Meet The Family

Capt. Charles DeWolf owned one-third interest in the Cuban plantation "Empresa" and ran a successful mercantile business in Bristol selling imported goods. He had ten children (seven with Mary Taylor and three more with his second wife, Elizabeth Rogerson), including Gen. George DeWolf. Charles lived in a home called the "Mansion House" known for its mahogany furniture, Chinese wallpaper, silver, and terraced gardens that extended to the harbor. He was also the original owner of the Summer House that now resides on the Linden Place grounds.

Capt. James DeWolf was speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1819-1821 and a United States Senator from 1821-1825. In addition to his involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, James invested in sugar and coffee plantations in Cuba. He married Nancy Bradford in 1790 and had eleven children. They lived in the grand estate known as "The Mount," which was also designed by Russell Warren. In 1828, James purchased Linden Place for $5,150 after his nephew, Gen. George DeWolf, went bankrupt and fled Bristol for Cuba. He would later sell Linden Place to his son, William Henry DeWolf, in 1834. At the time of his death, James was said to be the second-wealthiest person in the country.

Gen. George DeWolf made his money in the transatlantic slave trade. Despite never going to sea himself, George owned multiple slave ships in the early 1800s and evidence suggests he continued on in the trade illegally until as late as 1820. He was elected the Commanding General of the 4th Brigade of Rhode Island during the War of 1812. George married Charlotte Patten Goodwin in 1804 and together they had nine children. He purchased the land to build Linden Place from his mother-in-law and commissioned the home from architect Russell Warren. Construction was completed in 1810. Following a failed sugar crop at his Cuban plantation in 1825, George went bankrupt and fled for Cuba with his family in December of that year. His financial downfall sent the town into an economic depression.

Charlotte Patten Goodwin was descended from Mayflower passengers through her mother's family (the Bradfords). She married Gen. George DeWolf when she was 17 and he was 26. Together they had nine children.

Daughter of Gen. George and Charlotte DeWolf, Theodora was a young girl at Linden Place until her family fled to Cuba when she was 7. She attended finishing school in Hartford, CT, leaving school at age 17 when she married then-25-year-old Christopher Colt II. They settled in Paterson, NJ and had six children. After her husband's death, Theodora moved in with her brother- and sister-in-law at their mansion, Armsmear, in Hartford, CT, until her son purchased Linden Place for her in 1865. Theodora held finishing lessons for young society ladies in the parlors at Linden Place and entertained the cultural and political elite, including Gen. Ambrose Burnside, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, President Chester Arthur, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. She is credited with planting the linden trees in front of the mansion, though the story may be apocryphal. In 1872 she published a book of poetry, Stray Fancies. After her death in 1901, her son Col. Samuel P. Colt built the grand marble Colt Memorial School next door to Linden Place as a gift to the town in her memory.

Col. Samuel Pomeroy Colt moved to Linden Place with his mother, Theodora DeWolf Colt, first as part owner of the estate with his brother LeBaron (1867). He was responsible for many of the improvements to the property, including the ballroom, carriage house, bathrooms, and Summer House. He also owned property known as Colt Farm at what is today Colt State Park where the many statues on the Linden Place grounds originated. Col. Colt married Elizabeth Bullock and together they had three sons. Their marriage ended in a legal separation in 1896, and neither remarried. Col. Colt graduated from Columbia Law School in 1876 and served on the staff of Governor Henry Lippitt, where he received his honorary rank as Colonel. He later served as Attorney General of Rhode Island (elected in 1882), founder and President of the Industrial Trust Company (1887-1908), and President of the United States Rubber Company (1901-1918). The United States Rubber Company was the largest employer in Bristol in the early 1900s. Upon his death in 1921, his will left Linden Place in a trust to his grandchildren, stipulating that the house must remain in the family until only one heir remained. Col. Colt was the last full-time resident of Linden Place.

Ethel Barrymore was born in Philadelphia to actor parents. Her brothers John and Lionel Barrymore were also actors. She made her first appearance on Broadway in 1895 before touring productions in London. Regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre," Ethel's stage and screen career spanned six decades and she received four Academy Award nominations before winning in 1944 for None but the Lonely Heart. In 1900, she was famously proposed to by Winston Churchill, though she declined the proposal. Churchill was the first of many high profile men Ethel was rumored to be linked to before her marriage to Russell Colt in 1909. She and Russell had three children and, while they mostly lived in New York, regularly visited Linden Place and Colt Farm, especially for Bristol's famous 4th of July celebrations. In 1923, Ethel and Russell divorced, after which, her father-in-law Col. Colt gifted Ethel and her children a country home in Mamaroneck, NY. In 1928, the Ethel Barrymore Theatre opened on W 47th St. in New York in her honor.

Ethel Barrymore Colt Miglietta was the daugther of Ethel Barrymore and Russell Colt. An internationally recognized soprano and actress, Ethel starred in operas, musicals, and plays. She made her stage debut in 1930 opposite her mother in Scarlet Sister Mary. For a time, she performed under the stage name Louisa Kinlock in an effort to distance herself professionally from her mother and be taken seriously as a singer. In 1944, she married John R. Miglietta, a New York City business executive, and together they had one son. In 1950, she performed the role of Rosalinda in NBC's televised production of the opera Die Fledermaus and, in 1971, she performed in the original company of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. In 1960, Ethel inherited one-quarter ownership of Linden Place and she was a frequent visitor to the house until her death. She taught voice lessons in the back parlor and sang in the choir at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church. In 1963, Ethel helped found the Bristol Art Museum in the ballroom at the mansion.