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Kathleen Langone's avatar

Julie / my relative painted 4 prominent “400” families in miniatures - I have the history and images - would love to connect! Please look at kathleenlangone.com ! On Instagram - @phihpod

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Kathleen Langone's avatar

Adding to this post - the relative was Amalia Kussner - and I have just published her biography (in it you will find images of her portraits of Mrs. Astor, Consuelo Vanderbilt and her mother Alva. Great that so much has come out recently about the Gilded Age and the lives of these fascinating and complex people.

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BobX's avatar

Julie,

You do have a familial tie to 3 of The 400 through Alberta. Alberta’s stepfather Francis Howard Leggett (my 2nd great granduncle) was a 2nd cousin to Anson Phelps Stokes (and his wife Helen (Phelps) Stokes) and his sister Olivia Egleston Phelps Stokes. Francis, Anson, and Olivia share a great grandfather William Stokes (1738-1786 England), woolen merchant and friend of the Countess of Huntingdon. Check out the Wikipedia pages of Anson and Olivia Stokes.

Fun fact: the actor Kevin Bacon is also a descendant William Stokes.

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JenX's avatar

Love the beautiful dividers. Make for a nice reading experience.

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Sarah's avatar

I can't tell you how much I love this Substack! I have always been a fan of this historical time period and am loving all your awesome posts. Thanks for putting this together and bringing us along on your research!

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Sally Trufan's avatar

Also I want to say that I love the beautiful format of these posts, with the pretty illustrations. :)

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Sally Trufan's avatar

I can’t wait to hear all about it - if it’s a Newport field trip I am in!

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