Louise (Anthony) Vanderbilt (1854-1926)

One year after divorcing her first husband, she remarried (in secret) his first cousin, F.W. Vanderbilt, to whom she remained devoted for the rest of their days. Louise is particularly remembered for her many, many charitable acts. From 1891, she gave an annual Thanksgiving Dinner for 400 of the newsboys and messenger boys in New York, and their entry into hall was accompanied by orchestral music. On another occasion one hot summer up at her country home, she took all 700 villagers on a steamboat ride down the Hudson River.  She died without children, leaving considerable amounts of money to various good causes including a residential home for working women.