Elisha Dyer III

Elisha Dyer III (October 23, 1862 – June 2, 1917) was an American socialite prominent in Newport and New York society during the Gilded Age.

This article is about the son. For the father, see Elisha Dyer Jr.
Elisha Dyer
Born(1862-10-23)October 23, 1862
Providence, Rhode Island
DiedJune 2, 1917(1917-06-02) (aged 54)
Newport, Rhode Island
Resting placeSwan Point Cemetery
Alma materBrown University
Columbia Law School
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1891; his death 1917)​
ChildrenLaura Patterson Swan (stepdaughter)
Parent(s)Elisha Dyer Jr.,
Nancy A. Viall
RelativesGeorge R. Dyer (brother)
Elisha Dyer (grandfather)

Early life

Dyer was born on October 23, 1862 in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the son of Rhode Island Governor Elisha Dyer Jr. (1839–1906) and Nancy Anthony (née Viall) Dyer (1843–1920),[1] who was the daughter of William Viall and Mary Brayton Anthony. Together, they were the parents of[2] his siblings included George Rathbone Dyer, who died young; another Brig. Gen. George Rathbone Dyer, who married Grace Gurnee Scott; and Hezekiah Anthony Dyer, who married Charlotte Osgood Tilden.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Elisha Dyer, also a Rhode Island Governor, and Anna Jones (née Hoppin) Dyer. Dyer was a descendant of Roger Williams, founder of the Rhode Island Colony.

Career

Dyer was educated at private schools in Providence and graduated from Brown University in 1883. He later graduated from Columbia Law School in 1885, and was admitted to the bar in that year.[3] He worked as a broker with Ulman & Co.[4]

Society life

In 1892, Dyer and his wife were included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[5] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[6] Dyer, a renowned dancer and cotillion leader, was known as "one of the most popular men in the Newport Summer colony" and was an undisputed leader of society.[4] Dyer was known to have introduced Harry Lehr, McAllister's successor, to the Newport colony.[4]

The Dyer's Newport home, known as Wayside, was located on Bellevue Avenue.[7]

He was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and the Society of the Cincinnati. He belonged to the Union Club of the City of New York, the Knickerbocker Club, the Manhattan Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Country Club of New York, the Automobile Club of New York, the Newport Casino, the Newport Reading Room, the Casino Club, the Clam Bake Club and the Newport Country Club.[4]

Personal life

Dyer was married to Sidney (née Turner) Swan (1857–1933),[8] the daughter of Sidney (née Patterson) Turner and William Fauntleroy Turner.[9] Sidney was the great-niece of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, the daughter of a Baltimore merchant William Patterson, and the first wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother.[10] They did not have any children together, however, he was the stepfather of his wife's daughter from a previous marriage (to Donnell Swan), Laura Patterson Swan,[11] who married Andrew Robeson[12] in 1913.[7][13]

Upon his father's death in 1906, he and his siblings inherited $250 each with the remainder of the estate, valued at about $250,000, left to his mother.[14] His father left $5,000 to Miss Francis E. Kinnicutt, his private secretary.[14]

He died of pneumonia at his home in Newport on June 2, 1917.[4] He was interred in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.[15] In November 1917, his widow sold their five-story residence at 37 West 56th Street in New York City.[16] After his widows death in 1933, the estate (valued in excess of $1,000,000) was left to Sidney's granddaughter, Lauretta Patterson Robeson.[17]

References
  1. Capace, Nancy (2001). Encyclopedia of Rhode Island. Somerset Publishers, Inc. pp. 198–199. ISBN 9780403096107. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  2. The Historical Register A Record of People Places and Events in American History | Illustrated with Portrait Plates. Edwin C. Hill. 1921. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  3. "Welcome to Wayside". waysidenewport.com. Wayside Guest House | Bed and Breakfast | Newport, RI. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  4. "ELISHA DYER DIES; COTILLION LEADER; Broker, Long Prominent in Social Life of Newport, a Victim of Pneumonia. SON OF LATE EX-GOV. DYER He Was Interested in Charities and Belonged to Noted Clubs of New York and Newport". The New York Times. June 3, 1917. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  5. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  6. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  7. "MISS LAURA SWAN WEDS IN NEWPORT; Married to Andrew Robeson at Wayside, Home of Her Mother, Mrs. Elisha Dyer. BRIDE IN TRAVELING GOWN Relatives and a Few Friends Only at Ceremony ;- Bridal Pair Sail for France To-morrow on Honeymoon". The New York Times. December 2, 1913. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  8. "MRS. ELISHA DYER DIES IN 76TH YEAR; Leader in Newport Social Life Succumbs Unexpectedly to a Heart Attack". The New York Times. October 27, 1933. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  9. Leonard, John William (1911). Who's Who in Finance | A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Bankers, Capitalists, and Others Engaged in Financial Activities in the United States and Canada. Joseph & Sefton, Publishers. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  10. "Marriage References". Maryland State Archives. May 23, 2001. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  11. Bach, Emily. "Peg-Top Clothing: An Evening Gown". mdhs.org. Maryland Historical Society. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  12. Social Register, Boston. Social Register Association. 1916. p. 143. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  13. Robeson, Susan Stroud; Stroud, Caroline Franciscus (1916). An Historical and Genealogical Account of Andrew Robeson: Of Scotland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and of His Descendants from 1653 to 1916. Lippincott. p. 365. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  14. "ELISHA DYER'S WILL FILED.; Among the Bequests Is One of $5,000 to Mr. Dyer's Secretary". The New York Times. December 5, 1906. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  15. Spencer, Thomas E. (1998). Where They're Buried: A Directory Containing More Than Twenty Thousand Names of Notable Persons Buried in American Cemeteries, with Listings of Many Prominent People who Were Cremated. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 432.
  16. "REAL ESTATE FIELD; RESULTS AT AUCTION. THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT. REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS. RECORDED MORTGAGES". The New York Times. November 20, 1917. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  17. "GRANDDAUGHTER GETS MRS. DYER'S ESTATE; If She Dies Without Issue, For- tune Passes to Johns Hop- kins University". The New York Times. November 2, 1933. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
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