Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/294

Rh Mrs. Hills lived for many years in the city of New York where her morning receptions were quite noted. Her great passion was the cultivation of music and the promotion of the best and highest in art. The daughter of Mrs. Hills was Mrs. John Schermerhorn who inherited her mother's talent in music, and it is said that Gottschalk complimented Mrs. Schermerhorn on the playing of his compositions. Mrs. William Schermerhorn, who was also a prominent figure socially, in New York City, was a Miss Cotinet, and gave during the winter of 1867 three of the most splendid receptions ever given in that city.

Was esteemed as one of the bright ornaments of western society. She was a daughter of Dr. Christopher A. Rudd, a prominent physician of Springfield, Kentucky, who was descendant of the Carroll family of Maryland. Mrs. Huntington's first husband was Clarke Fitzhugh, of Louisville, Kentucky, a nephew of General George Rogers Clarke. While a widow Mrs. Fitzhugh went to Washington with her cousin Mrs. Florida White and became one of the well-known belles of the Capital city. It was during this visit that she met with Honorable E. M. Huntington, then commissioner of the General Land Office in Washington, and they were married soon afterward. Mr. Huntington was an especial friend of President Tyler, who appointed him to the position of Judge of the United States Court in Indiana, and they removed to that state, making their home in Terre Haute, and Mrs. Huntington became the center and leader of social life in that part of the state.

The daughter of Governor Adair, of Kentucky, was noted throughout the Gulf states for her accomplishments and charm and became one of the belles in Washington city in later years. She married Colonel White, of Florida, and was often called Mrs. Florida White in allusion to the state represented by her husband in Congress. After Colonel White's death, while on a visit to New Orleans, she met Mr. Beattie, an Irish gentleman whom she married. Her sister, Mrs. Benjamin F. Pleasants, was well known and greatly admired in Washington city and always took a great interest in public affairs.

Was another prominent woman in the social life of Washington. She was born in Williamston, Massachusetts, in 1785, and at eighteen married General Jacob Brown, and they went to reside at Brownsville, in Jefferson County. During their residence in the Capital city their house was the center of a cultivated circle where were welcome the statesmen and scholars, the gifted and distinguished, with the less fortunate who were in need of sympathy and encouragement.