Eleanor’S Pursuit: The Marital Misadventure of 1911 That Triggered Sensational Headlines and a High-Stakes Courtroom Battle

By H. Thomas Howell

When Eleanor Pendleton met Louis M. Ream in 1911, it was love at first sight. She was a Broadway actress known for her beauty and dancing ability in musical comedy productions during the early twentieth century. Louis was tall, dark, and handsome and, as she soon discovered, the youngest son and presumptive heir of Norman B. Ream, one of Americas wealthiest men. The problem for Eleanor, as she learned after eloping with Louis, was her father-in-laws deep-seated aversion to the theatre; he regarded all actresses as disreputable. After an overnight trip to seek his fathers forgiveness and understanding, Louis disappeared.

A blend of history and melodrama, H. Thomas Howells Eleanors Pursuit offers the biographical legacy of Eleanor Pendleton. It looks beneath the sensational newspaper coverage of 1911 to explore the confrontation between father and son and Eleanors anxious vigil while awaiting the return of her husband. When Reams lawyer arrives at her apartment instead of Louis and informs her the marriage is over, Eleanor collapses in disbelief. The lawyers take center stage, displacing the lovers.

Chronicling one of the biggest celebrity newspaper stories of its day, Eleanors Pursuit follows the secret deal-making sessions, the stage-managed travesty of justice, and the ultimate courtroom battle. These events come to life as the witnesses and lawyers reveal the private details in their own words. Howell also tells how the public reacted to the story as it unfolded. With surprises at every turn, this biography explains the exceptional final stage of Eleanors pursuit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Dec 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480812154

H. Thomas Howell

H. Thomas Howell graduated from Princeton University where he majored in history and was correspondent for the New York Times. He earned his JD degree at Yale Law School. After serving as an army officer, he practiced law for forty years in Maryland and the District of Columbia. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. A former trustee of the Maryland Historical Society, his publications include twelve volumes on family history and genealogy. Married, with three grown daughters, Howell lives in Lutherville, Maryland. 

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Copyright © 2014 Thomas Howell.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-1214-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1213-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1215-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014920650

Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/10/2014

Contents

Foreword: Spurned Women

Preface

Chapter 1      Maryland Upbringing, Virginia Roots

Chapter 2      From Baltimore To Broadway

Chapter 3      The Hoboken Matrimonial Follies

Chapter 4      The Youngest Heir

Chapter 5      Courtship, Eloping, Honeymooning

Chapter 6      The Brother Who Eloped And Was Proud Of It

Chapter 7      An Anxious Weekend

Chapter 8      Enter The Lawyers

Chapter 9      The Lawyers Cut A Deal

Chapter 10    A Secret Travesty

Chapter 11    The Show Must Go On: The Living Fantasy

Chapter 12    The Show Must Go On— The Onstage Reality

Chapter 13    Waiting In The Wings

Chapter 14    Loss Of A Nemisis, Gain Of A Boyfriend

Chapter 15    A Thought-Provoking Will

Chapter 16    Showdown In Saratoga Springs

Chapter 17    Poetic Justice

Chapter 18    Tightening The Jurisdictional Noose

Chapter 19    The Affidavit Ambush

Chapter 20    The Affidavit Avalanche

Chapter 21    Judgment Day

Chapter 22    Payday

Chapter 23    His Epilogue

Chapter 24    Her Epilogue

About The Author

Illustrations

1. Eleanor Pendleton (July 1912)

2. Edmund Pendleton

3. Irene Bentley

4. Edna May

5. Edna May

6. Valeska Suratt

7. Scene from The Arcadians

8. Eleanor Pendleton

9. Mae Murray

10. Chateaux des Beaux Arts, Long Island

11. Norman Bruce Ream (circa 1905)

12. Rookery Building, Chicago (circa 1891)

13. Four Ream sons: Louis, Rob, Norman, and Ed(circa 1895)

14. Louis Marshall Ream, with his steam Locomobile(circa 1904)

15. Colonial Club, Princeton University

16. Café Martin, New York

17. Edward King Ream and his wife, Nell (circa 1916)

18. Norman P. Ream at Carolyn Hall

19. Norman B. Ream and his wife, Caroline, at Carolyn Hall

20. Carolyn Hall, Thompson, Connecticut

21. Exterior close-up, Carolyn Hall

22. The gardens, Carolyn Hall

23. Sitting room, Carolyn Hall

24. Upper level, Carolyn Hall

25. Billiards room, Carolyn Hall

26. Bowling alley, Carolyn Hall

27. William W. Uncle Billy Miller

28. Eleanor Pendleton (sketch)

29. James Monte Waterbury Jr. (1914)

30. James C. Smith and Eleanor Pendleton (1914)

31. Norman B. Ream (circa 1910)

32. Eleanor Pendleton and T. Jerome Lawler (1914)

33. Senator Edward T. Brackett

34. Lindley M. Garrison

35. Justice Henry V. Borst

36. Justice John M. Woodward

37. Louis M. Ream (1919)

38. Louis M. Ream (circa 1922)

39. J. Shober Burrows, Eleanor, and Tommy

To the memory of my parents, Harley Walter Howell (1908–1979) and Geneva Engelmann Howell (1915–2001), who welcomed me into the best of all possible worlds and always believed in me

1.jpg

1. Eleanor Pendleton, as she appeared in the musical comedy The Man from Cook’s. Photograph by White (New York), published in the Munsey Magazine 47, no. 4 (July 1912), p. 663.

B ut from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

And they twain shall be one flesh; so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

— Mark 10:6-9 (AV)

Foreword: Spurned Women

It was the fall of 1804. Europe and, indeed, the world were aflame with war. A newly married and much-celebrated couple landed in Lisbon, Portugal, after a crossing from America. Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother, Jerome, was escorting his pregnant wife, Elizabeth Patterson, the already notorious daughter of a rich Baltimore merchant, to the salons and palaces of imperial France. On landing, Jerome was informed that his powerful brother wanted to see him immediately. Taking his leave of Elizabeth, who was not allowed to leave the ship, he promised to return for her as soon as possible. The nineteen-year-old Mrs. Bonaparte, now alone and eight months pregnant, would see her husband only one more time, passing him and a subsequent wife in an Italian art gallery thirty years later.

Fast-forward 107 years. A moderately successful Baltimore-born actress was embarking on the marriage of her dreams with the youngest son of one of America’s richest men. Louis Ream, an heir to his father Norman’s countless millions, had literally swept the beautiful Eleanor Davidson, alias Pendleton in deference to her illustrious Virginia ancestors, into an impromptu Hoboken, New Jersey, wedding. After five days of marital bliss in New York City, Louis boarded a train to inform his parents of his rather impetuous marriage to a showgirl. Twenty-four-year-old Eleanor might never see her brand-new groom again.

What do these two events, separated by more than a century, have in common? Beyond the high-handed, even criminal, behavior of entitled young men, both of these stories uncover interesting and scorned women who set out to right the wrongs they had endured. The perpetually unhappy Elizabeth Bonaparte received no recognition in the French courts and only token recompense after the Napoleonic era ended. Betsy did, however, live to ninety-four, led an active and successful life, and remains a fascinating and newsworthy story.

Eleanor Pendleton, just as fascinating in her own right, had the misfortune of living her story amid the headlines of the early twentieth century. The insatiable pop culture that we know today was already in full swing during the Progressive Era. In the early 1900s, investigative journalism was moving quickly from each sensational story to the next. Mix in a generation of spoiled sons and daughters of fabulously wealthy robber barons, and the newspapers had a field day. As you will see in this story of Davidson v. Ream, journalists kept the presses running for several years with suits and countersuits, high-priced lawyers, and lurid court cases. In the end, Ms. Pendleton had her revenge, but the world went quickly on to the next tabloid headline.

Enter a retired trial lawyer with an interest in genealogy who happened to find the Ream family in his ancestry. The Ream family tree led Tom Howell to the unforgettable tale of Eleanor and Louis. Using his prodigious genealogical and lawyerly skills, a determined Mr. Howell uncovered a truly dramatic story all but lost to history. Yellowed and brittle court records, untouched for a century, revealed a legal moment when money didn’t always talk and women could look forward to a new century of improved rights under the law.

Hang on to your bowlers, readers! This Edwardian saga will keep you turning the pages.

Burt Kummerow

President, Maryland Historical Society

August 11, 2014

Preface

I did not set out to write a book about a beautiful Broadway actress who married a handsome young heir to untold riches. My original focus was upon my paternal grandmother, Mary Pringey Howell (1867–1966), who did not meet that description and had no known Broadway aspirations. As the widow of a rural mail carrier in Cumberland, Iowa, she mowed her own lawn until she reached the age of ninety. It was in the course of researching her ancestors in anticipation of writing a Pringey family history that I found my connection with the Ream family.

Mary Pringey Howell was a granddaughter of Joseph Pringey (1812–1850). Joseph was the ninth of twelve children born to a Pennsylvania farm family in the Turkeyfoot Township of Somerset County. Joseph’s eldest sister was Eve Pringey (1796–1885), wife of Jacob King (1799–1874). Eve’s eldest daughter, Hily King (1824–1864), was the wife of Levi Ream (1816–1903) and the mother of Norman Bruce Ream (1844–1915). I soon learned that Norman B. Ream also grew up on a farm in the Turkeyfoot Township but, much to my amazement, later amassed a fortune as a commodities trader in Chicago. He became a friend and confidant of such business luminaries as Marshall Field, George Pullman, Robert Todd Lincoln, and J. Pierpont Morgan. At the time of his death in Manhattan, Norman B. Ream was recognized as one of the wealthiest men in America who wielded economic power on Wall Street to an extent beyond all reckoning.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then opportunity must be its father. In short order, the Pringey family history project was put on hold. Taking its place was my newfound fascination with the Ream family and my feverish investigation of Norman B. Ream’s childhood, Civil War service, early business failures, later business deals, and corporate mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations. Having adopted the Ream family as my own, I began to compile all the records and other raw materials necessary for preparing the definitive biography of this all-but-forgotten captain of industry.

I was beaten to the punch. Paul Ryscavage, a retired economist, published Norman B. Ream: Forgotten Master of Markets (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 2012), a commendable full-scale biography of Norman B. Ream, released on November 2, 2012. Given the comprehensive scope and thorough research of the subject, this first-ever biographical treatment of Norman B. Ream left no room for a second version. As luck would have it, and despite my initial disappointment, my own research had already uncovered a fascinating romantic story involving Ream’s youngest son. After a torrid summer courtship, Louis Marshall Ream (1887–1970) eloped with Eleanor Pendleton (1886–1969), a Broadway actress who was cast in a string of musical comedies. After he departed five days later in an ostensible mission to win over his disapproving parents, Louis failed to return to her as promised. The sensational news coverage of their marriage and his disappearance attracted nationwide media attention. Suddenly, the senior Ream’s business deals quickly paled in comparison with this young couple’s marital misadventure that fascinated press and public for months on end.

At first, I was intrigued by a series of relatively superficial coincidences. Like Louis, I was born in Chicago and attended Princeton University. Like Eleanor, I was raised in Baltimore. Since childhood, I have enjoyed attending Broadway musicals. I once served as the Princeton correspondent of the New York Times, which provided early coverage of the 1911 melodrama. As I pursued my investigation of the subject, beyond review of historic newspapers, it became evident to me that the Louis-and-Eleanor saga did more than generate headlines. It also developed a darker side, shrouded in secrecy, after love had turned to acrimony and the lovers gave way to the lawyers. Important legal proceedings were conducted in the shadows, with sinister consequences that newspapers were unable to report and explain. Having devoted my own career to the practice of law, I realized that the mysterious proceedings must have been recorded somewhere and embarked on a quest to locate the vital court documents.

After a series of telephone conversations, I was put in touch with Laurie Liberty, an independent title searcher in Troy, New York. She managed to track down the Davidson v. Ream court file in the office of the Rensselaer County Clerk, where it had reposed for ninety-seven years. The papers were dirty and had become brittle with age. Ms. Liberty spent many hours in photocopying hundreds of century-old documents contained in the court file. This proved to be a veritable treasure trove of information. The file contained the entire record of secret court proceedings in 1911, as well as detailed affidavits of the witnesses, lawyers, and other participants in the case when it was reopened in 1916. Particularly interesting were the daily surveillance reports submitted by operatives of detective agencies. Now, for the first time, the full story of the courtroom proceedings can be presented and subjected to analysis. With over one thousand pages of unpublished information in my possession, I felt duty-bound as a matter of public service to provide full disclosure of these valuable materials. Without the assistance of Ms. Liberty, such disclosure would not have been possible.

I am also indebted to Ruth Dennehey of Colby Attorneys’ Service Company of Albany for organizing the copying of appellate briefs on file in the law library of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department. While the case was pending in 1916–17, appeals to the Appellate Division generated a series of appellate briefs that summarized the legal positions of the opposing parties. These briefs provide valuable insights into the litigation strategies of counsel. Because briefs are bound documents, photocopying was a time-consuming operation.

In addition to original court papers, research was facilitated by a variety of search engines provided by Ancestry.com. These included digitized birth, death, and marriage indexes; census and voter lists; city directories; census data; records pertaining to the Civil War, World War I and World War II; ship passenger lists; US passport applications; and a huge array of genealogical charts and family histories. One important feature was Ancestry’s collections of digitized historic newspapers, with search engines providing word-finding capability. I found similar collections on the Internet in such portals as Chronicling America (Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities), the New York Times Archives, Proquest.com, Newspapers.com, Newspaper.Archives.com, GenealogyBank.com, and FultonHistory.com (the latter containing a useful assortment of New York State local papers). These websites enabled me to review hundreds of newspaper articles published early in the last century.

State and local genealogical societies and public libraries have been especially helpful in providing me with newspaper obituaries and other local information. These include the Santa Barbara Genealogical Society, Goleta, California; the Palm Beach County Genealogical Society, West Palm Beach, Florida; the Scarsdale Public Library, Scarsdale, New York; the Providence Public Library, Providence, Rhode Island; and the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society, Virginia Beach, Virginia. I am particularly grateful to Allen Holtzman of the Periodical Department, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, for locating copies of rare portraits of Eleanor Pendleton, published in magazines more than a century ago. I also extend my sincere thanks to Joseph Iamartino of the Thompson Historical Society of Thompson, Connecticut, for granting permission to use in this book various photographic images of the Ream country estate in Thompson.

Individuals too numerous to mention have helped me along the way. To each of them I extend my thanks and best wishes. Notable contributions were made by Charlotte Sherman of the Baltimore law firm of Stewart, Plant &Blumenthal, LLC. She was able to obtain valuable documentation of divorce proceedings brought by Mary Davidson Emory, a sister of Eleanor Pendleton, as well as probate records from the estate of J. Shober Burrows. My grandson Patrick A. Ciociola engaged in helpful legal research at my request on a variety of topics. My friend Joseph Rehak of Lightspeed Systems came to my rescue whenever my computer malfunctioned or photographs needed digitization. Christy Wolfe assisted me in preparing the index. Adriane Pontecorvo of Archway Publishing helped me navigate the final stages of editing, publishing, design and marketing of my book.

The quality of the text was improved by the comments of several dedicated reviewers. These included my sister, Diane Howell Mitchell; my former law partner William F. Gately; my good friends Patricia O’Donnell Thomas and the late Dr. Margaret Mary Kimmel; and Dr. Patricia Dockman Anderson, librarian of the Maryland Historical Society and editor in chief of the Maryland Historical Magazine. Each of them spent many hours reading the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions—and I thank them all. My daughters Shelley, Rebecca, and Emily also provided valuable comments.

Finally, I reserve my greatest thanks for my wife, Aliceann McLaughlin Howell, whose patience and understanding enabled me to compose, write, and edit this book. Of course, as the author, I take complete responsibility for any and all errors and for the interpretations and judgments stated herein. To my grandmother Mary Pringey Howell, may she rest in peace, I pledge my resolve to resume work on the Pringey family history as soon as time permits.

HTH

Chapter 1

MARYLAND UPBRINGING, VIRGINIA ROOTS

A beautiful actress discovers that that her offstage marriage is as much of an illusion as the fictional roles she often plays on the stages of Broadway. It is 1911 and love at first sight when she meets the millionaire’s son, a handsome Princeton man who pledges his devotion to her, in romantic verse and in solemn vows of matrimony. Five days after they elope, he departs for the thirty-four-room country home of his parents, to break the news and seek their blessings, while his anxious bride awaits his promised return to Manhattan. When he does not return, the future of their marriage becomes a sensational news story, published coast-to-coast, that soon captures the imagination of a generation of Americans. It is Eleanor’s refrain, if not her lament, that Louis will return and all will be well. When Louis comes home again, she declares, they intend to start in on a happy life together.¹ But will their marriage survive the powerful outside force bent on its destruction? It will be five years and a dramatic courtroom showdown before the answer can be learned.

Eleanor Howard Davidson entered the stage of life on November 15, 1886, in a brick row house on East Fulton Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland.² She was a daughter of Joseph Empie Davidson (1845–1896) and the former Ella Tiffany Shriver (1856–1934). Eleanor, or Nellie, became the third of their five children. The others were Virginia Pendleton Davidson, born October 26, 1879; Joseph Hamilton Davidson, born May 7, 1883; Mary Laughter Davidson, born November 24, 1888; and Anna Norris Davidson, born January 4, 1894.³

To a casual observer, the Davidson family appeared to be typical working-class residents of a nondescript neighborhood in west Baltimore. Joseph E. Davidson’s career began as a store clerk in the employ of Mabley & Carew, a Cincinnati-based mercantile firm that operated a branch department store in Baltimore.⁴ Eventually, he was promoted to the position of floorwalker, supervising sales personnel and assisting customers. But Joseph’s unremarkable station in civilian life tended to obscure his family’s claims to a greater distinction. In their eyes Joseph was their direct link to the illustrious Pendleton family of Virginia. This patrimony mattered much to a family so lacking in tangible worth.

Joseph’s own roots were planted firmly in the Commonwealth. He was born in Richmond and, at the outbreak of the Civil War, joined a Maryland cavalry battalion under the command of Thomas Sturgis Davis (1836–1883) that served the Confederacy in campaigns fought in the Shenandoah Valley and at Gettysburg. Private Davidson served with that unit until the war’s bitter end in April 1865.⁵ He was honorably discharged after the surrender at Appomattox. His company commander, Captain George C. Merrick (1839–1915), certified that Private Davidson was a brave and good soldier. On the basis of that endorsement, Joseph E. Davidson was admitted to the Confederate Army and Navy Society of the Maryland Line Association.⁶

Eleanor’s paternal grandparents were Joseph Pendleton Davidson (1810–1866) and Margaret Elizabeth Ellis (1814–1876), also natives of Virginia. Joseph Pendleton Davidson was born and raised in Amherst County, Virginia. He became a Methodist clergyman. On December 22, 1834, the Reverend Davidson was united in marriage to Margaret Ellis, a native of Louisa County, Virginia.⁷ Soon afterward, he announced plans to open a female seminary in Ellisville, Louisa County, aided by Mrs. Davidson, in imparting correct information upon the minds of young ladies committed to his care.⁸ If the seminary opened at all, it soon disappeared without a trace. The good reverend eventually moved his family to Richmond and tended to Methodist congregations. Revivalism in the Methodist Church, known today as the Second Great Awakening,⁹ did not appeal to traditionalists. Joseph P. Davidson had a change of faith, became an Episcopalian, left Virginia, and taught school in the District of Columbia. Later, having returned to the Methodist Church, he applied for restoration of his credentials as an elder. After debate, the Virginia conference denied his application.¹⁰ On the eve of the Civil War, he was a clerk in the District of Columbia, where he resided until shortly before his death in Richmond on January 16, 1866, at the age of fifty-five.¹¹ Joseph Pendleton Davidson was buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond.

Eleanor’s paternal great-grandparents were Giles Davidson (1762–1848) and Jermina (Mina) Pendleton. Giles Davidson was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, some time in the year 1762.¹² He was a soldier of the American Revolution. In 1778, at the age of sixteen, he joined a company of militia from Buckingham County in command of Captain William Duiguid for duty at the barracks of Albemarle County, Virginia. After reaching the barracks, he enlisted in another company commanded by Captain Garland Burley for the special purpose of guarding English prisoners. He was discharged after twelve months of service.¹³

In 1781, Giles Davidson was again drafted into the militia service and marched with Captain William Perkins, during which service he was engaged in skirmishes with the enemy at Hotwater Hill and at Jamestown in support of the regular army. After three months of service, he returned to Buckingham County but was called again to the militia service late in August 1781 and marched from Buckingham County to the neighborhood of Yorktown, Virginia. He was with the company, under the command of Captain William Giles, during the siege of Yorktown and was present at the surrender of General Cornwallis. His company guarded prisoners until the end of November, when he was discharged.¹⁴

After the end of the Revolutionary War, Giles Davidson moved from Buckingham County to Amherst County, Virginia, where his name was recorded in the US censuses, 1810 to 1840.¹⁵ On August 21, 1832, at the age of seventy, he applied for a pension and provided supporting references to his military service during the Revolution. He was placed on the Virginia pension roll at $76.66 per annum. Certificate 12,920 was issued June 17, 1833.¹⁶ His death on June 1, 1848, was noticed in the leading Richmond newspapers:

Died at his late residence in the County of Amherst, on the 1st June last, Mr. Giles Davidson in the 86th year of his age. Mr. Davidson was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and assisted in the capture of Cornwallis at York Town. He suffered many hardships and privations. Having lost his knapsack and shoes in crossing James River with a detachment of our French allies, he was compelled to serve for months, and finally to return home without shoes or blanket. Mr. Davidson was for a number of years a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died as he always lived, beloved and respected by all. His house was always open, and his hospitable board spread, for the stranger and wayfarer; to him all mankind was his neighbors.¹⁷

Giles Davidson’s military service during the American Revolution, coupled with his prominence in Amherst County, should have sufficed to inspire admiration in any of his descendants. His service is sanctified by the Daughters of American Revolution as Patriot Ancestor 030074. Several cousins of Eleanor Davidson’s have been admitted to DAR membership based upon proof of their lineage.¹⁸ But Eleanor craved more than patriotic recognition for herself. She wanted social recognition as a member of the Virginia aristocracy at its highest blue-blooded level. The Pendleton family always has been counted among the First Families of Virginia.¹⁹

Eleanor’s Davidson’s claim to membership in the Pendleton family necessarily stood or fell on her relation to Jermina, or Mina, Pendleton, the wife of Giles Davidson. There is no documentary evidence of their marriage, but that is explained by the fact that the records of Buckingham County, Virginia, were destroyed by fire in 1869.²⁰ When Giles Davidson was a young man, he resided in Buckingham County and was likely married there. If so, then the record of his marriage was lost in 1869, thus necessitating consideration of circumstantial evidence.

According to family historians, the circumstantial evidence establishes that Mina Pendleton was probably a niece of Edmund Pendleton (1721–1803), the great statesman and jurist, a name which will be known and remembered as long as Virginia’s sons read her history.²¹ Edmund’s brother, John Pendleton (1719–1799), was a Virginia judge who married Sarah Madison, first cousin of the fourth president of the United States. Later generations of the Pendleton family, all distant cousins of Eleanor Davidson, included James Pendleton (1735–1793), colonel of the Army of the Revolution and high sheriff of Culpeper County; Virginia; Nathaniel Pendleton (1746–1821), New York lawyer and friend of Alexander Hamilton and Rufus King; Henry Pendleton (1750–1789), South Carolina lawyer and judge; Philip Clayton Pendleton (1779–1863), federal judge from Virginia; Edward Henry Pendleton (1788–1862), member of Congress from New York and county judge; Nathaniel Greene Pendleton (1793–1861), member of Congress from Ohio; William Nelson Pendleton (1809–1883), Episcopal priest and Confederate general (Robert E. Lee’s chief of artillery); George Hunt Pendleton (1825–1889), US senator from Ohio and Democratic nominee for vice president (1864); John Strother Pendleton (1802–1868), member of Congress from Virginia and diplomat; and John Overton Pendleton (1851–1916), member of Congress from West Virginia.²²

In addition, the female lines of the Pendleton family have produced their fair share of noteworthy descendants. These include such luminaries as General Edmund Pendleton Gaines (1777–1849), an army general who served with distinction in the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War;²³ John Pendleton Kennedy (1795–1870), member of Congress from Maryland, secretary of the navy (1852–1853), and novelist;²⁴ Robert Taliaferro Mercer Hunter (1809–1887), Speaker of the House of Representatives, US senator for Virginia, Confederate secretary of state (1861–1862), and member of the Confederate Senate;²⁵ Anthony Kennedy (1810–1892), member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Maryland House of Delegates and US senator from Maryland;²⁶ David Hunter Strother (1816–1888), known as Porte Crayon, Union general, magazine illustrator, and author;²⁷ Philip Pendleton Cooke (1816–1850), Virginia lawyer and poet; and Alexander Swift Sandie Pendleton (1840–1864), adjutant general and successor to General Stonewall Jackson, CSA.²⁸

02.jpg

2. Edmund Pendleton (1721–1803), the Virginia statesman and jurist from whom Eleanor Pendleton derived her stage name

As a child, Eleanor Davidson was enchanted by tales of her Pendleton ancestors. The very name of her eldest sister—Virginia Pendleton Davidson—proclaimed Old Dominion ancestry. Aware of her family’s modest economic realties, Eleanor was reared with a somewhat fanciful appreciation of her father’s ancestral ties to historical Virginia worthies. It was a heritage that was hers to preserve and defend. Eleanor took special pride in that heritage. She was intelligent, pretty, and ambitious—and talented. She could dream of better days ahead, hoping for fame and fortune when she grew up. What her ancestors had achieved in the past was hers to reclaim in the future.

Over time Eleanor counted herself among the blue-blooded aristocracy of Virginia. Drawn to a professional career in acting, she adopted the stage name of Eleanor Pendleton. After she had established her own credentials on Broadway, she gave a full-page interview published March 3, 1912, in which she unveiled her long and distinguished pedigree to a nationwide audience:

She has a long and distinguished pedigree. Her real name is Miss Davidson, her home is in Baltimore. Mina Pendleton, her father’s mother, was considered the greatest beauty in Virginia and her mother, Ella Tiffany Shriever [sic], was at one time the Belle of Baltimore. Ministers and senators she numbers aplenty among her kinsmen, and she herself is a descendant of revolutionary warriors. Edmund Pendleton was head of the family. George H. Pendleton, Senator and minister to Germany, Gen. W. L. Pendleton, soldier and divine, the late John S. Pendleton, member of Congress from Virginia, Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines, Gen. John P. Magruder, Margaret E. Ellis, who was descended from the Marshalls, Fergusons and Vivians—all these were her relatives. Her father was first lieutenant under Robert E. Lee, and a most intimate friend of the southern hero, Harry Gilmor. Some of the bluest blood of the South flows in Miss Pendleton’s veins, and she is extremely proud of it.²⁹

By engaging in this recital of genteel name-dropping, Eleanor Pendleton was claiming a heritage that was both fanciful and real. It was passed down to her as cheerful folklore. She was an actress, not a genealogist. Her dramatic flair may have garbled some of the details (her father was certainly not an officer and never served in a unit commanded by Robert E. Lee). Nevertheless, regardless of embellishments and errors, Eleanor’s pride in her Virginia ancestry was genuine enough to become the driving force of her ambitions. Blue blood was about all she inherited. My story is the old one of the blue-blood family in reduced circumstances, she explained in her interview, with a little deprecatory laugh.³⁰ Her revered Virginia ancestry compensated for her lack of wealth and justified her enhanced sense of entitlement. If she wanted to marry a millionaire or an heir to millions, it was because no lesser suitor could have been worthy of her exalted station. The image that she cultivated for herself as an adolescent ultimately became the armor that shielded her against the harshest of theater critics, in-laws, trial lawyers, and other detractors who sought to derail her rightful claims to greater fame and fortune.

Eleanor Pendleton became a target for interviews after she married Louis Marshall Ream. That experience made her a recognized authority on rich young men who were drawn to Broadway actresses. For Eleanor and Louis, it had been a case of love at first sight. She was tall, blonde, and beautiful; he was tall, dark, and handsome. On September 1, 1911, following a torrid summer courtship, they eloped to Hoboken, New Jersey, where they were married by a justice of the peace. They shared five happy days together. Then he left her New York apartment and went to his parents’ Connecticut mansion to allay their concerns and obtain their blessings. Louis said he would return the next day but failed to do so. His mysterious disappearance and Eleanor’s unshakable faith in his promised return captured national media attention. The public wondered what was happening to the couple’s storybook romance.³¹

Having never met her father-in-law, Eleanor failed to anticipate his aversion to the theatre and its performers. Norman B. Ream was the product of a bygone generation that had been exposed to the mid-Victorian teachings of evangelical clergymen. Their sermons denounced acting as a form of deceptive ritual, the living of a lie. Even male actors were viewed with suspicion. It was unacceptable for women to flaunt themselves on the public stage. Acresses in their theatrical roles sometimes engaged in flirtation, kissing, touching, and other forms of suggestive behavior. That kind of behavior led presumably to further immorality, backstage and offstage. Actresses whose performances were tolerated found themselves relegated to the outer fringes of respectable society.³² To Norman B. Ream and many of his contemporaries, actresses were not admissible to the family circle. When he learned that his youngest son had eloped with an actress, the father’s reflexive determination was to put an end to the marriage.

Eleanor Pendleton was just as determined to save her marriage. Hers would be an unequal struggle of David-and-Goliath proportions. The owner of amassed wealth wielded the power to influence his son by threats of disinheritance, ostracism and exile. The Ream fortunes commanded the best lawyers able to unravel an inconvenient marriage. Resistance, if any, could be defeated by hiring detectives adept at eavesdropping, suborning witnesses and smear tactics. If all else failed, a cash payment usually would induce a reluctant bride to surrender her marital rights.

These tactics would be deployed against Eleanor with varying degrees of success. She went from setback to setback, experiencing despair, isolation and hopelessness. In time, however, she found an inner strength that resonated enough to help her overcome the daunting obstacles (some of her own creation) that stood between her and her marriage. Perhaps she felt secure in her belief, as she declared, that she had more blue blood in her little finger than Ream, senior, in his whole body.³³ Perhaps it was the newspaper coverage of her case, and her knowledge that millions of Americans took interest in her cause, that encouraged her to pursue justice in the courts.

Above all, Eleanor’s story serves as a reminder that everyone in America is entitled to justice, not just the rich and the privileged. It also enforces the scriptural command that a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife.³⁴ Eleanor got her priorities straight. In so doing, she championed the rights of women to gender equality in marriage. Hers is a story that has never been told before. Some of its ingredients may be found in century-old newspaper articles that once captivated the public’s imagination like no other episode of those bygone times. Now, for the first time, the whole story can be told because of the recent discovery of century-old court documents that recorded the words spoken by the participants. The statements of those witnesses reveal their intentions and motives in the unfolding drama that, while stranger than fiction, is all the more fascinating because it is true.

To a lesser extent this book is the story of Louis Marshall Ream. Because his lawyers and other handlers succeeded in shielding him from the press, Louis never gave an intereview. He left no memoirs. He was never called as a witness nor cross-examined about his marriage to Eleanor. Five years after that event, and over his objection, Louis was required to submit sworn affidavits explaining his side of the case and his recollection of the facts. The press then took little notice of his statements, which are presented here to provide insights into the thoughts and motives of a central character in this real-life melodrama.

NOTES

1   Await Paternal Blessing, New York Times, Sept. 9, 1911, p. 9

2   Eleanor’s date of birth is derived from Ancestry.com, U. S. Social Security Death Index, Provo, Utah. The Davidson family was living at the Fulton Avenue address in 1880. Tenth Census of the United States, City of Baltimore, Maryland, June 9, 1880, Bureau of the Census film: 1254504; Page 192D; Enumeration District 198, Image 0806, and also in 1896, see Died, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 7, 1896, p. 4 (funeral notice for Joseph E. Davidson). It is assumed that the Davidson family was living at the Fulton Avenue address when Eleanor was born.

3   The dates of birth were derived from newspaper obituaries or from Ancestry.com., U. S. Social Security Death Index, Provo, Utah.

4   Deaths and Burials, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 6, 1896, p. 10; Gregory Parker Rogers, Fountain Square and the Genius of Water; The Heart of Cincinnati (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013), p. 87.

5   Robert J. Driver Jr., First and Second Maryland Cavalry, C. S. A. (Charlottesville, VA: Rockbridge Publishing, 1999), pp. 135, 227. Despite its title, the book includes a chapter devoted to the Davis Battalion of Maryland Cavalry in addition to the two units described in the title. Driver, Maryland Cavalry, chapter 7, pp. 135–140. Private Joseph E. Davidson was assigned to Company A of the Davis Cavalry during most of his service. Driver, Maryland Cavalry, pp. 135, 217. In September, 1864, after Colonel Davis was wounded, Company A was assigned to the 23rd Virginia Cavalry as Company M. Driver, Maryland Cavalry, p. 139.

6   Driver, Maryland Cavalry, pp. 217, 261. See Application for Membership of J. E. Davidson in the Society of the Army and Navy of the Confederate States of Maryland, on file in record collection of the Maryland Historical Society, 201 W. Monument St., Baltimore, MD 21021. See Driver, Maryland Cavalry, p. 340. On October 26, 1887, six hundred members of the Society of the Army and Navy left by train from Baltimore’s Union Station to attend the laying of the cornerstone of a monument to Robert E. Lee in Richmond. Joseph E. Davidson was mentioned by name as one of the Baltimore excursionists. On to Richmond—Departure of Maryland Ex-Confederates, Baltimore Sun, Oct. 27, 1887, p. 4.

7   Ancestry.com, Virginia, Marriages, 1740–1850, Provo, Utah.

8   Ellisville Female Seminary, Richmond Enquirer, Nov. 22, 1836, p. 1.

9   James C. Kelly, The Virginia Landscape: A Cultural History (Charlottesville, VA: Howell Press Inc., 2000), p. 17.

10   Virginia Conference—Third Day, Richmond Whig, Dec. 2, 1856, p. 1.

11   Deaths, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 22, 1866, p. 1.

12   Application of Giles Davidson, Aug. 21, 1832, Certificate 12,920, National Archives & Records Administration (hereinafter Davidson Application).

13   The text of this paragraph is derived from Davidson Application.

14   Ibid.

15   Third Census of the United States, 1810, Amherst County, Va., Bureau of the Census film 00320, roll 66, p. 302, image 0181426 (household of Giles Davidson, 15 free, 6 slaves); Fourth Census of the United States, 1820, Amherst County, Va., Bureau of the Census film roll 33,131, p. 24, image 36 (household of Giles Davidson, 8 free, 5 slaves); Fifth Census of the United States, 1830, Amherst County, Va., Bureau of the Census NARA Series M19, film 0029673, roll 194, p. 511 (household of Giles Davidson, 9 free, 7 slaves); Sixth Census of the United States, 1840, Amherst County, Va., Bureau of the Census film 0029683, roll 550, p. 229, image 466 (household of Giles Davidson, 8 free, 11 slaves).

16   Davidson Application.

17   A Revolutionary Soldier Gone!, Richmond Enquirer, July 25, 1848, p. 4. See also A Revolutionary Soldier Gone!, Richmond Whig, July 25, 1848, p. 4. Prior to his death Giles Davidson owned eleven slaves. Sixth Census of the United States, 1840, Amherst County, Va., Bureau of the Census film 0029683, roll 550, p. 22, Image 466.

18   See DAR Lineage Charts submitted by Frances Brower Marntoccia (Member 381,297) and Maria Menefee Martoccia Clifton (Member 509,971). These DAR members each traced their descent from John Ellis Davidson (1844–1904), Joseph Pendleton Davidson (1810–1866), and Giles Davidson (1761–1848).

19   See, e.g., The History and Register of the Colonial Families of the United States (listing Pendleton as a FFV) http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id227.html. See also Reams Rend Asunder, New York Dramatic Mirror, July 9, 1913, p. 10 (noting the fact that the Pendletons are said to belong to the FFV’s).

20   Virginia News, Alexandria Gazette, March 5, 1869, p. 1.

21   Louise Pecquet de Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families (Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Co., Inc. 1907), vol. 4, p. 228.

22   De Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, pp. 232, 238, 241–42, 243, 244, 248, 251, 253, 254, 269–70, 273.

23   Edmund Pendleton’s first cousin, Isabella Pendleton, married James Gaines. She was the grandmother of Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines. R. T. Green, Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia (Culpeper, VA: Culpeper Printing OFF 1900), at p. 96.

24   De Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, pp. 253–54.

25   Ibid, p. 254.

26   Ibid.

27   Green, Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia, p. 100.

28   De Bellet, Some Prominent Virginia Families, pp. 244, 255, 270.

29   The Show Girl vs. the Millionaire’s Son, Boston Herald, March 3, 1912, p. 44.

30   Ibid.

31   See chapters 4–9, 11.

32   See Claudia D. Johnson, Enter the Harlot in Helen Krick Chinos and Linda Walsh Jenkins, eds., Women in American Theatre (New York: Theatre Communications Group, rev. 3rd ed. 2006), pp. 57–65.

33   "Chorus Girl Bride to Fight Annulment, Ogdensburg (NY) News, March 15, 1916, p. 8.

34   Genesis 2:24 (AV).

Chapter 2

FROM BALTIMORE TO BROADWAY

Eleanor lost her father when she was nine. On Sunday, January 5, 1896, Joseph E. Davidson left Baltimore to join his Virginia ancestors. He died of gastritis at the age of fifty after having been ill for seven months. His obituary identified him as a son of Rev. Joseph P. Davidson, a Methodist minister of Richmond, Va. It further stated, When a boy of seventeen he entered the war and served in Major Davis’s battalion of Maryland cavalry.¹ His funeral was held on Tuesday at the family residence.² His remains were laid to rest in Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, the burial ground of many other Marylanders who had served the Confederate cause.³

When the Davidson family lost its breadwinner in 1896, they were living at 1318 North Fulton Avenue, on the west side of Baltimore near North Avenue.⁴ Ella (Shriver) Davidson had no income and, apart from ordinary household skills, no discernible earning capacity. She and her five children were obliged to move in with her parents, Henry and Hannah (Bennett) Shriver. Four years later,