Posted 9 years ago
vintagelamp
(1097 items)
Mrs. McDonald DeWitt (1881-1957 Park Avenue,NY)
I love to find interesting portraits and then research the lives of the subjects. I liked this painting because it was painted in the 1920s by Wilber Fiske Noyes. I had no idea who Mrs. McDonald Dewitt was until I researched her life. She was married to a prominent attorney in New York but it is her association with Florence Knapp (pictured to the left of Mrs. DeWitt in the third photo) that is most interesting. Mrs. DeWitt helped to organize the Republican Women of New York State.
Florence Knapp was Secretary of State of New York from 1925 to 1926, elected in 1924. In 1928, she was convicted of grand larceny in office. During the taking of New York's 1925 census, Mrs. Knapp had put her stepdaughter's name on the payroll, then received the stepdaughter's checks herself, forged the endorsements, and spent the money on clothes.
She remained the only woman elected to a statewide office in New York for fifty years.
Mrs. McDonald DeWitt, stood by her friend throughout the trial.
Love the painting and your well described history with it.......
Regards
Alan
Thank you!
She would have needed a good! friend at that time as I bet a lot of them would have disappeared...rare!...love reading your write ups!...:-)
I can imagine this portrait hanging on the wall of her Manhattan Apartment. I had a cousin who wrote plays in the 1920s and lived a similar lifestyle. I will have to include some of her things on this site.
Please!! that would be great!...:-)
I will. I actually have her penthouse key to the Beverly Hotel when she was doing the "Abie's Irish Rose" radio show. She opened the play in the 1920s and borrowed money from Arnold Rothstein, the man who fixed the 1919 World Series. Her name was Anne Nichols.