Eileen Gillespie Slocum: The Story of the Last Grand Dame Video and Photos

Eileen Slocum and the Meaning of Newport Society. From the Gilded Age to her death in 2008. Behind the Hedgerow

Eileen Gillespie was born on Dec. 21, 1915, in Manhattan. Her father, Lawrence Lewis Gillespie, was a banker. Her mother, Irene Muriel Sherman, was the granddaughter of John Carter Brown, the philanthropist and bibliophile whose book collection formed the basis of the John Carter Brown Library for research in history and humanities at Brown University. His father, Nicholas Brown Jr., was the benefactor for whom the university named itself, changing it from College of Rhode Island in 1804. Other Brown family members included slave traders and abolitionists. From Bruce Weber, New York TimesEileen G. Slocum, 92, Dies; Society Doyenne and Republican Stalwart

A Scandal is part of this story, but the video is loaded with history on Rhode Island from early settlement.

In 1933. the society pages were flooded with photographs of Mrs Slocum, then known as Ms. Eileen Gillespie, and the announcement of her engagement to John Jacob Astor. In this interview she shares her reasons for breaking off her engagement to Astor. She married John Jermain Slocum.....the rest is in the video!