They eventually built a mansion on Fifth Avenue, where they entertained an endless stream of well-heeled and prominent personalities. Over the course of two weeks in Beijing, however, the two fell in love, though family disapproval postponed their nuptials until September 7, 1911.Īfter 11 months of marriage, during which time they traveled extensively, the couple settled in New York. Although Willard and Dorothy had met a few times previously at social gatherings, Willard had little money or family connections and appeared to be an unsuitable match for a Whitney. While in China, she met up with Willard Straight, who was negotiating banking transactions in Beijing (Peking) and serving as advisor to railroad magnate E.H. In the summer of 1909, Dorothy embarked on a world tour. Although she took it for granted that she was of the elite, she shunned the more obtrusive snobberies of her circle and began her philanthropies-safely, through intermediary charities-by the distribution of her cast-off clothing to the poor." "She was thrilled by such sonorous incitements to righteousness as Henley's Invictus. Swanberg in Whitney Father, Whitney Heiress. "Dorothy had a compassion that was ultimately to be translated into 'radicalism' displeasing to her set," writes W.A.
Unlike her mother, however, whose life had been dominated by social activities, she was more attuned to the world.
She was placed in the guardianship of her brother Harry and his wife Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who felt it their duty to protect her from the legions of young suitors they believed were out for her money.įollowing a European tour and her introduction to society, Whitney enjoyed a busy social life (her diary for 1906 revealed dates with more than 40 men). William went on to amass quite a fortune and when he died in 1904, Dorothy became a wealthy young heiress. Even after Edith succumbed to injuries sustained in a riding accident in 1898, the family remained divided in loyalties. William's subsequent marriage to Edith Randolph Whitney was regarded as treachery by the older Whitney children, Payne and Pauline Whitney, although Dorothy and her other brother Henry (Harry) Payne Whitney stood by their father and came to love their stepmother. died in 1968 in Devon, England daughter of William Collins Whitney and Flora (Payne) Whitney (1843–1893) married Willard Dickerman Straight, on Septem(died in 1919) married Leonard Knight Elmhirst, in 1925 children: (first marriage) Whitney Straight Beatrice Straight (1918–2001, an actress) Michael Straight (second marriage) two.īorn in 1887 in Washington, D.C., the youngest child of William Collins Whitney and Flora Payne Whitney, Dorothy Payne Whitney was a mid-life baby she was only six when her mother died of heart disease. Name variations: Dorothy Straight Dorothy Straight Elmhirst Mrs.
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