Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (February 6, 1785 – April 4, 1879) was an American socialite. She was the daughter of a
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
merchant and the first wife of
Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...
,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's youngest brother.
Early life
Patterson was born in Baltimore,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
on February 6, 1785. She was the daughter of Dorcas (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Spear) Patterson (1761–1814) and
William Patterson (1752–1835), the oldest daughter of thirteen children. Her mother was the daughter of a Baltimore flour merchant and her father, an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
-born
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
who came to
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
from
Donegal Donegal may refer to:
County Donegal, Ireland
* County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster
* Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland
* Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...
prior to the
Revolutionary War, was the second wealthiest man in Maryland after
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an Irish-American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic sign ...
, the last surviving signatory of the
Declaration of Independence of the United States
The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Independence Hall, Pennsylv ...
.
Although writers and journalists refer to her as "Betsy," Patterson never used that name herself, only her father with whom she had a contentious relationship; she always signed her name as Elizabeth, and Jérôme Bonaparte referred to her in all his letters with the French Élisabeth, Élisa or Elsa. Patterson was considered one of the most beautiful women in Baltimore and became known for her risqué and French taste in fashion.
Elizabeth's brother, Robert Patterson, married Carroll's granddaughter,
Marianne Caton.
After Robert's death, his widow Marianne married
Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of M ...
, the older brother of
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...
. Her other brothers, Joseph and Edward Patterson, were the owners of
Joppa Iron Works
The Joppa Iron Works, also known as Patterson's Iron Works was founded around 1817 by Joseph and Edward Patterson of Baltimore, the brothers of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, the sister-in-law of Napoleon I of France.
Built at the falls-line of t ...
in Eastern
Baltimore County
Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...
on the Gunpowder River.
Personal life
In 1803, Patterson met Jérôme Bonaparte on his visit to the United States; he had delayed his return to France to postpone facing the wrath of his brother Napoleon for a military incident in the Caribbean between his ship and a British ship. Several stories of their first meeting circulated, although Patterson herself later said that they met over dinner at a friend's house. A romance soon blossomed between them. Despite an anonymous letter to Patterson's father which claimed that Bonaparte only planned to marry her in order to waste time until he returned to France, Patterson insisted on the marriage, going so far as to threaten to elope if she did not have her father's blessing. On
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
, December 24, 1803, Patterson was married to Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860) in a ceremony presided over by
John Carroll John Carroll may refer to:
People Academia and science
*Sir John Carroll (astronomer) (1899–1974), British astronomer
*John Alexander Carroll (died 2000), American history professor
*John Bissell Carroll (1916–2003), American cognitive sci ...
, the first
Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore ( la, link=no, Archidiœcesis Baltimorensis) is the premier (or first) see of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Baltimore and nine of Ma ...
.
Jérôme's brother Napoleon ordered his brother back to France and demanded that the marriage be annulled. He ignored Napoleon's initial demand that he return to France without his wife. In the fall of 1804, Jérôme and a pregnant Elizabeth attempted to travel to France in time for his brother's coronation, but a number of false starts delayed them. When they finally arrived, Elizabeth was denied permission to set foot in continental Europe by order of Napoleon. Jérôme traveled to Italy in an attempt to reason with his brother, writing to his wife, "My dearest Elsa, I will do everything that must be done," but she would never see him again, except for a brief eye-to-eye contact in 1822 in a chance encounter at Pitti Palace in Florence (although, like many stories of her life, historians cannot prove this meeting took place).
After being prevented upon Napoleon's orders from disembarking in either France or the Netherlands, she gave birth to a son,
Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (1805–1870), on July 5, 1805 at 95 Camberwell Grove in Camberwell,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Despite letters to his wife that he would remain steadfast and not abandon her, Jérôme gave in to his brother and was rewarded by being made an admiral in the French navy and later a general in the army, made an imperial prince and eventually King of Westphalia, and married the German princess
Catharina of Württemberg on August 22, 1807, in the Royal
Palace at Fontainebleau, France.
His marriage to Patterson had been annulled in France by machinations carried out by Napoleon in October 1806 and despite the Pope's unwillingness to annul the marriage.
After her son was born, whom she called "Bo," Patterson returned to Baltimore with him and lived with her father while she continued to use her royal connection to support herself and her son. She wrote to Napoleon and convinced him to grant her an allowance, which she used to support herself after her father claimed what little money and goods Jerome had sent her from Europe before their marriage was annulled. After the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
, she returned to Europe, where she reportedly was well received in the most exclusive circles and much admired for her beauty and wit.
Divorce and last years
![Elizabeth_Patterson_Bonaparte_gravestone_front_detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Elizabeth_Patterson_Bonaparte_gravestone_front_detail.jpg)
In 1815, by special Act of the Legislature of Maryland, Patterson secured a divorce. She returned to Europe again in 1819 with her son Bo, whom she enrolled in school in Geneva. She traveled to Rome during the winter of 1821-22 at the behest of Pauline Bonaparte, who had hinted at making a financial settlement upon Bo. This was welcome news for Elizabeth as Jerome refused to provide for her and their son. After a failed attempt by Elizabeth and the Bonaparte women to arrange a marriage between Bo and Joseph Bonaparte’s youngest daughter, Charlotte, she left Rome to return to Geneva. During a stop in Florence, she visited the Pitti Palace, where she accidentally met Jerome and his second wife Catharina. The two did not speak, although witnesses confirmed that they saw each other and that Jerome was reported as telling Catharina that Elizabeth was his "American wife." Jerome quickly left Florence shortly after the encounter. The two never laid eyes on each other again.
Elizabeth split the following decades between Europe and Baltimore before finally returning to Baltimore. The rifts that had been present between Elizabeth and her family all her life were exacerbated by her marriage and her choices to pursue celebrity in both America and Europe rather than to be an obedient daughter of the new American republic. Her father's rebuke of her in his will and a feud between her and her brothers over her father's estate permanently ostracized her from the Patterson family. Her family strife was further compounded by her anger at Bo's choice of an American for a wife, a rift that was never truly resolved.
In 1861, she filed an inheritance claim in the Tribunal of First Instance at Paris after her former husband, Prince Jérôme, died on June 24, 1860. On February 15, 1861, the Tribunal of the Seine ruled that "demands of Madame Elizabeth Patterson and her son, Jerome Bonaparte, are not admissible, and must be rejected."
Her last years were spent in Baltimore in the management of her estate, the value of which she increased to $1.5 million. She lived her last years in a Baltimore boarding house, despite having enough money to have purchased a fine home. At the end of her life, she commented, “Once I had everything but money; now I have nothing but money.”
Patterson died on April 4, 1879 in Baltimore in the midst of a court battle over whether the state of Maryland could tax her out-of-state bonds.
[Maryland State Archives. 2007.] The case reached the Supreme Court (''Bonaparte v. Tax Court'', 104 U.S. 592). The court decided in favor of Maryland.
[ She was interred in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore. Her tomb bears an ]epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
: "After life's fitful fever she sleeps well."[Christopher T. George]
''Defeated by Napoleon: Fame (Sort Of) But No Titles for the Bonapartes of Baltimore.''
/ref>
Descendants
Her son married Susan May Williams
Susan May Williams Bonaparte (April 2, 1812 – September 15, 1881) was an American heiress and the wife of Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, a French-American nephew of Napoléon I, Emperor of France and a Baltimore lawyer and landowner.
Susan ...
in 1829 and had two children, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II
Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (November 5, 1830 – September 3, 1893) was a French-American military officer who served in the United States Army and later in the French Army. He was a member of the American branch of the Bonaparte family.
Earl ...
(1830–1893) and Charles Joseph Bonaparte
Charles Joseph Bonaparte (; June 9, 1851June 28, 1921) was an American lawyer and political activist for progressive and liberal causes. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he served in the cabinet of the 26th U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt ...
(1851–1921), who became Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
's Secretary of the Navy in 1905, and the U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
in 1906. Her granddaughter married into Scandinavian aristocracy, and all Patterson's direct descendants now live in Europe.
In popular culture
The story of Elizabeth and Jérôme's marriage and annulment is the basis for the 1908 play ''Glorious Betsy'' by Rida Johnson Young
Rida Johnson Young (February 28, 1875 – May 8, 1926) was an American playwright, songwriter and librettist.IBDBRida Johnson Young Retrieved November 21, 2007 In her career, Young wrote over thirty plays and musicals, and over 500 songs. She ...
and the two film adaptations, ''Glorious Betsy
''Glorious Betsy'' is a 1928 silent film with talking sequences. It is based on the 1908 play of the same name by Rida Johnson Young, and it stars Dolores Costello. It was produced by Warner Bros. and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Wr ...
'' (1928) and ''Hearts Divided
''Hearts Divided'' is a 1936 American musical film about the real-life marriage between American Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, Elizabeth 'Betsy' Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I of France, Napoleon. It stars Marion Davies ...
'' (1936). She was portrayed by Dolores Costello in the former and by Marion Davies in the latter. The episode "Duty" of the Hornblower television series features Elizabeth (played by Camilla Power) and Jérôme trying to land in France, and the diplomatic difficulties. A historical novel about her life, ''The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte'' by Ruth Hull Chatlien, was published in 2013.
In the 2016 book ''A Woman of Two Worlds: Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte'', the author, Alexandra Deutsch, Director of Collections and Interpretation at the Maryland Historical Society, analyzes Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte's personal belongings and letters to create a material culture biography of the woman whose seductive beauty and tragic marriage have long been documented.
References
Further reading
* F. B. Goodrich, ''The Court of Napoleon III.'' Philadelphia, 1864.
* E. L. Didier, ''Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte.'' New York, 1879.
* M. Farquhar, ''Foolishly Forgotten Americans.'' New York, 2008.
* Charlene M. Boyer Lewis, ''Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte: An American Aristocrat in the Early Republic.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.
*
* Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland State Archives.
Maryland Tax Exempt Bonds: The Case of Betsy Patterson, 1868–1882
'' 2007.
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson Bonaparte, Elizabeth
1785 births
1879 deaths
House of Bonaparte
Patterson, Elisabeth
Burials at Green Mount Cemetery
American socialites
People from Baltimore
Patterson family of Maryland