Mary Knowlton von Francken-Sierstorpff

Countess Mary Carpenter Knowlton von Francken-Sierstorpff (July 2, 1870 – July 21, 1929) was an American socialite who married a German Count.

Mary Knowlton von Francken-Sierstorpff
Born
Mary Carpenter Knowlton

(1870-07-02)July 2, 1870
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 21, 1929(1929-07-21) (aged 59)
Berlin, Germany
NationalityAmerican
Spouse
Count Johannes von Francken-Sierstorpff
​
​
(m. 1892; died 1917)​
Children2
Parent(s)Ella Carpenter Knowlton
Edwin Franklin Knowlton

Early life

Mary Carpenter Knowlton was born in Brooklyn on July 2, 1870, and lived at 201 Columbia Heights, the former home of former mayor Seth Low.[1] She was the only child of Ella (née Carpenter) Knowlton (1841–1878) and Edwin Franklin Knowlton (1834–1898),[2] a straw goods manufacturer.[3][4]

Her paternal grandfather, William Knowlton, a Massachusetts State Senator who was the founder of William Knowlton & Sons, a straw goods manufacturer in Upton, Massachusetts.[3] Mary was a member of the Colonial Dames of America by her descent from several ancestors who lived in British America, including William Ward, a Colonel in the Massachusetts Militia.[5]

Mary was educated at the Ladies' Seminary in Farmington, Connecticut.[1]

Society life

In February 1892, shortly before her marriage, the unmarried Miss Knowlton was included in Ward McAllister's "Four Hundred", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in The New York Times.[6][7] Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.[8] After her marriage, she continued to be listed on the Social Register.[9]

Personal life

After meeting in Newport, Rhode Island in 1890,[10] Mary was married to Count Johannes von Francken-Sierstorpff (1858–1917)[11] in April 1892.[1] At the time of their marriage, she was reportedly worth $750,000 in her own right and heiress to another $2,000,000.[1] Count Johannes was educated at Berne University[1] Together, they lived at Zyrowa Palace in Silesia (a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany) where they entertained many prominent people including the Kaiser Wilhelm II and Minister Charlemagne Tower in 1911,[12] and the Ambassador James W. Gerard in 1914.[13] They were the parents of:[14]

During World War I, A. Mitchell Palmer, the Alien Property Custodian took over the trust funds of various women of American families who had married Germans and Austrians, and their descendants, including Mary and Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi.[18]

Mary died in Berlin, Germany on July 21, 1929. Her son inherited the income from a $1,200,000 Knowlton Trust created by her father.[19] Her will directed that "the chief heir of the family lands and fortunes over which she has power of disposition shall be the eldest son of her son or, if he has no son, to his eldest daughter."[19]

Descendants

Through her son's first marriage, she was the grandmother of Count Edwin Graf von Francken-Sierstorpff, Countess Constance Gräfin von Francken-Sierstorpff (who married Count Hyazinth Stachwitz in 1943, and after their divorce in 1945, married William D. Denson in 1949 following his military service as a U.S. Chief Prosecutor for War Crimes committed in the Dachau concentration camps during WWII), and Countess Elisabeth Christine von Francken-Sierstorpff.[20] From his second marriage, she was the posthumous grandmother to Michael M. Sierstorpff.[17]

References
  1. "YESTERDAY'S WEDDINGS | SIERSTORPFF -- KNOWLTON" (PDF). The New York Times. April 28, 1892. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  2. Schrader, Frederick Franklin (1920). "1683-1920": The Fourteen Points and what Became of Them--foreign Propaganda in the Public Schools--rewriting the History of the United States--the Espionage Act and how it Worked--"illegal and Indefensible Blockade" of the Central Powers--1,000,000 Victims of Starvation--our Debt to France and to Germany--the War Vote in Congress--truth about the Belgian Atrocities--our Treaty with Germany and how Observed--the Alien Property Custodianship--secret Will of Cecil Rhodes--racial Strains in American Life--Germantown Settlement of 1683 and a Thousand Other Topics. Concord publishing Company, incorporated. p. 234. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  3. "EDWIN F. KNOWLTON'S SUICIDE. Straw Goods Manufacturer Kills Himself at His Sister's Home in West Upton, Mass" (PDF). The New York Times. October 26, 1898. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  4. Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy: A Facsimile Edition of 108 Pamphlets Published in the Early 20th Century. Genealogical Publishing Com. 1992. p. 1192. ISBN 9780806313252. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  5. National Society of the Colonial Dames in the State of New York (1901). Register of the Colonial Dames of the State of New York. Colonial Dames of the State of New York. p. 131. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  6. McAllister, Ward (16 February 1892). "THE ONLY FOUR HUNDRED | WARD M'ALLISTER GIVES OUT THE OFFICIAL LIST. HERE ARE THE NAMES, DON'T YOU KNOW, ON THE AUTHORITY OF THEIR GREAT LEADER, YOU UNDER- STAND, AND THEREFORE GENUINE, YOU SEE" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  7. Patterson, Jerry E. (2000). The First Four Hundred: Mrs. Astor's New York in the Gilded Age. Random House Incorporated. p. 217. ISBN 9780847822089. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  8. Keister, Lisa A. (2005). Getting Rich: America's New Rich and How They Got That Way. Cambridge University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780521536677. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  9. Social Register, New York. Social Register Association. 1896. p. 204. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  10. "SOCIETY TOPICS OF THE WEEK" (PDF). The New York Times. March 20, 1892. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  11. "Count Johannes Sierstorpff" (PDF). The New York Times. January 15, 1917. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  12. "KAISER IS GUEST OF AMERICAN COUNTESS Spending Several Days at Count Sierstorpff's Castle in Silesia. HAS AN AMERICAN DINNER Eats Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, and Other of Our National Dishes on Thanksgiving Day" (PDF). The New York Times. December 3, 1911. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  13. "German Society". National Courier. T. Lowe. 3 (25): 16. 1914. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  14. Melville Amadeus Henry Douglas Heddle de La Caillemotte de Massue de Ruvigny Ruvigny and Raineval (9th marquis of) (1914). The Titled Nobility of Europe: An International Peerage, Or "Who's Who", of the Sovereigns, Princes and Nobles of Europe. Harrison & Sons. p. 666. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  15. "E. VON F. SIERSTORPFF DEAD Son of German Count May Have Been Killed at the Front" (PDF). The New York Times. March 28, 1915. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  16. "JOHN C. SIERSTORPFF; Former Liechtenstein Count Fled Gestapo--Dies on Coast" (PDF). The New York Times. December 7, 1944. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  17. Fox, Margalit (9 October 2004). "Clotilde K. Saltzman, Ex-Countess, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  18. "PALMER TAKES OVER AMERICAN TRUSTS Property Custodian Attaching Funds of Women Married to Germans and Austrians. WILL EXCEED $21,300,000 Countess Szechenyl, Formerly Gladys Vanderbilt, at Head of List with $9,000,000. Berwind Estate Affected. $4,000,000 Securities Taken Over" (PDF). The New York Times. November 5, 1918. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  19. "COUNTESS'S WILL FILED.; Knowlton Trust Income Goes to Count von Francken-Sierstorpff" (PDF). The New York Times. July 26, 1930. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
  20. "Paid Notice: Deaths DENSON, CONSTANCE HUSCHI". The New York Times. 10 December 2006. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
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