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Dalhgren Chapel
Photograph
Resting place of  Eliza Drexel (later Lady Decies) and her first huband John Vinton Dahlgren along with their son
Jpg: georgetown.edu

 



From: Andrew G.T. Moore II
<ag tm oore@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 

Here is a picture of Dahlgren Chapel on the Georgetown Campus, where Lady Decies is buried with her first husband, John Vinton Dahlgren, and the following from the Georgetown website:
 

    "Dahlgren is the main Catholic chapel on campus and seats 350 people.  The chapel celebrated its Centennial in 1993.  It was built in 1893 with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John Vinton Dahlgren in  memory of their son.  The family crypt is located in the chapel. The bell atop the chapel comes from the Old Calvert mission (Calvert was the family name of the Lords Baltimore, founding members of the Maryland colony).  The cross hanging over the altar also dates from the earliest days of the Maryland colony.  Dahlgren is one of three chapels on campus, and was renovated in 1976 and again in 1990."
    (georgetown.edu)
From: Dahlgren family papers

On August 2, 1865, Mrs. Dahlgren married Admiral John Adolph Dahlgren (1809-1870), the famous naval officer and inventor of the Dahlgren gun [both parent's of Lady Decies'first husband]. Together they had three children, Ulrica Mary Madeleine, Eric, and John Vinton. The last was a well-known lawyer, whose work as attorney of the New York Department of Buildings, culminated in his book, "Dahlgren's Building-Law Manual" (1897). He was married to Elizabeth Drexel [later Lady Decies], the third daughter of Joseph W. Drexel of Philadelphia. His brother Eric, also, married Lucy Drexel, the second daughter. John Vinton and Eric are also alumni of Georgetown University. The former graduated with an A.B. in 1889, an M.A. in 1891, LL.B. 1891, and LL.M. 1892. Eric entered in 1881 but did not graduate. The Georgetown University Archives houses a fair amount of material about the Dahlgren family. This includes 4 folders in the Alumni Files about John Vinton Dahlgren, including autograph letters from him to various university administrators. In addition, files, comprising 0.50 linear feet, are available on the Dahlgren Memorial Chapel located on the main campus of the university. The chapel was a gift of John Vinton and his wife Eliza Drexel, built in memory of their son, Joseph Drexel Dahlgren who died in infancy (1891). He is buried now in the chapel in the Dahlgren family crypt. Cardinal James Gibbons officiated at the laying of the cornerstone to the chapel in May 1892.

Also discovered on page 17 of the special advertising supplement to today's, March 9, 2003, New York Times Magazine that one can buy a copy of the Boldini portrait from the Masters' Collection, a licensee of oil reproductions on canvas for the Newport Mansions Collection.  The portrait is labeled "Elizabeth W. Drexel Dahlgren Lehr by Boldini".  No mention of his lordship.  Will send you the info separately [1].
 

Giovanni Boldini
  
Lady Decies
(formally Elizabeth Drexel Lehr) 
 

Notes:
Special thanks to Andrew Moore, a friend of the JSS Gallery, for passing along all this information.


1) The information from the Dahlgren family papers at Georgetown University:


 


By:  Natasha Wallace
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Created 4/1/2003