debutante

Barbara Cainrcross Rutherfurd (1895-1939), debutante of the 1915-16 season. Apparently her bedroom was copied from a Renaissance painting of St. Ursula (there's also a 1921 photo of her at this link): aestheteslament.blogspot.com/2011_09_28_archive.html Her mother was Anne Harriman Sands Rutherfurd Vanderbilt. Her stepfather was William K. Vanderbilt Sr. (whose ex-wife Alva is also in this week's uploads). Barbara married twice--to Cyril Hatch in 1916 (divorced 1921), and to Winfield J. Nicholls in 1924 (divorced 1927, and in Reno 1930). She (and her mother and sister) were involved in a cult called "the Mystic Order of Tantricks," run by someone called "Oom the Omnipotent." Her children, twins, were born five months into her second marriage; she was apparently not involved in their upbringing (or even in choosing their names). Her second husband claimed she was a lunatic and sought to have their marriage annulled. Barbara died at age 44, at Cannes, France. news.google.com/newspapers?id=60ZQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CQ4EA... Her brother Winthrop Rutherfurd married (as his second wife) Lucy Page Mercer--the mistress of FDR. Winthrop and Lucy's only child was named Barbara. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Page_Mercer_Rutherfurd

The grave of Winthrop Rutherfurd and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd -- with notes about her scandalous relationship with FDR:

Thank you pennylrichardsca and Wystan for the details about the life of Barbara Rutherfurd. We will add more information to the description when we update.

Winthrop Rutherfurd was Barbara Rutherfurd's cousin. Barbara was my Grandmother.

My mistake, Winthrop was her father Lewis Morris Rutherfurd's younger brother...So, he was my Grandmother's Uncle.....his children where her cousins. My Grandmother was searching her whole life , as is evidenced in her youthful diaries, It is special to possess them and see her search lead her to study yoga. She was a very sensitive human being.

This Florence Gilbert is probably the one listed as a debutante for the 1915-16 season. There's a large image of her as a debutante here: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0613F83E5E13738... Florence Emily Gilbert, daughter of Mrs. Cyril P. W. Dugmore and the Henry Bramhall Gilbert (1861-1911), married Sgt. Russell Evans Tucker at her mother's Park Avenue home, April 1918. Florence's mother, Lilla Brokaw Gilbert Dugmore: (Mrs. Dugmore's maiden name is mentioned in her cousin Irving Brokaw's wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Brokaw )

pennylrichardsca: thanks for the link to the New York Times image of Florence Gilbert. She does look like the same woman in the Bain image. We will update the description with more details.

Possibly the daughter of Mrs. William Burgoyne Haight That Dorothy Haight was a debutante in November 1914 according to the New-York tribune., November 19, 1914, Page 7, column 7 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1914-11-19/ed-... She was engaged in 1930, according to NYT of May 6, 1930 (needs subscription) select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D14F73C5C157A... DOROTHY B. HAIGHT ENGAGED TO MARRY; Writer, a Member of the Junior League, to Wed Lewis Wilmot-Johnson. FIANCE SERVED IN THE WAR He Is the Son of Mrs. Edward H. Packe and a Captain in Reserve of British Army. The announcement has a picture which is compatible with this one. According to NYT of March 10, 1937, the couple were divorced on March1, 1937 in Carson City, Nevada. They had one child.

She was pictured in the NYT pictorial section of November 1, 1914, page 11 memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/np_item.pl?collection=sgproto&... or memory.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpnyt/1914/191411/19141101/00... confirming the identification as debutante daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Haight.