Beatrice Mabel Emerson

Beatrice Mabel Emerson
Beatrice Mabel Emerson (Jan. 27, 1887-) is a prominent Manhattan socialite and amateur inventor. If she is alive, she is 27 years old. She was born in Boston, and is a tall woman with green eyes and straight auburn hair. She famously disappeared sometime in April, 1913, and her disappearance caused a media sensation. She was known as an eccentric beauty who was a charming inventor and society woman. She was consistently talked about in society parlor rooms and in the press.

Benjamin Claire, Beatrice Emerson's father:
Mrs. Emerson's father is Benjamin Claire, the third generation of Claires behind "J. Claire and Sons," the mighty pharmaceutical company that made its fame and fortune on the backs of candle and soap (their soap, Brave, is famous). Benjamin was a bit of a black sheep who went to Harvard (instead of directly joining the family business) and joined a government sponsored science expedition that explored far away places and their botany and anthropology. Trained as a chemist and botanist, the family eventually pulled him into the company, despite his wishes. He developed an independent industrial lab to pursue workable inventions, which is one of the first Research and Development departments in corporate history.

Benjamin is brilliant and taciturn, only opening up when talking about botany or any science matter. His wife, Elizabeth, died during the birth of Beatrice's younger sister, Abeline in 1890. (Beatrice Emerson was 3). Benjamin was never close to his parents, or his brothers and sisters, and neither is Beatrice.

Abeline Claire, Beatrice Emerson's sister:
Behind closed society doors, it is known that Abeline, Beatrice's sister, believes that Benjamin Emerson loved Beatrice more than Abeline. Abeline believes that her sister reminds Mr. Claire of his beloved dead wife, Elizabeth, who was beautiful, very bright and head-strong, as is Beatrice. Abeline believes that her father partially blames Abeline for her mother's death. What is well known is that Benjamin Claire never restricted Beatrice's pursuits and always encouraged her. He quickly recognized and fostered her intellect and science acumen.

From childhood to marriage (1887-1908):
Mrs. Emerson had many tutors, but two shaped her life: Karl Henrich Wettin and Johnathan Dreyer. Wetten studied under the philosopher Wilhelm Windelband. Dreyer taught physics at Columbia. Both pushed her to eschew convention. Dreyer introduced her to the inventions of Nikola Tesla and Charles Babbage, who became two of her personal heroes. Both Wettin and Dreyer are getting old (61 and 65) and their correspondence with Beatrice had slowed down before her disappearence. Wettin now lives in Paris and teaches at École Normale Supérieure. Dreyer teaches at Princeton.

As a young lady, Beatrice spent a lot of time with Edith Decoud (who is now Edith Du Pont). Edith was wild, as were her friends, and Beatrice narrowly avoided trouble - until Edith introduced her to Mick O'Leary, a young Broadway actor who became her boyfriend and got her pregnant. Edith introduced her to a midwife, who helped her have an abortion. Afterwards, Beatrice sank into a deep depression. Fred Nadis (Edith's brother's best friend) consoled her and eventually became her secret boyfriend. A year later, Fred married someone else in an arranged marriage. Beatrice was crushed.

She spent a year traveling abroad.

Thomas Clay Emerson
A few months after her return, she married Thomas Clay Emerson, a financier and son of the illustrious Emerson family of Boston. He was also a NYC assemblyman. He was well connected, and deeply in love with Beatrice. Her marriage was arranged by the two families (her father disapproved but Beatrice did not) and Beatrice loves him in her way. Thomas Emerson is intelligent but conventional and conservative. He desperately wants a heir and believes that it is his fault that he does not have one.

Beatrice was no longer close to her old friends. Edith is married but still remains wild. She has affairs (recently with an artist who is also an illustrator at The Masses and who is loosely connected to the Mabel Dodge salon). Her brother Resolve Decoud is the black sheep of the family and is working as a stage magician and a writer of spiritual exposes (called The Great Resolve). After Fred Nadel' wife died in childbirth and his family business failed, Fred spent a stint in an upstate sanatorium. Now he is also a magician; he calls himself Nadis the Magnificent.

Inventions

 * She spent many years studying electromagnetic phenomenon, mechanical computing, and aerodynamics.


 * She built a "motorized bicycle" by yourself, but stopped using it after she broke her arm after wrapping the motorized bicycle around a tree.


 * She built a biplane with the help of a crew of assistants and engineers. She used to fly it often and made many improvements; one improvement is a new type of 	airfoil that was patented.


 * She closely followed the newer inventions, esp. those by Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. She replicated the "Tesla coil," and created a working wireless radio station modeled after Marconi's design (one is on her upstate property and one on top of her former Greenwich Village home). She worked with neon, alternating current, wireless power (using high frequency alternating current), wireless remote control using radio, and Röntgen rays (x-rays). She wanted to finance Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower, but it required capital greater than even she could afford. It is now run-down and abandoned.

Association with the Seven:
It is known that Clarence was the original owner of The Mask, and that it was he who brought it to Beatrice Emerson.

Betsy Brooks; Jehosephat Blim; Stephen Kilbride; Hoyt Lowe ; Colin Mallery; Clarence Hightower

Disappearance:
place holder