Adams, Marian Hooper (13 September 1843–06 December 1885), Washington hostess, pioneer photographer, and the wife of Henry Adams, Washington hostess, pioneer photographer, and the wife of Henry Adams, was born in Boston to Edward Hooper, a wealthy ophthalmologist, and Ellen Sturgis Hooper, a Transcendental poet. “Clover,” as she was called, grew up among an affectionate clan of community conscious relatives who offered her continuing warmth and encouragement after the death of her mother when she was just five. Her father subsequently gave up his regular practice in order to rear his three children. And he became especially close to Clover, the youngest....
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Adams, Marian Hooper (1843-1885), Washington hostess, pioneer photographer, and the wife of Henry Adams
Eugenia Kaledin
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Andrews, Regina (1901-1993), librarian and dramatist
Ethelene Whitmire
Andrews, Regina (21 May 1901–05 February 1993), librarian and dramatist, was born Regina M. Anderson in the Hyde Park section of Chicago, Illinois, to Margaret Simons Anderson, a clubwoman and ceramics artist, and William Grant Anderson, an attorney. Regina grew up in an upper-middle-class family because of her father’s success as a defense attorney, which earned him the nickname “Habeas Corpus.” Her views about race were no doubt shaped by her father’s fighting for racial justice for his clients and his collaboration with the antilynching advocate ...
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Barney, Natalie Clifford (1876-1972), writer and salon hostess
Karla Jay
Barney, Natalie Clifford (31 October 1876–02 February 1972), writer and salon hostess, was born in Dayton, Ohio, the daughter of Albert Clifford Barney, a railroad car heir, and Alice Pike, a painter and philanthropist. Her childhood was spent in wealthy circles in Cincinnati and later in Washington, D.C., and Bar Harbor, Maine. She was educated at home by a French governess and in France at Les Ruches in Fontainebleau. By the turn of the century, she had decided to remain in Paris and write in French....
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Botta, Anne Charlotte (1815-1891), educator, writer, and literary hostess
Fritz Fleischmann
Botta, Anne Charlotte (11 November 1815–23 March 1891), educator, writer, and literary hostess, was born Anne Charlotte Lynch in Bennington, Vermont, the daughter of Patrick Lynch, a merchant, and Charlotte Gray. The family moved to Pennsylvania and later to Windham, Connecticut. In 1819 Patrick Lynch died at sea while going to claim land offered by the Cuban government to Irish refugees. His widow took their young children to Hartford, Connecticut. At sixteen Anne enrolled at the Albany Female Seminary in Albany, New York, graduating with honors in 1834 and staying on for some time to teach....
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Fields, Annie Adams (1834-1915), literary hostess, author, and social reformer
Rita K. Gollin
Fields, Annie Adams (06 June 1834–05 January 1915), literary hostess, author, and social reformer, was born Ann West Adams in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Zabdiel Boylston Adams and Sarah May Holland, both descended from prominent early Massachusetts settlers. Her father was a Boston physician who also taught at Harvard Medical School and served on the Boston school board. Annie’s childhood pleasures included easy access to books and Sunday visits to such distinguished relatives as the Adamses of Braintree. At ...
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Le Vert, Octavia Celeste Walton (1811-1877), socialite and author
Susie Lan Cassel
Le Vert, Octavia Celeste Walton (11 August 1811–12 March 1877), socialite and author, was born at the plantation home of her grandfather, “Bellevue,” just outside Augusta, Georgia, the daughter of George Walton II, a wealthy lawyer and senior statesman, and Sally Minge Walker. (Le Vert’s birth year has appeared in some sources as 1810 and 1820 and her death date as 13 March. The dates given here are the official dates printed on her tombstone and cemetery records.) Le Vert came from a family with generations of distinguished history. Her paternal grandfather, ...
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Stein, Gertrude (1874-1946), author
Linda Simon
Stein, Gertrude (03 February 1874–27 July 1946), author, was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Daniel Stein, a businessman, and Amelia Keyser. Stein spent her early years in Europe, where her parents were traveling; the family returned to America in 1879, settling the following year in Oakland, California, where Stein spent the rest of her youth. Of Oakland she was later to remark, “There is no there there.” She countered the bland, suburban surroundings by reading voraciously: Shakespeare, Scott, Richardson, Fielding, Wordsworth....
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Stein, Gertrude (1874-1946)
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Gertrude Stein Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1935. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-103680).
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Stettheimer, Florine (1871-1944), painter, designer, and salon hostess
Barbara J. Bloemink
Stettheimer, Florine (19 August 1871–11 May 1944), painter, designer, and salon hostess, was born in Rochester, New York, the daughter of Joseph Stettheimer, a dry goods merchant, and Rosetta Walter, a member of a prominent German-Jewish family. Stettheimer and her four siblings spent much of their childhoods living in Europe, particularly in Stuttgart, Munich, and Paris. Their father abandoned the family when Stettheimer was a child, and as a result of his disappearance, close emotional bonds were formed among the three youngest sisters (Carrie, Florine, and Ettie) and their mother, and so Stettheimer grew up in a largely matriarchal environment. (The two older siblings, Stella and Walter, both married and moved to northern California.)...
