Theodate Brooks (Pope) Riddle (1867 - 1946)

Born 2 Feb 1867 in Salem, Columbiana, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Died 30 Aug 1946 at age 79 in Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Bob Nevin [send private message]

Biography

Born Effie Brooks Pope, Theodate Pope Riddle (February 2, 1867 – August 30, 1946) was an American architect^[1] married to John Wallace Riddle, ambassador to Russia and Argentina.^[2] She was one of the first American women architects as well as a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.^[3]

"Theodate was very interested in spiritualism and psychical research. She was on her way to London, to consult with leaders of the Society of Psychial Research in England, relative to forming a society in this country, when the ship on which she sailed was torpedoed and sunk. It was the Lusitania. She was rescued after being in the water for several hours. A year later she married John Riddel of New York, a former ambassador to Russia.

She was best known has a celebrated architect in New York City and was responsible for many handsome residences in Connecticut, and the Westover school in Middleberry. It was she who restored the birthplace of Theodore Roosevelt in New York City.

She built Avon college in Connecticut, a school for boys which was to give his students the same training that their great grandfathers has and they helped with the work on the farm, learning to fashion with their own hands many of the necessities of life. Could it be possible that she was thinking of her own grandfather, Alton Pope end of his boyhood? Academic subjects were also to be taught including agriculture, banking, commerce, industry, journalism, lol, medicine, science, education, and the foreign service. This school was modeled after a village, consisting of 30 buildings on 2000 acres, and cost Mrs. Riddell $4 million. Tuition was $3000 a year indicating that it was not a school for poor boys!" (Currently, it's called Avon Old Farms School https://www.avonoldfarms.com/ and is a single-sex boarding school for boys located in Avon, Connecticut, United States. Theodate Pope Riddle, one of America's first female architects, founded the school in 1927. - from Google.com)

(From Bob Nevin (Nevin-722)) When I went looking for prep schools to attend, I went with my mother Heather B Nevin(Bruce-12019), and visited the school along with Trinity Pawling but ended up going to The Blue Ridge School in St. George, VA. instead.)

^[4]

"In 1914, Theodate had taken in a two-year-old orphan, Gordon Brockway, who died of polio in 1916. In 1917 and 1918, she took in two more orphaned boys, Donald Carson and Paul Martin, whom she raised as foster children."^[5]

Theodate's home and her impressive art collection were donated and are now open to the public as the Hill-Stead Museum.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodate_Pope_Riddle
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Riddle
3. ↑ "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDN-JXVC : 16 March 2018), Theodate Pope Riddle, 1919; citing Passport Application, New York, United States, source certificate #59572, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 685, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ From "Alton Pope And His Family" * Waterville, Maine. November 4, 1969 Credits: Scrapbook of Mrs. AF Drummond and Dr. Phillip H Pope.
5. ↑ https://www.hillstead.org/about-us/family-history/
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill%E2%80%93Stead_Museum

• Find A Grave: Memorial #38805170
• https://billiongraves.com/grave/THEODATE-POPE-RIDDLE/15283581
• "United States Census, 1870", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6K2-4SY : 29 May 2021), Effe Pope in entry for Alfred Pope, 1870.
• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8M9-P3M : 14 January 2022), Effie Pope in household of Alfred A. Pope, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9Q2-32V : 9 March 2022), Theodate Pope, 1900.
• "United States Census, 1900", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSKN-KKK : 5 January 2022), Theodata Pope in entry for Alfred A Pope, 1900.
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKKB-ZKK : accessed 30 October 2022), Theodate Pope in household of Alfred A Pope, Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 149, sheet 5B, family 114, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 131; FHL microfilm 1,374,144.
• "United States, GenealogyBank Historical Newspaper Obituaries, 1815-2011", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q57Q-DP7G : 29 July 2020), Miss Theodote Pope in entry for Mr Alfred Atmore Pope, 1913.
• "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCFL-9DP : 1 February 2021), Theodate P Riddle in entry for Ada Pope, 1920.
• "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5B-W7Y7 : 16 March 2018), Theodate Pope Riddle in entry for John W Riddle, 1920; citing Passport Application, Connecticut, United States, source certificate #56351, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 1266, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMPX-85L : accessed 30 October 2022), Theodate Riddle in household of John W Riddle, Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 136, sheet , line , family , NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll ; FHL microfilm .
• "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K71W-N6Y : 8 January 2021), Theodate Pope Riddle in household of John Wallace Riddle, Farmington, Hartford, Connecticut, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 2-79, sheet 9B, line 51, family 175, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 503.

• "The Lusitania Survivor Who Returned From the Dead" New England Historical Society https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/lusitania-survivor-returned-from-dead/