Allene Tew

Allene Tew was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on July 7, 1872. Her father, Charles Henry Tew, was a banker in Jamestown, New York, and her mother was Janet (née Smith) Tew. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. As such, she had to provide documentation that she was a descendant of someone who fought in the American Revolutionary War. She may have doctored the evidence to encourage Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the self-proclaimed queen of aristocratic American society at the turn of the century, to accept her as a member of the upper class despite her middle class upbringing, premarital pregnancy, and shotgun wedding. ==Personal life==

First marriage Her first husband was Theodore "Tod" Hostetter (1870–1902), youngest son of David Hostetter, a prominent Pittsburgh businessman and banker, and Rosetta (née Rickey) Hostetter. Tod had inherited part of his late father's considerable fortune and was one of the wealthiest men of Pittsburgh. He was a polo player and yachtsman; also a noted high-stakes gambler. They had a apartment in New York City at 8 East 65th Street, and several country homes, including Raccoon Farm in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, complete with polo grounds and golf links, and a summer house at Narragansett Pier. Among those present at the wedding were Burchard's best man, Edwin W. Rice, Lord and Lady Greville (Lady Greville, a fellow American, was the former Olive Grace, widow of Henry Kerr), the Comte de Paris, Mrs. Hinsdill Parsons (Anson's sister and the wife of GE's General Counsel), Capt. and the Hon. Mrs. Feilden, among others. At the time of their wedding, Burchard, a son of Walter Howard Burchard, was assistant to the President of General Electric. He later served as a director and vice-chairman of the company. In Manhattan, they were listed in the Social Register and resided at 57 East 64th Street on the Upper East Side, in a townhouse designed by architect C. P. H. Gilbert. In 1925, they purchased 690 Park Avenue from Mrs. Henry P. Davison. In Paris, they resided at 4 Rue d'Aguesseau in the 8th arrondissement. During their marriage, both of Allene's children from her first marriage who lived to adulthood died within the same week in 1918. His estate was valued in excess of $3,000,000. Burchard's nephew, Seth Rosewater (son of Charles Rosewater, a part owner of the Omaha Bee), changed his last name "to Burchard in order to keep the Burchard name alive" and to inherit the millions left by his uncle. Fourth marriage In October 1928, Prince Heinrich XXXIII Reuss of Köstritz accompanied her to the Moulton musicale celebrating Arthur J. Moulton's restoration of the historic Chateau de la Verrières in Verrières-le-Buisson, formerly owned by the Comte de Lavalette, Napoleon's aide-de-camp in his Italian campaign. the former residence of the Comtesse de Montebello. In Paris on April 10, 1929, she married Prince Heinrich as her fourth husband. Capt. Steele, naval attaché of the embassy in Paris, gave the bride in marriage. The guests at the wedding included German Ambassador Prince Heinrich XXXII and Prince Heinrich XXXIV. Her new husband was a member of one of the oldest reigning houses in Europe and a grandson of Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through his mother Princess Marie. He had been divorced in 1922 from Princess Victoria Margaret of Prussia, niece of German Emperor Wilhelm II. He served as an officer in the Second Dragoons Guard, the regiment of the Empress Alexandra of Russia, and was in the diplomatic service with the German embassy in Paris. She became Princess of Reuss, and it was her secretary who announced in June 1935 that the Prince and Princess had divorced. Fifth marriage Her fifth husband was Capt. Count Pavel de Kotzebue, who was known as Paul de Kotzebue in the American Press, whom she married on March 4, 1936, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was born on February 20, 1884, in Kremenetz and his uncle, Ernest Karlevich Kotzebue, was the Russian Ambassador to the US from October 31, 1895, to October 28, 1897. It was his first marriage and their guests included Prince Ferdinand of Lippe-Weissenfeld, Prince Lobanoff of Lausanne and Colonel Alexander Kotzebue, the Count's brother. In 1940, they bought Beechwood, the former Newport cottage of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor from Mrs. Astor's grandson, Vincent Astor. including an elaborate garden party for the benefit of the Newport Chapter of the American Red Cross. They lived in New York, Paris, and Palm Beach. In 1938, she became godmother to their eldest daughter, princess Beatrix, later Queen of the Netherlands. She died at her villa in Cap d'Ail on the French Riviera on May 1, 1955, at the age of eighty-two. At the time of her death, her New York residence was 740 Park Avenue, considered to be "the most luxurious and powerful residential building in New York City". After her death, six of her cousins filed claims contesting her $20,113,000 will, which reportedly was the largest filed in Newport Probate Court. Count Kotzebue, who had been president of the Russian Nobility Association in America (RNA) from 1942 until 1953, died in Paris on 13 September 1966. ==Notes==