The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-10-25
HIS LONG LOST CHILD
Architect McKim, One of New
York's Rich Men, Finds
DEPENDENT ON CHARITY
He DevoteS Himself to Max
ing Her Life Happy.
DEPENDENT ON CHARITY


of Mr. Charles F. McKim, the famous
/ New York architect.
1t has raised the curiosity Of Fashionable
society to the highest pitch.
Mr. MoKim was long known to be {
man devoted to his clubs, but not font
| of general society or the feminine ele
| ment thereof.
| Lately he has been observed in con-
slant attendance upon a very handsome
young woman. He has gone driving with
her and taken her to the theatres, and
appears anxious that she should be tho
roughly amused.
The surprising fact now leaks out that
this young woman is no other than his
own daughter.
Those who had known Mr.. McKim for
ten years or more in New York never
dreamed that he had daughter. They
knew that he had been married; that his
wife had died, and that she had left no
children. How, then, could he have a
daughter? Herein lies the romance and
the mytery.
The story began years ago, when Mr..
McKim was a young man in Boston,
without fame or position in the world,
His acquaintance in New York do not
remember that period, although it is IA
miliar to certain circles in Boston. To
day he is the head of one of the most
successful firms Of architects in New York
He is a man Of wealth and public i'm
portance, and might figure in the world
of fashion If he did not prefer the atmos-
phere of certain favorite clubs.
But neither success nor cubs have har
dened his heart, for now he is devoting
the time that was lately given to the
Players Club, to the care of a daughter
from whom he had been involuntarily
separated for twenty years. The fact that
she is to some extent an invalid adds in
terest to the case.
Mr.. McKim graduated from Harvard
in 1867, and studied architecture for three
years in Paris. When he returned to
Boston he fell in love with a fair young
daughter of the Puritan aristocracy. She
was Miss Sarah Bigelow, a member of the
ancient Massachusetts, family of that
name. She is a relative of Albert s. Big
Glow, 1.-The Copper King whose son, Ho-
ratio, recently selected a bride from the
ranks of Jordan, Marsh & Co.
Miss Bigelow and Mr.. McKim were mar
ried in 1875. The bride was extremely
young, and the marriage might have been
qualified as a hasty one. 1t took place in
Boston, and afterwards the young couple
went to live in New York, where Mr.
McKim devoted himself to the architec-
turaI art with an intelligence and energy
I'll
success.
In 1875 a girl baby was born to them.
She was christened Sarah, name which
is historical in the Bigelow family. At
ter this event a gradual estrangement
seems to have taken place between the
rising architect and his young wife. 1t
appears that there were attractions draw
ing both of them in opposite directions.
Mrs. McKim obtained a divorce in 1880.
Her little daughter, then four years old,
was intrusted to her care. Within few
years Mrs. McKim married again, this
time to the Rev. John S. Day, a Unfair
ian minister He had been a sutton of
hers before her marriage, and returned to
his old love as soon as she was freed by
the law. He was a native of Boston, but
had a church in Newport at the time Of
his marriage.
The name Of ATcKim was evidently dis
pleasing to Mrs. John 5. Day, for she
changed her little daughters name from
Sarah McKim to Margaret Day. The
child was brought up with the idea that
she was Mr.. Days daughter, and most Of
the neighbors shared this belief Mr. Day
was for some years at Newport and then
moved to bingham, Mass, where he was
pastor of the Unitarian Society.
Mr.. Day had an income which was bare
ly sufficient for the necessaries of life,
and the little girl was somewhat of bur-
den to him, especially as she was rather
delicate. Her maternal grandmother, old
Madame Bigelow, as she was known, &C
cording to an old-fashioned New Eng
mad locuuon, took an interest IN her. |
Madame Bigelow is a social autocrat in |
Cambridge. as the honorary prefix given |
TO her indicates. She sent her grand |
daughter TO a boarding school. and then |
to Radcliffe College, the woman's attach |
ment to Harvard.
There she developed a nervous disorder, |
which finally became so serious that she |
broke down altogether and had to leave
Nervine Asylum at Jamaica Plain. Mass
where members Of Boston's highest So
,iety go from time TO time to recover
rom the excessive intellectual strain un-
Ter which they live.
At this institution the young woman i'm
proved greatly. and was able TO go home |
She went again to live with her mother
It bingham. She was by no means a IA
-orite with the Rev. Mr. Day. who was
lious but practical He considered her
iuu and lazy. and found that she was
averse TO manual labor 1t
ppears probable that these faults were
Tue TO Ill health. as they often arN ii
Dung people, rather than 70 stupidity or
nwillinkues.
She went to he treated for nervous
rouble again. although against the Rev.
ir. Days wishes. This time she went
o a private hospital at Jamaica Plain.
ept by a woman who had been a friend
Z hers at the Nervine Asylum, and at
ended by Or. Robert T Edss. who had /
cen chief physician at that institution.
he Sl5 a week paid FOR her keep and
same from her grandmother,
fsdame Bigeiow.
Here II IS necessary 10 return 20 the
areer 81 Mr.. Afcnim. After his divorce r
e progressed rapidly in Ms profession. /,
Z company with his partners. STANFORD :
White and William r Mead J
IN ISIS he married Miss Appleton os
he very famous Baston family OF thai ,
ame. The AppletoRs are in the inner
lost circle OF fashion at the Hub. ana
lay De said to belong TO ;he Brahmia :
zste. A sister of the Miss Appleton who 7
ecame Mrs MeKim. IS Mrs. George Won ,
: Meyer. who occupies IN Boston a po- :