PATTERSON (BONAPARTE), ELIZABETH, 1785-1879; b. Baltimore, 31d. ; educated chiefly by her mother, and noted for her remarkable beauty. Dee. 24, 1803, Jerome Bonaparte, brotherof Napoleon.I., who was visiting the United States, married her after much resistance on the part of her family, the ceremony being performed by the Boman Catholic bishop of Baltimore. This marriage greatly incensed Napoleon, then first consul of France, who ordered his brother who was in the `French naval service, to return imme diately to France, while prohibiting all French captains from receiving the wife of lieut. Bonaparte on board their vessels, and refusing to give her an asylum in France. The French senate, by special act, refused to recognize the ceremony of marriage in this instance as valid, on the ground that it was without consent of the mothor of Jerome, and without previous publication in France. On the accession of Napoleon to the imperial throne, Jerome was excluded from the dynasty in company with his brother Lucien, who had also made a marriage obnoxious to the emperor. The latter offered to make au allowance of 60,000 francs per year to Jerotne's bride if she would surrender the name of her husband. But this offer was rejected. Jerome and his wife proceeded
to Europe in 1804, but on reaching Lisbon, only the former was permitted to land, and his wife sailed for Amsterdam. No efforts could induce Napoleon to reconsider his determination. and in the end he even induced or forced his brother to contract another matrimonial alliance. Jerome was married on Aug. 12, 1807, to the princess Fredericka Catharina, daughter of the king of In 1815 Mme. Bonaparte was divorced from her husband by a special act of the legislature of Maryland. She again visited Europe. where she achieved a profound impression by her beauty and intellectual gifts. She lived abroad for many years, only occasionally returning to her native land for a brief visit. By Jerome she had one son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, who was eventually recognized by Napoleon III. as being legitimately a member of the. family, and who was established in his rights as of French birth by a decree dated Aug. 30, 1,854, though he denied all right of succession. The last 18 years of Mine. Bona pnrte's life were passed in Baltimore in obscurity, in a quiet boarding-house. See BONAPARTE. JEROME, ante.