Katherine Alexander Duer Mackay (1878–1930) was an American suffragist,

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

and writer from

New York city New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She was the founder of the

Equal Franchise Society The Equal Franchise Society (EFS) was a state-by-state organization that advocated women's suffrage in the United States. Created and joined by women of wealth, it was a conduit through which the energies of upper-class women could be channeled in ...

. Her involvement with the woman's suffrage movement "encouraged other wealthy women to follow her lead and become involved." She was also the first female member of the Roslyn Union Free School District's school board in Roslyn, New York.

Biography

Katherine Duer was born in

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in 1878. She was a direct descendant of Lady Kitty Duer, daughter of

Lord Stirling William Alexander, also known as Lord Stirling (1726 – 15 January 1783), was a Scottish-American major general during the American Revolutionary War. He was considered male heir to the Scottish title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish line ...

. She married

Clarence H. Mackay Clarence Hungerford Mackay (; April 17, 1874 – November 12, 1938) was an American financier. He was chairman of the board of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation and president of the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company. Early life He ...

in 1898. Mackay was well known in connection with Harbor Hill where she was involved with

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and education. She lived in Roslyn from 1898 to 1910. In 1899, Mackay refurbished Roslyn's public library, the William Cullen Bryant Library. She installed new carpet, replaced books and hired two librarians. Mackay would invite people, and children, to the house for various functions. Once, the Trinity Episcopal Sunday School members were invited to Harbor Hill for a

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

where the children inducted her as an "honorary knight". Mackay served on the Roslyn School board from 1905 to 1910, and was the first woman on the board. During her term on the board, she was able to successfully remove corporal punishment from the public schools in Roslyn. She also enrolled her own children in the public schools in Roslyn because she felt that "it is necessary for the rich as well as the poor to patronize them." Katherine Duer Mackay (ca

Mackay became the president of the

(EFS), which she founded, in 1908. She leased offices for the group's meetings in the Madison Square Building. Mackay's involvement in the suffrage movement helped combat the

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

of suffragists as "

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" or "unwomanly".In March 1909, the EFS resolved to work towards suffrage for women in New York, hoping they could pave the way for suffrage across the country by 1914. Mackay encouraged people to become educated about suffrage and organized a series of lectures at the Garden Theater. By 1911, she found that being the president of EFS was too time consuming for her, but she retained her membership in the group. Speculation that Mackay left EFS for reasons other than demands on her time included her apparent "dissatisfaction over the management of the campaign to get suffrage bills passed by the Legislature." Dr. Joseph A. Blake became the personal physician for Clarence Mackay and operated on him twice. Gossip about a possible illicit relationship between the physician of Clarence Mackay, Dr. Blake, and Katherine Mackay had started in the summer of 1911. Prior to that, Blake and his wife had already lived apart for several years. Hints that Katherine and Clarence Mackay were separating came in July 1913. Mackay was sued by Catherine Ketcham Blake for the alienation of affections of her husband in 1913 for the sum of $1,000,000. Answering the claims of Catherine Blake, Mackay said that Joseph Blake had stopped loving his wife many years ago because of her temper and "death threats". Catherine Blake dropped the suit later that year. Mackay and her husband, Clarence, were divorced in February 1914. She also gave up her American

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. Full custody of their three children, Katherine Duer, Ellin Duer and John William, was given to Clarence Mackay. On November 28, 1914, she married Blake in

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. In Paris, Mackay continued to fight for women's suffrage, contributing to the

Woman Suffrage Party The Woman Suffrage Party (WSP) was a New York city political organization dedicated to women's suffrage. It was founded in New York by Carrie Chapman Catt at the Convention of Disfranchised Women in 1909. WSP called itself "a political union of exi ...

from overseas. The couple was involved in aiding the war effort during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1919, they decided to come back to New York. Later, her marriage to Blake would also end in divorce. Mackay attempted to reconcile with her former husband, Clarence in 1930, but she died that same year.

Works

Mackay wrote a novel, ''The Stone of Destiny'', published in 1904.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

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The Stone of Destiny
' (1904) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay, Katherine Duer 1878 births 1930 deaths American debutantes American socialites Suffragists from New York (state) Activists from New York City