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Bouvier family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bouvier
Lee, Auchincloss
Current regionNew York
Place of originFrance
Founded1820; 204 years ago (1820)
FounderMichel Bouvier
Connected membersAristotle Onassis
Michael Temple Canfield
Lewis Polk Rutherfurd
Connected familiesKennedy
Radziwiłł
Vanderbilt
Estate(s)Lasata

The Bouvier family or Bouvier-Lee-Auchincloss family describes the wealthy, American family connected with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (nee Bouvier). It was founded in the United States around 1820 and joined the American upper class over subsequent years. Members of the family have French, Irish and English ancestry.

History[edit]

Michel Bouvier, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, was a French cabinet maker who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1815. By the time of his death, he had become wealthy, owning a cabinet-making business and large lands which contained coal reserves. His son, John Vernou Bouvier Sr. worked on Wall Street, relocating to New York and further growing the family fortune. John Vernou Bouvier Jr. was born in 1866 and inherited $250,000 (equivalent to over $4 million today) from the family, some of which he lost in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. He was also a successful attorney.[1]

John Vernou Bouvier III married Janet Norton Lee in 1928. Her father was James Thomas Lee, who came from another prominent family. His father, Dr. James Lee, was the superintendent of New York Public Schools, as well as a local physician. Lee became a lawyer in the real estate industry, before investing in real estate successfully and developing several luxury buildings in Manhattan, including the Peter Stuyvesant Apartments.[2]

Bouvier sisters Jackie and Lee with President John F. Kennedy and other family. Palm Beach, Florida (1962)

John III and Janet had two daughters, Jacqueline, who married John F. Kennedy in 1953 and later Aristotle Onassis and Lee, who married Michael Temple Canfield, Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł and Herbert Ross. Janet later married stockbroker and lawyer Hugh D. Auchincloss Jr., the son of Hugh D. Auchincloss Sr. and a stepfather of Gore Vidal. Their marriage produced Janet Auchincloss Rutherfurd, who married Lewis Polk Rutherfurd, grandson of Levi P. Morton, former Vice President of the United States.[3]

They are most known for their connection with the Kennedy family.[4]

Residences[edit]

The Bouvier family home, Lasata.

The residence most commonly associated with the family is Lasata, the home of John Vernou Bouvier Jr. in East Hampton, New York.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Davis, John H. (1969). The Bouviers; portrait of an American family. Internet Archive. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
  2. ^ Gray, Christopher (1995-03-12). "Streetscapes/Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's Grandfather; Quality Developer With a Legacy of Fine Buildings". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  3. ^ Pottker, Jan (2002). Janet and Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Macmillan. pp. 48–50. ISBN 0-312-30281-9.
  4. ^ Latham, Caroline (1989). The Kennedy encyclopedia : an A-to-Z illustrated guide to America's royal family. Internet Archive. New York : NAL Books. ISBN 978-0-453-00684-2.