Mary (Tallmadge) Van Rensselaer (1817-1872)

She was described as, "a noted beauty" when she accompanied her father to Europe in 1835. Three years later in England, she was received at the court of the newly crowned young Queen Victoria. The Osage Mission Journal reported, "She was presented to, and became a favorite of the Queen, who said one morning in breakfast that she would give her dominions for Miss Talmadge's beauty." It was said that "several opulent and titled persons sought her hand in vain," but perhaps for her father's sake she did not wish to leave America and in 1839 she became the wife of the eminently respectable Phillip Van Rensselaer who grew up at the Van Rensselaer Manor House in Albany. As a wedding present her father gave them an estate in Dutchess County, and after he died the young couple moved into his New York townhouse, 5 Washington Square.