Cornelia Adair Explained

See also: Cornelia Storrs Adair.

Birth Name:Cornelia Wadsworth
Birth Date:6 April 1837
Birth Place:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Death Place:Corsham, England
Occupation:Rancher, diarist
Father:James S. Wadsworth
Spouse:
    Children:2, including J. Wadsworth Ritchie
    Relations:James Wolcott Wadsworth (brother)
    James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. (nephew)
    Charles James Murray (cousin)
    James Wadsworth (grandfather)
    Gabrielle Keiller (granddaughter)

    Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie Adair (April 6, 1837 – September 22, 1921) was a Texas ranch landowner.[1]

    Early life

    Born Cornelia Wadsworth on April 6, 1837, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was one of six children of James S. Wadsworth and Mary Craig (née Wharton) Wadsworth. Adair grew up in a wealthy family who owned over 50,000 acres of land near Geneseo, New York and built a 13,000 square-foot house there in 1835. Her father was a Union general in the American Civil War who was mortally wounded in battle during the Battle of the Wilderness of 1864. Her brother was U.S. Representative James Wolcott Wadsworth,[2] and her sister was Elizabeth S. Wadsworth, who married Arthur Smith-Barry, 1st Baron Barrymore.[3]

    Through her brother James, she was an aunt of U.S. Senator James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr., who married to Alice Evelyn Hay, daughter of former Secretary of State John Hay.[4] Her Wadsworth ancestors established Hartford, Connecticut, after moving from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her paternal grandfather was James Wadsworth, one of the largest landowners in New York.[5] An aunt, Elizabeth Wadsworth, married the British diplomat Sir Charles Murray, and was the mother of Charles James Murray, MP for Hastings and Coventry.[6]

    Life and ranch

    She became an accomplished horserider which encouraged her interests in traveling across the prairies of the western United States. In 1876, her second husband, John George Adair, became a partner with Charles Goodnight to found the JA Ranch. When her husband died, she became partner.[7] She enjoyed hunting and participated at roundups. She founded a hospital, and supported building the Clarendon YMCA building.[8]

    In addition to her life on the ranch, Adair "spent much of her time in her fashionable house" on Curzon Street in Mayfair district of London, where she often entertained Edward VII (the son and successor of Queen Victoria) when he was Prince of Wales. She also stayed at a Rathdaire, Ireland, cottage and at her Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal, Ireland.[9] In retirement, she built a home in Bath, England.

    Personal life

    In 1857, she was married to Montgomery Harrison Ritchie (1826–1864), the son of Andrew Ritchie and Sophia Harrison (née Otis) Ritchie (a daughter of U.S. Senator Harrison Gray Otis). Before his death in 1864 from complications after serving in the Civil War,[10] they became the parents of two children:

    In 1869, she married John George "Jack" Adair (1823–1885), a Scottish-Irish businessman and landowner. Following the wedding, the couple moved to Geneseo, New York. The couple divided their time between Ireland, England, and New York until his death in Missouri in 1885.

    Adair died at Corsham near Bath in England on September 22, 1921.[17] [18]

    Descendants

    Through her son James, she was a grandmother of Gabrielle (née Ritchie) Keiller (1908–1995), the golfer, art collector, archaeological photographer and heir to Keiller's marmalade through her marriage to archaeologist Alexander Keiller.[19] [20] She bequeathed a large collection of Dada and Surrealist art to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.[21] [22]

    She was also a grandmother of Montgomery Harrison Wadsworth "Montie" Ritchie (1910–1999), whose daughter, Cornelia's great-granddaughter, Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie,[23] continued the family's ownership of JA Ranch.[24]

    Works

    References

    Citations

    Sources

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Jones . Nancy Baker . Adair, Cordelia Wadsworth . Texas State Historical Association . November 3, 2019 . 9 June 2010.
    2. News: WADSWORTH TO CELEBRATE; James W. Sr., 79, and Wife to Observe Golden Wedding Anniversary . 16 March 2021 . . 11 September 1926.
    3. News: LORD BARRYMORE DIES; Yachtsman, 82, Left a Widow, Formerly Mrs. Arthur Post of New York . 16 March 2021 . . 23 February 1925.
    4. News: JAMES WADSWORTH, EX-SENATOR, 74, DIES; Represented Upstate New York in Senate and House for 30 Years Before Retirement . 16 March 2021 . . 22 June 1952.
    5. News: Painting of Mrs. Adair Placed in Museum . August 4, 2020 . The Canyon News . February 28, 1935 . Texas, Canyon . 5. Newspapers.com.
    6. Web site: Sir Charles Augustus Murray, 1806 - 1895 . www.nationalgalleries.org . . 16 March 2021 .
    7. Web site: Cornelia Adair's Journey to the JA. Lyons. Chuck. March 23, 2018. HistoryNet. August 20, 2019.
    8. Web site: Cornelia Adair Saints' Roost Museum. August 20, 2019.
    9. News: Irish Castle of Gen. Wadsworth's Daughter Is Looted by a Band of Armed Raiders . 16 March 2021 . . 20 April 1921.
    10. News: Major Montgomery R. Ritchie . 16 March 2021 . . 17 November 1864 . 3.
    11. News: PLANS FOR THE RITCHIE-TOOKER WEDDING It Will Take Place in Newport the Last Week in August. . 12 July 2018 . . June 29, 1895.
    12. Web site: Anderson . H. Allen . RITCHIE, JAMES WADSWORTH . tshaonline.org . . 12 July 2018 . 15 June 2010.
    13. News: FOUND DEAD IN ASYLUM SON OF WEALTHY WOMAN KILLED TRYING TO ESCAPE Arthur Ritchie's Fate After Being Confined Several Times in Sanitarium . 16 March 2021 . . 29 July 1909 . 1.
    14. News: IN BOSTON BARBER SHOPS. Only Two Occasions When Arthur M. Ritchie Was Robbed in the Course of All His Life. . 16 March 2021 . . 28 November 1902 . 7.
    15. News: A. M. RITCHIE A LUNATIC Committed to Bloomingdale Asylum by Judge McAdam . 16 March 2021 . . 19 January 1895 . 9.
    16. News: NO CLUE TO DEATH OF INSANE PATIENT.Arthur Ritchie Was Son of a Noted Society Leader of England . 16 March 2021 . The Fresno Morning Republican . 29 July 1909 . 10.
    17. News: Cornelia Adair . August 4, 2020 . Journal and Courier . October 29, 1921 . Indiana, Lafayette . 6. Newspapers.com.
    18. News: MRS. CORNELIA ADAIR DEAD. Aunt of Senator Wadsworth was Chatelaine of Glenveagh Castle . 16 March 2021 . . 24 September 1921.
    19. News: Obituary: Gabrielle Keiller. Brown. David. 12 January 1996. The Independent. 22 September 2017.
    20. Book: Biographical Dictionary of ScottishWomen. Ewan. Elizabeth L.. Innes. Sue. Reynolds. Sian. Pipes. Rose. 2007-06-27. Edinburgh University Press. 9780748626601. 190.
    21. Book: Surrealism and after: the Gabrielle Keiller collection. Cowling. Elizabeth. Calvocoressi. Richard. Clifford. Timothy. Grã-Bretanha. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edimburgo). 1997. Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. 090359868X. Edinburgh. 959084816.
    22. Book: The magic mirror: Dada and surrealism from a private collection. 1988. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. 0903148811. Magic Mirror: Dada and Surrealism from a Private Collection (Exhibition). Edinburgh. 35599364. Cowling. Elizabeth. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Royal Scottish Academy.
    23. Web site: Cornelia Wadsworth Ritchie. Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum. August 20, 2019.
    24. Book: Liles . Deborah M. . Venable . Cecilia Gutierrez . Texas Women and Ranching: On the Range, at the Rodeo, and in Their Communities . 2019 . Texas A&M University Press . 978-1-62349-740-8 . 47 . August 4, 2020 .