Timeline of the Weddells

Time Period
1861 to 1876
1877 to 1924
1925 to Today
Topics
Women's History

Timeline of the Weddells and Important Events

1874

  • Virginia Atkinson Chase was born in Edina, Missouri.

1876

  • Alexander Wilbourne Weddell was born in Richmond, Virginia.
  • Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
  • United States celebrates centennial

1894

  • Virginia (Bertie) Chase graduates from Miss Brown's School for Girls in New York and tours Europe.

1898

  • Spanish-American War

1900

  • Virginia Chase marries James Harrison Steedman in St. Louis, Missouri.

1901

  • William McKinley assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt becomes president.

1903

  • Wright Brothers fly the first airplane.

1904

  • Alexander Weddell attends George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., and clerks at Library of Congress.
  • Olympic Games held in the United States for the first time.
  • Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • Panama Canal legally transferred to the United States.

1907

  • Alexander Weddell appointed private secretary to minister to Denmark.

1909

  • Alexander Weddell passes the foreign service exam.

1910

  • Alexander Weddell is named the U.S. consul to Zanzibar.

1912

  • Alexander Weddell is commissioned U.S. consul to Catania, Italy.
  • Woodrow Wilson elected President.

1913

  • 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established income tax.

1914

  • Alexander Weddell commissioned U.S. consul-general to Athens, Greece.
  • World War I begins after Archduke Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated.
  • Panama Canal opens.

1916

  • Woodrow Wilson is reelected president.

1917

  • Alexander Weddell is appointed diplomatic attache to Cairo, Egypt.
  • United States enters World War I.
  • J. Harrison Steedman is called to active service as a naval engineer.

1918

  • World War I ends.

1919

  • Prohibition begins.
  • The League of Nations is established.

1920

  • Alexander Weddell is commissioned U.S. consul-general to Calcutta, India.
  • 19th Amendment passed, giving women the right to vote.
  • First successful commercial radio broadcast.

1921

  • James Harrison Steedman dies leaving a substantial fortune to his widow, Virginia Steedman.
  • Virginia Steedman makes a large donation to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C.

1922

  • Virginia Steedman departs on a world tour with Mr. and Mrs. William Cocke.
  • Russian White Cross honors Virginia Steedman for her large donation for refugee relief in Istanbul.

1923

  • Alexander Weddell meets Virginia Steedman in Calcutta; they marry after a four-month courtship.

1924

  • Alexander Weddell is appointed U.S. consul-general to Mexico City.

1925

  • Virginia and Alexander Weddell purchase Warwick Priory in England and ship the stones to Richmond.

1926

  • First successful television transmission.

1927

  • Lindbergh makes historic trans-Atlantic flight.

1928

  • Virginia House is completed.
  • Virginia and Alexander Weddell settle in Richmond after his resignation from the foreign service.

1929

  • Virginia House is deeded to Virginia Historical Society.
  • Stock market crashes, and the Great Depression begins.

1932

  • Virginia Weddell is delegate to the National Democratic Convention in Chicago; Roosevelt nominated.
  • Virginia Weddell organizes state and local chapters of the Woman's Organization for National Prohibition Reform.

1933

  • Alexander Weddell is appointed U.S. ambassador to Argentina.
  • 21st Amendment repeals Prohibition.

1935

  • Alexander Weddell chairs American delegation to the Pan American Commercial Conference.
  • Alexander Weddell serves as American representative at Chaco Peace Conference.

1937

  • Virginia Weddell presented at the Court of St. James in London.

1939

  • Spanish Civil War ends.
  • Alexander Weddell named U.S. ambassador to Spain.
  • Virginia Weddell established Fondo de Socorro Español de Mrs. Weddell (Mrs. Weddell's Spanish Relief Fund).
  • World War II begins when Germany invades Poland.

1940

  • Virginia Weddell presented with Medal of Honor of the Red Cross in Madrid for her humanitarian efforts.

1942

  • Alexander Weddell retires from the foreign service.

1943

  • Alexander Weddell named president of the Virginia Historical Society.

1945

  • Franklin Roosevelt dies and Harry Truman becomes president.
  • Atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
  • World War II ends.
  • United Nations founded.

1948

  • Virginia and Alexander Weddell die in a train accident in Otterville, Missouri, on New Year's Day.