The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-10-11
SOUTHERN GIRLS C0NQUESTS.
A RECORD OF BRILLIANT MAR
RIAGES MADE HERE.

The YznaEas First to Make Series Of
SPLENDID Matches-Next Came the
6miths-Marriage Of tho Wilson's
Other Southern Girls VINO Have Won
Rich Husbands In New York Society.
The engagement Of Miss May Goelet to
the Duke Of Roxburghe has again called
attention to the notable marriages made
by the members 81 the Wilson family. to
which the mother Of the future Duchess
belongs, and the success OF Southern
mothers in allying their daughters to New
York families Of great wealth, also comes
once more into notice.
When Mrs. Antonio Yznaga first began to
bring her daughters to the East from her
plantation in Louisiana the family was
reduced in circumstances. as was the case
with most Southern families at the time.
There we're three daughters and son.
There was not money enough In the
family in those days to provide the young
women with many luxuries, and as their
mother realized that the chances for a
wealthy match were good only in New
York or the East, she deemed 1t absolutely
necessary that they pass certain amount
OF time here. And here the money was
spent.
So life on the plantation Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Antonio Yznasa del Vale was lean during
the intervals between the trips to this part
OF tho world. The young women OF the
family. however, received as complete an
education as the means Of the family could
provide.
French had always been the language Of
the household, and Consuela had supple
mented the lessons Of her English governess
by q few months in boarding school at
Georgetown. There, with her sisters, she
was prepared for the brilliant marriage that
her mother had in view.
There we're visits Of two or three months
to New York and Saratoga, then at the
zenith Of it's first fame, and all that the life
Of these places provided was enjoyed to the
full. Then the family. Spanish on its
paternal side and French on tho other,
retired to the home plantation to recoup.
Mrs Yznaga's first success came in 1875.
when the beautiful and accomplished Con-
suela became engaged to Lord Mande-
vile, son of the Duke Of Manchester.
American duchesses even In prospect were
rarer then than now, and the match was
great one from that point OF view only.
Lord Vaudeville had no money and
there was little wealth In the family. But
many New York mothers, able to give
their daughters q dot that Miss Yznaga
lacked. would willingly have taken the
dissipated and not very attractive Dukes
son az son -in-law.
The old red brick pile kno wn as the New
York Hotel for many years was the ira
ditional home Of Southerners In New York.
1t was not expensive, its atmosphere was
formal. but at the same time hospitable.
and the Southern guests there practically
had things their own way. Here Mrs.
Yznaga brought her daughters. and here
they made the acquaintances that estab-
lished them socially in New York.
One OF the visitors TO this hotel In those
days was Mrs. Murray Forbes Smith and
her three daughters, known in New York
society, into which they occasionally went,
as the three pretty Smith girls Miss
Alva Smith and her two sisters had been
educated In France, which meant great
deal more in those days than 1t does now.
Mr.. Smith, the father, had once lived In
New York at 70 Fifth avenue and had been
cotton broker In Mobile before he died.
He left scant means.
Mrs. Smith realized, like Mrs. Yznaga,
that the South WAS at that time no place for
any woman to make a brilliant match.
so she paid periodical visits 10 the old New
York Hotel. and her daughters, who were