You are here

Jeanie's Early Years

With the death of her husband, Isabella Smedberg, seen here on the left with her two youngest children, Renwick (right) and Charlie (left), found her financial circumstances reduced. Nevertheless, she managed to maintain some social standing, continued to make social calls with either her older daughter Agnes or her youngest daughter Jeanie. In addition, she was able with the assistance of her brother, Professor James Renwick, to send four of her six sons to Columbia College (after 1896, “Columbia University”). All four graduated and entered into a profession. 

After her father’s death, Jeanie’s education continued at home. She also assisted her mother in the care of her three younger brothers. From her letters as well as those of her mother and sister, Agnes, we learn that Jeanie enjoyed an active social life in New York City full of parties, balls, the theater, as well as the opera and many small gatherings among her friends who called themselves the “Square Set” referring to St. John’s Square where most of them resided.