GERRY; He Marries the Former Miss Marleigh Kramer at Home in Old Westbury, L. I." The New York Times. 9 December 1955. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  39. "BELINDA BINGHAM BECOMES FIANCEE; Westbury Girl Will Be Wed to Pliny Jewell 3d, Who Studies at Harvard". The New York Times. 1 December 1957. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  40. "Mrs. Lilla Bingham Is Remarried Here". The New York Times. 14 September 1956. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  41. "TROTH MADE KNOWN OF MISS FELICIA FISK; She Will Become the Bride of Albert B. Dewey of Chicago". The New York Times. 30 April 1940. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  42. "DIED. FRELINGHUYSEN--Frederick T." The New York Times. April 11, 1967. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
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