Mrs. Patton
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While visiting the Divine Egypt exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, the author reflects on Beatrice Ayer’s transformation during her family’s trip to Egypt in the early 1900s. Inspired by adventure and Egyptology, she carried home a mummified toe and a fascination for diverse cultures, while also witnessing the peculiar dynamics at Theodore M. Davis’s Newport…
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The story of the Patton Homestead is closely tied to the women who had a significant impact on it. Beatrice Ayer Patton and her daughter-in-law, Joanne Holbrook Patton, each brought their own unique vision to Green Meadows. Beatrice offered stability to the family during challenging times of war and loss, while Joanne transformed the land…
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It can be quite confusing for a biographer having to deal with families naming their children after their ancestors. The detective work involved in figuring out what Frederick, Helen, or Willard—in the case of the Ayers, Herrs, and Holbrooks, respectively—is referred to in correspondence and official documents is enough to turn one’s hair gray. At
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Since its founding in 1883, the National Horse Show had been the highlight of New York’s fall social season. The event drew the cream of American society, who attended the eight-day international jumping event dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns. During the 1930s, Beatrice and her daughters often occupied one of Madison Square Garden’s seventy-five
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During WWII, Mamie Eisenhower, Katherine Marshall, and Beatrice Patton supported their husbands’ careers and the war effort. They navigated social obligations, maintained dignity, and supported the home front. Their resilience and determination were evident as they grappled with personal challenges and actively contributed to the war through volunteer work.
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Fox Conner and his wife Virginia encountered George S. Patton Jr. on a train in 1913, marking the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
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While visiting her brother in El Paso in 1916, Nita Patton was introduced to Black Jack Pershing, so named for having commanded the African-American soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. He arrived at Fort Bliss in the spring of 1914 in command of the 8th Infantry Brigade, charged with protecting the US-Mexican border. His wife
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General George Patton’s wife initially wanted his remains brought to the U.S. on his death, but ultimately chose to bury him at the Luxembourg American Cemetery. Visitors now find his grave at the head of his fallen men.
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“I wish people wouldn’t make him so blood-and-gutsy,” Beatrice told Jane Eads of the Los Angeles Times in April 1943. She knew George Patton was “a man furiously fighting for his country,” a man who gave a cold soldier the coat off his back, who stopped his jeep by the side of the road to
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Hamana Kalili hoped to find an abundance of ulua, a priceless indigenous Hawaiian fish, when he went to check his lines on the morning of June 1, 1926; instead, he found a great white shark measuring twelve-and-a-half feet. Gutting his surprise catch to repurpose all of its parts, Kalili discovered the manō recently enjoyed a
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