Alva Erskine Smith

Alva Belmont
Alva E. Belmont sometime during 1911, aged 57–58.
Born	Alva Erskine Smith (1853-01-17)January 17, 1853 Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Died	January 26, 1933(1933-01-26) (aged 80) Paris, France
Cause of death	Bronchial and heart ailments
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	William Kissam Vanderbilt Oliver Belmont
Children	Consuelo Vanderbilt William Kissam Vanderbilt II Harold Stirling Vanderbilt
Parent(s)	Murray Forbes Smith Phoebe Ann Desha

Alva Belmont (January 17, 1853 – January 26, 1933), née Alva Erskine Smith, and known as Alva Vanderbilt from 1875 to 1896, was a prominent multi-millionaire American socialite and a major figure in the women's suffrage movement. Known for having an aristocratic manner that antagonized many people, she was also noted for her energy, intelligence, strong opinions, and willingness to challenge convention. She was married first to William Kissam Vanderbilt, with whom she had three children, and secondly to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont.

Alva Erskine Smith was born on January 17, 1853 at 201 Government Street in Mobile, Alabama to Murray Forbes Smith, a commission merchant, and Phoebe Ann Desha. Murray Smith was the son of George Smith and Delia Forbes of Dumfries, Virginia. Phoebe Desha was the daughter of US Representative Robert Desha and Eleanor Shelby, both originally from Sumner County, Tennessee.

Alva was one of six children. Two of her sisters, Alice and Eleanor, both died as children before she was born. Her brother, Murray Forbes Smith, Jr. died in 1857 and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile. Two other sisters, Armide Vogel Smith and Mary Virginia "Jennie" Smith, were her only siblings to survive into adulthood. Jennie first married the brother of Alva's childhood best friend, Consuelo Yznaga, Duchess of Manchester. Following a divorce from Fernando Yznaga in 1886, Jennie remarried to William George Tiffany.

As a child, Alva summered with her parents in Newport, Rhode Island and accompanied them on European vacations. In 1859 the Smiths left Mobile and relocated to New York City, where they briefly settled in Madison Square. When Murray went to Liverpool, England, to conduct his business, her mother, Phoebe Smith, moved to Paris where Alva attended a private boarding school in Neuilly-sur-Seine. After the Civil War, the Smith family returned to New York, where her mother died in 1869.