Catherine Eddy Beveridge

Catherine was born in Chicago, Illinois, on June 29, 1881. She was the only daughter of Augustus Newlands Eddy and Abby Louisa (née Spencer) Eddy. Her older brother, Spencer F. Eddy, was a diplomat.{{cite news |title=Spencer Eddy Dies; Former Diplomat; Ex-United States Minister to Argentina, Who Served Also in Europe, Was 66; First Post was in Paris; Aide in London, St. Petersburg, Constantinople, Rumania, Serbia and Bulgaria |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/10/08/94719395.pdf |accessdate=5 March 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=8 October 1939 |page=O52 |url-access=subscription}} Her father made his fortune as a businessman and her mother was a member of a family who ran a successful hardware business.

Her paternal grandparents were the Rev. Thomas Mears Eddy and Anna (née White) Eddy. Her maternal grandparents were Rachel (née Macomber) Spencer and Franklin Fayette Spencer, a founder of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.

Like many wealthy young women at the time, Catherine received an education in the humanities and traveled extensively. In the winter of 1902, she debuted at the court of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, after which fresh asparagus was served to the 1,500 dinner guests.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.washingtonlife.com/issues/february_2006/society_privilege_and_politics/|title=Privilege and Politics: An intimate look into Catherine Eddy Beveridge's Life|magazine=Washington Life Magazine}}

File:Graves of Albert Jeremiah Beveridge (1862–1927) and Catherine Eddy Beveridge (1881–1970) at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis 1.jpg

In 1907 much to the chagrin of her role models and mentors, her mother Abby Eddy and her aunt Delia Caton Field, Catherine married Albert J. Beveridge (1862–1927), the Republican senator from Indiana, who served from 1899 to 1911.{{cite news |title=Beveridge's Notable Career; Rose From Poverty to Orator, Lawyer, Senator and Author. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-york-times_1927-04-28_76_25296/page/n22/mode/1up |accessdate=2024-10-08 |newspaper=The New York Times |place=Indianapolis |agency=AP |publication-date=28 April 1927 |date=1927-04-27 |page=23 |via=Internet Archive}} The couple raised two children in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, and also spent substantial time in Washington, D.C. The couple had a passionate marriage, and according to their grandson, about the only thing that they ever fought about was his smoking, which she did not like. Their children were:

• Albert Jeremiah Beveridge Jr. (1908–1965), who married Elizabeth Scaife (1910–1998) in 1933.{{cite news |title=Elizabeth Scaife to Wed.; Engagement to Albert Beveridge Jr., Son of Late Senator. Announced. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/12/18/archives/elizabeth-scaife-to-wed-engagement-to-albert-beveridge-jr-son-of.html |accessdate=6 March 2020 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=18 December 1932 |page=N5 |url-access=subscription}} They divorced and he married Virginia ({{nee}} Ryan) Baring, a granddaughter of Thomas Fortune Ryan and former wife of Edward Thomas Baring (son of Tom Baring), in 1955.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Ryan Baring Remarried Here. Wed to Albert J. Beveridge Jr., Son of Late Senator, by State Justice Hecht |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/11/06/archives/mrs-ryan-baring-ooooooo-o-o-o-wed-to-albert-j-beveridge-jr-son-of.html |access-date=3 January 2024 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1955 |page=91 |url-access=subscription}}
• Abby Beveridge, who predeceased her mother.

After her husband's 1927 death, Beveridge became a prolific philanthropist of the arts, donating to institutions throughout the country, including the National Gallery of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Art Institute of Indianapolis. She helped establish the Albert J. Beveridge Award for American historians in 1939.{{cite web|url=http://www.historians.org/awards-and-grants/awards-and-prizes/albert-j-beveridge-award|title=Albert J. Beveridge Award|publisher= American Historical Association|accessdate= 4 September 2015}}

Beveridge died on May 28, 1970, at her home in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.{{cite news |title=Widow of Late Sen. Beveridge Dies in Florida |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46215597/obituary-for-sen-beveridge-aged-89/ |accessdate=6 March 2020 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=30 May 1970 |pages=40}} She was memorialized in the 2005 book The Chronicle of Catherine Eddy Beveridge: An American Girl Travels into the Twentieth Century,{{cite news |last1=Kogan |first1=Rick |title=Ladies of letters: 2 books illuminate a long-gone era of Chicago opulence |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46215439/ladies-of-letters-2-books-illuminate-a/ |accessdate=6 March 2020 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=8 January 2006 |pages=14–4}} by her grandson Albert J. Beveridge III and Chicago writer Susan Radomsky.{{Cite journal|last=Brindley|first=Claire|date=2012|title=Review of The Chronicle of Catherine Eddy Beveridge: An American Girl Travels into the Twentieth Century, Albert J. Beveridge III|journal=Washington History|volume=24|issue=2|pages=170–172|issn=1042-9719|jstor=41825446}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/22 Catherine Eddy Beveridge Papers] at Newberry Library

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Category:1881 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:People from Chicago

Category:American socialites

Category:Philanthropists from Illinois

Category:20th-century American philanthropists

Category:20th-century American women philanthropists

Category:Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery