Martha (Dana) Mercer (1872-1960)

She was born in Boston to the Dana family of Watertown, Massachusetts, and married the sculptor/artist William Robert Mercer of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, brother of Henry Chapman Mercer, creator of "Fonthill". She and her husband designed and built the "Aldie Mansion" (see images) in the Tudor-Revival style, complete with its own private pet cemetery, and owned today by the Heritage Conservancy of Bucks County. They had twins who were born and died in 1910, prompting them to focus their love on their pets, notably their horses. Martha's husband died in 1939 and she split her legacy into three equal parts, forming the Martha Dana Mercer Trust. She gave to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Arnold Arboretum (in the name of her father), and the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, to which she also gifted several paintings including her portrait by Zorn (her friend Isabella Stewart Gardner arranged for her to have her portrait painted by Anders Zorn in 1899) and Man on Horseback by Gerard ter Borch.