The ninth lecture on women of the Gilded Age in Southampton will be all about Ruth Wales DuPont who was born into a wealthy family and married into an even wealthier clan. Her grandfather, Salem H. Wales, was an imposing personage in New York and on the shores of Lake Agawam. Her uncle would be the future Secretary of State and Nobel winner Elihu Root, also prominent among Southampton summer colonists. All are amazed when Ruth married the socially awkward Henry Francis du Pont, but today he is remembered fondly in Southampton while the others are nearly forgotten.
