Los Angeles County
Biographies
BARONESS E. RYHINER-MORRILL
Baroness E. Ryhiner-Morrill, characterized by her biographers as a woman of world-wide culture and gracious charm, has during the past fifteen years made her home in Los Angeles and is one of the distinguished leaders of social and charitable work here, as she has been in New York, Paris and other great centers. The baroness, who bore the maiden name of Henriette Burkhardt, was born in the city of Paris, a daughter of Frederick William Burkhardt and Adela de Guion Burkhardt. Her father was aide-de-camp to the king of Wurttemberg. Her mother was a descendant of Marie Louis de la Motte, said to be of the same lineal descent as Marie Antoinette. Ryhiner is an old Swiss name. Her mother’s uncle was Marshal McMahon, prefect of France during the Franco-Prussian war. One of the Madame Morrill’s great-grandmothers on her mother’s side was born in Manchester, England, and the baroness has treasures of lace and other adornments that have come down through the years from this progenitor and were worn by members of the family at court.
Baroness Morrill acquired her education in France. She is a musician, highly trained in both vocal and instrumental music, is also a talented writer and artist, and has painted many beautiful things, including a picture of the poppies in Flanders Field, which have found popular favor and grace the walls of many homes. These are painted from a pencil sketch Madame Morrill made during the war when she and her husband were passing the field and its beauty was passed upon by Mr. Morrill. She was educated in a convent in Paris and studied painting at Dresden with Adolph Jahn, whose father was curator of the museum and school at Dresden. She also took a course in ceramics.
Her husband was the late Frank Tidd Morrill, son of George H. Morrill of Norwood, Massachusetts, and a nephew of Senator Morrill of Vermont. George H. Morrill gave the city of Norwood a beautiful library as a memorial to his daughter. Frank T. Morrill and Mrs. Morrill spent many years of their married life in Paris and New York. They were in Paris when the great war broke out, and Mr. Morrill became vice president of the Society of France, representing the American Colony during the war. His family were descendants of Huguenots who had been driven out of France in the ear of religious persecution. We quote from “California and Californians” published in 1926: “Mr. Morrill was noted for his patronage of sports. He owned the ‘Vamoose,’ the fastest yacht in the world, which had been built for William R. Hearst, but because of its length could not be brought around the Horn and consequently was sold to Mr. Morrill. During the Spanish-American war he placed this fast boat at the disposal of the government in carrying dispatches from Key West to Cuba. He won many races with the yacht and entertained many notable people on board, including President Grover Cleveland, President William McKinley, President Hayes, President Harrison and his granddaughter, Babe McKee, and Infanta Eulalie, the daughter of Queen Isabel of Spain.” Mr. Morrill was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge.
The Morrills traveled much and entertained extensively, and both devoted a great deal of time to charitable work. During the World war Baroness Morrill played, sang and read to the soldiers in the hospitals. They left Europe in 1918 and until 1920 lived in New York, where they continued active in charity and society. In 1920 they removed to Los Angeles, where Mr. Morrill died in 1921.
Baroness Morrill has carried out many unusual ideas for social and charitable purposes. She instituted a movement involving a great many of her personal friends and others to encourage the reading of good literature among messenger boys, and she likewise was a charter member of the Woman’s Professional League, a body of charity women of which Mrs. A. N. Palmer was first president. One of the objects was to purchase gowns and encourage society women to donate their wardrobes to be used in assisting girls making their first appearance on the stage to be appropriately clothed. There are thousands of women devoted to this league.
Baroness Morrill for a time was president of the Los Angeles Opera Reading Club, which, with the Three Arts, of which she is a charter member, is now merged into the Artland Club. She is a member of the Friday Morning Club, the Big Sisters League, Matinee Musical, Southern California Woman’s Press Club and Women’s Athletic Club of Los Angeles; also the National League of American Pen-women and the Ebell Club. As both Mr. and Madame Morrill were vice presidents of the “Alliance Francaise” in Paris, their home was a rendezvous for the members during the war.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: California
of the South Vol. V, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
643-645, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2013 Joyce Rugeroni.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES