She went from being the daughter of a hard-scrabble California miner to become heiress to a fortune in Comstock Lode gold and silver, the wife of steamship magnate Hermann Oelrichs, mistress of the Rosecliff estate in Newport, Rhode Island, and a member of the elite "Triumvirate" of American society.

Her father, James Graham Fair, was born in Clogher, County Tyrone, and immigrated to the United States from Belfast, Ireland in 1843 at age twelve.

Tessie grew up in mining camps as her father prospected for gold and was the eldest of four children born to her parents, including Virginia (nicknamed "Birdie"), Charles and James, Jr.[3] In 1873, her father and three partners,[a] discovered the "Big Bonanza" in Virginia City, Nevada, which became the largest single deposit of gold and silver ever found.

[1] After a funeral in the "beautiful blue and gold tapestry room" at Rosecliff,[18] which was attended by Charles M. Oelrichs and his wife among others, she was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.

Tessie set her sights on being mistress of her own grand estate, so she commissioned architect Stanford White to renovate their recently purchased Rosecliff on Bellevue Avenue.

[1] Begun in 1899, and purchased from the estate of George Bancroft, Rosecliff was modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, and was completed in 1902 with a final cost of $2.5 million.

[1] Where Alva was the extravagant hostess and Mamie threw exotic and often raucous parties, Tessie was known as the martinet, the drill sergeant, of the three, enforcing the rules of polite society.