Isabella Eugenie Boyer (1841–1904) was born in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to French and English parents. Isabella married Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1863 when Isaac was 52 and Isabella was only 22. Singer had a previous common-law wife, Mary Ann Sponsler, who had Isaac arrested for domestic abuse.
Isabella and Isaac moved to Oldway Mansion in
PaigntonPaignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251.It has...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on the
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
coast because New York society frowned on his many "families." They had two girls and four boys.
Isabella Eugenie Boyer (1841–1904) was born in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to French and English parents. Isabella married Isaac Merritt Singer, the founder of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1863 when Isaac was 52 and Isabella was only 22. Singer had a previous common-law wife, Mary Ann Sponsler, who had Isaac arrested for domestic abuse.
Isabella and Isaac moved to Oldway Mansion in
PaigntonPaignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251.It has...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on the
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
coast because New York society frowned on his many "families." They had two girls and four boys. Their names were Winnaretta, Isabelle, Mortimer, Washington, Paris and Franklin. Isaac Singer is reported to have had a total of 22 children with his many paramours. Singer died in 1875 and left an estate of about $14 million dollars, which at the time was a colossal sum of money. His two wills created family tension and lawsuits. Isabella was declared his legal widow.
In 1879 Isabella married
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
musician, Victor Reubsaet, and settled in Paris. Victor was an internationally successful singer and
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist. He was born in 1843 in
SittardSittard is a city in the Dutch province of Limburg, which is the southernmost province of the Netherlands.On the east Sittard borders on Germany . It has some 48,400 inhabitants . Sittard is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen...
, as Nicolas Reubsaet, son of a simple shoemaker. Pretending to be of noble descent, he falsely claimed the title Vicomte d’Estenburgh. Surprisingly, in 1881 he did obtain the title of Duke of Camposelice from
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
King UmbertoUmberto I or Humbert I , nicknamed the Good , was the King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his death...
.
The Duchess of Camposelice was still a striking lady when she met the sculptor Bartholdi. It is rumored she was his model for the
Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty , officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World , dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship...
.
Victor Reubsaet's died in 1887 and Isabella was married, for the third time, in 1891, to Paul Sohège.
Isabella Eugenia Boyer died at 62 years of age in 1904.
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