Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard Explained

Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard
Birth Date:	23 July 1845
Birth Place:	New Dorp, New York, U.S.
Death Place:	New York City, New York, U.S.
Children:	6, including Edith, Alice, Elliott
Parents:	William Henry Vanderbilt Maria Louisa Kissam
Relations:	See Vanderbilt family

Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard (New Dorp, New York (state) July 23, 1845 – Manhattan, March 3, 1924) was an American heiress and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family.^[1] As a philanthropist, she funded the YMCA, helping create a hotel for guests of the organization. She was married to prominent New York City lawyer, banker, and newspaper editor Elliott Fitch Shepard.

Early life

Margaret was born on July 23, 1845, in Staten Island, New York. She was the eldest daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. Her older brother was Cornelius Vanderbilt II and younger siblings William Kissam Vanderbilt, Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly, Frederick William Vanderbilt, Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb and George Washington Vanderbilt II.

She was the granddaughter of the Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and his first wife, Sophia (née Johnson) Vanderbilt.^[2]

Charity work

An ardent supporter of the YWCA, she built, in 1891, the Margaret Louisa, a YWCA hotel strictly for transient guests at 14 E. 16th Street in New York City. Mrs. Shepard fully financed and furnished the building which was named the "Margaret Louisa Home for Protestant Women".^{[3] [4]}

Margaret Louisa narrowly escaped being a victim of the RMS Titanic, having booked passage but for unknown reasons cancelled and traveled a week earlier on the RMS Olympic.^[5]

Personal life

On February 18, 1868, Margaret Louisa was married to Elliott Fitch Shepard (1833–1893) in the Church of the Incarnation in New York.^[6] He was the son of Fitch Shepard and Delia Maria Dennis. Shepard was a lawyer, banker, and owner of the Mail and Express newspaper, as well as a founder and president of the New York State Bar Association.^[7] Together, they had five daughters and one son:

• Florence Shepard (1869–1869), who died young.
• Maria Louise Shepard (1870–1948),^[8] who married William Jay Schieffelin (1866–1955), a descendant of John Jay.^[9]
• Edith Shepard (1872–1954), who married Ernesto Fabbri (1874–1943).^[10]
• Margaret Shepard (1873–1895), who died unmarried of pneumonia.^[11]
• Alice Louise Shepard (1874–1950),^[12] who married Dave Hennen Morris (1872–1944), the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and son of John Albert Morris.^[13]
• Elliot Fitch Shepard, Jr. (1877–1927), who married Esther Potter, and after their divorce, Eleanor Leigh Terradell (1882–1962).^[14]

Margaret died at her apartment on 998 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on March 3, 1924.^[15] She is buried in the Vanderbilt Private Section, a burial ground just outside the Vanderbilt Mausoleum Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island. At her death, she left over $5,000,000 in trust to her daughters.^[16] She donated $180,000 to charities, $20,000 to each of her sixteen grandchildren, and $100,000 to the Scarborough Presbyterian Church,^[16] in addition to the $100,000 left to the Church upon her husband's death in 1893.^[17]

Residences

The Shepards owned a townhouse (double mansion) (1882) on Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street designed by John B. Snook, provided to them by her father and shared with her sister Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, who was married to William Douglas Sloane and, after his death, Henry White, the American Ambassador to France and Italy, and a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles.^[18]

They also owned Woodlea, built between 1892 and 1895, a McKim, Mead & White-designed^[19] country estate in Scarborough, New York, a neighborhood of Briarcliff Manor. The estate is now operated as Sleepy Hollow Country Club.^{[20] [21] [22]}

Notes and References

1. http://www.ogsottawa.on.ca/billings/p192.htm Descendants of the Immigrant Roger Billings
2. News: Robehmed. Natalie. The Vanderbilts: How American Royalty Lost Their Crown Jewels. 18 January 2018. Forbes. July 14, 2014.
3. Web site: Tom Miller . The 1891 Margaret Louisa Home - No. 14 East 16th Street . Daytonian in Manhattan . 8 April 2020 . March 8, 2011.
4. Book: How Women Saved the City - Daphne Spain - Google Boeken . 9781452905419 . 2013-01-14. Spain . Daphne . U of Minnesota Press .
5. Book: Hidden History of the Lower Hudson Valley: Stories from the Albany Post Road - Carney Rhinevault - Google Books . 2012-05-15 . 9781609496548 . 2013-01-14. Rhinevault . Carney . History Press .
6. http://www.nysoclib.org/collection/nyc-marriage-death-notices-1857-1868 NYC Marriage & Death Notices 1857-1868
7. News: Elliott F. Shepard Dead; He Expires at His Home After Taking Ether. Had Given No Indication of Serious Illness -- but Evidently Had the Possibility of Death in Mind -- His Family at His Bedside -- a Peculiarly Eccentric Character -- Politician, Editor, and Relig- Ious Enthusiast -- Often Amusing, but Always in Earnest.. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 25 March 1893.
8. News: MRS. SCHIEFFELIN DIES IN HOME AT 77; Wife of Drug Firm Executive, Descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt, Aided Y.W.C.A.. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 19 August 1948.
9. News: W. J. SCHIEFFELIN OF DRUG FIRM DIES; Retired Board Chairman Was 89--Crusader for Negro Welfare, City Reform HEADED CITIZENS UNION Helped to Start the Seabury Inquiry--Chemist Served in War With Spain. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 1 May 1955.
10. News: MRS. SHEPARD FABBRI, CHURCH BENEFACTOR. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 19 December 1954.
11. News: OBITUARY NOTES. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 1 February 1895.
12. News: MRS. MORRIS DEAD; ENVOY'S WIDOW, 75; Member of Vanderbilt Family Aided Y.W.C.A. and Backed International Language Was Radcliffe Graduate Honored By Belgians. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 16 August 1950.
13. News: DAVE H. MORRIS, 72, LAWYER, DIPLOMAT; Ambassador to Belgium 1933-37 Dies--Sportsman, Musician, Friend of Roosevelt. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. May 5, 1944.
14. News: DIED. SHEPARD, Elliott Fitch. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 13 April 1927.
15. News: MRS. SHEPARD OF A HEART ATTACK; Daughter of the Late William Vanderbilt Succumbs Suddenly in Fifth Avenue Apartment, WAS IN HER 79TH YEAR Had Attended the Wedding of Her Granddaughter, Louise Schleffelin, on Saturday.. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 4 March 1924.
16. News: MRS. SHEPARD LEFT OVER $5,000,000; Trust Fund Created by Her Father, William H. Vanderbilt, Goes to Daughters.. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 15 March 1924.
17. News: Elliott F. Shepard's Will; a Hundred Thousand Dollars for the Presbytery. Fifty Thousand for the Seventh Presbyterian Church and $100,- 000 for St. Paul's Institute at Tarsus -- His Newspaper and Stage Line Not to Do Sunday Business.. 18 January 2018. The New York Times. 12 April 1893.
18. News: HENRY WHITE WEDS MRS. WM.D. SLOANE; Ex-Ambassador to France Is 70 and Daughter of Late Wm. H. Vanderbilt Is 68. RELATIVES ONLY AT NUPTIAL Ceremony in St. Bartholomew's Chapel Follows Issuing of License --Couple at Bride's City Home.. 21 July 2017. The New York Times. 4 November 1920.
19. Book: Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. 2003. Westchester County Historical Society. Elmsford, New York. 0-915585-14-6.
20. News: Club's $600,000 Purchase.. July 17, 2014. The New York Times. June 17, 1917.
21. News: Refurbished Sleepy Hollow Club To Be Scene Of Golden Jubilee. May 13, 2015. Herald Statesman. September 27, 1961. Yonkers, New York. 51.
22. News: Millions in a Country Seat. November 24, 1895. New York Herald. 12. May 13, 2015.