Ruth (Hill) Heidsieck (1879-1959)

She was married three times. In 1902, in the Drawing Room of her father's mansion, the James J. Hill House, in St. Paul, Minnesota, she married her first husband, Anson McCook Beard. Reported to have been "a quiet affair" only 130-guests were invited and Ruth was assisted by her sister, Rachel, while the best man was Eric Dahlgren. As a wedding present her father the couple $250,000 in railroad bonds and, "following a custom established at the time wedding of Miss Hill's elder sister, Charlotte, Mr. Hill allowed the bride to select any picture she preferred from his splendid gallery of paintings". They had 2-children and lived at 47 East 68th Street, New York City.

Anson Beard died in 1929, and a little over a year later (1931) Ruth married her second husband, the also widowed Pierre Lorillard V. Again, it was a quiet ceremony with just "a few friends present" and was held this time in the Drawing Room of her townhouse at 47 East 68th Street - like her new husband, she too owned a weekend home in Tuxedo Park.

Again - just a fraction over a year after the death her second husband and in another "simple ceremony" at her home in Tuxedo Park - she married the Emile J. Heidsieck. Born in New Jersey, the also widowed Mr Heidsieck had grown up predominantly in France and Belgium and was a cousin of Charles Heidsieck, founder of Heidsieck Champagne, who popularized Champagne in the United States and was known as "Champagne Charlie".