Natica Caroline Burden

Natica Caroline Burden (Belmont-Rives)

"One of the most popular and clever young women in New York Society"

• Find A Grave Memorial ID # 178599460
• The Belmont Boys and Girls Part 1: The King of Fifth Avenue and the Queen of Society
• The Whiting Family

Natica was the daughter of U.S. Representative Oliver Hazard Payne Belmont & Sarah Swan Whiting. She was adopted by stepfather U.S. Assistant Secretary of State George Lockheart Rives, and the wife of William Proudfoot Burden, who she married on 17 April 1907 in New York City, New York.

NEW YORK. Feb. 21. Mrs. William Proudt Burden, who was" Natica Rives and a society, belle of New York. Newport and Washington was found dead. In bed at her Fifth Avenue' home today.

Death, the coroner decided, was accidental and due to gas poisoning. A disconnected gas tube, which had led from a chandelier to a droplight so placed last night that Mrs. Burden might read while propped up in bed, had permitted a flow of gas which filled the room.

Mrs. Burden was 22 years old, and since her marriage, April 17, 1907, she and. her husband had occupied the beautiful home of the latter's father, the late James Abercrombie Burden, at 808 Fifth Avenue.

The discovery of her death threw the household into confusion, and when the facts became generally known, it created a sensation in the social set. Burden had spent the night, in another part of the house and learned of his wife's death from the servants; who had entered her room at 10 o'clock this morning.

Coming home' at 11 o'clock last night, Burden had noticed that a light was still burning in his wife's room, and passing the door called out "Good night." Mrs. Burden responded in a tone that indicated that she was in her usual health and spirits.

Passing through the hall on her way to Mrs. Burden's room on the second floor, the maid smelled gas and hastily entering the chamber found her mistress dead. The room was filled with gas, though a window was open several inches from the bottom. The fumes were pouring from the rubber tubing directly into the dead woman's face.

Mrs. Burden's physicians were summoned and they in turn notified the coroner. The latter's investigation showed that the gas tube had been disconnected from the lamp. Having grown drowsy perhaps, Mrs. Burden had reached from her bed and turned off the lamp cock Instead of taking the trouble to get up and shut off the gas at the chandelier Jet. The dead woman lay as in sleep, without a sign of physical or mental disturbance.

Near the open window, to which he had crawled and almost dead from gas, was found Mrs. Burden's little pet a white Pomeranian terrier, which had been permitted to sleep in the room."

Mrs. Burden was the daughter of the first Mrs. Oliver Hazzard Payne Belmont, who was Miss Sally Whiting Rives, who obtained a divorce sometime after her daughter was born. She retained custody of the child and afterward married George L. Rives, at one time corporation counsel of the City of New York.

NOTE: Natica Burden (Belmont-Rives) was pregnant at the time of her death.
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Natica Caroline Rives matured into a popular young lady and was often the subject of newspaper articles in both New York and Newport in part because she was often in the company of an Astor or a Vanderbilt, and the fact that she was Oliver Belmont’s daughter was commonly known. She and her parents were part of Mrs.

Astor’s 400, and newspapers around the country fed the average citizen’s curiosity with stories of these young debutantes’ activities, fashion, and friends.

Natica’s closest friend was Cynthia Roche, whose family owned the Elm Court Estate on Bellevue Avenue, began seeing Arthur S. Burden, whose family owned the Burden Iron Works in Troy, New York.

Burden’s brother Williams often accompanied him when he called on Roche, and soon William Burden and Natica Rives were seeing each other. After Cynthia Roche and Arthur Burden married in 1906, Natica felt increasing pressure to marry Williams Burden and became ill.

He visited her many times to press his suit, and finally Mrs. Rives consented to the marriage. The ceremony at the Rives mansion was small and the couple left for their honeymoon in July of 1907. When they returned six months later, they moved into Burden’s mother’s home on Fifth Avenue in New York.

On February 22, 1908, Natica was found dead in her bedroom. She had apparently been reading by the light of a gas lamp which malfunctioned during the night and she was asphyxiated. The incident was ruled an accident by the coroner, but the prevailing rumor was that she had committed suicide.

Natica Rives Burden’s funeral was attended by many members of New York society including Natica’s biological father, OHP Belmont. After the ceremony, her body was taken by train to the Burden family plot in Troy, New York for burial.
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From the New York Times, April 14, 1907:

The wedding of Miss Natica Rives and William Proudfit Burden will take place on Wednesday at Grace Church chantry. The bride is one of the most beautiful girls in the fashionable set and is descended from a long line of beautiful women. She is the goddaughter of Mrs. Astor and was born at Newport. There will be no bridesmaids. The bridegroom's brother will be best man. The invitations are limited, as the Burden family is in mourning. There will be a small reception for relatives after the ceremony at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Rives. Mr. and Mrs. Burden, after a short wedding trip, will go abroad for the Summer.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B0DEED8123EE033A...

https://www.nytimes.com/1908/02/22/archives/natica-rives-burden-kil...