The Remarkable Rise of Eliza Jumel (59 page)

5
. Ibid.

6
. Ibid.

7
. “The Jumel estate,”
New York Herald
, October 23, 1870, 10.

8
. Ibid.

9
. Ibid.

10
. Ibid.; “The Jumel estate,
New York Herald
, October 22, 1870, 8.

11
. “The Jumel estate,”
New York Herald
, October 23, 1870, 10.

12
. “Law reports,”
New York Times
, October 22, 1870, 3.

13
. 3-466, deposition of Ellen Bullock.

14
. 3-466, deposition of John Bullock.

15
. Ibid.

16
. 3-312, deposition of John Hicks Bullock.

17
. 3-466, deposition of John Bullock.

18
. 3-312, deposition of John Hicks Bullock.

19
. 3-466, deposition of Juliana Pearce.

20
. 3-312, deposition of John Hicks Bullock.

21
. Ibid.

22
. Ibid.; 3-466, deposition of John Bullock.

23
. 3-466, cross-interrogatory that was intended to be addressed to Elizabeth Salisbury (but not posed because of her sudden illness).

24
. 3-466, deposition of Elizabeth Salisbury.

25
. Ibid.

26
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, April 23, 1871, 10.

1
. “The Jumel estate. Further testimony on behalf of the supposed son of Mme. Jumel,”
New York Times
, March 21, 1871, 8.

2
. J.
W. Gerard Jr.,
Titles to real estate in the State of New York: A digested compendium of law applicable to the examination of titles …
(New York: Baker, Voorhis & Co., 1869), 118, 123. The law was limited in its scope. Although an illegitimate child was eligible to inherit from an intestate mother, the privilege stopped with the child. His or her descendants were not legal heirs in cases of intestacy; see chap. 36, n. 8.

3
. “The Jumel estate. Further testimony on behalf of the supposed son of Mme. Jumel.”

4
. Ibid.

5
. Ibid.

6
. Ballou,
Elaborate History
, 85, 202, 218–19; see chap. 6, n. 21.

7
. TCMR 6:334–35.

8
. Rhode Island State Archives, Providence County Jail, Gaol Book, December 1789–April 1794, entry for December 22, 1792.

9
. TCMR 6:334–35, 338, 346; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 13, 1872, 8.

10
. TCMR 7:404; Linda L. Mathew, “Gleanings from Rhode Island town records: Providence Town Counsel Records, 1789–1801,”
Rhode Island Roots
, Special Bonus Issue 2007 (April 2007): 91–92, 97, 101.

11
. TCMR 8:171.

12
. TCMR 8:258.

13
. “Scandalum magnatum,”
Albany Argus
, March 28, 1871, [1].

14
. Ibid.; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 10, 1872, 11.

15
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 10, 1872, 11.

16
. “The Jumel estate. Further testimony on behalf of the supposed son of Mme. Jumel.”

17
. “Madame Jumel's millions,”
Albany Argus
, January 27, 1871, [2] (for all quotations in the paragraph).

18
. Ibid.

19
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, January 27, 1872, 11; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, March 16, 1872, 11.

20
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 17, 1872, 11; February 23, 1872, 11; and March 15, 1872, 8; 1873 Transcript of Record, 220.

21
. Ibid.

22
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 6, 1872, 5; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, January 25, 1872, 11; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, March 16, 1872, 11; 1873 Transcript of Record, 246–47. Among those who testified for George Washington Bowen were Elizabeth Price and Margaret A. Stanton, daughters of Solomon Northrup (author of the memoir
Twelve Years a Slave
, which detailed his captivity after being kidnapped from Saratoga Springs in 1841). Additionally, their mother Anne Northrup gave a deposition for Bowen. According to the statements by these members of the Northrup family, Eliza took Elizabeth, then a young girl, to work for her shortly after the kidnapping; placed Margaret, also a child, with Mary Chase; and briefly had Anne working for her as well. Eliza was claimed to have spoken of having a son on one occasion to Anne, on a second occasion to Elizabeth in Anne's presence, and on a third occasion to Elizabeth and Margaret, temporarily both at the mansion. However, much of the relevant testimony was suspiciously vague, and there is no indication that Anne (or her son Alonzo, also briefly mentioned) ever worked at the mansion, or that Elizabeth and Margaret were ever there
together. It is possible, however, that Elizabeth worked briefly for Eliza and Margaret for Mary Chase and then were sent back to Saratoga. Most of the individuals who testified for Bowen had some grounds for disgruntlement with Eliza, and the Northrop girls' time with her may not have been happy. The main source for the testimony by Northrop family members is the 1873 Transcript of Record, 246–50.

23
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 23, 1872, 8.

24
. “The Jumel estate. Further testimony on behalf of the supposed son of Mme. Jumel.”

25
. Ibid.

26
. Ibid.

27
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 27, 1872, 5.

28
. “An interesting episode in Rhode Island history,”
Providence Evening Press
, January 25, 1872, [2].

29
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, March 15, 1872, [8].

30
. “Personal, political, and general,”
New York Times
, March 30, 1871, 2.

31
. “The Jumel estate—Gen. Washington not Bowen's father,”
Providence Evening Press
, March 31, 1871, [2]; “An interesting episode in Rhode Island history.”

32
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 7, 1872, 8.

33
.
New York Times
, January 27, 1872, 8.

34
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 16, 1872, 11; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 17, 1872, 11.

35
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 14, 1872, [8].

36
. “The Jumel estate—Gen. Washington not Bowen's father”; “The Jumel estate—further testimony,
New York Times
, March 29, 1871; “The Jumel estate. Further testimony on behalf of the supposed son of Mme. Jumel,”
New York Times
, March 21, 1871; “The Jumel estate—further testimony,”
New York Times
, March 22, 1871.

37
. “The Jumel estate,”
New York Times
, March 25, 1871.

38
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 17, 1872, 11; February 23, 1872, 11; March 15, 1872, 8.

39
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, March 16, 1872, 11. This was not even Bowen's first attempt at obtaining a share of the Jumel estate. He was one of the claimants in the suit brought by the descendants of James Bowen, before pursuing his own case on the grounds that he was Eliza's son. See “Law reports,”
New York Times
, February 22, 1870, 3; and also 3-312 for the names of the thirty-three plaintiffs in the former suit, a “George W. Bowen” among them.

40
. “An interesting episode in Rhode Island history.”

41
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, March 17, 1872, 10.

42
. 3-466, notice from Commissioner Metcalf to James C. Carter, Esq., of the examination of Henry Nodine as a witness.

43
. 3-466, deposition of Henry Nodine.

44
. Ibid.

45
. “A scene at Saratoga,”
Alexandria Gazette
, September 8, 1846, [2].

46
. “The Jumel estate case,
New York Herald
, January 15, 1873, 8; 3-466, deposition of Henry Nodine. Pension records show that his brothers served in the militia, but he did not. See
Ancestry.com
,
War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812–1815
[database online] (Provo, UT:
Ancestry.com
Operations, Inc., 2010). Nodine gave his age as fourty-eight in the 1850 census and as sixty in the 1860 census, making him only ten or twelve years old at the outbreak of the War of 1812 (see the 1850 and 1860 United States Federal Census databases in
Ancestry.com
).

47
. NYHS-JP, box 1, folder 1, Eliza Jumel to Stephen Jumel, received October 4, 1826; N.Y. Ct. Com. Pl., Stephen Jumel vs. Lewis Nodine and Peter Nodine, 1824-#292.

48
. “The Jumel ejectment suit,”
New York Herald
, June 20, 1872, 4.

49
. E.g., 1873 Transcript of Record, 197, 227. 260.

50
. Ibid., 267, 322–23; “The courts,”
New York Herald
, January 17, 1873, 11.

51
. “New York; Boston,”
Hartford Daily Courant
, January 15, 1873, 1, reprinting a report from the
Boston Journal
.

52
. “The Jumel will case,”
Daily Evening Bulletin
[San Francisco], March 5, 1873, [2].

53
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, February 11, 1873, 8; 1873 Transcript of Record, 305.

54
. “The courts,”
New York Herald
, January 15, 1873, 8.

55
. 1873 Transcript of Record, 310–11. A later deposition by this witness, John G. Caryl, makes it clear that his evidence should not be trusted (B-779, box 113).

56
. “The great Jumel case,”
New York Herald
, February 21, 1873, 5.

57
. Ibid.

58
. “The Jumel will case,”
Boston Morning Journal
, March 1, 1873, [2].

1
. Record of the marriage of Nelson Chase and Hattie Crombie Dunning, available at
www.FamilySearch.org
; record for William Dunning and household at
Ancestry.com
,
1860 United States Federal Census
(see chap. 35, n. 10).

2
. “Died,”
New York Herald
, July 16, 1869, 7; New York City, Municipal Archives, Manhattan Death Certificates, no. 30903.

3
. 1870 United States Census, accessed on
www.familysearch.org
.

4
. Ibid.

5
. “Another phase of the Jumel suit,”
New York Times
, February 29, 1872, 8; NYHS-JP, box 2 folder D, agreement between Nelson Chase and John McBain Davidson.

6
. N.Y. Sup. Ct., Nelson Chase vs. William Inglis Chase et al., 1880 C-3, schedule A.

7
. N.Y. Sup. Ct., William Inglis Chase vs. Nelson Chase and others, 1878 C-36.

8
. N.Y. Sup. Ct., Nelson Chase vs. William Inglis Chase et al., 1880 C-3, exhibit D.

9
.
Ancestry.com
,
1880 United States Federal Census
(see chap. 36, n. 38).

10
. New York City, Municipal Archives, Manhattan Death Certificates, no. 200348; NYHSAHMC, Mauer, Charles Arthur, untitled notes relating to Eliza Jumel.

11
. New York City, Municipal Archives, Manhattan Death Certificates, no. 200348.

12
.
Ancestry.com
,
U.S. Passport Applications 1795–1925
(see chap. 6, n. 17), passport application for Mathilde Pery (wrongly indicating that she was born in New York State).

13
. “Married,”
New York Herald
, June 25, 1878, 8.

14
. New York City, Municipal Archives, Manhattan Marriage Certificates, no. 3015.

15
. NYPL,
NYGB AZ Fam 09-78, Caroline Winslow Crippen, “Silas Crippen of Worcester, New York, and some of his descentants [
sic
],” typescript, 1824, 8–9, 25–26.

16
. “The Jumel estate case,”
New-York Evening Post
, May 3, 1873, [2].

17
. “United States Supreme Court,”
New York Herald
, January 12, 1877, 8.

18
.
Bowen v. Chase
, 98 U.S. 254 (1878).

19
. Ibid.;
Bowen v. Chase
, 94 U.S. 812 (1876).

20
. 94 U.S. 812.

21
. 98 U.S. 254.

22
. Ibid.

23
. E.g., Marianne Hancock,
Madame of the Heights: The story of a prostitute's progress
(Mt. Desert, ME: Windswept House Publishers, 1998).

24
. Gilfoyle,
City of eros
, 70 (see chap. 1, n. 8).

25
. In the early to mid-1790s, her mother and stepfather had wandered among at least four Massachusetts towns, but the documents do not show whether she traveled with them. See Duncan,
The amazing Madame Jumel
, 29–35, 39–40 (see chap. 3, n. 12).

26
. Providence Ct. Com. Pl., Samuel W. Greene vs. Betsey Bowen, (Rhode Island Supreme Court Judicial Records Center, Pawtucket).

27
. Ibid.;
State Gazette and Town and Country Advertiser
, January 25, 1796, 28 (advertisement);
Providence Gazette
, February 13, 1796, [3] (advertisement).