Early Life

Jerome Alexandre was born in 1886, the son of James Joseph Alexandre and Nathalie Edsall. After his father’s death, his mother married Paul Russell Bonner, a leather manufacturer who ran the firm Bonner & Barnewell on Cortlandt Street, Manhattan. The family lived at Nirvana, their mansion at Alexandre Point in Stamford, Connecticut.

Coming of Age and Fortune

On March 2, 1907, Nirvana was the scene of an unusual celebration. Despite a blizzard, the Alexandre coachman, Michael Mullin—employed by the family for more than forty years—organized a bonfire for the servants to honor Jerome’s twenty-first birthday, the day he “came into his own.” The event was described in the Philadelphia Inquirer as a raucous winter festival, complete with songs, dancing, and the servants throwing snow “like clouds of white confetti.” The article noted that the young heir inherited upwards of $1,500,000 from his father (equivalent to about $40 million in 2024 dollars), derived from the family’s ownership of the New York, Havana, and Mexican Mail Line of steamships.

Education and Marriage

Jerome was educated at Princeton, but dropped out during his sophomore year. While working briefly in his stepfather’s office, he met Violet Adelaide Oakley, a well-educated stenographer and office manager who had studied at a normal school and was the daughter of George Oakley, a real-estate dealer in Washington Heights. The meeting led to a sudden romance. On March 15, 1906, they eloped and were married at Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church on 130th Street in Manhattan.

His mother told the press: “Jerome is always so impulsive…. It is perfectly true that Jerome is married. Why he should not have told us first I don’t know. There was no occasion for keeping it secret, but he is an impulsive boy, and perhaps he thought it would be more romantic.”

She added, “I might have told him how difficult it is for a man when he marries out of his own set to have the society that knows him accept his wife.”

Mr. Bonner defended Violet, telling reporters that she was “a very fine young woman—a gentlewoman in every way estimable…remarkably well educated.”

Public Life and Notoriety

Jerome’s impulsive streak continued. In March 1907, only weeks after coming into his inheritance, he was arrested for speeding at 24 miles per hour along Riverside Drive, listing his occupation as “capitalist” and claiming District Attorney Jerome as his cousin. Later that year, he raced his Thomas automobile from New York to Cape Charles in a record 19½ hours. He also announced plans to “solve a family mystery” connected to Nirvana (see Houses and Estates).

Family Life and Tragedy

Jerome and Violet had two children: Nathalie Alexandre (1907–2001) and Adelaide Alexandre (1910–1910). Violet later suffered from influenza during the 1918 pandemic, followed by what her doctor described as “fits of melancholia.” On May 10, 1919, while visiting her mother-in-law at Nirvana, she ended her life with a revolver, leaving behind Jerome and their daughter Nathalie.

Second Marriage and Later Years

Jerome had earlier met Helene Gertrude Jones (1893–1935), daughter of Orlando Jones of Sea Gate. After Violet’s death, Helene wrote him a condolence letter; their friendship was renewed, and they married on December 11, 1919, at Our Lady of Solace Church in Sea Gate. They had one son, Jerome Alexandre Jr. (1920–1959).

Jerome served with Squadron “A” of the New York troops and enlisted as an aviator when border troubles with Mexico erupted. During World War I he was an aviation instructor in Texas. After his military service, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, purchasing a ranch on Candelarias Road. Local newspapers described him as having “a pleasing manner and many friends” and an income of about $1,000 a month. However, his impulsive nature persisted—he was occasionally cited for drinking, and once found asleep in his car with the engine running.

Death

Separated from his wife Helene, Jerome planned a reconciliation in late 1925. On Christmas Day that year, he was found dead after a fire in a rooming house in Albuquerque. He had apparently fallen asleep while smoking; the cigarette ignited the mattress, and though he tried to escape, the door was barred, and he was suffocated.

The funeral mass was held at Immaculate Conception Church, and he was buried in Calvary Cemetery. Helene remained in Albuquerque for her health, remarried in 1926, and died in 1935, leaving her son Jerome Jr. in the care of his half-sister Nathalie Alexandre Biddle.