Atherton Blight (1834-1909)

He was born and brought up in Philadelphia to where his father had emigrated from England after his grandfather, Isaac Blight, was murdered in a case that shocked and enthralled London. He graduated from Harvard in 1854 where he developed a taste for music, art, and Shakespeare. Described as, "a master of many languages and a brilliant scholar, he then embarked on a two-year Grand Tour encompassing Europe, Crimea, Jerusalem and Egypt. On his return to America he briefly considered farming and bought Erdenheim but he never lived there and sold it on to Aristides Welch. In 1859, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar Association and during the Civil War he served as a director of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, drawing on his experiences and what he'd witnessed in the Crimean War. At the conclusion of hostilities, he worked with the Freedman's Bureau, helping to settle former slaves. After he was married in 1872 he settled in Newport, R.I., where he was a stockholder in both the Newport Casino and Reading Rooms. He built "Shady Nook" where he kept his collection of rare books and art. His wife, Nina, was the daughter of the sculptor Richard Saltonstall Greenough and the novelist Sarah Dana Loring Greenough, of Rome in Italy. They had three daughters, all well-known in international society, most notably Lady Alice Lowther.