Mary Scott Townsend: The Dictator of Washington's High Society

Mary Scott Townsend was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on July 7, 1854.  She was the eldest of two daughters of William Lawrence Scott, a Pennsylvania railroad and coal magnate, and a two-term Democratic member of Congress (1885-89).   In 1879, Mary married Richard Townsend, president of the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad. 

Although the Townsends hailed from Erie, Pennsylvania, the family was no stranger to Washington.  William Lawrence Scott was born in 1828 in Washington, and was the son of Colonel Robert Scott of Virginia, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, who was detailed to the nation's capital at the time of his son's birth.  As a teenager, William served served as a page in United States House of Representatives.  His grandfather, Gustavus Scott, was a lawyer from Maryland whom President Washington appointed as one of the first Commissioners of the City of Washington.  In 1795,  Gustavus Scott bought the house and part of the Kalorama estate belonging to …