Marion Graves Anthon Fish
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Marion Graves Anthon Fish (
nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
, "Mamie"; June 8, 1853 – May 25, 1915), often referred to by contemporaries as Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, was an American socialite and self-styled "fun-maker" of the
Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...
. She and her husband,
Stuyvesant Fish Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the Illinois Central Railroad. He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertai ...
, maintained stately homes in New York City and
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
.


Early life

Marion ("Mamie") Graves Anthon, as she was called, was born in the vicinity of Grimes Hill, New York, which at the time may have been known as Castleton Heights, in Castleton,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
. At the time this was a town in Richmond County, New York, the area along with the rest of Richmond County of Staten Island later became part of New York City. She was the daughter of Sarah Attwood Meert and the General William Henry Anthon, a successful lawyer and Staten Island assemblyman, who served during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. Her paternal grandfather was the jurist
John Anthon John Anthon (born in Detroit, May 14, 1784; died in New York City, March 5, 1863) was an American jurist. Early life Anthon was born in Detroit on May 14, 1784. He was the son of Geneviève Jadot (1763–1821), a descendant of Louis Hebert, on ...
. Mamie was of Dutch, English, French and German ancestry. She grew up on
Irving Place Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along its , 11 ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and received only a rudimentary education and, by her own admission, could barely read and write.


Society hostess

Fish ruled as one of the so-called Triumvirate of American
Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...
society, known as the "
Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties A circle is divided into 400 grads. Integers from 401 to 499 400s 401 401 is a prime number, tetranacci number, Chen prime, prime index p ...
", along with Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and Tessie Oelrichs. She became a notable leader of high society (in New York City at her townhouse at 25 East 78th Street, at her stately home Glenclyffe in
Philipstown, New York Philipstown is a town located in the western part of Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 9,831 at the 2020 census. History In 1697 Adolphus Philipse, a wealthy Province of New York landowner and merchant, purchased a ...
, and at her mansion Crossways in Newport, Rhode Island) by virtue of her quick wit and sharp tongue. Grandees attending her dinner parties would be greeted with the occasional insult, "Make yourself perfectly at home, and believe me, there is no one who wishes you there more heartily than I do." One man was greeted with "Oh, how do you do! I had quite forgotten I asked you!" In collusion with her antics, Harry Lehr often served as a co-planner of outrageous parties. A widely repeated story says that one was given in honor of "Prince Del Drago of Corsica", who turned out to be a well-dressed monkey introduced by
Joseph Leiter Levi Ziegler Leiter (November 2, 1834 – June 9, 1904) was an American businessman based in Chicago. He co-founded what later became the Marshall Field's, Marshall Field & Company retail empire. Early life Leiter was born to Anne (née Ziegler ...
. Given too much champagne, the monkey proceeded to climb the chandelier and throw light bulbs at the guests. But Lehr "denied that he had ever given such a dinner", although in 1905, it was said to have taken place the year before. At another of her parties, dancers holding peanuts would feed an elephant she rented as they danced by it. Fish's cattiness respected no rank, for when
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
's
wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...
Edith sought to keep a frugal household, Fish was quoted as condescendingly saying of Mrs. Roosevelt "It is said hedresses on three hundred dollars a year, and she looks it."


Personal life

On June 1, 1876, Mamie married
Stuyvesant Fish Stuyvesant Fish (June 24, 1851 – April 10, 1923) was an American businessman and member of the Fish family who served as president of the Illinois Central Railroad. He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertai ...
, the director of the
National Park Bank The National Park Bank was founded in 1856 in New York City, and by the late 19th century, it did more commercial business than any other bank in the country. History The bank built a significant Second Empire early skyscraper at 214-18 Broadway ...
of New York City and president of the
Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...
. He was the son of
Hamilton Fish Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808September 7, 1893) was an American statesman who served as the sixteenth governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from ...
."Notable and Fanciful Quotes" Together, they had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood: * Livingston Fish (1879–1880), who died at six months * Marian Anthon Fish (1880–1944), who married Albert Zabriskie Gray (1881–1964), the son of the Judge
John Clinton Gray John Clinton Gray (December 4, 1843 – June 28, 1915) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. Early life Gray was born on December 4, 1843, in New York City. He was the son of wholesale dry goods dealer John Alexander Clinton ...
, on June 12, 1907. They divorced on December 5, 1934. * Stuyvesant Fish Jr. (1883–1952), who married Isabelle Mildred Dick (1884–1972), daughter of Evans Rogers Dick, in 1910 * Sidney Webster Fish (1885–1950), who married Olga Martha Wiborg (1890–1937), daughter of Frank Bestow Wiborg, in 1915. In 1939, he married Esther Foss, the daughter of Gov. Eugene Noble Foss. She had previously been married to George Gordon Moore, a polo player whom she divorced in 1933, and Aiden Roark, another polo player whom she married in 1934 and divorced in 1937. Mamie died on May 25, 1915, and is buried near Glenclyffe at the Church of St. Philip-in-the-Highlands. Her Newport "summer cottage", Crossways, is now a condominium.


In popular culture

In the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
series, '' The Gilded Age'', Mamie Fish is portrayed by actress Ashlie Atkinson.


References

Notes Sources * "Crossways". The Gilded Age Era. Web. October 27, 2014. * Dalton, Kathleen. "Theodore Roosevelt, Knickerbocker Aristocrat" ''New York History, Vol. 67, No. 1'' (JANUARY 1986), 39–65. * Published by: New York State Historical Association. Web. October 21, 2014. * Gavan, Terrence. 'The Barons of Newport: A Guide to the Gilded Age'. Newport: Pineapple Publications, 1998. * Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, née Marion Anthon, a.k.a. Mamie, New York Social Diary. New York Social Diary, 2013. Web. July 28, 2014. http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1907575 * ''Notable and Fanciful Quotes: "Magnificent Mamie" Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish''. The Esoteric Curiosa: Knowledge Is Power. 2010. Web. October 19, 2014 * Vanderbilt II, Arthur T., Fortune's Children. Morrow: 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fish, Marion Graves Anthon 1853 births 1915 deaths Marion Graves Anthon American people of Dutch descent American people of English descent American people of French-Canadian descent American people of German descent American socialites People from Grymes Hill, Staten Island Gilded Age People from Gramercy Park People from the Upper East Side