Sybil Kent Kane (1856 – February 15, 1946) was an American socialite who was prominent in New York Society during the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

Early life

Kane was born at the family home on August 28, 1844, in

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, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. She was the second youngest of eight children born to Oliver DeLancey Kane (1816–1874) and Louisa Dorothea (

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 ...

Langdon) Kane (1821–1894). Her brothers were Walter Langdon Kane,

John Innes Kane John Innes Kane (July 29, 1850 – February 1, 1913) was an American explorer, scientist and philanthropist who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Kane was born in 1850, one of eight children born to Oliver DeLa ...

DeLancey Astor Kane DeLancey Astor Kane (August 28, 1844 – April 4, 1915) was an American soldier and horseman who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. He was called the "father of coaching in the United States." Early life Kane was born on Au ...

S. Nicholson Kane Samuel Nicholson Kane (July 2, 1846 – November 15, 1906) was an American soldier and sailor prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age who served as the Commodore of New York Yacht Club. Early life Kane was born on July 2, 1846 in New ...

, and

Woodbury Kane Woodbury Kane (February 8, 1859 – December 5, 1905) was a noted yachtsman and bon vivant, and member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. A director of the Metropolitan Register Company, Kane served aboard the ''Columbia'' in the 1899 America' ...

. Her sisters were the artist Louisa Langdon Kane, and Emily Astor Kane (who married

Augustus Jay Augustus Jay (October 17, 1850 – December 25, 1919) was an American diplomat and member of the prominent Jay family. Early life Jay was born on October 17, 1850 in Washington, D.C. He was the only child of Peter Augustus Jay and Josephine (n� ...

and was the mother of Peter Augustus Jay). She was the granddaughter of Walter Langdon and Dorothea (née Astor) Langdon and the great-granddaughter of

John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...

. She was also a cousin of Lt. Col. John Jacob Astor IV. Her paternal lineage descended from John O'Kane who emigrated to the country in 1752 from

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

and

Antrim, Ireland County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, O'Kane (who dropped the "'O" once in America) was living at Sharyvogne, his estate in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later organ ...

, which was confiscated after the War due to his

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

times. His eldest son, John Jr., stayed and became one of the most prominent merchants in New York. In New York, the family lived at 23

West 47th Street ''West 47th Street'' is a documentary film produced by Lichtenstein Creative Media. ''West 47th Street'' is an intimate cinéma vérité portrait of four people with serious mental illness as their lives naturally unfold over a three-year perio ...

. In Newport, the family lived at "Beach Cliffe", designed by Detlef Lienau, which was one of the earliest Newport cottages "to attain a sort of Beaux-Arts purity."

Society life

In 1892, Kane, as the youngest unmarried daughter of her parents, and two of her brothers (

Nicholas Nicholas is a male given name and a surname. The Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Anglicanism, Anglican Churches celebrate Saint Nicholas every year on December 6, which is the name day for "Nicholas". In Greece, the n ...

, DeLancey, and his wife Eleanora Iselin) were included in Ward McAllister's "

Four Hundred 400 (four hundred) is the natural number following 399 and preceding 401. Mathematical properties 400 is the square of 20. 400 is the sum of the powers of 7 from 0 to 3, thus making it a repdigit in base 7 (1111). A circle is divided into ...

", purported to be an index of New York's best families, published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into

Mrs. Astor Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was a prominent American socialite of the second half of the 19th century who led the The Four Hundred (1892), Four Hundred. Famous for being referred to later ...

's ballroom.

Personal life

Kane, who never married and had no children, lived a relatively modest life at her home in

Little Neck Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. She inherited from her parents and siblings, several of whom also died unmarried, upon their deaths. She died at her home on Long Island on February 15, 1946, the last surviving member of her immediate family. Her funeral services were held at the Chapel of the Comforter at 10 Horatio Street in New York City and she was buried alongside her family at the

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

in Newport.

References

;Notes ;Sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kane, Sybil Kent 1856 births 1946 deaths

Sybil Kent Kane Sybil Kent Kane (1856 – February 15, 1946) was an American socialite who was prominent in New York Society during the Gilded Age. Early life Kane was born at the family home on August 28, 1844, in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the second you ...

People included in New York Society's Four Hundred People from Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens People from Manhattan Kane family