Leonard Jerome - Marriage and Family

Marriage and Family

Jerome married Clara Hall (1825–1895) in Palmyra, New York on April 5, 1849, and they had four daughters together. One daughter, Camille, died at age eight. The other three – Jennie, Clara, and Leonie – became known, in some quarters, as "the Good, the Witty and the Beautiful". Leonard Jerome's wealth afforded his daughters the opportunity to spend much time in Europe, where they associated with the aristocratic elite of the day. All three married British or Anglo-Irish husbands:

• Jennie Jerome married Lord Randolph Churchill (1849–1895), younger son of the Duke of Marlborough, and was mother to Winston Churchill and another son.
• Clarita Jerome, known as Clara, married Moreton Frewen (1853–1924), fifth son of Thomas Frewen MP, a charming spendthrift who ran up huge debts trying to operate a ranch in Wyoming, and through gambling, sports, and women. They had two sons, Hugh and Oswald, and one daughter Clare.
• Leonie Jerome married Sir John Leslie (1857–1944), an Irish Baronet, whose family estates covered 70,000 acres (280 km2). They had four sons. For many years, she maintained a liaison with Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

Jerome was also rumored to be the father of the American opera singer Minnie Hauk. He also had an affair in the 1860s with Mrs. Pierre Lorillard Ronalds, then separated from her husband. Mrs. Ronalds later lived in London, where she remained a friend of Jerome's daughter Jennie.

Leonard Jerome died at the age of 73 in Brighton, England. He is buried in the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.