He owned grand residences in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island, entertained lavishly and, along with his wife "Mamie", became prominent in American high society during the Gilded Age.

[2] His mother was Julia Ursin Niemcewicz Kean (1816–1887), a descendant of New Jersey governor William Livingston.

Nicholas Fish was a leading Federalist politician and notable figure of the American Revolutionary War who was active in the Yorktown Campaign that resulted in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis.

[4] Peter Stuyvesant was a prominent founder of New York, then a Dutch Colony, and his family owned much property in Manhattan.

Mamie found Mary too "dull" and so snubbed her from a tea party at their home in Newport, Rhode Island, where they spent the summer season.

The guests, including Senator Chauncey Depew, Pierpont Morgan, and Lord Charles Beresford, sank in a court curtsy, only to recover themselves with shrieks of laughter when they realized they were paying homage to Harry Lehr.

[17] Together, they had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood: Stuyvesant Fish was a vestryman at Trinity Church, New York, and a member of the Republican Party.

[32] The Fish family built a grand Colonial Revival home named "Crossways" in Newport, Rhode Island, where they entertained during the summer social season.