Flora Payne

Flora Payne Whitney (January 25, 1842 – February 5, 1893) Among her siblings were lifelong bachelors Nathan P. Payne, who became the mayor of Cleveland, and Oliver Hazard Payne, who served as treasurer of the Standard Oil Company. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom. Reportedly, few women "in her station in life have enjoyed to so complete an extent the cordial, friendly esteem of all classes of people. By her gentle, womanly graces she endeared herself to every one who enjoyed the privilege of her acquaintance. She bore the responsibilities of social leadership with appropriate dignity, and yet with a tactfulness that was exquisite." Another sister, Susan Collins Whitney, married prominent attorney Henry F. Dimock. Together, the Whitneys had five children who lived beyond infancy:

Harry Payne Whitney (1872–1930), who married Gertrude Vanderbilt (1875–1942) in 1896. Pauline Payne Whitney (1874–1916), who married Almeric Hugh Paget (1861–1949), later 1st Baron Queenborough, in 1895. William Payne Whitney (1876–1927), who married Helen Julia Hay (1875–1944) in 1902. Oliver Whitney (1878–1883), who died aged 5. Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887–1968), who first married Willard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918) and later married Leonard Knight Elmhirst (1893–1974) after Straight's death.

After a three-week illness, Flora died on February 5, 1893, at age 51, at her home in New York City (which had been purchased for her by her brother Oliver). Upon her death, The New York Times wrote that "the grief of her death occasions is felt far beyond the circle of her personal friendships and acquaintance, and beyond the communities in which her social prominence in girlhood and married life had been attained." After a funeral at St. Bartholomew's Church at Madison Avenue and 44th Street, she was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. The pallbearers at her funeral were former (and future president) Grover Cleveland, Cornelius Vanderbilt, former Gov. George Peabody Wetmore, E. Randolph Robinson, Hamilton McKown Twombly, George H. Bend, George G. Haven, Thomas F. Cushing, Buchanan Winthrop, and Edward A. Wickes. Flora's estate, valued at approximately $3,000,000, was left entirely to her husband through a will executed five days before her death.

Two years later, William Whitney married Edith Sibyl Randolph (née May), the widow of Capt. Arthur Randolph. He acquired for her a residence at Fifth Avenue and 68th Street in New York City, and commissioned McKim, Mead & White to do a $3.5 million renovation of the house. Whitney, who at the time of his death was one of the largest landowners in the eastern United States, died on February 2, 1904, and was also interred at Woodlawn.