Heiress, Philanthropist, Collector, She was the youngest child of Henry Osborne Havemeyer, President of the American Sugar Refining Company, and Louisine Elder. She had two older siblings, Adaline Havemeyer, who married Peter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen, and Horace Havemeyer, who married Doris Dick Havemeyer. She attended Miss Spence's School and traveled with her family to the American West, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece and Austria, but did not attend college. In 1910, Electra married polo champion James Watson Webb II of the Vanderbilt family in an elaborate society wedding at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. He was the son of William Seward Webb and Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt. They had five children. In 1947 Electra Havemeyer Webb gathered with her friends to create Shelburne Museum. Located just off Route 7 in picturesque Shelburne, Vermont, Webb's museum quickly became a haven for the handmade objects of another era. A two-hundred-year-old tavern shelters one of the finest collections of weathervanes, trade signs, and primitive portraits on the continent. A rambling old farmhouse is filled with spectacular assemblages of mochaware, pewter, and staffordshire. The finest collection of carriages and sleighs in North America rests in a unique horseshoe barn. Period homes, filled with outstanding collections of early American furniture and accessories, dot the grounds. Recognizing her achievements in the museum field, Yale University awarded Electra Havemeyer Webb an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1956. She was the fifth woman to be recognized in this manner. She died on November 19, 1960 at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont.
Heiress, Philanthropist, Collector, She was the youngest child of Henry Osborne Havemeyer, President of the American Sugar Refining Company, and Louisine Elder. She had two older siblings, Adaline Havemeyer, who married Peter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen, and Horace Havemeyer, who married Doris Dick Havemeyer. She attended Miss Spence's School and traveled with her family to the American West, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece and Austria, but did not attend college. In 1910, Electra married polo champion James Watson Webb II of the Vanderbilt family in an elaborate society wedding at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. He was the son of William Seward Webb and Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt. They had five children. In 1947 Electra Havemeyer Webb gathered with her friends to create Shelburne Museum. Located just off Route 7 in picturesque Shelburne, Vermont, Webb's museum quickly became a haven for the handmade objects of another era. A two-hundred-year-old tavern shelters one of the finest collections of weathervanes, trade signs, and primitive portraits on the continent. A rambling old farmhouse is filled with spectacular assemblages of mochaware, pewter, and staffordshire. The finest collection of carriages and sleighs in North America rests in a unique horseshoe barn. Period homes, filled with outstanding collections of early American furniture and accessories, dot the grounds. Recognizing her achievements in the museum field, Yale University awarded Electra Havemeyer Webb an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1956. She was the fifth woman to be recognized in this manner. She died on November 19, 1960 at Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington, Vermont.
Inscription
Electra Havemeyer
Webb
August 16th 1888
Nov. 19th 1960
Gravesite Details
Grave marker shared by J. Watson Webb and his wife Electra Havemeyer Webb.
Family Members
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