A frequent social -- and then romantic -- Elm Tree Road visitor was Bettine (Athalia) Stokes Edwards, an American girl who danced in Chu Chin Chow (and daughter of Robert Ewing Edwards of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) who became Mercer's first wife. The New York Times announcement of their engagement (28 August 1919) states: ``Mr & Mrs Glover Fitzhugh Perin of 57 West Fifty-eight street have announced the engagement of Mrs Perin's oldest daughter Miss Bettine Stokes Edwards... '' suggesting that her father either was dead or divorced; her remarried mother then lived in New York City.
Mrs Perin
Miss Bettine Stokes Edwards