Caroline Le Roy Bonaparte (née Appleton; later Edgar) was an American social figure and member of the Appleton and Bonaparte families.
Life and family.
Caroline Le Roy Appleton was born on October 3, 1840, in Boston. She was the eldest child of Samuel Augustus Appleton, who was born in England (but came from an American family) and his wife, Julia Webster. Samuel was a member of the Appleton family, a colonial family from Ipswich, Massachusetts, and therefore had several important family connections. Her mother, Julia Webster Appleton, was the daughter of famed statesman Daniel Webster, who most famously served as United States Secretary of State from 1841-1843 and 1850-1852. She was presumably named after her step-grandmother, Webster's wife, Caroline LeRoy. She was mentioned in her grandfather's will.
On November 28, 1860, she was married to Newbold Edgar, who she was related to, with whom she would have three children. Newbold died around 1864 or 1869.
On September 10, 1871, Caroline was married to Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, a member of an excluded line of the House of Bonaparte that had resided in the United States. Jerome had previously served in the Crimean and Franco-Prussian wars. He was the brother of Charles Joseph Bonaparte, future United States attorney general, the son of Jerome Napoleon "Bo" Bonaparte, and the grandson of Jerome Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon), and his American wife, Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte. The two came to know each other during Jerome's military service in France, as she had visited Paris at the time. The wedding was described as long, with a small wedding party consisting of various members of the American Bonaparte and Appleton-Edgar families, although numerous spectators watched. With Jerome, she would have two children. She would follow Jerome on his military travels before and after 1871, such as to Paris in 1873.
Jerome died in 1893, and Caroline died in 1911 at the age of 71. In the last years of her life, she largely spent her time between her residences in Washington D.C. and Maine. She was buried at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore, along with other members of the American Bonaparte family.
Issue.
With Newbold Edgar, she would have three children.
With Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, she would have two children: