Mary Wilson Goelet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 4, 1855
Robert Wilson Goelet
Mary Wilson Goelet | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Rita Wilson December 4, 1855 Loudon, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | February 23, 1929 (aged 73) New York City, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Mary Goelet Robert Wilson Goelet |
| Parent(s) | Richard Thornton Wilson Melissa Clementine Johnston |
| Relatives | Richard Wilson Jr. (brother) Grace Vanderbilt (sister) George Innes-Ker, 9th Duke of Roxburghe (grandson) |
Mary Rita Goelet (née Wilson; December 12, 1855 – February 23, 1929), known as May Goelet, was an American socialite and member of a family known as "the marrying Wilsons".
May was born on December 12, 1855, in Loudon, Tennessee. She was the oldest surviving child born to Richard Thornton Wilson and Melissa Clementine (née Johnston) Wilson.[1] Her father, who has been referred to as a "war profiteer" for his actions during and following the Civil War, moved the family north after the War and became a prominent New York banker.[2]
May and her siblings were known in society as "the marrying Wilsons" due to their marriages to the wealthiest and most prominent families of the day.
Among her siblings was sister Belle, who married Sir Michael Henry Herbert, the younger brother of the 13th Earl of Pembroke, and youngest sister, Grace, who became the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt III.[3][4] Her brothers were banker Richard Thornton Wilson Jr., who married Marion Steedman Mason; and Marshall Orme Wilson, who married Carrie Astor, youngest daughter of William Astor and Caroline Webster Astor (known as "The Mrs. Astor" of the Astor family).[2]
Society life
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In 1892, May and Ogden were included in Ward McAllister's Four Hundred, purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[5][6] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[7] May was known as one of the viceregal leaders of the Ultra-fashionable 150, among Mrs. Astor, Mrs. Ogden Mills, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr.[8]
Residences
May and Ogden owned a townhouse at 608 Fifth Avenue (located on the southwest corner of 49th and Fifth) in New York City,[9] around the corner from a second house at 4 West 49th Street. The family's stables were at 7 East 52nd Street.[10] The Goelets also had a villa in Nice, France, and when in London, they resided at Wimbourne House.[11] After her death, her son, acknowledging the change in the neighborhood from residential to commercial, tore down the family home in New York City and commissioned Victor L. S. Hafner to design 608 Fifth Avenue.[12]
In 1892, the Goelet's commissioned Ochre Court, a châteauesque mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. The home was built at a cost of $4.5 million and was the second largest mansion in Newport after nearby The Breakers, both designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt.[13] In 1947, her son donated Ochre Court to the Sisters of Mercy for the formation of Salve Regina College.[10]
