With special attention to costume.
Prepared by Barbara Meger for the Maryland Historical Society, November 2012
Sources:
Burn, Helen Jean. Betsy Bonaparte. Baltimore: The Maryland Historical Society (2010). [B]
Lewis, Charlene M. Boyer. Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte—An American Aristocrat in the Early Republic.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (2012). [L]
In Europe.
| Date | Location | Event | Costume/textile reference |
| 1785: 6 February | Baltimore | Birth to Wm. & Dorcas (Spear) Patterson | |
| 1795 | 36 South Street Baltimore |
Day student at Mme Lacomb’s boarding school | |
| 1803: late summer | Baltimore races | Jerome first saw Betsy | Buff-colored silk dress and hat with long ostrich plumes |
| 1803: 24 December | Baltimore | Marriage to Jerome Bonaparte | Muslin dress, richly embroidered, with a single undergarment |
| 1803-1804 | Parisian dresses had been acquired by Jerome | Included “mantilla & dress made of black lace & others of silk & satin” (1875 account book, EPB) | |
| 1804: 3 February | Washington, DC | Ball at Mr. Smith’s | “. . . thinnest sarcenet and white crepe. . .” (Margaret Bayard Smith) “. . . a gown of dampened muslin that clung to her body.” |
| 1804: winter | Washington, DC | Painted by Gilbert Stuart | |
| 1804: April & May | New York City | Awaiting passage to France, 1st attempt | |
| 1804: June | New York City | British ships block voyage | |
| 1804: summer | New York | Trip up Hudson River &to Niagara Falls | |
| 1804: August 3 | Boston | ||
| 1804: September 5 | New York City | En route to Philadelphia & Baltimore | |
| 1804: October | Delaware Bay | Caught in storm | |
| 1804: December | Annapolis | Turned back at Hampton Roads blockade | |
| 1805: winter | Baltimore | Jerome purchased furniture for house | |
| 1805: 10 March | Bound for Europe on Erin. Betsy 6 months pregnant. | ||
| 1805: April | Lisbon | Arrival | |
| 1805: April 9 | Lisbon | Jerome ordered to meet Napoleon in Italy | |
| 1805: 10 May | Amsterdam | Erin denied arrival | |
| 1805: 19 May | Dover | Arrival | |
| 1805: May | London | ||
| 1805: June | Pope refuses to annul marriage as requested by Napoleon | ||
| 1805: 7 July | London | Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte (Bo) born | |
| 1805: 5 September | London | Departure | With enormous wardrobe |
| 1805: October | Paris | Jerome shops for Betsy; sends boxes to England | 10 dresses of exquisite fabrics trimmed with laces & embroidery, 3 hats, personal linens & handkerchiefs, etc. |
| 1805: 14 November | Baltimore | Arrival | |
| 1805: 21 November | Jerome writes he has sent a 2nd box of Parisian clothing | ||
| 1806: spring | Baltimore | Receives first of Jerome’s shipments | |
| 1806: October | Paris | French court nullifies marriage | |
| 1806: fall | Begins friendship w/Dolley Madison | ||
| 1806: December | Wears “Black Lace Robe over pink. . . dress from Jerome worth 1500$” (Sophia May____) | ||
| 1807: 7 July | Westphalia | Jerome made king | |
| 1807: 12 August | Jerome marries Catherine of Wittemburg | ||
| 1809: December | Baltimore | Receives first of French pension (60,000 francs, annually) | |
| 1811 | Washington DC | Residence | |
| 1812: February | Wears fine crepe robe of azure interwoven with silver. | ||
| 1812: fall | Maryland | Files for divorce | |
| 1813: January | Maryland | Divorce granted | |
| 1813 | Washington DC | Elbridge Gerry is frequent escort | |
| 1813: 24 November | Dolley Madison asks Betsy to shop for her, “in case you meet with anything elegant in the form of a turban or an evening wrap of flowered lace in gold or silver thread.” | ||
| 1814: 21 May | Baltimore | Death of Dorcas Spear Patterson. Siblings Caroline & Artemius had died same year. |
|
| 1814: September | Receives last payment of French pension | Itemized expenses ; kept altering clothing, removing trimming from one dress to another. | |
| 1815: 26 July | Liverpool | Arrival en route to London/Cheltenham | |
| 1815: November | Paris | Arrival | |
| Paris | Gave small gifts of needlework to friends. | ||
| 1816: summer | Geneva | Searches for schooling for Bo | |
| 1816: August | Paris | Leaves for Le Harve; returns to Paris | |
| Meets Lady Sydny Morgan | |||
| 1817: September | Sails for New York; coach to Baltimore | ||
| 1817-1819 | Baltimore | Kept to her room, reading & working on needlework. | |
| 1818: 29 July | Lady Sydney Morgan, “I wish you would embroider me some little thing that I might have some of your work to boast of.” | ||
| 1819: June | Amsterdam | Arrives w/Bo en route through Germany to Geneva | |
| 1821: fall | Italy | Visits w/Bo | Pauline Bonaparte Borghese gives Betsy a ballgown |
| 1823: February | Bo admitted to Harvard | ||
| 1823 | Florence, Geneva, Paris | ||
| 1824 | Baltimore | Via Boston | |
| 1824-25 | Baltimore | Only distractions were reading & embroidery | |
| 1825: June | Europe | For 9 years in Florence, Geneva, Paris | |
| 1826: May | Bo visits Europe | ||
| 1829: November | Baltimore | Bo marries Susan May | |
| 1829: 21 December | Asks for belongings left in Baltimore to be shipped to her. | ||
| 1833 | Paris | Attends court of King Louis Philippe | |
| 1834 | Baltimore | Return | Purchases Paris clothing and 50 fashionable hats; at least 22 gowns including gauze, satin, silk, hand painted muslin, lace & merino. |
| 1835: February | Baltimore | Death of William Patterson | |
| 1839: summer | Paris & Italy | Return to Europe | |
| 1840 | Baltimore | Boarding house on Lexington St. | |
| 1849 | London | Visit w/friend Sydney Morgan | |
| 1860: 24 June | Death of Jerome Bonaparte | ||
| 1861 | Paris | To defend marriage contract | |
| 1861: August | New York | En route to Baltimore | |
| 1863 | Final brief trip to Europe | ||
| 1870: 17 June | Baltimore | Death of Bo | |
| 1870 | Baltimore | Living in a large room on 2nd floor of boarding house on Cathedral St. | |
| 1879: 4 April | Baltimore | Death |
In her later years, Betsy regaled visitors with a history of particular pieces of clothing: “This was her husband’s wedding coat; this dress was given her by the Princess Borghese; this one had been worn at the court in Tuscany; this one she wore at the Pitti Palace the day she met her husband; this she wore when presented to Madame Mere, etc.” [Eugene L. Didier, The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1879), p. 264.]
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