Lucy Hayes Herron

Herron was born in 1877 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of John Williamson Herron, a lawyer, and Harriet Anne Collins Herron. Her older sister, Helen Herron Taft, was the wife of President William Howard Taft and first lady of the United States.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33855595/john_williamson_herron_1912/ |title=Mrs. Taft's Father Dead |date=August 5, 1912 |newspaper=News-Journal |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} Lucy was baptized in the White House and named for Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of her father’s close friend President Rutherford B. Hayes.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuqYCgAAQBAJ&q=Lucy+Hayes+Herron&pg=PA83 |title=Ohio's Remarkable Women: Daughters, Wives, Sisters, and Mothers Who Shaped History |last=Anderson |first=Greta |date=2015-11-01 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781493016754 |pages=83}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kjb8CwAAQBAJ&q=Lucy+Hayes+Herron&pg=PA125 |title=Wives of the American Presidents |edition=2nd |last=Waldrup |first=Carole Chandler |date=2016-04-06 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476605166 |pages=124–125}} Some sources give her birth date as 1878 or 1879 (including her tombstone), but she was "born shortly after the election of Mr. Hayes" and named for the new first lady, which places her birth and baptism in 1877.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsfu02taftgoog |quote=Lucy Hayes Herron. |title=Recollections of Full Years |last=Taft |first=Helen Herron |date=1914 |publisher=Dodd, Mead |pages=[https://archive.org/details/recollectionsfu02taftgoog/page/n33 6]}}

Her maternal grandfather Ela Collins was a Congressman in the 1820s, as was an uncle, William Collins. Another uncle, Isaac Clinton Collins, was an Ohio state legislator and a judge.

Herron was a serious amateur golfer and a member of the Cincinnati Golf Club. Because she was from Ohio, she was considered a "Western" golfer: "Miss Herron, who is strong on the putting green, is another one of the formidable golfers, who, of both sexes, the West is sending out to test Eastern skill to its utmost," commented one publication at the time.{{Cite magazine |date=November 1901 |title=Women Golf Champions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFBhAAAAIAAJ&q=Lucy+Herron+golf&pg=PA241 |magazine=Outing |volume=39 |pages=240–241}} Her swing was described as "beautiful" "quick, machine-like" by colleagues.{{cite book |first1=Ruth |last1=Underhill |first2=Beatrix |last2=Hoyt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-VBAQAAMAAJ&q=Herron&pg=PA36 |title=The Book of Sport |publisher=Leonard & Company |year=1903 |page=36}} In 1897, she finished third in the U.S. Women's Amateur.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33855635/lucy_hayes_herron_1898/ |title=Women Will Play Golf |date=October 11, 1898 |newspaper=Star-Gazette |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1899, she won the Women's Golf Association Trophy in Philadelphia.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/spaldingsofficia10unit |quote=Lucy Herron golf. |title=Spalding's Official Golf Guide |date=1900 |publisher=American Sports Publishing Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/spaldingsofficia10unit/page/96 96]}} She reached the finals of the 1901 U.S. Women's Amateur, held at Baltusrol Golf Club, where Genevieve Hecker defeated her.{{Cite web |url=https://www.baltusrol.org/u.s.-women-s-amateur |title=U.S. Women's Amateur |publisher=Baltusrol Golf Club |access-date=2019-07-13}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1901/10/13/archives/miss-hecker-is-champion-she-triumphs-over-miss-herron-by-five-up.html |title=Miss Hecker is Champion; She Triumphs Over Miss Herron by Five Up and Three to Play |date=October 13, 1901 |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{Cite magazine |date=November 1, 1901 |title=The American Women's Championship |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jmM6AQAAMAAJ&q=Lucy+Herron+golf&pg=PA88 |magazine=Golf Illustrated |volume=10 |pages=88–89}} The golfer Frances C. Griscom listed her among the top women golfers in the United States.{{Cite magazine |last=Griscom |first=Frances C. |date=December 1902 |title=American and English Women as Golfers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7s2AQAAIAAJ&q=Lucy+Herron+golf&pg=PA377 |magazine=Outing |volume=41 |pages=377–378 }}

Herron's first husband was steel company executive Thomas McKennan Laughlin, the brother of ambassador Irwin B. Laughlin. They married in 1903,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q287AAAAYAAJ&q=Lucy+Hayes+Herron&pg=PA39 |title=Sexennial Record of the Class of 1897, Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University |last=Rich |first=Gaius Barrett |date=1903 |publisher=Dorman Lithographing Company |pages=39–40}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33855900/lucy_hayes_herron_1902/ |title=Untitled news item |date=December 28, 1902 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=10 |via=Newspapers.com}} and she was widowed in 1910, when he committed suicide.{{Cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/obituary-clipping-mar-13-1910-1261439/ |title=Thomas K. Laughlin Took His Own Life |date=March 13, 1910 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=July 13, 2019 |page=1 |via=NewspaperArchive.com}} They had two sons, William K. Laughlin and Thomas Irwin Laughlin. In 1911, she was rumored to be engaged to Archibald Butt, an aide to President Taft. She denied the rumors, they did not marry, and he died in 1912 on the Titanic.{{Cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19110524.2.7&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |title=Taft's Aid Will Soon Be His Brother-in-Law |date=May 24, 1911 |newspaper=San Francisco Call |access-date=July 13, 2019 |page=1 |via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33856432/lucy_hayes_herron_1911/ |title=Taft's Sister-in-Law Says She's Not Engaged |date=May 27, 1911 |newspaper=Journal Gazette |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}

She married her second husband, Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt, a widower, in 1915.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33857563/lucy_herron_lippitt_1915/ |title=Senator Lippitt and his Bride |date=April 28, 1915 |newspaper=Reading Times |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} With Lippitt, she had another son, Frederick Lippitt, who became a congressman, and a daughter, Mary Ann Lippitt, a pilot during World War II and later owner of an aviation company in Rhode Island. She was widowed again when Lippitt died in 1933.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33855949/lucy_hayes_herron_1933/ |title=Ex-Senator Lippitt Dies at Providence |date=December 29, 1933 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=19 |via=Newspapers.com}} She died in 1961, in Providence, Rhode Island.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33857190/lucy_herron_lippitt_1961/ |title=Mrs. Lucy H. Lippitt |date=July 28, 1961 |newspaper=The News-Messenger |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} She had a reported estate of eight million dollars, and left significant gifts to Rhode Island children's, medical, and cultural charities.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33857270/lucy_herron_lippitt_1961/ |title=Senator's Widow Leaves $8 Million |date=August 4, 1961 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=32 |via=Newspapers.com}} Neither of her Lippitt children married; but both were major benefactors of Brown University, which jointly awarded them the President's Medal for their contributions.{{Cite web |url=https://library.brown.edu/cds/portraits/display.php?idno=314 |title=Brown University Portrait Collection |publisher=Brown University Office of the Curator |access-date=2019-07-13}} She is buried with her second husband and younger children at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

Her notable nephews and nieces included Robert A. Taft, Helen Taft Manning, and Charles Phelps Taft II.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33858678/lucy_herron_lippitt_1961/ |title=Mrs. Lucy Lippitt, Aunt of Councilman |date=July 28, 1961 |newspaper=The Cincinnati Enquirer |access-date=July 14, 2019 |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}}

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Category:American female golfers

Category:Amateur golfers

Category:Golfers from Ohio

Category:American socialites

Category:Sportspeople from Cincinnati

Category:Burials at Swan Point Cemetery

Category:1877 births

Category:1961 deaths