daaextreme.blogg.se

Edith wanted more education than she received, so she read from her father's library and from the libraries of her father's friends.

She considered these fashions superficial and oppressive. She rejected the standards of fashion and etiquette that were expected of young girls at the time, which were intended to allow women to marry well and to be put on display at balls and parties. While in Europe, she was educated by tutors and governesses. After the family returned to the United States in 1872, they spent their winters in New York City and their summers in Newport, Rhode Island. At the age of nine, she suffered from typhoid fever, which nearly killed her, while the family was at a spa in the Black Forest. During her travels, the young Edith became fluent in French, German, and Italian. From 1866 to 1872, the Jones family visited France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. Wharton was born during the Civil War however, in describing her family life Wharton does not mention the war except that their travels to Europe after the war were due to the depreciation of American currency. Fort Stevens in New York was named for Wharton's maternal great-grandfather, Ebenezer Stevens, a Revolutionary War hero and General.

Her father's first cousin was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor. She was related to the Rensselaers, the most prestigious of the old patroon families, who had received land grants from the former Dutch government of New York and New Jersey. The saying " keeping up with the Joneses" is said to refer to her father's family. Wharton's paternal family, the Joneses, were a very wealthy and socially prominent family having made their money in real estate. Edith was baptized April 20, 1862, Easter Sunday, at Grace Church. Frederic married Mary Cadwalader Rawle their daughter was landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. She had two older brothers, Frederic Rhinelander and Henry Edward. To her friends and family she was known as "Pussy Jones".

Portrait of Wharton as a girl by Edward Harrison May (1870)Įdith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862, to George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander at their brownstone at 14 West Twenty-third Street in New York City.