Bertha Palmer - Marriage

Marriage

Bertha Honoré married the Chicago millionaire Potter Palmer in 1870. She was twenty-one, he was forty-four. Palmer was a Quaker merchant who had come to Chicago after failing twice in business. In Chicago he learned to please his clients, many of whom were women. He made customer service a priority and carried everything from dry goods to the latest French fashions for ladies. Palmer sold his vast store to a consortium and it would eventually become Marshall Field's. Palmer then opened a luxury hotel, Palmer House and invested in real estate, eventually owning a vast portfolio of properties. Soon after their marriage, the Chicago Fire wiped out the Palmer House and most of their holdings and Bertha Palmer had to rush off to wire the east so that Palmer could re-establish credit, borrow money and rebuild his holdings. Bertha Palmer was unusually poised for one so young and together, the Palmers re-established their fortune and despite her age, she quickly rose to the top of Chicago society. "She was beautiful, dashing, quick, and smart; and more than that, she was sure of herself," wrote historian Ernest Poole.

In 1874, she gave birth to son Honoré, and in 1875, she gave birth to son Potter Palmer II. Both sons went on to have sons named Potter Palmer III, as well as other children. See Who's Who in Chicago (1931).

She was an early member of the Chicago Woman's Club, part of the General Federation of Women's Clubs; this group of working women met to discuss social problems and develop solutions. They supported kindergartens until the city made them part of the school system, and campaigned for inexpensive milk for impoverished children and better care for children of imprisoned mothers.