Today, we celebrate what would have been my cousin's 127th birthday. I've decided this is the day to give Natacha a jumping off point, of sorts. We have all heard much about her life with Rudolph Valentino, and I never would want to minimize that important time. I could talk about that in great detail, and someday I'm sure I'll get back to it, but I'd like to get going on the REST of Natacha's life, which was so very interesting and in which she actually had much more of an investment.
Natacha spent about four years with Rudy during her 20s ... and that was within the decade of the 1920s. She was a helpmate and wife to Rudy, and she tried to help him with his career. She did help him, but her ego really got in the way. Put two huge egos together and there are bound to be problems.
Natacha Rambova was born as Winifred Shaughnessy in Salt Lake City, Utah to an extremely prominent Mormon family.
Natacha & her mother, 1897 in Utah
Not much is ever written or discussed regarding Natacha's father, Michael Shaughnessy. I'm going to give him a bit of this blog post concerning Natacha's early life. This man was a war hero during the Civil War. He was not a perfect man, but he was such a colorful character. I hope Natacha was proud of him, because she carried his traits into her own life.
Michael was born in New York City on October 11, 1844. he served in the Second Cavalry in the Civil War and was the true standard of a tough, fighting Irishman. Wounded in battle several times, he always bounced back until he was almost killed at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863 where he lay out bleeding on a battlefield all night until he was taken by the victors to Libby Prison. He recovered and re-enlisted.
Finally, his repeated injuries caught up with him and he retired from military service with the civilian moniker of 'The Colonel' and with many accolades. He then served as assessor of internal revenue, appointed by President Andrew Johnson.
Michael decided it was time for a family life. He married Eudora Mustin in Mississippi. Eudora came from a family of former slave owners who had lost almost everything when the south lost the war. The Shaughnessys had several children in rapid succession.
In 1876 and 1877, Michael became heavily involved in politics. He eventually pushed the envelope too far and found himself unemployed because of his temper and unwillingness to compromise on even the smallest details. In 1878, though, he was appointed United States marshal of Utah Territory, which brought his family to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Michael Shaughnessy, wood engraving
'The Colonel' had first met Winnie (Natacha's mother) in a rather strange way - she was sitting on a chamber pot; not for the normal reasons for which one would use a chamber pot ... Winnie (who would be Natacha's mother) was 6-years-old at the time, and had brought the chamber pot into the living room when the Shaughnessy family came for a visit at the residence of the Heber P. Kimball family. The chamber pot served as just another chair on this occasion when company visited. Michael was 33-years-old at the time and Winnie was just three years older than his daughter.
Heber P. Kimball (Natacha's maternal grandfather)
Heber P. Kimball is the line that Natacha descends from ... coming down from Priddy Meeks, the famous Mormon pioneer who helped settle areas of Utah. Natacha's mother, Winnie, was the youngest child of Heber P. Kimball. Heber P.'s father, Heber C. Kimball had 65 children by 45 wives.
Heber C. Kimball (Natacha's maternal great-grandfather)
The Meeks family, which originated in Scotland, migrated to America in the early 1700s, perhaps earlier. The information I found is conflicted about this, but it seems that in the early days the first settlers came to America, last names were not always used. When they did start being used regularly in historical recordings, they showed up at about in that time period in America. The word 'meeks' means 'humble and merciful.'
My own ancestor, Littleton Meeks, was from another line coming down from Priddy Meeks; there were three brothers (Priddy, Jr. Littleton and another brother whose name escapes me) thus three main branches going back to the very beginning. He boasted no such large a family as Priddy, but he did carry the Meeks name, as did they all. Then, later on, there was a Sarah Meeks who re-married into the family (from the same line) and a Wade married into the family, who married a Holcomb, which was my biological family's name. And so, my and Natacha's bloodlines are complicated but still present in various ways.
The Kimball family married into the Meeks family long after my bloodline had already been established.
Dr. Priddy Meeks, the original Priddy Meeks. (the one who really started it all)
Priddy Meeks, Jr. (the Priddy Meeks who Natacha Rambova comes from, the son of the original Priddy Meeks)
As is tradition with Mormans and other families, there have been countless individuals named Priddy and Littleton since these men were living.
Below, there is a lineage chart which shows how my son is related to Priddy Meeks. The reason it does not show my direct relationship is that I was adopted out of the Holcomb family which, as you can see, is directly in line with the Meeks family. The Meeks family is part of Natacha Rambova's bloodline.
There are some who dispute my connection to this family because my name does not appear as 'Holcomb' on the list. Well, I ask these doubters then how could my son (who I promise you, came from my own body) appear as a relative and not myself? The answer is ... he could not. Dallas Ray Martin is the son of Cindy Lou Sturtevant (who is ME). My biological mother was Martha Mae Holcomb. Look to the bottom of the list for these names. This comes directly from Ancestry.com. The results would be the same if it were from 23&Me or any other DNA test. Facts are facts. So let there be no more question about this.
Michael's first wife, Eudora, died at the early age of 39 and Michael went into a deep depression. He began drinking and gambling and soon found himself visiting his old friends, the Kimballs. Winnie (who had by this time grown into a woman of twenty and had gone through a failed marriage already) caught his eye. The two began to see each other romantically. The Catholic man and Mormon woman were married in 1895.
Winifred Kimball (Natacha's mother)
'
The Colonel's' lifestyle did not suit Winnie, but she tried to make the best of it. Finally with the birth of a daughter on January 19, 1897 things began to look up, at least in Winnie's eyes. Michael had wanted a boy, of course. Michael insisted upon a christening when the baby was six-months-old. She was given the same name as her mother - Winifred - and so her Aunt Teresa (Winnie's sister) nicknamed her 'Wink.'
'The Colonel,' after neglecting Winifred and Wink, found himself alone. Winifred divorced Michael in 1900 and took Wink to San Francisco to start a new life.
Natacha (Wink, as she was still known at that time) shortly before she and her mother moved to San Francisco from Utah.
Michael died of 'cerebral anemia' (today, we call it a 'stroke') on January 9, 1910. I've often seen it reported on the internet and in books as January 10, 1910, but the death certificate clearly states it was January 9.
Michael Shaughnessy (older)
Newspaper clipping of Michael Shaughnessy's obituary. I do not know the source, sorry.
Michael Shaughnessy's death certificate.
As we read the death certificate, some new information comes to light. I don't think Michael had remarried. I think that he simply still considered himself married to Natacha's mother. He was very, very much against Natacha's mother divorcing him and taking his little daughter away and promised (probably for the umpteenth time) to change his ways. He never agreed with the divorce.
Now that Natacha's mother had been divorced twice, her reputation was probably pretty much shot among the snobbish Utah families of the time, so it was best for her to leave her family ... except for her sister, Teresa, who went to San Francisco with her. Teresa also had divorced her husband. I know that he IF Michael remarried his wife, Mary, certainly did not know much about her husband.
I think that the MISS Mary Shaughnessy who is listed as the 'informant' was one of Michael's daughters from his first marriage to Eudora Mustin and Mary was caring for him in his infirmity. She does not seem to know his birthdate. She does not seem even to know her own grandfather's or grandmother's name or their birthplaces.
It seems as if Michael had fallen at a street fair in1908 (I have to wonder if it was a stroke then, as well, or if he was simply drunk at the time) which contributed to the incident of the fall which killed him a few years later. He had a stroke on November 27, 1909 and lingered in the hospital and then died 46 days later.
January 19, 1926 was also the date in which Natacha's divorce from Rudolph Valentino was finalized. Although the divorce had been filed for and heard in a court in Paris, Natacha was not even in the 'City of Lights' at the time the finalization came through. She was performing on the Boston stage in the play, 'The Triple Cross.'
It was Natacha's 29th birthday.
Natacha received the papers backstage between scenes. Always the professional in public, she calmly went on with her performance. By the time that same play got to New York, it had gone through many changes (mirroring Natacha's life) and was called "Set A Thief.'
The play Natacha was performing in when she got the final divorce papers in regard to her marriage with Rudy. Natacha turned 29. Both things happened on January 19, 1926.
I made the following video for Natacha's birthday in 2021. There is no way I can really take the 2021 date off that frame which shows on the video, but the sentiment remains the same. In fact, if anything, I would love to add to the video. Perhaps, someday, I'll get back into making videos and redo it without a date so it can be used without awkwardness each year. I have updated the tinted photos and freshened them up, but they must stay as they are with this video. My hope is that you enjoy it:
Darkmum
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