Grace Vanderbilt

Grace Graham Vanderbilt ( Wilson; September 3, 1870 – January 7, 1953) was an American socialite. She was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt III. She was one of the last Vanderbilts to live the luxurious life of the "head of society" that her predecessors such as Alice and Alva Vanderbilt enjoyed. Early years Grace was born on September 3, 1870, at 512 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. She was the youngest child of New York banker Richard Thornton Wilson and Melissa Clementine Johnston. Grace's sister Mary ("May") married Ogden Goelet and her sister Belle married Sir Michael Henry Herbert, younger brother of the 13th Earl of Pembroke. The sisters were known in London society as "the marrying Wilsons." One of her brothers was banker Richard Thornton Wilson Jr. Another brother, Marshall Orme Wilson, married Caroline "Carrie" Astor, youngest daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn of the Astor family. Personal life She eloped with Cornelius "Neily" Vanderbilt III (1873–1942), son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and Alice Claypoole Gwynne of the Vanderbilt family, in 1896. This led to a violent disagreement between Neily and his father, which lasted many years. Neily and Grace remained married for the rest of their lives and had two children: Cornelius Vanderbilt IV (1898–1974), who married seven times but had no children. Grace Vanderbilt (1899–1964), who married Henry Gassaway Davis (1902–1984) in 1927. They divorced in 1936 and she married Robert Livingston Stevens (1907–1972).