Maria Matilda Bingham

Maria Matilda, Marquise de Blaisel (born Maria Matilda Bingham 1783 – 1849) was an American born heiress who married several prominent European aristocrats and statesmen.

Maria Mathilda Bingham with Two of her Children, by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1810–1818, at the Rijksmuseum.

Early life

Maria was born in Binghamton, New York in 1783. She was the second daughter of William Bingham and Ann Willing Bingham.[1] Her elder sister, Ann Louisa Bingham, became the wife of Alexander Baring, in 1798. Baring later became the first Baron Ashburton.[2] Her younger brother, William Bingham, was married to Marie-Charlotte Chartier de Lotbiniere, Seigneuresse de Rigaud, the second daughter and co-heiress of Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière.[3]

Following her birth, her father was a delegate to the Continental Congress for Pennsylvania from 1786 to 1788. He later served as a U.S. Senator and President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate in 1797. Bingham helped broker the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and was one of the richest men in America, having made his fortune during the American Revolution through trading and ownership of privateers.[4] After her father's death in 1804, Maria and her sister both stayed in England.[2]

Her maternal grandfather was Thomas Willing, who served as president of the First Bank of the United States.[5]

Personal life

Maria married three times. On April 11, 1799, at the age of 15, she became the Comtesse de Tilly upon her elopement and secret marriage to French aristocrat, Jacques-Pierre-Alexandre, Comte de Tilly (1761–1816), in Philadelphia.[6] After the marriage's quick end, Tilly "demanded an annual pension as his price to leave the country," and wrote to Maria "insisting he would have the rights to her inheritance upon the death of her wealthy parents."[2] He was paid £5,000 and an annual pension of £500, and, in March 1800, "the Philadelphia newspapers announced that the Pennsylvania state legislature had passed an act declaring null and voide the marriage of Maria Matilda and Alexandre de Tilly."[2] After their brief marriage, he returned to Europe, where the King of Prussia named him his chamberlain in 1801.[7] According to Tilly, her mother, who died shortly after the episode,[8] was a lover of Louis-Marie, vicomte de Noailles (the brother-in-law of the Marquis de Lafayette), who had introduced Tilly to Maria and was her father's business partner.[2]

On 19 April 1802, she married her sister's brother-in-law, Henry Baring (1777–1848) in England. Henry, a son of Harriet (née Herring) Baring and Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, served as a Member of Parliament for Colchester and Bossiney during their marriage. Before their 1824 divorce, Maria and Henry were the parents of five children, three sons and two daughters, including:[9]

After their divorce, her husband remarried to married Cecilia Anne Windham, a daughter of Vice-Admiral William Lukin Windham, with whom he had another eight children. On April 17, 1826, at the Chapel of the British Ambassador in Paris,[12] she was married Auguste, Marquis de Blaisel (1790–1870), thereby becoming the Marquise de Blaisel.[6] The Marquis de Blaisel, a Chamberlain to the Emperor of Austria,[12] was a son of Camille Joseph du Blaisel, Marquis du Blaisel and the former Anne Elisabeth, Baroness de Tornaco.

Maria died in England in 1849.[8] After her death, her widower remarried to Zoé de Digoine du Palais, a daughter of Chevalier Léopold de Digoine.

Descendants

Through her son Henry, she was a grandmother of Lieutenant-General Charles Baring, the father of Sir Godfrey Baring, 1st Baronet, a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight and later Barnstaple.[13][14]

Through her eldest daughter Anna Maria, she was a grandmother of Anna Maria Helena Coesvelt, who married Charles-Antonin, Count de Noailles,[2] second son of Antoine-Claude-Just de Noailles, duc de Mouchy and prince-duc de Poix.[15]

References
  1. Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John (1888). Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography: Aaron-Crandall. Appleton. p. 264. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  2. Furstenberg, Francois (2015). When the United States Spoke French: Five Refugees Who Shaped a Nation. Penguin. pp. 202, 203, 382–384, 411. ISBN 978-0-14-312745-1. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  3. Keen, Gregory Bernard (1913). The Descendants of Jöran Kyn of New Sweden. Swedish Colonial Society. p. 186. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  4. Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums (1970). Doris A. Isaacson (ed.). Maine: A Guide 'Down East'. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, Inc. pp. 381–382.
  5. "WILLING, Thomas, (1731–1821)". Biographical Information of the United States Congress. US Congress. 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  6. Kenyon, Ronald W. (2013). Monville: Forgotten Luminary of the French Enlightenment. Ronald W. Kenyon. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-4811-4829-0. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  7. De Tilly, Alexandre (2011). Memoirs of the Comte Alexandre de Tilly. Wildside Press. ISBN 978-1-4344-3272-8. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  8. "An Elopement in Olden Times". Sunbury American. 9 (46). 11 August 1849. p. 1. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  9. Kingsley, Nick (9 May 2019). "Landed families of Britain and Ireland: (375) Baring of Membland House and Lambay Castle, Barons Revelstoke". Landed families of Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  10. Title of Lands of the Bingham Estate on Mt. Desert Island. The Maine Historical Magazine. 1891. p. 116. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  11. Tomlinson, John (1882). The Level of Hatfield Chace and Parts Adjacent. Tomlinson. p. 221. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  12. The Album, and Ladies' Weekly Gazette. Thomas C. Clarke. 1826. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  13. "Sir Godfrey Baring". The Times. 25 November 1957. p. 12.
  14. "Famous Residents & Visitors". Isle of Wight Tourism. Isle of Wight Council. 2010. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  15. Amos, William (1985). The Originals: Who's Really Who in Fiction. Little Brown & Co (T); 1St Edition edition (May 1989).
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