Theresa Fair Oelrichs

Theresa Alice "Tessie" Fair (June 30, 1871 – November 22, 1926) discovered the "Big Bonanza" in Virginia City, Nevada, which became the largest single deposit of gold and silver ever found. More than $100 million worth of gold ($ in today's currency) was extracted from that mine before it was exhausted in 1898. Fair used his share to expand into railroads and real estate, generating a fortune of $50 million. The lavish wedding was held in San Francisco. James Fair's gift to his daughter was one million dollars, but even so he was not invited to the wedding. Now a wealthy heiress, Tessie moved east permanently to join the social circles of New York, Newport and Europe. who married Dorothy Haydel (1893–1961) in 1925. After his death, she married Prince Ferdinand of Liechtenstein (1901–1981) in 1950.

In New York, Hermann and Tessie Oelrichs lived at 1 East 57th Street in "the big house at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifth-seventh Street," Hermann returned east, so she prepared a lavish supper for them together. When he did not attend, she was enraged. Unreconciled, Hermann later died of a heart attack. He left his full estate to his brother Charles May Oelrichs, thinking that Tessie would be content with her own fortune, but Tessie contested the will. Eventually, they settled the dispute and she received half of the estate.

Oelrichs died at Newport on November 22, 1926. After a funeral in the "beautiful blue and gold tapestry room" at Rosecliff, (Her sister, Virginia Fair Vanderbilt, was buried beside her at Woodlawn after her death in 1935.) Her son later sold her stately home in 1941, and today, Rosecliff stands open to the public.

Society life

Tessie's social peers, Alva Vanderbilt and Grace Vanderbilt, already had expensive mansions in Newport, which were called "summer cottages" by the elite of the day. Tessie set her sights on being mistress of her own grand estate, so she commissioned architect Stanford White to renovate their recently purchased Rosecliff on Bellevue Avenue. In 1899, Tessie orchestrated a coup for the family by marrying her younger sister Birdie off to William K. Vanderbilt II, son of Alva and William K. Vanderbilt and brother of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough, in a wedding that was extensively covered in the society pages.

After the "retirement" of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (the "Mrs. Astor"), Tessie ruled American society as one of the so-called Triumvirate, made up of herself, Mamie Fish and Alva Belmont. Where Alva was the extravagant hostess and Mamie threw exotic and often raucous parties, Tessie was known as the martinet, the drill sergeant, of the three, enforcing the rules of polite society. Hermann's niece Blanche once described her as "strongly addicted to Society as business."