At least Dorothy obviously waited a bit to wed; her step-mom, the infamous Peaches Browning was all of 15 years old when she tied the knot with the old gas bag, himself a mere 52 winters gone by. Dorothy was 10 when her new mom showed up, her sister Marjorie all of 12. Here are the sisters, in a photo from Daddy’s divorce case file in his first marriage to Adele Lowen. She was 23, he already 41 in 1915 when they wed. It lasted 8 years, but the couple had no biological children of their own. Each adopted a daughter, separately, with Daddy Browning taking sole custody of little Dorothy (right, brunette) and Adele taking Marjorie (left, blonde).
Mr. Hood might have known that his new father-in-law was a wealthy man. But rather than leave Mrs. Hood any money in his estate, Daddy Browning left his fortune to a newly created foundation that imitated the Nobel Prizes, and years of litigation followed before Dorothy was able to obtain some money for herself. She and her husband lived modest, hard-working lives, and he unfortunately died an early death, according to his daughter’s private correspondence with me.
Pity her poor upbringing, Dorothy’s had to be gruesome. But when I get married, I want a gown just like THAT:-)
Wedding photo courtesy of the Green-Wood Historic Fund
