dren, Nathalie Florence and Nathaniel Jules Reynal.

Sarah Woodruff Caldwell Reynal survived her husband by nearly two decades. She died in 1947, remembered by her descendants for her refinement, generosity, and quiet piety. Through her marriages to Rutter and Reynal she united three families—Caldwell, Rutter, and ReynalParents: Edward Holland Caldwell (1844–1872) and Caroline Amelia Shields (1856–1934). Married: (1) Nathaniel Enzie Rutter (1863–1891); (2) Nathaniel Claude Reynal (1871–1928). Children: With Nathaniel Rutter: Nathaniel Edward Caldwell Rutter (1890–1947); with Nathaniel Reynal: Nathalie Florence Reynal (1902–1968), Nathaniel Claude Reynal Jr. (1903–1905), Nathaniel Jules Reynal (1903–1950), and Amelie Reynal (1909–1917). Kinship: Great-grand-aunt of the post–World War II Smith generation.

Early Life and First Marriage

Sarah Woodruff Caldwell was born in 1870, the youngest child of Edward Holland Caldwell and Caroline Amelia Shields of Mobile, Alabama. Her father’s early death in 1872 left her mother a widow with three young children, who were raised partly in the South and partly among relatives in the Northeast.

In 1888 Sarah married Nathaniel Enzie Rutter, a young businessman. Their marriage was short-lived: Rutter died in 1891, leaving Sarah with one infant son, Nathaniel Edward Caldwell Rutter (1890–1947). She subsequently made her home in New York, where she moved within the social circles of other Southern families established in the city.

Conversion and Second Marriage

Sarah converted to Catholicism in 1898, her sponsor being the sister of Nathaniel Claude Reynal, a member of a French-American banking and mercantile family active in New York. Three years later, in 1901, she married Reynal, thereby joining another family prominent in the city’s commercial and cultural life.

The couple had four children between 1902 and 1909, two of whom survived to adulthood. The family divided its time between their New York City residence and their country estate, Rocky Dell, in Westchester County, where they spent the summers. The house, set amid rolling land near the Hudson, was noted in contemporary society columns for its hospitality and gardens (see Houses and Estates).

Later Life and Estate

Nathaniel Claude Reynal died in 1928, leaving an estate valued at approximately $1 million in today’s currency. Sarah received $300,000 outright and shared in the residue of the estate with her surviving chil—that maintained both Southern and New York affiliations well into the twentieth century.