Cissy Patterson

Eleanor Josephine Medill "Cissy" Patterson, Countess Gizycki (November 7, 1881 – July 24, 1948) was an American journalist and newspaper editor, publisher and owner. Patterson was one of the first women to head a major daily newspaper, the Washington Times-Herald in Washington, D.C. Early life Elinor Josephine Patterson was born in Chicago, Illinois, on November 7, 1881, to the daughter of Robert and Elinor "Nellie" ( Medill) Patterson. She would change the spelling of her first name to "Eleanor" as an adult, but would always be known as "Cissy," the name her brother gave her in childhood. Her grandfather, Joseph Medill, was Mayor of Chicago and owned the Chicago Tribune, which later passed into the hands of her first cousin Colonel Robert R. McCormick, Joseph Medill's grandson. Her older brother, Joseph Medill Patterson, was the founder of the New York Daily News. Education and marriage She was educated at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. When her uncle Robert S. McCormick was named ambassador to Austria-Hungary, she accompanied him and his wife, Cissy's maternal aunt Kate, to Vienna. There she met Count Josef Gizycki and fell in love with him, a romance not interrupted even by her return to America, where she lived in Washington, D.C. In Washington, she was a leading light in society, where the press labeled Alice Roosevelt (daughter of Theodore), Marguerite Cassini (daughter of the Russian ambassador), and Cissy the "Three Graces." Count Gizycki came to America and they were married in Washington on April 14, 1904 despite her family's objections. A daughter was born to them September 3, 1905, and was named Felicia Leonora (1905–1999). Cissy went with the Count to his home, a huge feudal manor in Russian Poland. Their family life did not go well. They separated and then rejoined several times, but eventually Cissy set herself on leaving. She took their child, hiding her in a house near London, but the Count pursued her and kidnapped the little Countess, hiding her in an Austrian convent. Cissy filed for divorce, which took thirteen years to obtain.