Alice Olin Dows
Alice Townsend Dows (née Alice Townsend Olin) (April 9, 1881 – August 31, 1963) was an American socialite and poet.
Early life
[edit]Alice Townsend Olin was born on April 9, 1881. She was the eldest child of Stephen Henry Olin (1847–1925), the acting President of Wesleyan University from 1922 to 1923,[1] and Alice Wadsworth "Elsie" (née Barlow) Olin (1853–1882).[2]
Her younger sister was author and Baháʼí Julia Lynch Olin who married twice, including to former Lieutenant Governor of New York Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler.[3]
After her mother's death in 1882 at the age of 29,[4] her father remarried to Emeline Harriman, the former wife of William Earl Dodge III, in 1903.[5] Emeline was the daughter of Oliver Harriman and the sister of Anne Harriman Vanderbilt, Oliver Harriman, Jr., J. Borden Harriman, and Herbert M. Harriman.[5]
Her maternal grandparents were Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow[6] and Alice Cornell (née Townsend) Barlow. Her uncle was New York City Magistrate Peter Townsend Barlow.[7]
Her paternal grandparents were Julia Matilda Lynch Olin and Rev. Dr. Stephen Olin,[2] 2nd President of Wesleyan University and the son of Henry Olin, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Vermont.[8][9]
Career
[edit]Alice was known as a prominent Hudson Valley socialite and poet. She was a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt,[10] Gore Vidal,[11] and Margaret Chanler Aldrich (the sister of her brother-in-law Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler).[12]
Personal life
[edit]
In 1903, Alice was married to Harvard graduate Tracy "Pup" Dows (1871–1937) at her parents home in Rhinebeck, New York.[13] He was a younger son of grain merchant David Dows and Margaret Esther (née Worcester) Dows.[14]
Together, they were the parents of:[15]
- Stephen Olin Dows (1904–1981),[16] who studied at the Yale School of Art; he was a close friend of author Thomas Wolfe and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt;[17][18] in 1950, he married Chilean diplomat Carmen Vial de Senoret, a descendant of Ramón Freire, first president of Chile.[16][19]
- Margaret "Bargy" Dows (1906–1992), who married Swedish diplomat Knut Richard Thyberg,[20][21] with whom she had three children.[22]
- Deborah Dows (1914–1994), who opened a riding school in the late 1930s known as the Southlands Foundation;[23] in 1935, she married Harvard lawyer John Lancaster Burling, son of Edward B. Burling;[24] they later divorced.[25][26]
Her husband died unexpectedly, from an internal ailment, on July 3, 1937, at his apartment in London.[14]
Dows died on August 31, 1963, and was buried at Rhinebeck Cemetery.[27]
Her estate was divided equally amongst her three children.[28]
Foxhollow Farm
[edit]Alice inherited the Olin family's sixty-acre homestead, Glenburn, in Rhinebeck, which had been enlarged by Henry Bacon and Harrie T. Lindeberg.[13]
The Dows added to this by purchasing part of the Grasmere estate, where the Dows built a large country home in 1909 on their eventual 700-plus-acres known as Foxhollow Farm.[29]
Following the death of Tracy Dow in 1937, their children elected to sell the Foxhollow mansion and some of the acreage around it.[30]
Deborah inherited approximately 200 acres at the southern end of Foxhollow and started a horse-riding school called Southlands.[31]
Their son inherited the Olin family homestead, Glenburn, where he lived as well as at his wife's family's estate in Chile.[29]
In 2010, Bill and Hillary Clinton stayed at Glenburn while in Rhinebeck for their daughter Chelsea's wedding.[32]
References
[edit]- ^ "Col. Olin Heads College.; Will Act as President of Wesleyan University for a Year". The New York Times. August 4, 1922. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b "S. H. Olin Dies at 78; 50 Years a Lawyer; Specialized on Copyright Law and Represented Foremost Publishing Houses. Acting Head of Wesleyan for 30 Years He Was Trustee of the New York Public Library – A Founder of Players Club". The New York Times. August 7, 1925. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Deaths: Chanler". The New York Times. March 12, 1961. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Died. Olin". The New York Times. November 10, 1882. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b Times, Special to The New York (August 14, 1938). "Mrs. Emeline H. Olin Is Dead at Newport; Daughter of Oliver Harriman Is Stricken after Brief Illness". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Obituary – Olin". The New York Times. November 9, 1882. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ Cutter, William Richard; Clement, E. H. (Edward Henry); Hart, Samuel; Talcott, Mary Kingsbury; Bostwick, Frederick; Stearns, Ezra S. (1911). Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut; A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Maaking of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. New York, Lewis historical publishing company. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Olin, Henry – Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Stephen Olin, Office of the President". Wesleyan University. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day, March 30, 1953,": Dows, Alice Olin, 1881–1963". www2.gwu.edu. The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Digital Edition (2017). Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Vidal, Gore (1995). Palimpsest: A Memoir. Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-44038-3. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Harris & Ewing (1928). "Mrs. Tracy Dows and Mrs. Richard Aldrich". Library of Congress. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ a b "Married: Dows–Olin". The New York Times. November 12, 1903. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ a b "Tracy Dows; Succumbs Suddenly in London at Age of 64 – Harvard Graduate". The New York Times. July 4, 1937. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ "Papers of Olin Dows 1886–1986 and undated". FDR Library. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ a b "Olin Dies, Artist Known for His Murals, Dies at 76". The New York Times. June 7, 1981. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ Shannon, Thomas (August 8, 2016). "Thomas Wolfe's Rhinebeck". Hudson River Zeitgeist. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Olin Dows, Prominent Local Artist, Dies". Poughkeepsie Journal. June 7, 1981. p. 5A. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Carmen Viale Freire Dows, 70, A Former Chilean Ambassador". The New York Times. January 28, 1978. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Times, Special to The New York (February 25, 1925). "Miss Dows Is Engaged.; Betrothed to Knut R. Thyberg, Swedish Vice Consul Here". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Among the Autumn Weddings; Knut R. Thyberg and Miss Margaret Dows Are Married at Rhinebeck – Other Ceremonies". The New York Times. October 11, 1925. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Harnesk, Paul, ed. (1962). Vem är vem? 1, Stor-Stockholm [Who's Who? 1, Greater Stockholm] (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Vem är vem. p. 1,302. SELIBR 53509.
- ^ "Where Women Made History". contest.savingplaces.org. National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Times, Special to The New York (May 13, 1935). "Deborah Dows Engaged.; Daughter of Mrs. Tracy Dows Will Be Wed to John L. Burling". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "John L. Burking, Lawyer, Was 47; First Assistant to Halley During Crime Committee Investigation Is Dead". The New York Times. December 10, 1959. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ Thompson-Stahr, Jane (2001). The Burling Books: Ancestors and Descendants of Edward and Grace Burling, Quakers (1600–2000). Jane K. Thompson. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-9613104-0-0. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Deaths – Dows – Alice Townsend". The New York Times. September 1, 1963. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Mrs. Alice Dows. Rhinebeck Woman Left Estate Exceeding $50,000". Poughkeepsie Journal. October 6, 1963. p. 16B. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ a b Eberlein, Harold Donaldson; Hubbard, Cortlandt Van Dyke (January 1, 1990). Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley. Courier Corporation. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-486-26304-5. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Our Time at Foxhollow Farm: A Hudson Valley Family Remembered". Rizzoli Bookstore. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Our History". southlands.org. Southlands Foundation. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
- ^ "Dateline". Poughkeepsie Journal. November 20, 2013. p. B2. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
External links
[edit]
- Alice Olin Dows and Stephen Olin Dows by sculptor Henry Hering, 1909
- Papers of OLIN DOWS: 1886-1986 and undated at the FDR Library