Margaret (Terry) Chanler (1862-1952)

She was born in Rome, Italy, and lived with her family in the Palazzo Odescalchi, where in addition to her half-brother, the novelist F. Marion Crawford, there was a constant stream of distinguished visitors who included Henry James, Henry Adams, Moncton Milnes, Augustus Hare, Fanny Kemble, and Edward Lear who sang her 'The Owl and the Pussycat'. She was privately educated by French and German governesses (quickly becoming fluent in four languages) before receiving a diploma in music from the St. Cecilia Conservatory, studying under Giavanni Sgambati who'd been a pupil of the celebrated composer Franz Liszt. However, as she said, she was "spared the agony" of having to perform in front of Liszt himself on account of a sprained wrist.

She was known to her friends as "Daisy" and came to America in 1886 becoming one of Edith Wharton's closest friends. She made a brief appearance in Wharton's A Backward Glance and Van Wyck Brooks' The Dream of Arcadia and it has been speculated that she was the inspiration for 'Daisy Buchanan' in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. She wrote her memoirs, Roman Spring (1934); Autumn in the Valley (1936) which chronicled her life in Genesee Valley and contains observations on Wharton; and, translated Gertrud von Le Fort's Hymns to the Church (1937). She subsequently an honorary D.Litt from Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y., the first honorary degree awarded by the university. She published her last book in 1948, Memory Makes Music, which "gained popular and critical acclaim" from newspapers across the country.

In December, 1886, she married her cousin, Winthrop Astor Chanler, and they had seven children (listed) who lived to adulthood: Laura Astor (Mrs. Lawrence Grant White); Beatrice (Mrs. Pierre Francis Allegaert); Hester Marion (Mrs. Edward Motley Pickman); Marion Winthrop; Gabrielle (Mrs. Porter Ralph Chandler); Hubert Winthrop; Theodore Ward. The family lived between Washington D.C., New York City, the Hudson Valley, and "Sweet Briar Farms" at Geneseo, New York. She and her husband were keen equestrians and rode with the Genese Valley Hunt. A collection of her personal papers and correspondence were donated to the Houghton Library at Harvard University.