Elena Mumm Thornton
Encyclopedia
Elena Mumm Thornton Wilson (27 August 1906 – 27 July 1979) was born into an unusual, wealthy, aristocratic European family and was the fourth wife of the famed American writer Edmund Wilson
. Elena was a central figure in Wilson's life from the time they met until his death in 1972. She was the literary executrix of his estate and helped Leon Edel
edit her husband's journals. She also edited a book of his literary correspondence.
, France
, Elena Mumm was the daughter of Peter Arnold Hermann Gottlieb Mumm von Schwarzenstein and Olga de Struve. On her father’s side, she was descended from a long line of ancient Prussian nobility, traceable to 1359 in Cleves, Prussia. On March 31, 1873, Kaiser Wilhelm I renewed the Mumm patent on nobility, conferring the “Mumm von Schwarzenstein.” Elena’s branch had been famed for its champagne and white wine production, with estates founded in Reims, France, in 1827 and in the famous terroir Johannisberg
, Germany (where Riesling was produced) in 1822. Her father was head of the internationally famous champagne company "Mumm Co." until the French seized the family’s French properties and brand name after World War I as spoils of war
. Her father continued making wine in Germany until his death in 1937. On her paternal side, Elena was related to the Barons von Radowitz and Barons von Rotenhan, as well as the Grunelius and Passavant families, powerful industrialists and bankers. One of the family banks was a founding member of a banking consortium that would grow to become the Swiss Bank Corporation
, now merged into UBS AG
, the world's largest manager of private wealth assets. Her uncle, Baron Walther von Mumm
, was a sportsman, Don Juan and bon vivant who enjoyed racing hot air balloons and even filled in on the German bobsled team at the 1932 Olympic Games
.
Her mother was a daughter of Karl de Struve
, who served at different times as the Russian Ambassador to Japan, the United States, and Holland. The de Struve
family descended from a long line of famed astronomers, the first of whom moved to Russia during Czar Peter I the Great’s cultural and scientific revolution. By the fifth generation, they had married into prominent Russian imperial families and European aristocracy: most prominent of Elena's great-aunts and great-uncles were the Vicomte Eugene Melchior de Vogüé
, philosopher and author; Victor, Prince Galitzine; and General Michael Nicolaivitch Annenkoff, Governor General of Trans-Caspia, 'conqueror' of Bokhara, and builder of the Transcaucasia railroad. Elena's second great-grandfather, General Nicholas Annenkov
, was Comptroller General of the Russian Imperial Court. Her mother was born in Japan and with her four siblings grew up there, and in St Petersburg, The Hague, and Washington, D.C. . Her mother's siblings included Princess Vera Mestchersky, Countess Elena Orlov, and Boris de Struve, a Russian attaché to Washington who married an American, Maxine Slater. Her mother left Russia in 1904 to marry her father, whereas her aunts returned to Russia to marry. After the Russian Revolution, they ended up in Paris as part of the émigré community.
, Simon Elwes
, Guy Arnoux, and Conrad O'Brien-Ffrench
.
In her memoirs, Tatiana von Metternich
recalls Elena and her mother Olga visiting her aunts in the Paris émigré community, bringing luxurious gifts to leaven their reduced circumstances. (Later, when Tatiana married Prince Paul Metternich, the owner of Schloss Johannisberg, she lived up the hill from the Mumm family's estate, on the famed wine-growing terroir of Johannisberg, a small mountain girdled by vineyards which overlooks the Rhine, near Frankfurt am Main.)
Elena's sister, Olga, was for over 26 years the companion and partner of the Whitney heiress and horse racing queen, Dorothy Paget
.
, the son of Sir Henry Worth Thornton and Lady Virginia Blair, while he was working and studying in Germany
. James and Elena married in 1931 and soon after moved to Montreal, Canada, living among the English-speaking elite. Edmund Wilson would later write that her years in Canada were “stuffy”, as she was surrounded by conservative, conventional people, including her own husband. She seemed to get along better with her more gregarious father-in-law. However, by 1933, Sir Henry had been forced to resign his position and lost most of his wealth. He moved to New York City
, where he later died of complications from surgery. James and Elena followed Sir Henry to New York. James then went off to war in Europe. Cut off from her husband and her family in Germany and living in reduced circumstances, Elena took various jobs. When she became a secretary for the editor of Town and Country magazine, she worked her way up to the position of assistant editor. Elena met Edmund Wilson when he submitted a piece which she edited. He was at that time separated from his third wife, Mary McCarthy. They fell deeply in love, went to Reno, Nevada
, divorced their respective spouses, and remarried there in December, 1946, when he was 51 and she was 40. They brought three children to their marriage: Rosalind who was the child of Edmund and the actress Mary Blair; Reuel, the son of Mary McCarthy
and Edmund; and Henry, the son of James and Elena.
were residents. Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia
(née Romanov) was the daughter of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863-1919)
and Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark
. Prince Paul was a Georgian nobleman. The couple also lived in Wellfleet all year and provided some continuity with what Elena had left behind in Europe.
After Edmund’s death in June, 1972, Elena collected and edited a book of Wilson's literary correspondence, studied ancient Greek, became involved with public service, and assisted Leon Edel in the editing of Edmund’s journals, the first two volumes of which were finished by the time of Elena’s death in 1979. Her private papers and family information are stored at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
, Yale University
. She died in Wellfleet, Massachusetts
.
and had issue:
Married to Edmund Wilson
and had issue:
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
. Elena was a central figure in Wilson's life from the time they met until his death in 1972. She was the literary executrix of his estate and helped Leon Edel
Leon Edel
Joseph Leon Edel was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel....
edit her husband's journals. She also edited a book of his literary correspondence.
Family
Born Helene-Marthe Mumm von Schwarzenstein in ReimsReims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Elena Mumm was the daughter of Peter Arnold Hermann Gottlieb Mumm von Schwarzenstein and Olga de Struve. On her father’s side, she was descended from a long line of ancient Prussian nobility, traceable to 1359 in Cleves, Prussia. On March 31, 1873, Kaiser Wilhelm I renewed the Mumm patent on nobility, conferring the “Mumm von Schwarzenstein.” Elena’s branch had been famed for its champagne and white wine production, with estates founded in Reims, France, in 1827 and in the famous terroir Johannisberg
Johannisberg
Johannisberg is a village in Hessen, Germany. It is part of the city of Geisenheim in the Rheingau, on the right bank of the Rhine, 6 m. S. of Rüdesheim by railway....
, Germany (where Riesling was produced) in 1822. Her father was head of the internationally famous champagne company "Mumm Co." until the French seized the family’s French properties and brand name after World War I as spoils of war
Spoils of War
Botín de guerra is a 2000 Argentine documentary film directed and written by David Blaustein with Luis Alberto Asurey. The film premiered on 11 April 2000 in Buenos Aires...
. Her father continued making wine in Germany until his death in 1937. On her paternal side, Elena was related to the Barons von Radowitz and Barons von Rotenhan, as well as the Grunelius and Passavant families, powerful industrialists and bankers. One of the family banks was a founding member of a banking consortium that would grow to become the Swiss Bank Corporation
Swiss Bank Corporation
Swiss Bank Corporation was a large integrated financial services company located in Switzerland...
, now merged into UBS AG
UBS AG
UBS AG is a Swiss global financial services company headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland, which provides investment banking, asset management, and wealth management services for private, corporate, and institutional clients worldwide, as well as retail clients in Switzerland...
, the world's largest manager of private wealth assets. Her uncle, Baron Walther von Mumm
Walther von Mumm
Baron Walther von Mumm was a German bobsledder who competed in the early 1930s. He finished seventh and last in the four-man event at the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York....
, was a sportsman, Don Juan and bon vivant who enjoyed racing hot air balloons and even filled in on the German bobsled team at the 1932 Olympic Games
1932 Summer Olympics
The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...
.
Her mother was a daughter of Karl de Struve
Karl de Struve
Karl von Struve was a Russian nobleman and politician. He served, in turn, as Russian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, the United States, and The Netherlands....
, who served at different times as the Russian Ambassador to Japan, the United States, and Holland. The de Struve
Struve
-Astronomers:*Jacob Struve *Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve , son of the preceding*Otto Wilhelm von Struve , son of the preceding...
family descended from a long line of famed astronomers, the first of whom moved to Russia during Czar Peter I the Great’s cultural and scientific revolution. By the fifth generation, they had married into prominent Russian imperial families and European aristocracy: most prominent of Elena's great-aunts and great-uncles were the Vicomte Eugene Melchior de Vogüé
Melchior de Vogüé
Eugène-Melchior, vicomte de Vogüé was a French diplomat, Orientalist, travel writer, archaeologist, philanthropist and literary critic.-Biography:...
, philosopher and author; Victor, Prince Galitzine; and General Michael Nicolaivitch Annenkoff, Governor General of Trans-Caspia, 'conqueror' of Bokhara, and builder of the Transcaucasia railroad. Elena's second great-grandfather, General Nicholas Annenkov
Nicholas Annenkov
General Nicholas Nikolaievich Annenkov was an influential Russian General of the Infantry, Governor-General of Kiev and Bessarabia, and member of the State Privy Council...
, was Comptroller General of the Russian Imperial Court. Her mother was born in Japan and with her four siblings grew up there, and in St Petersburg, The Hague, and Washington, D.C. . Her mother's siblings included Princess Vera Mestchersky, Countess Elena Orlov, and Boris de Struve, a Russian attaché to Washington who married an American, Maxine Slater. Her mother left Russia in 1904 to marry her father, whereas her aunts returned to Russia to marry. After the Russian Revolution, they ended up in Paris as part of the émigré community.
Early life
With such wealth and cultural advantages, Elena enjoyed a privileged childhood. She and her siblings were educated by private tutors, and she spoke and wrote fluent German, French, English, and some Russian. She attended art school in Munich where she studied with Hans Hoffman at the age of seventeen and in Paris, at the atelier of André Lhote with fellow students Henri Cartier-BressonHenri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
, Simon Elwes
Simon Elwes
Lt. Col. Simon Edmund Vincent Paul Elwes, better known as Simon Elwes, RP, RA, KM was a British war artist and society portrait painter whose patrons included kings, queens, statesmen, sportsmen, prominent social figures and many members of Britain's Royal Family...
, Guy Arnoux, and Conrad O'Brien-Ffrench
Conrad O'Brien-Ffrench
Conrad Fulke Thomond O’Brien-ffrench , was a distinguished British Secret Intelligence Officer, Captain in the Tipperary Rangers of the Royal Irish Regiment and 16th The Queen's Lancers in World War I, and Mountie for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...
.
In her memoirs, Tatiana von Metternich
Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg
Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg was a German patron of the arts of Russian birth. She published her books and watercolours under the name Tatiana von Metternich. She supported charity, especially the Red Cross and the Order of St...
recalls Elena and her mother Olga visiting her aunts in the Paris émigré community, bringing luxurious gifts to leaven their reduced circumstances. (Later, when Tatiana married Prince Paul Metternich, the owner of Schloss Johannisberg, she lived up the hill from the Mumm family's estate, on the famed wine-growing terroir of Johannisberg, a small mountain girdled by vineyards which overlooks the Rhine, near Frankfurt am Main.)
Elena's sister, Olga, was for over 26 years the companion and partner of the Whitney heiress and horse racing queen, Dorothy Paget
Dorothy Paget
Dorothy Wyndham Paget was a British racehorse owner.She was the daughter of Lord Queenborough and Pauline Payne Whitney of the United States Whitney family. She was a cousin of Jock Whitney, owner of the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Easter Hero and latterly American Ambassador in London. She...
.
First marriage
In 1930, Elena met James "Jimmy" Worth ThorntonJames Worth Thornton
James Worth Thornton was a businessman and scion of the politically and socially connected Thorntons of Indiana. Thornton was the son of Sir Henry Worth Thornton and Lady Virginia Blair, daughter of banker and steel magnate George Dike Blair...
, the son of Sir Henry Worth Thornton and Lady Virginia Blair, while he was working and studying in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. James and Elena married in 1931 and soon after moved to Montreal, Canada, living among the English-speaking elite. Edmund Wilson would later write that her years in Canada were “stuffy”, as she was surrounded by conservative, conventional people, including her own husband. She seemed to get along better with her more gregarious father-in-law. However, by 1933, Sir Henry had been forced to resign his position and lost most of his wealth. He moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he later died of complications from surgery. James and Elena followed Sir Henry to New York. James then went off to war in Europe. Cut off from her husband and her family in Germany and living in reduced circumstances, Elena took various jobs. When she became a secretary for the editor of Town and Country magazine, she worked her way up to the position of assistant editor. Elena met Edmund Wilson when he submitted a piece which she edited. He was at that time separated from his third wife, Mary McCarthy. They fell deeply in love, went to Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, divorced their respective spouses, and remarried there in December, 1946, when he was 51 and she was 40. They brought three children to their marriage: Rosalind who was the child of Edmund and the actress Mary Blair; Reuel, the son of Mary McCarthy
Mary McCarthy
Mary McCarthy may refer to:*Mary McCarthy , novelist, critic, and memoirist*Mary McCarthy , former CIA employee accused of leaking information...
and Edmund; and Henry, the son of James and Elena.
Second marriage
After a whirlwind honeymoon, in which Edmund tussled with photographers and reportedly received a kick in the rear that left an imprint on his pants, the couple began a 26-year marriage that, while largely successful, was also sometimes made difficult by Edmund’s alcoholism and occasional infidelity. However, Elena proved to be tolerant and attuned to Edmund’s domestic and literary needs. Her warmth, her enjoyment of life, and her pleasure in making their home a place where family members, friends and literary colleagues loved to visit gave him a stability that did everything to help his work and his sense of well-being. Her life-long, omnivorous reading habits in three languages and her deep understanding of history and literature made her a most valuable first reader of all that Wilson wrote while he was with her. Starting in 1946, both of them lived in Wellfleet, year-round for the most part, until their deaths. They had a daughter, Helen Miranda, in 1948. The rural community was small but mixed, including many artists and writers and a seasonal influx of sophisticated professionals who came for the summer. A childhood friend of Elena's, Nina, and her husband Prince Paul ChavchavadzeChavchavadze
Chavchavadze is a Georgian noble family, formerly a princely one .The family is first attested in the 15th century, during the reign of Alexander I of Georgia. By the time of Leon of Kakheti they appear in the province of Kakheti , where they produced two lines: one in Telavi and Tsinandali;...
were residents. Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia
Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia
Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia, , was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia. A great-granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, she left her native country in 1914, before World War I...
(née Romanov) was the daughter of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863-1919)
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863-1919)
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Emperor Alexander III. He was a General in the Russian army in World War I...
and Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark
Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark
Maria or Marie Georgievna, Princess of Greece and Denmark , was the fifth child and second daughter of George I of Greece and Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and thus a family member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.-Early life and family: She was born in Athens as a younger...
. Prince Paul was a Georgian nobleman. The couple also lived in Wellfleet all year and provided some continuity with what Elena had left behind in Europe.
After Edmund’s death in June, 1972, Elena collected and edited a book of Wilson's literary correspondence, studied ancient Greek, became involved with public service, and assisted Leon Edel in the editing of Edmund’s journals, the first two volumes of which were finished by the time of Elena’s death in 1979. Her private papers and family information are stored at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. She died in Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Wellfleet is a New England town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the town had a population of 2,749 at the 2000 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer...
.
Children
Helene-Marthe Mumm von Schwarzenstein married James Worth ThorntonJames Worth Thornton
James Worth Thornton was a businessman and scion of the politically and socially connected Thorntons of Indiana. Thornton was the son of Sir Henry Worth Thornton and Lady Virginia Blair, daughter of banker and steel magnate George Dike Blair...
and had issue:
- Henry Hermann Mumm ThorntonHenry Hermann Mumm ThorntonHenry Hermann Mumm Thornton was a prominent banker and businessman whose young adulthood was detailed in the journals of his stepfather Edmund Wilson, the noted essayist and scholar...
(b. 1932); married Rita Daphne Sellar and had issue:- a) Dr. Sandra Christine Thornton married Sheldon WhitehouseSheldon WhitehouseSheldon Whitehouse is the junior U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, US Senator from Rhode Island- 1) Mary Elena Whitehouse
- 2) Alexander Whitehouse
- b) Elena Martha Thornton married Michael Case Kissel, 3rd great-grandson of Cornelius VanderbiltCornelius VanderbiltCornelius Vanderbilt , also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American entrepreneur who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history...
- 1) Siena Kissel
- 2) Lucy Kissel
- 3) Rosalie Kissel
- c) Nina Rosalie Thornton married Joseph Michael McMann of Martha's Vineyard
- a) Dr. Sandra Christine Thornton married Sheldon Whitehouse
- A) Married to Deborah Anne Speno, granddaughter of Frank Speno, founder of Speno Railroad Ballast Cleaning Co. and had issue:
- a) James Speno Mumm Thornton married Sara Lynn Russell of Connecticut
- 1) Keely Mumm Russell-Thornton
- 2) Henry Hart Russell-Thornton
- a) James Speno Mumm Thornton married Sara Lynn Russell of Connecticut
Married to Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
and had issue:
- Helen Miranda Wilson, artist, public servant and beekeeper