{{Short description|American socialite}} {{Infobox person | name = Esther Maria Lewis Chapin | image = | caption = | birth_date = June 17, 1871 | birth_place = Geneva, Switzerland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|6|21|1871|6|17}} | death_place = Bernardsville, New Jersey, US | occupation = | spouse = {{marriage|Charles Merrill Chapin|1894}} | children = 2 | parents = Edward Parke Custis Lewis<br>Mary Picton Stevens Garnett | relations = }} '''Esther Maria "Lili" Lewis Chapin''' (June 17, 1871 – June 21, 1959)<ref name=Pres>{{cite book |title=American Presidential Families |last1=Brogan |first1=Hugh |last2=Mosley |first2=Charles |year=1994 |page=64 |publisher=Alan Sutton |isbn=978-0-7509-0582-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VJF1AAAAMAAJ}}</ref> was an American socialite. She was a direct descendant of Elizabeth Washington Lewis, the sister of George Washington. An evening gown she wore in 1888 set a world auction record when it sold in 2001.
==Early life== Esther Maria Lewis was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1871 and was raised in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her father was Colonel Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837-1892), who served as United States Minister to Portugal under President Grover Cleveland from 1885 to 1889. Her mother was Mary Picton Stevens (1840-1903), daughter of Edwin Augustus Stevens and formerly the wife of Muscoe Russell Hunter Garnett. Her paternal great-grandparents were Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of George Washington, and Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington.<ref name=Lewis>{{cite book |title=Lewis of Warner Hall |last=Sorley |first=Merrow Egerton |orig-date=1935 |year=1979 |pages=223–224 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Company |isbn=9780806308319 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b_scAAAAYAAJ}}</ref>
==Debut== [[File:Court presentation ensemble MET DP131215.jpg|thumb|A different court presentation gown from the House of Worth worn by Esther Chapin, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art]] In 1888, at the age of 17 or 18, while her father was serving as Minister to Portugal, she was presented to Queen Victoria wearing a gown designed by Charles Frederick Worth, the world's first couturier. On May 29, 2001, the gown, which has a 23-inch waist and a 10½-foot detachable train, was sold at the Doyle New York auction for $101,500, at the time a world auction record for an antique dress.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spencer-Churchill Property, Worth Gown Highlight Doyle New York Offerings |url=http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW0-05-29-2001-11-34-30 |work=Antiques and the Arts Online |date=2001-05-29 |accessdate=2009-07-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117072806/http://antiquesandthearts.com/AW0-05-29-2001-11-34-30 |archivedate=2010-01-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Vanessa |last=Silberman |title=Auction Block |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_11_28/ai_80192190/ |work=Art Business News |date=November 2001 |accessdate=2009-07-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Gilded Mansions |last=Craven |first=Wayne |year=2008 |pages=219 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06754-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BrBHQfpEcAC&pg=PA219 }}</ref>
After her father's diplomatic tenure ended in 1889, the family returned to their Hoboken home.
==Personal life== On May 19, 1894, Esther Maria Lewis married Charles Merrill Chapin at Trinity Church in Hoboken.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chapin-Lewis |work=The New York Times |page=4 |date=1894-05-20 |accessdate=2009-07-13 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9803E7D91630E033A25753C2A9639C94659ED7CF }}</ref> They had two children: *Mary Stevens Chapin (born November 10, 1895) *Charles Merrill Chapin, Jr. (born May 27, 1898).<ref name=Lewis/> In 1959, Lewis died in Bernardsville, New Jersey at the age of 88.<ref name=Pres/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapin, Esther Maria Lewis}} Category:1871 births Category:1959 deaths Category:American socialites Esther Maria Category:People from Hoboken, New Jersey Category:Washington family Category:American expatriates in Switzerland