Edith Newbold (Jones) Wharton (1862 - 1937)

Born 24 Jan 1862 in New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Edward Robbins Wharton — married 29 Apr 1885 (to 1913) in Manhattan, New York, USA

Died 11 Aug 1937 at age 75 in Rue de Montmorency, Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Melissa Gridley [send private message]

Biography

Edith (Jones) Wharton is Notable.

Edith (Jones) Wharton was a New Yorker.

Edith Newbold Jones, better known as Edith Wharton, twentieth century American writer best known for her 1921 novel The Age of Innocence, was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Literature. A daughter of wealthy and socially prominent George Frederic Jones and Lucretia Stevens Rhinelander, she was born in New York City in 1862.^[1][2]

Appeared in the 1880 U. S. Census in New York, New York. The household included: Georges F. age 58, retired; Henry E. age 30, no occupation; Edith N. age 18; Michael Cannon age 20, occupation servant; James Tumigan age 30, occupation servant; Maggie Campbell age 25, occupation servant; Suzanne Campbell age 24, occupation servant; Kate Campbell age 18, occupation servant; Francsis Bloch age 36, occupation servant; Elisa Versch age 20 occupation servant; Maria Butler age 37, occupation servant.

In 1885, at 23, she married Edward "Teddy" Robbins Wharton^[3] of Boston. He suffered from a crippling depression that their marriage ultimately could not survive. They were married 28 years and had no children.^[1]

Appeared in the 1905 New York State Census in Manhattan. The household included: Edward age 45; Edith age 45.

Appeared in the 1910 U. S. Census in Lenox, Berkshire, Massachusetts. The household included: Edward R. age 59, no occupation; Edith age 50.

With the end of her marriage, Edith moved to France in 1914, just before the start of World War I. She opened a workroom and hired and fed unemployed women, and organized refugee shelters. "On April 18, 1916, the President of France appointed her Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, the country's highest award, in recognition of her dedication to the war effort....Her relief work included setting up workrooms for unemployed French women, organizing concerts to provide work for musicians, raising tens of thousands of dollars for the war effort, and opening tuberculosis hospitals." Through her writing, her prolific correspondence, and front-line reporting for the New York Times, she encouraged American support and entry into the war.^[1]

She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930.^[1]

Edith Wharton died of a stroke in 1937 at de Le Pavillon Colombe, her 18th-century house on Rue de Montmorency in Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France. The street is today called rue Edith Wharton. She is buried in the American Protestant section of the Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles, France.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Wikipedia contributors, "Edith Wharton," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edith_Wharton&oldid=1038261405 (accessed August 14, 2021).
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ63-F6K : 19 February 2021), Edith N Jones in household of Georges F Jones, New York, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district ED 191, sheet 332A, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,875.
3. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24S2-C5Y : 10 February 2018), Edward Wharton and Edith Jones, 29 Apr 1885; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,570,679.
4. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images: accessed 15 August 2021, memorial page for Edith Wharton (24 Jan 1862–11 Aug 1937), Find A Grave: Memorial #6165890, citing Cimetière des Gonards, Versailles, Departement des Yvelines, Île-de-France, France; Maintained by Find A Grave.

"United States Census, 1880", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ63-F6J : Fri Oct 06 23:49:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Georges F. Jones and Henry E. Jones, 1880.

"New York State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPNM-XCV : 8 March 2021), Edith Wharton in household of Edward Wharton, Manhattan, A.D. 29, E.D. 17, New York, New York; citing p. 29, line 30, various county clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 1,433,110.

"United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2L4-5HV : Tue Oct 03 09:08:31 UTC 2023), Entry for Edward R Wharton and Edith Wharton, 1910.

"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-7WQP : Wed Nov 01 07:44:43 UTC 2023), Entry for Edith Newbold Wharton, 1915.