Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-04-16
Tho Marahionsss Of Ia Valetts.

Few Of the rising generation would
suspect, that the lady who hes borne
for some twenty-seven years the
sounding title of msrchioness, and
who has figured brilliantly rs an am
bs~ssdor ct various courts of Europe,
aud who has died ut last at the head
OF the pslatisl residence of the Minis
ter of Foreign Affairs of France, was
once . simple village maiden of the
unpretending tate of Rhode Island of
the name Of Fowle. Such, however,
was the fact; but it WAS her fortunate
destiny to rise, like the first Catharinc
of Russia, far above the career she
was appar emily born to fill. At an
early age she went over to London to
reside with an elder sister, who was
married to an opulent American bank
er, Timothy Wiggins, whose house
was afterwards in the financial disas-
ter Of 1887. While still in her teens
the beauty, intelligence and accom-
plishments Of Miss Fowle attracted
the admiration of Mr.. Samuel Welles,
then sole American banker in Par
is, who subsequently married her
For some ten years she presidce+Milh
infinite grace, tact and dignity over
the elegant mansion of Mr.. Welles in
the Place St. George, and her dinners
aud balls were the envicd resort not
only Of the fashionable Americans re-
siding in Paris at that epoch, but
equally SO Of all that were mos. dis
tinguished in the society, literature
and art Of the French capital. In
the calamitous year 1887 the banking
house Of her husband was seriously
compromised and his failure was daily
expected. MI. Welles made desperate
efforts to resist the pressure but in
vain, and his fortune and position were
trembling on tho brink OF utter ruin.
At this crisis his wife, with an energy
characteristic of her mothcrland,
drove to the Bank of France, obtain
ed an interview with Count d'Argont,
the Governor, submitted to him tho
ample, though depressed securities Of
her husbands portefueu;ll-, and by
her forcible and moving state
ments effected q loan of several
millions of francs, which tided the
house of Welles & Co. over the yawn-
ing gulf of bankruptcy, In 194l Mr..
Welles died at an advanced age, lcav-
ing his large fortune to his widow and
their only son, then quite youth.
At the close Of the following year
Nine. Welles then in the meridian of
life, handsome and dist;ngue woman
Of the world, married the Marquis de
10 Valette, already a rising member
Of the diplomatic corps. In making
this match Nine. Welles displayed her
habitual discernment, for while others
beheld in the Marquis only brilliant
man Of fashion, she recognized those
commanding traits which have raised
him successively to the highest posts
in the State and secured for him the
unbounded confidence Of his imperial
master, who, finally, has bestowed on
him the crowning guerdon of his sat-
istaction by exalting him to tho Pre-
miership of France. From this lofty
position which her rare esprit and va
ried experience eminently fitted her
to adorn but which her declining
health disabled her to enjoy, the Mar
chioness de Ia Valette descends, full of
honors, to the grave. In the height
of her prosperity and surrounded by
tho glitter aud pomp, of power she
was always gracious and hospitable to
her countrymen, and never Indifferent.
to the welfare Of her l.ativel nd. Her
son and heir, the Count Welles de Ia
Valetta, married two years since .
daughter Of N. Rouher, the Achilles
Of the French cabinet and the most
gifted orator of the empire.