Tennessee Celeste Claflin, Viscountess of Monserrate (1844 – 1923). American suffragist best known as the first woman, along with her sister Victoria Woodhull, to open a Wall Street brokerage firm, which occurred in 1870.
In late 1869, Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin rented two rooms at the posh Hoffman House at 44 Broad Street in New York City. In January 1870, they sent out calling cards announcing their new brokerage firm, Woodhull, Claflin, & Company. They charged $25 in advance for a consultation. The sisters were financially backed by Cornelius Vanderbilt. The elegantly furnished office of Woodhull, Claflin, & Company opened on February 14, 1870. This made Woodhull and Clafin the first women to open a Wall Street brokerage firm. The sisters were so besieged by curious visitors that 100 police officers had to keep order. The brokerage firm of Woodhull, Claflin, & Company went under in the general economic depression that followed the Panic of 1873.
In 1877 the sisters left New York for London. Evidence suggests that the sisters' move was funded by the heirs of the recently deceased Cornelius Vanderbilt, who wanted them out of the way during a fight over the family inheritance. Vanderbilt had been widowed in 1868 and had remarried in 1869. The second marriage had surprised Claflin, who expected to marry him herself. But by the middle of 1871, Vanderbilt's family had pushed her out of his life.
On October 15, 1885, at St Mary Abbots, Kensington, London, Claflin married Francis Cook, who was chairman of Cook, Son & Co., drapers, and also Viscount of Monserrate in Sintra on the Portuguese Riviera.
- " At forty-six, Tennessee was still an ivory-skinned beauty with red hair and a delicate cleft chin." https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/goldsmith-powers.html
- " She is young and childish in her manners, with Titian hair, which falls in rich masses about her head, blue eyes which wear an honest steadfast look, asymmetrical figure which is costumed in excellent taste and a pretty hand which sparkles with gems. This lady’s name is Miss Tennessee Claflin..." https://www.historyandwomen.com/2020/06/suffragettes-victoria-woodhul-and.html
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