The Bouvier family or Bouvier-Lee-Auchincloss family describes the wealthy, American family connected with former First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. It was founded in the United States around 1820 and joined the American upper class over subsequent years. Members of the family have French, Irish, and English ancestry.
| Bouvier Lee, Auchincloss | |
|---|---|
| Current region | New York |
| Place of origin | France |
| Founded | 1820 |
| Founder | Michel Bouvier |
| Members | John Vernou Bouvier Jr. John Vernou Bouvier III Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Caroline Lee Bouvier |
| Connected members | Janet Norton Lee John F. Kennedy Aristotle Onassis Michael Temple Canfield Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł Francis Anthony Drexel |
| Connected families | Kennedy family House of Radziwiłł Vanderbilt family |
| Estate(s) | Lasata |
History
editMichel Bouvier, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, was a French cabinet maker who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1815. By the time of his death, he had become wealthy, owning a cabinet-making business and large lands which contained coal reserves.
His sons John Vernou Bouvier Sr. and Michel “M.C.” Bouvier worked on Wall Street, relocating to New York and further growing the family fortune. His daughter Emma Mary Bouvier (1833–1883), married financier Francis Anthony Drexel, the son of Francis Martin Drexel and the brother of Anthony Joseph Drexel who founded present-day J.P. Morgan & Co. and was influential in developing the private banking system of the United States.[1]
John Vernou Bouvier Jr. was born in 1866 and inherited US$250,000 (equivalent to $4,436,047 in 2023) from the family, some of which he lost in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. He was also a successful attorney.[2]
John Vernou Bouvier III, the son of J. V. Bouvier Jr married Janet Norton Lee in 1928. Her father was James Thomas Lee, who came from another prominent Manhattan family. His father, Dr. James Lee, was the superintendent of New York Public Schools, as well as a local physician. Lee became a lawyer in the real estate industry, before investing in real estate successfully and developing several luxury buildings in Manhattan, including the Peter Stuyvesant Apartments.[3]
John III and Janet had two daughters, Jacqueline, who married John F. Kennedy in 1953 and later Aristotle Onassis and Lee, who married Michael Temple Canfield, Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł and Herbert Ross. Janet later married stockbroker and lawyer Hugh D. Auchincloss Jr., the son of Hugh D. Auchincloss Sr. and a stepfather of Gore Vidal. Their marriage produced Janet Auchincloss Rutherfurd, who married Lewis Polk Rutherfurd, grandson of Levi P. Morton, former Vice President of the United States.[4]
John Vernou Bouvier Jr’s daughter Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale married Phelan Beale. They had children: Bouvier Beale, Phelan Beale Jr. and Edith Bouvier Beale.
In 1975 Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter “Little Edie” were the subjects of a documentary called Grey Gardens. It documented their day-to-day lives living in the dilapidated Grey Gardens mansion with raccoons and cats in increasing squalor.
They are most known for their connection with the Kennedy family.[5]
Residences
edit
The residence most commonly associated with the family is Lasata, the home of John Vernou Bouvier Jr. in East Hampton, New York.
References
edit- ^ "Francis A. Drexel weds Emma Bouvier". Sisters Of The Blessed Sacrament. Retrieved 2024-09-15.
- ^ Davis, John H. (1969). The Bouviers; portrait of an American family. Internet Archive. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- ^ Gray, Christopher (1995-03-12). "Streetscapes/Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's Grandfather; Quality Developer With a Legacy of Fine Buildings". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ Pottker, Jan (2002). Janet and Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Macmillan. pp. 48–50. ISBN 0-312-30281-9.
- ^ Latham, Caroline (1989). The Kennedy encyclopedia : an A-to-Z illustrated guide to America's royal family. Internet Archive. New York : NAL Books. ISBN 978-0-453-00684-2.