Elizabeth Beers-Curtis

Elizabeth Beers-Curtis de Talleyrand-Périgord, Marquise de Talleyrand (November 12, 1847 March 30, 1933) was an American heiress who married into the French aristocracy. Early life Elizabeth "Bessie" was born on November 12, 1847 in Paris. She was the daughter of prominent New York merchant Joseph David Beers-Curtis (1825–1870) and Elizabeth (née Elizabeth Shipton Giles) Beers-Curtis (–1861). Her younger sister, Josephine Mary Beers-Curtis, was the third wife of Emanuele Ruspoli, 1st Prince of Poggio Suasa and with him, Josephine was the mother of Francesco Alvaro Maria Giorgio Ruspoli, 1st Duke of Morignano. Her maternal grandparents were Elizabeth (née Ogden) Giles and George Washington Giles, a son of Gen. Aquila Giles, who served alongside George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. Her paternal grandparents were Lewis Agur Curtis and Mary Elizabeth (née Beers) Curtis. Her paternal aunt, Mary Beers Curtis, was married to maternal uncle, William Ogden Giles. Elizabeth Curtis were members of the "patrician Curtis family" of Murray Hill in New York City and were related to the Hoffmans and Murrays of Murray Hill. Through her father, she was a "descendant of the ancient and honorable Colonial Curtis family of Stratford, Connecticut." Her great-grandfather was Joseph Davis Beers, a Wall Street banker who built the Southern New Jersey Railroad, and she was a lineal descendant of Thomas Welles, the 4th Colonial Governor of Connecticut.