Collateral relations

My grandfather’s box of family papers continues to yield treasures – and some fresh mysteries. Among the former (and the latter) are a pair of small leather traveling photo frames: one, the larger, is maroon and holds a photograph of a middle-aged woman; the other (biscuit colored) shows an older man being circled by a dog.

I suspect that the subjects of this pair of photos are my Steward great-grandparents,[1] although it is certainly possible that the woman is not Daisy Steward (1861–1951) but one of her sisters: Katharine Livingston (Beeckman) Lorillard (1855–1941), Helen (Beeckman) Lyman (1858–1938), or Martha Codwise (Beeckman) French (1863–1951). The Beeckman sisters – like their grandmother and her sisters[2] – were famous beauties when young, and all of them looked very much the same in later years, as can be seen in a photo from my grandparents’ wedding in 1927.

The lady’s carrying case is stamped Vienna in gold, which is perplexing: if it were actually meant for the local market, one would expect it to be marked Wien. As for the gentleman, where is he? I thought the steps behind him seemed familiar, like the entrance to the Stewards’ house in Goshen, but I don’t think that’s it. Perhaps the building is a hotel?

As Aunt Helen Lyman and Aunt Mattie French outlived their husbands and had no children of their own, their effects probably passed to their sisters and then their sisters’ children: Louis Lasher Lorillard Jr. (1875–1938),[3] Campbell White Steward (1886–1960), Margaret Atherton Steward (1888–1975), Katherine Elizabeth (Steward) Johnson (1888–1969), Gilbert Livingston Steward (1898–1991), and John Steward (1902–1957). It seems entirely possible that a photo of Helen Lyman or Mattie French ended up with their nephew, my grandfather, both because he was often chosen as a family trustee and since he outlived all of his siblings, three of whom were themselves unmarried – and so the process of dividing up their effects among collateral relatives would have continued!

Continued here.

Notes

[1] Campbell Steward (1852–1936) married Margaret Atherton Beeckman in 1885.

[2] Catherine McPhaedris (Livingston) (Cuyler) Beeckman (1788–1863) was the older sister of Helen (Livingston) Smith (1789–1867), Martha (Livingston) Codwise (1791–1865), and Susan Maria (Livingston) Constable (1794–1830).

[3] Cousin Louis was my grandfather’s godfather. In due course, my grandfather served as godfather to Cousin Louis’ son, Louis Livingston Lorillard (1919–1986), a founder of the Newport Jazz Festival.