Mary (Livingston) Mallet (1748-1830)

Her portrait (pictured) and that of her first husband, Captain Gabriel Maturin, was painted by John Singleton Copley at Boston in 1771. It is currently in possession of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, but is not on display. Captain Maturin died in 1777 and shortly afterwards she married Dr. Jonathan Mallet, who was also widowed and had three children from his first marriage. He lived in the house adjoining Alexander Kennedy's on Broadway but in 1784 they moved to London: "London was made very pleasant to Mrs. Mallet; her husband's social position was excellent, old friends numerous, new ones very attentive. Her extraordinary beauty, which she retained until far advanced in life, is not only a matter of tradition, but is eulogized in more than one letter now faded and yellow with age." Her portrait passed to one of her nieces and "justifies the admiration expressed by her friends for her loveliness."