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Thaw, Benjamin, Mrs.

American, 1861 - 1931

Dows, Elma A.

Biography

Mrs. Benjamin Thaw was born Elma A. Dows in Cedar Rapids, IA. She married Benjamin Thaw, the Pittsburgh banker, and subsequently divided her time between Pittsburgh and Paris; she also maintained homes in New York and Rhode Island. Mrs. Thaw was the mother of five children, two of whom were of some reknown in World War I: Colonel William Thaw, of the Lafayette Escadrille, and Blair Thaw, who died in 1918 while serving on the front line in the American Aviation Corps. Her other children were Stephen, Benjamin Jr, a career diplomat, and a daughter, Mrs. Lawrence Slade. Mrs. Thaw was well known as a collector, having purchased in 1916 for $40,000 what was then considered the finest French Gothic wood sculpture in the United States, St. George Slaying the Dragon, which hung for a while at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mrs. Thaw died at her Paris home on November 13, 1931 at age 70.

Bibliography

1931
"Mrs. B. Thaw dies at her Paris Home." New York Times November 14, 1931
1937
"Benjamin Thaw, 48, Ex-Diplomat, Dies." New York Times March 4, 1937

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