Katherine Emmons Force Spencer (March 12, 1891 – September 8, 1956) was an American real estate investor and socialite. She was a member of the zoning board for

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

Early life

Katherine Emmons Force was born on March 12, 1891, in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. She was the elder daughter of William Hurlbut Force (1852–1917) and Katherine Arvilla ( née Talmage) Force (1864–1939). Her younger sister Madeleine was the widow of Colonel

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He died in the sink ...

of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps region of Italy by way of Germany, the Astors settled ...

, who died during the sinking of the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

'' in 1912. Her maternal grandfather was New York State Assemblyman Tunis V. P. Talmage, and her great-grandfather Thomas G. Talmage was

Mayor of Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

Personal life

On December 6, 1922, Force was married to Lorillard Suydam Spencer (1883–1939) at the home of her sister, then Mrs. William Karl Dick, at 7 East 84th Street. Lorillard, who was divorced from his first wife, Mary Ridgeley Sands, was the son of Lorillard Spencer and Caroline Suydam (née Berryman) Spencer. Together they had two sons and a daughter: * Katherine Talmage Lorillard Spencer (1923–1992), who married Joseph Henry Doherty (1923–1992) in 1957. * Stephen Wolcott Spencer (1925–2010), who wed Marjorie Potts, daughter of Owen Lewis Potts of Santiago, Chile, in 1957. * William Hurlbut Force Spencer (1927–2013), who married Louise Thacher Jones in 1956. Later in her life, she became a real estate investor and was a member of the zoning board for Newport. Her husband died in 1939. She died of a heart attack at her cottage, Chasteullux, in

, on September 8, 1956.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Force, Katherine Emmons 1891 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen American socialites Businesspeople from Newport, Rhode Island Spencer family of New York