Elizabeth Wharton Drexel
| Elizabeth Wharton Drexel | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Drexel by Giovanni Boldini, 1905
|
|
| Born |
April 22, 1868 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | June 13, 1944 (aged 76) London, England |
| Spouse(s) |
John Vinton Dahlgren I (m. 1889; his death 1899) Henry Symes Lehr (m. 1901; his death 1929) John Graham Beresford (m. 1936; his death 1944) |
| Children | Joseph Drexel Dahlgren John Vinton Dahlgren II |
| Parent(s) |
Joseph William Drexel Lucy Wharton |
Elizabeth Wharton "Bessie" Drexel (April 22, 1868 – June 13, 1944) was an American author and Manhattan socialite.
She was born on April 22, 1868 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lucy Wharton (1841–1912) and Joseph William Drexel. Joseph was the son of Francis Martin Drexel, the immigrant ancestor of the Drexel banking family in the United States.
Elizabeth was an author, who published two books, "King Lehr" and the Gilded Age (1935) and Turn of the World (1937). Her first novel, published after the death of her second husband, was described as a "bitter, disillusioned book, "King Lehr" is memorable for the lurid light it throws on U. S. Society of the Gilded Age, may confidently be opened as one of the most startling and scandalously intimate records of life among the wealthy yet written by one of them." In told the story of her unhappy marriage to Lehr, which was referred to as a "tragic farce" of a 28-year marriage.
As with her first book, her second, and first as Lady Decies, Turn of the World was a fascinating semi-autobiographical history of American high society during the Gay Nineties up through the first World War. Upon the book's publication, The Pittsburgh Press wrote, "The magnificent spectacle that went on behind the scenes in pre-war days of society's Gilded Age at Saratoga, Newport, New York and Paris is detailed by an insider, Elizabeth, Lady Decies, who was Miss Elizabeth Wharton Drexel interesting, amusing and sometimes revolting, as with evident nostalgia she tells of extravagant parties and fortunes spent for clothes and jewels."
On June 29, 1889, Elizabeth married John Vinton Dahlgren I (1869–1899), a graduate from Georgetown University and the son of Admiral John Adolph Dahlgren (1809–1870) at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Together, they had two sons:
During this marriage, she made generous donations to Roman Catholic charities and to Georgetown University, including funds for the construction of Dahlgren Chapel, named for her first son. The latter asked for her portrait, which was painted in 1899 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947). Dahlgren died August 11, 1899, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he had gone in hopes of recovering from an illness.
...
Wikipedia