Janet Norton Lee Auchincloss, previously Bouvier, (December 3, 1907 – July 22, 1989)[1] was an American socialite. She was the mother of the former First LadyJacqueline Kennedy and Lee Radziwill.
Early life and education
Janet Norton Lee was born on December 3, 1907, in Manhattan, New York City. She was the middle daughter of James Thomas Aloysius Lee (1877–1968), a lawyer and real estate developer,[2][3] and Margaret A. Merritt (1880–1943). Although she made differing claims about her genealogy, including that she was “from the Maryland Lees,” both her parents were of Irish Catholic descent.[4][5] She had two sisters: Marion Merritt Lee (1904–1947), who married John J. Ryan Jr. and was subsequently the mother of Mary Cecil, wife of William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil,[6] and Margaret Winifred Lee (1910–1991), who married Franklin D'Olier.
Bouvier was married three times. In 1928,[6] she married her first husband, John Vernou Bouvier III (1891–1957).[9] He was the son of Major John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (1866–1948), a successful attorney, and Maude Frances Sergeant (1870–1940).[10] He was also the brother of Edith Bouvier Beale (1895–1977), later known as the subject of the documentary film, Grey Gardens.[11] Together, they were the parents of two daughters:
Hugh Auchincloss died in 1976. In 1979, she married for a third time,[25] to her childhood friend Bingham Willing "Booch" Morris (1906–1996).[26] Jacqueline served as her witness.[27] Morris, a widower, was a retired investment banker who lived in Southampton, New York,[25] a graduate of St. George's School and Harvard, where he was a member of the Iroquois and Hasty Pudding Clubs, and was the son of Violet Lee (née Willing) Morris and John Boucher Morris of Baltimore.[28] His late wife, Mary (née Rawlins) Morris,[6][29] was a bridesmaid at Janet's first wedding.[30] They separated in 1981, but remained married until her death from complications arising from Alzheimer's disease in 1989.[8][31][32]
^Adler, Bill (2009). The Eloquent Jacqueline Onassis: A Portrait in Her Own Words. HarperCollins. p. 16. ISBN978-0-061-87363-8.
^"MRS. J. L. BOUVIER IS WED IN VIRGINIA; Becomes the Bride of Lieut. Hugh D. Auchincloss. U.S.N., at His Country Home". The New York Times. June 23, 1942. p. 24.