Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan - Person Sheet
Individual Notes
• Rigo and his gypsy orchestra had played with great success in all the capitals of Europe. He lived happily with his wife and his daughter, Simplicius, also a gypsy musician, also well-known at this time, until he met during a Paris engagement the beautiful and wealthy Belgian Princess Caraman Chimay, once Clara Ward of Detroit. They were married in 1889 but were divorced after a few years. Though his first wife still yearned for him, Rigo, instead of returning to her, went to America, where he died four years ago.3325
Spouses
1UNNAMED
Death28 Jan 19??, Kaposvar, Hungary3325
Individual Notes
• BUDAPEST, Jan. 28.--The last chapter in the tragic tale of a Hungarian gypsy's love for a Belgo-American princess closed today with the death in Kaposvar of the widow of the once well-known orchestra conductor, Jancsi Rigo.
Rigo and his gypsy orchestra had played with great success in all the capitals of Europe. He lived happily with his wife and his daughter, Simplicius, also a gypsy musician, also well-known at this time, until he met during a Paris engagement the beautiful and wealthy Belgian Princess Caraman Chimay, once Clara Ward of Detroit. They were married in 1889 but were divorced after a few years. Though his first wife still yearned for him, Rigo, instead of returning to her, went to America, where he died four years ago.
His wife went to her grave at the age of 65, still faithful to his memory.3325
Rigo and his gypsy orchestra had played with great success in all the capitals of Europe. He lived happily with his wife and his daughter, Simplicius, also a gypsy musician, also well-known at this time, until he met during a Paris engagement the beautiful and wealthy Belgian Princess Caraman Chimay, once Clara Ward of Detroit. They were married in 1889 but were divorced after a few years. Though his first wife still yearned for him, Rigo, instead of returning to her, went to America, where he died four years ago.
His wife went to her grave at the age of 65, still faithful to his memory.3325
ChildrenSimplicius
Birth17 Jun 1873, Detroit, Wayne, Michigan3285, year & place only,3297, year & place only,3298
Death18 Dec 1916, Padua, Italy3285, date & country only,3319,3298 Age: 43
FatherCapt. Eber Brock WARD (1811-1875)
MotherCatherine M. LYON (~1842-)
Individual Notes
• Clara Ward, formerly the Princess Chimay, and later the wife of Peppino Ricciardo, was born in 1873 in Detroit, Mich. She was the daughter of the late Captain Eben [sic] Ward, the wealthiest man in Michigan, where he was known as “King of the Lakes.” He left her more than $3,000,000.
Miss Ward was educated in London. She met Prince Joseph of Chimay and Caraman in Nice, to whom she was married by the Papal Nuncio in Paris, in 1890.
Four years later, Princess Chimay met Rigo, the Gypsy violinist, who was then playing in a Paris café. She became infatuated with him and shortly afterward they eloped and for several years they were frequently heard of in various European capitals. They were together for about three years, and the last heard of the affair was in 1913, when she sued Rigo for $100,000, which she alleged she had loaned to him.
In June, 1904, Princess Chimay married Peppino Ricciardo, a canvasser for a tourist agency in Paris, but was unhappy in this union, as it was reported during 1910 that they had parted.3285
• BERLIN, March 21 [1897] - It is announced that the [unclear] Princess Chimay, formerly Clara Ward of Detroit, who eloped from Paris some time ago with a Hungarian fiddler called Janos Rigo, and who was afterward divorced by her husband, the Prince of Chimay of Belgium, will appear on the stage at the Wintergarten in this city on April 4, accompanied by Rigo.3320
• In 1897, Todd’s grandmother made the “Grand Tour” throughout Europe and the Near East, accompanied by her mother, Charlotte Louise (Cheney) Holden. The younger Charlotte, “Lottie,” was “secretly” engaged to David Williams McMorran at the time (her parents knew, and approved). While in Egypt they “saw” Clara Ward - a notorious woman in those days - and mentioned having seen “postcards” of her, dressed in “oriental” garb - and very little of it at that. I wonder what their reaction was, if they ever discovered that Clara was a half-sister to some of David’s cousins?1121, p 3
• BUDA-PESTH, Dec. 21 [1899] - Newspapers here state that the Princess of Chimay and Caraman, formerly Miss Clara Ward of Detroit, Mich., the report of whose elopement with a Hungarian Tzigane (a Gypsy musician) caused such a sensation in aristocratic circles a short time ago, has arrived at Stuhl, Weissenburg, in company with the Tzigane, whose name is Rigo. They deny that they eloped.
The Princess declares that she openly bade farewell to her husband before she left his home, and that he was fully aware of her love for Rigo and her intention to go with him. The Princess, the papers add, has visited Rigo’s parents, who live in a Gypsy hut, and promised them that she would marry their son as soon as she was divorced.3321
• A few years ago, E. B. Ward’s daughter by his second wife, Kate Lyon, as she was usually called, married an impecunious prince in Europe for the title of princess. She lately left her husband and two young children, eloped with a Gypsy musician and is now living with unmarried...1643, p 78
• The petition recites that the estate is worth approximately $1,124,935.90 in personal property and $50,000 in real estate, practically all of which is left to Giuseppe Riccardi, who is in Italy; Maria De Chimay, a daughter, and Joseph De Chimay, a son, who resides in Paris.3286
Miss Ward was educated in London. She met Prince Joseph of Chimay and Caraman in Nice, to whom she was married by the Papal Nuncio in Paris, in 1890.
Four years later, Princess Chimay met Rigo, the Gypsy violinist, who was then playing in a Paris café. She became infatuated with him and shortly afterward they eloped and for several years they were frequently heard of in various European capitals. They were together for about three years, and the last heard of the affair was in 1913, when she sued Rigo for $100,000, which she alleged she had loaned to him.
In June, 1904, Princess Chimay married Peppino Ricciardo, a canvasser for a tourist agency in Paris, but was unhappy in this union, as it was reported during 1910 that they had parted.3285
• BERLIN, March 21 [1897] - It is announced that the [unclear] Princess Chimay, formerly Clara Ward of Detroit, who eloped from Paris some time ago with a Hungarian fiddler called Janos Rigo, and who was afterward divorced by her husband, the Prince of Chimay of Belgium, will appear on the stage at the Wintergarten in this city on April 4, accompanied by Rigo.3320
• In 1897, Todd’s grandmother made the “Grand Tour” throughout Europe and the Near East, accompanied by her mother, Charlotte Louise (Cheney) Holden. The younger Charlotte, “Lottie,” was “secretly” engaged to David Williams McMorran at the time (her parents knew, and approved). While in Egypt they “saw” Clara Ward - a notorious woman in those days - and mentioned having seen “postcards” of her, dressed in “oriental” garb - and very little of it at that. I wonder what their reaction was, if they ever discovered that Clara was a half-sister to some of David’s cousins?1121, p 3
• BUDA-PESTH, Dec. 21 [1899] - Newspapers here state that the Princess of Chimay and Caraman, formerly Miss Clara Ward of Detroit, Mich., the report of whose elopement with a Hungarian Tzigane (a Gypsy musician) caused such a sensation in aristocratic circles a short time ago, has arrived at Stuhl, Weissenburg, in company with the Tzigane, whose name is Rigo. They deny that they eloped.
The Princess declares that she openly bade farewell to her husband before she left his home, and that he was fully aware of her love for Rigo and her intention to go with him. The Princess, the papers add, has visited Rigo’s parents, who live in a Gypsy hut, and promised them that she would marry their son as soon as she was divorced.3321
• A few years ago, E. B. Ward’s daughter by his second wife, Kate Lyon, as she was usually called, married an impecunious prince in Europe for the title of princess. She lately left her husband and two young children, eloped with a Gypsy musician and is now living with unmarried...1643, p 78
• The petition recites that the estate is worth approximately $1,124,935.90 in personal property and $50,000 in real estate, practically all of which is left to Giuseppe Riccardi, who is in Italy; Maria De Chimay, a daughter, and Joseph De Chimay, a son, who resides in Paris.3286
Marriage Notes
• ...the Gypsy violinist, who was then playing in a Paris cafe. She became infatuated with him and shortly afterward they eloped and for several years they were frequently heard of in various European capitols. They were together for about three years, and the last heard of the affair was in 1913, when she sued Rigo for $100,000, which she alleged she had loaned to him.3285