Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt Shepard

File:640 & 642 5th Avenue and 2 West 52nd Street, New York, NY.jpg townhouse (right), part of the Vanderbilt Triple Palace]]

Margaret was born on July 23, 1845, in Staten Island, New York. She was the eldest daughter of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt. Her older brother was Cornelius Vanderbilt II and younger siblings William Kissam Vanderbilt, Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly, Frederick William Vanderbilt, Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt Webb and George Washington Vanderbilt II.

She was the granddaughter of the Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and his first wife, Sophia (née Johnson) Vanderbilt.{{cite news|last1=Robehmed|first1=Natalie|title=The Vanderbilts: How American Royalty Lost Their Crown Jewels|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2014/07/14/the-vanderbilts-how-american-royalty-lost-their-crown-jewels/ |access-date=18 January 2018|work=Forbes|date=July 14, 2014}}

An ardent supporter of the YWCA, she built, in 1891, the Margaret Louisa, a YWCA hotel strictly for transient guests at 14 E. 16th Street in New York City. Mrs. Shepard fully financed and furnished the building which was named the "Margaret Louisa Home for Protestant Women".{{cite web |author1=Tom Miller |title=The 1891 Margaret Louisa Home - No. 14 East 16th Street |url=http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/03/1891-margaret-louisa-home-no-14-east.html |website=Daytonian in Manhattan |access-date=8 April 2020 |date=March 8, 2011}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QOpZNnDopO0C |title=How Women Saved the City - Daphne Spain - Google Boeken |isbn=9781452905419 |access-date=2013-01-14|last1=Spain |first1=Daphne |publisher=U of Minnesota Press }}

Margaret Louisa narrowly escaped being a victim of the RMS Titanic, having booked passage but for unknown reasons cancelled and traveled a week earlier on the RMS Olympic.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnXIAR65QDUC&q=Mrs.+elliott+shepard%2C+titanic&pg=PA121 |title=Hidden History of the Lower Hudson Valley: Stories from the Albany Post Road - Carney Rhinevault - Google Books |date=2012-05-15 |isbn=9781609496548 |access-date=2013-01-14|last1=Rhinevault |first1=Carney |publisher=History Press }}

File:Woodlea in Briarcliff Manor (27a).png, her home in Briarcliff Manor, New York, in 1895]]

On February 18, 1868, Margaret Louisa was married to Elliott Fitch Shepard (1833–1893) in the Church of the Incarnation in New York.[http://www.nysoclib.org/collection/nyc-marriage-death-notices-1857-1868 NYC Marriage & Death Notices 1857-1868]. He was the son of Fitch Shepard and Delia Maria Dennis. Shepard was a lawyer, banker, and owner of the Mail and Express newspaper, as well as a founder and president of the New York State Bar Association.{{cite news|title=Elliott F. Shepard Dead; He Expires at His Home After Taking Ether. Had Given No Indication of Serious Illness -- but Evidently Had the Possibility of Death in Mind -- His Family at His Bedside -- a Peculiarly Eccentric Character -- Politician, Editor, and Relig- Ious Enthusiast -- Often Amusing, but Always in Earnest.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1893/03/25/archives/elliott-f-shepard-dead-he-expires-at-his-home-after-taking-ether.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=25 March 1893}} Together, they had five daughters and one son:

• Florence Shepard (1869–1869), who died young.
• Maria Louise Shepard (1870–1948),{{cite news|title=MRS. SCHIEFFELIN DIES IN HOME AT 77; Wife of Drug Firm Executive, Descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt, Aided Y.W.C.A.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/08/19/archives/mrsghieffelir-dies-in-home-at-77-wife-of-drug-firm-executive.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=19 August 1948}} who married William Jay Schieffelin (1866–1955), a descendant of John Jay.{{cite news|title=W. J. SCHIEFFELIN OF DRUG FIRM DIES; Retired Board Chairman Was 89--Crusader for Negro Welfare, City Reform HEADED CITIZENS UNION Helped to Start the Seabury Inquiry--Chemist Served in War With Spain|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/01/archives/w-jsghieffelin-of-drii-firmdies-_retired-board-chairran-was.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=1 May 1955}}
• Edith Shepard (1872–1954), who married Ernesto Fabbri (1874–1943).{{cite news|title=MRS. SHEPARD FABBRI, CHURCH BENEFACTOR|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/12/19/archives/mrs-shepard-fabbr-church-beigefactor.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=19 December 1954}}
• Margaret Shepard (1873–1895), who died unmarried of pneumonia.{{cite news|title=OBITUARY NOTES|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/02/01/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=1 February 1895}}
• Alice Louise Shepard (1874–1950),{{cite news|title=MRS. MORRIS DEAD; ENVOY'S WIDOW, 75; Member of Vanderbilt Family Aided Y.W.C.A. and Backed International Language Was Radcliffe Graduate Honored By Belgians|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/08/16/archives/mrs-morris-dead-envoys-widow-75-member-of-vanderbilt-family-aided.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=16 August 1950}} who married Dave Hennen Morris (1872–1944), the U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and son of John Albert Morris.{{cite news|title=DAVE H. MORRIS, 72, LAWYER, DIPLOMAT; Ambassador to Belgium 1933-37 Dies--Sportsman, Musician, Friend of Roosevelt|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1944/05/05/archives/dave-h-morris-72-lawyer-diplomat-ambassador-to-belgium-1933lg37.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=May 5, 1944}}
• Elliot Fitch Shepard, Jr. (1877–1927), who married Esther Potter, and after their divorce, Eleanor Leigh Terradell (1882–1962).{{cite news|title=DIED. SHEPARD, Elliott Fitch|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1927/04/13/archives/obituary-2-no-title.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=13 April 1927}}

Margaret died at her apartment on 998 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on March 3, 1924.{{cite news|title=MRS. SHEPARD OF A HEART ATTACK; Daughter of the Late William Vanderbilt Succumbs Suddenly in Fifth Avenue Apartment, WAS IN HER 79TH YEAR Had Attended the Wedding of Her Granddaughter, Louise Schleffelin, on Saturday.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/03/04/archives/mltb-sttep-dibb-of-a-itt-jtac-daughter-of-tho-late-william.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=4 March 1924}} She is buried in the Vanderbilt Private Section, a burial ground just outside the Vanderbilt Mausoleum Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island. At her death, she left over $5,000,000 in trust to her daughters.{{cite news|title=MRS. SHEPARD LEFT OVER $5,000,000; Trust Fund Created by Her Father, William H. Vanderbilt, Goes to Daughters.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1924/03/15/archives/mrs-shepard-left-over-5000000-trust-fund-created-by-her-father.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=15 March 1924}} She donated $180,000 to charities, $20,000 to each of her sixteen grandchildren, and $100,000 to the Scarborough Presbyterian Church, in addition to the $100,000 left to the Church upon her husband's death in 1893.{{cite news|title=Elliott F. Shepard's Will; a Hundred Thousand Dollars for the Presbytery. Fifty Thousand for the Seventh Presbyterian Church and $100,- 000 for St. Paul's Institute at Tarsus -- His Newspaper and Stage Line Not to Do Sunday Business.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1893/04/12/archives/elliott-f-shepards-will-a-hundred-thousand-dollars-for-the.html|access-date=18 January 2018|work=The New York Times|date=12 April 1893}}

The Shepards owned a townhouse (double mansion) (1882) on Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street designed by John B. Snook, provided to them by her father and shared with her sister Emily Thorn Vanderbilt, who was married to William Douglas Sloane and, after his death, Henry White, the American Ambassador to France and Italy, and a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles.{{cite news|title=HENRY WHITE WEDS MRS. WM.D. SLOANE; Ex-Ambassador to France Is 70 and Daughter of Late Wm. H. Vanderbilt Is 68. RELATIVES ONLY AT NUPTIAL Ceremony in St. Bartholomew's Chapel Follows Issuing of License --Couple at Bride's City Home.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/11/04/archives/henry-white-weds-mrs-wmd-sloane-exambassador-to-france-is-70-and.html|access-date=21 July 2017|work=The New York Times|date=4 November 1920}}

They also owned Woodlea, built between 1892 and 1895, a McKim, Mead & White-designed{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Gray|title=Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County|year=2003|publisher=Westchester County Historical Society|location=Elmsford, New York|isbn=0-915585-14-6}} country estate in Scarborough, New York, a neighborhood of Briarcliff Manor. The estate is now operated as Sleepy Hollow Country Club.{{cite news|title=Club's $600,000 Purchase.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/06/17/102354256.pdf|access-date=July 17, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=June 17, 1917}}{{cite news|title=Refurbished Sleepy Hollow Club To Be Scene Of Golden Jubilee|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201961%20%20%20%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201961%20%20%20%20Grayscale%20-%206619.pdf|access-date=May 13, 2015|newspaper=Herald Statesman|date=September 27, 1961|location=Yonkers, New York|page=51}}{{cite news|title=Millions in a Country Seat|date=November 24, 1895|newspaper=New York Herald|url=http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Herald/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895/New%20York%20NY%20Herald%201895%20-%208283.pdf|page=12|access-date=May 13, 2015}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{find a Grave|17739036}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderbilt Shepard, Margaret}}

Category:1843 births

Category:1924 deaths

Margaret

Category:People from Staten Island

Category:People from Briarcliff Manor, New York

Category:Burials at the Vanderbilt Family Cemetery and Mausoleum

Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)