Mary Tileston Hemenway

Mary Hemenway (1820-1894) was the mother of Edith Eustis. Born and raised in New York, she moved to Boston when she married Augustus Hemenway, a wealthy merchant known for opening trade with Chile. The family had a mansion on Beacon Hill in Boston, and in 1866 purchased Old Farm, a 230-acre estate just south of the current Eustis Estate. Augustus Hemenway died just months before his daughter’s wedding, leaving his widow in possession of one of New England’s largest fortunes. In 1877 Mary hired architect William Ralph Emerson to renovate and enlarge her house at Old Farm. Shortly thereafter Emerson was again engaged by the family to design W.E.C. and Edith Eustis’s mansion next door.