James Dinsmore’s brother, William B. Dinsmore, had a great-granddaughter named Helen Astor (see extended family tree) who married Vincent Astor, the son of the John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titanic. Through the influence of Anna Roosevelt, Robert Ferguson came to the United States, where he and Douglas Robinson, Theodore Roosevelt’s brother-in-law, were co-trustees of the Astor Estate and property interests in … Read More

Hanging in the front hall of the house is an autographed picture of Teddy that he signed to his “old friend, Mrs. Tilden R. Selmes”.  Tilden Selmes and Patty Selmes were neighbors to Teddy Roosevelt while living in the Dakotas.  Isabella Dinsmore Selmes, spent her early life on that ranch.  In the Dakotas,  they weathered some very difficult times together and through … Read More

Director of the Philippine Constabulary BandWalter Howard Loving was the younger brother of Julia Farley Loving, the African American woman who helped to raise two generations of Dinsmore children.  Almost single-handedly, he opened the door for black musicians to rise through the ranks in the military and become chief musicians.  Interested in music from an early age, it has been … Read More

Highclere Castle, The Location where Downton Abbey was filmedIn the upstairs hall sits a picture on a bureau of Martha Breasted out riding horses with her father-in-law, Dr. James Henry Breasted (affectionately called Dr. Pa).  In 1922 and 1923, Dr. Breasted aided British archeologist, Howard Carter, in deciphering the seals from the recently discovered Tomb of Tutankhamun. The 5th Earl … Read More

Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert Ferguson, and Isabella Selmes Ferguson Greenway King in Strathpeffer, Scotland “Eleanor Roosevelt [ER] and Isabella Selmes Ferguson Greenway King met when they were teenagers (sixteen and eighteen), before that word entered our language.  New York debutantes, connected by an immediate sense of joy in each other’s company as well as labyrinthian family friendships, they both married in … Read More

In the front hall sits a photograph of a bust of Lincoln, autographed by Gutzon Borglum to Patty Selmes.  Gutzon famously known for Mt. Rushmore also created a statue of John Greenway (Isabella Selmes Ferguson’s second husband) that was once part of the National Statuary Hall Collection at the Capital building in Washington, D.C.. Return to Local, National, Global Connections