Rev. John Whitney
President of Georgetown University
My dear Fr. Whitney
I write with regard to the picture of Mrs Dahlgren, now hanging in one of the front drawing rooms. It was my intention, had this painting been a success, to present it to the College. Both Mrs Dahlgren and I [John Vinton Dahlgren], however, are not pleased with it, and have decided not to part with it. It was sent to the College entirely on the responsibility of the artist, who did so without consulting me. I will feel under obligation to you if you will have it boxed up, and stored in some room in the College until I return to N.Y. when I would like it expressed to me. Whatever this may cost the College pray let me know, and I will take pleasure in paying the…'
Before 1866 [her father] Joseph William Drexel [aged 32] and [her mother] Lucy Wharton [aged 24] were married.
On 22nd April 1868 Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies was born to Joseph William Drexel [aged 35] and Lucy Wharton [aged 27].
On 25th March 1888 [her father] Joseph William Drexel [aged 55] died.
On 29th June 1889 John Vinton Dahlgren [aged 21] and Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 21] were married at St Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan.
After 1898. Adolfo Müller-Ury [aged 35]. Portrait of Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 29].
Jan 27/98.
My dear Fr. Richards:
Last summer you suggested to me that the University would like to possess a Portrait of Mrs Dahlgren [aged 29]. If your Board of Director[s are possessed of] the same mind I will present to it such a work by one of the most distinguished artists in the country. I speak of Mr Muller Ury. The character of the picture will be such as will befit the dignity of an institution of learning.
Some days since I saw Mr Thoarms of Hess & Co, and directed him when next in Washington to visit the Chapel, and determine upon the proper decorations of the walls. Trusting that this order will meet with your approval I am as ever your sincere friend
[her husband] John Vinton Dahlgren [aged 29].
On 11th August 1899 [her husband] John Vinton Dahlgren [aged 31] died of tuberculosis. His funeral was held on 18th August 1899, in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel, which had been constructed six years earlier as a memorial to the death of Dahlgren's infant son, Joseph.
In June 1901 Henry Symes Lehr [aged 32] and Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 33] were married at St Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan.
1905. Giovanni Boldini [aged 62]. Portrait of Mrs Henry Lehr aka Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 36].
On 30th July 1910 William Horsley-Beresford 4th Baron Decies [aged 45] died without issue. His brother [her future husband] John [aged 43] succeeded 5th Baron Decies of Decies in Waterford.
On 7th February 1911 [her future husband] John Beresford 5th Baron Decies [aged 44] and Helen Vivien Gould Baroness Decies [aged 17] were married. She by marriage Baroness Decies of Decies in Waterford. The difference in their ages was 26 years.
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In 1912 [her mother] Lucy Wharton [aged 71] died.
On 3rd January 1929 [her husband] Henry Symes Lehr [aged 59] died of a brain malady at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
In 1935 Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 66] published "King Lehr" and the Gilded Age.
On 25th May 1936 John Beresford 5th Baron Decies [aged 69] and Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 68] were married. She by marriage Baroness Decies of Decies in Waterford.
In 1937 Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 68] published Turn of the World.
In 1942 [her husband] John Beresford 5th Baron Decies [aged 75] requested a divorce from his wife Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 73].
On 31st January 1944 [her husband] John Beresford 5th Baron Decies [aged 77] died. His son [her step-son] Arthur [aged 28] succeeded 6th Baron Decies of Decies in Waterford.
On 13th June 1944 Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies [aged 76] died at the Shelton Hotel, Manhattan. She was buried with her first husband and son in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel.
Grandfather: Francis Martin Drexel
father: Joseph William Drexel
Elizabeth Wharton Drexel Baroness Decies
Grandfather: Thomas Lloyd Wharton
mother: Lucy Wharton