Agnes van Rhijn

**Agnes van Rhijn** (née **Brook**) is the widowed matriarch of the Van Rhijn Family, an old money Dutch-American family from New York. She is a proud and stubborn socialite who clings to the values of the old having descended from the Brook and Livingston families. Mrs. Van Rhijn is the mother of Oscar van Rhijn, and lives with her sister, Ada, and their orphaned niece, Marian, in her Manhattan brownstone on East 61st Street.

## Biography

### Early life

Born **Agnes Brook** in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, she was the elder daughter and second child of Mr. and Mrs. Brook. Her father, a soldier, was from the wealthy and landed Brook family of Pennsylvania dating back since around the 1730s, and her mother was born to the well-established Livingston family of New York. Her father was a patron of the Institute for Colored Youth in Pennsylvania and would bring her and her siblings to the school's holiday pageants.

Her father died relatively young, and her brother, Henry who inherited the estate, began to manage it poorly selling the family farms. She had received a proposal from the wealthy and yet difficult Arnold van Rhijn of New York, and felt as if she had no choice but to marry him. They married a short time after 1842.

The couple had one son to survive infancy, Oscar. Agnes has said that she has lost other children, either due to miscarriage, stillbirths, or deaths in childhood. Agnes's husband eventually passed away around 1872, after which her sister Ada moved in with her.

### Season 1

#### Episode 1

In 1882, Agnes watches as the new money Russell family move into their recently finished mansion across her house on East 61st Street.

Her older brother, General Henry Brook, has recently passed away leaving her niece Marian Brook an orphan. Her younger sister and companion Ada feeling a sense of familial responsibility writes to their niece and invites her to join them on East 61st Street. While Ada is please when the youngest Brook agrees to move to New York, Agnes is reluctant to support her penniless niece with the Van Rhijn money from her late husband.

Marian arrives late at night in ill weather, and is accompanied by an African-American friend, Peggy Scott, who has paid for her niece's ticket from Pennsylvania to New York after she was robbed. Agnes permits Peggy to stay for the night, and also begins to instruct Marian on the intricacies of old money New York society, forbidding her from getting a job, and encouraging her to make friends with fellow old money families. Realizing that she is behind with her letters and paperwork, she decides to hire Peggy as her secretary.

When she receives an invitation from Bertha Russell to attend a party, she scoffs at the nouveau riche, and does not attend.

#### Episode 2

Agnes is doing paperwork at her home, with Oscar, Marian and Ada present, and let's them know that she won't accept Gladys Russell to be invited for lunch, and that she feels Aurora skates *too close to the edge* as she's met Gladys.

Agnes is reluctant to receive Tom Raikes, but as she heards from Ada that he's waived his fee for settling Henry's estate, Agnes tells Marian that she must invite him for tea as she's in debt to him. She listlessly approves of Marian going to Anne Morris's charity bazaar.

Agnes and Ada have a talk about Oscar introducing Marian to potential suitors. Agnes doesn't approve of Ada's suggestion that Oscar might be interested in Marian himself, as they're first cousins and Marian has no wealth, and she reminds Ada of the sacrifice she made to save Ada's skin.

On next Tuesday, Raikes is visiting the Brook house for tea, when Oscar arrives with Larry Russell. Agnes is polite with Larry, but watches him talk with Marian in anger, while sipping tea. Later, Agnes confronts Oscar about bringing Larry over to her house, and doesn't approve with him about the Russells living in their village, as she's *not concerned with facts, if they interfere with her beliefs*.

Late in the evening, Agnes comes to Peggy and Marian and hands out a pile of letters for Peggy to go through the next day, which Peggy finds interesting, and Agnes points out that Oscar doesn't. Peggy thanks her for giving her a chance, to which Agnes replies that life has taught her that *if you don't want to be disappointed, you should help those who help themselves*.

At night, Ada enters Agnes's room at her request. She confronts Ada about her feeling like she's encouraged Marian over Tom, whom she finds a shyster. Agnes reminds her that Marian is penniless, without impeccable birth thanks to her mother, and that she can't leave any Van Rhijn money to her.

On another day, Agnes enters the charity bazaar with Ada and Oscar. She is angry at Marian for talking with Mrs. Chamberlain, who bought handkerchiefs from her stall. She then sees Bertha, George and Gladys Russell enter the bazaar, and says that maybe they *should just roll in the gutter* to save time.

#### Episode 3

Agnes sees from a newspaper that Aurora is holding a new charity event, and judges her for it as the last one went so improperly. Marian tells Agnes that Clara Barton is giving a talk at Aurora's house. Peggy hands a letter for Agnes to decide on. Marian and Ada see Gladys leaving outside with her governess. Agnes tells them not to criticize Mrs. Russell for her only virtue, keeping her daughter under control. She can also tell that Gladys hasn't been brought out yet as Bertha isn't sure she can fill the ballroom.

On another day, Agnes has a talk with Marian and Ada about Ada's girlhood interest, Cornelius Eckhard, whom they had met at Aurora's charity event. Agnes is concerned that he might have returned for Ada.

Cornelius Eckhard visits and admires Agnes's house. Agnes watches judgmentally as he's flirting with Ada and doesn't remember Cornelius's parents ever calling on them. Ada leaves, and Agnes has a talk with Cornelius. Cornelius insists he has feelings for Ada, but Agnes tells him that Ada has no money and would have to move out of the house in case she married. She reveals to him that their father didn't approve of him not because of his lack of prospects, but because he had been heard boasting that he's about to marry a meal ticket. Ada returns with the tea, but Cornelius leaves. Agnes tells Ada to choose something for the menu that she really likes.

## Quotes

> **Agnes (to Peggy)**If you don't want to be disappointed, only help those who help themselves.— Money Isn't Everything

## References

1. ↑ *The Gilded Age*, season 1 episode 3: "Face The Music"
2. ↑ *The Gilded Age*, season 1 episode 8: "Tucked Up in Newport"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The Gilded Age*, season 1 episode 1: "Never The New"
4. ↑ *The Gilded Age*, season 1 episode 2: "Money Isn't Everything"
5. ↑ *The Gilded Age*, season 1 episode 3: "Face The Music"