Lucy Hayes Herron Laughlin Lippitt (November 8, 1877 – July 27, 1961) was an American socialite and amateur golfer.
Lucy Hayes Herron | |
|---|---|
 Lucy Hayes Herron, from a 1903 publication. | |
| Born | November 8, 1877 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | July 27, 1961 (aged 83) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Lucy Hayes Herron Laughlin, Lucy Hayes Herron Lippitt |
Early life
editHerron 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.[1] Lucy was baptized in the White House and named for Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of her father’s close friend President Rutherford B. Hayes.[2][3] 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.[4]
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.
Golf
editHerron 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.[5] Her swing was described as "beautiful" "quick, machine-like" by colleagues.[6] In 1897, she finished third in the U.S. Women's Amateur.[7] In 1899, she won the Women's Golf Association Trophy in Philadelphia.[8] She reached the finals of the 1901 U.S. Women's Amateur, held at Baltusrol Golf Club, where Genevieve Hecker defeated her.[9][10][11] The golfer Frances C. Griscom listed her among the top women golfers in the United States.[12]
Personal life
editHerron's first husband was steel company executive Thomas McKennan Laughlin, the brother of ambassador Irwin B. Laughlin. They married in 1903,[13][14] and she was widowed in 1910, when he committed suicide.[15] 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.[16][17]
She married her second husband, Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt, a widower, in 1915.[18] 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.[19] She died in 1961, in Providence, Rhode Island.[20] She had a reported estate of eight million dollars, and left significant gifts to Rhode Island children's, medical, and cultural charities.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23]
References
edit- ^ "Mrs. Taft's Father Dead". News-Journal. August 5, 1912. p. 2. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Anderson, Greta (November 1, 2015). Ohio's Remarkable Women: Daughters, Wives, Sisters, and Mothers Who Shaped History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 83. ISBN 9781493016754.
- ^ Waldrup, Carole Chandler (April 6, 2016). Wives of the American Presidents (2nd ed.). McFarland. pp. 124–125. ISBN 9781476605166.
- ^ Taft, Helen Herron (1914). Recollections of Full Years. Dodd, Mead. pp. 6.
Lucy Hayes Herron.
- ^ "Women Golf Champions". Outing. Vol. 39. November 1901. pp. 240–241.
- ^ Underhill, Ruth; Hoyt, Beatrix (1903). The Book of Sport. Leonard & Company. p. 36.
- ^ "Women Will Play Golf". Star-Gazette. October 11, 1898. p. 6. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Spalding's Official Golf Guide. American Sports Publishing Company. 1900. pp. 96.
Lucy Herron golf.
- ^ "U.S. Women's Amateur". Baltusrol Golf Club. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ "Miss Hecker is Champion; She Triumphs Over Miss Herron by Five Up and Three to Play". The New York Times. October 13, 1901.
- ^ "The American Women's Championship". Golf Illustrated. Vol. 10. November 1, 1901. pp. 88–89.
- ^ Griscom, Frances C. (December 1902). "American and English Women as Golfers". Outing. Vol. 41. pp. 377–378.
- ^ Rich, Gaius Barrett (1903). Sexennial Record of the Class of 1897, Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University. Dorman Lithographing Company. pp. 39–40.
- ^ "Untitled news item". The Pittsburgh Press. December 28, 1902. p. 10. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Thomas K. Laughlin Took His Own Life". The New York Times. March 13, 1910. p. 1. Retrieved July 13, 2019 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
- ^ "Taft's Aid Will Soon Be His Brother-in-Law". San Francisco Call. May 24, 1911. p. 1. Retrieved July 13, 2019 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Taft's Sister-in-Law Says She's Not Engaged". Journal Gazette. May 27, 1911. p. 1. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Senator Lippitt and his Bride". Reading Times. April 28, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ex-Senator Lippitt Dies at Providence". The Boston Globe. December 29, 1933. p. 19. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mrs. Lucy H. Lippitt". The News-Messenger. July 28, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Senator's Widow Leaves $8 Million". The Boston Globe. August 4, 1961. p. 32. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Brown University Portrait Collection". Brown University Office of the Curator. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
- ^ "Mrs. Lucy Lippitt, Aunt of Councilman". The Cincinnati Enquirer. July 28, 1961. p. 16. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.