Esther Maria Lewis Chapin

Esther Maria Lewis was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1871 and was raised in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Her father was Colonel Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837-1892), who served as United States Minister to Portugal under President Grover Cleveland from 1885 to 1889.

[2] In 1888, at the age of 17 or 18, while her father was serving as Minister to Portugal, she was presented to Queen Victoria wearing a gown designed by Charles Frederick Worth, the world's first couturier.

[3][4][5] After her father's diplomatic tenure ended in 1889, the family returned to their Hoboken home.

On May 19, 1894, Esther Maria Lewis married Charles Merrill Chapin at Trinity Church in Hoboken.

A different court presentation gown from the House of Worth worn by Esther Chapin, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art