Julia Hunt Catlin Park DePew Taufflieb

Julia Hunt Catlin Park DePew Taufflieb (July 6, 1864 – December 17, 1947) was a philanthropist and socialite who was the first American woman to be awarded the Croix de Guerre and Legion d'honneur by France in 1917 for turning her Château d'Annel into a 300-bed hospital during World War I. Early life Julia Hunt Catlin was born on July 6, 1864, to Julius Catlin (1833–1893) and Frances Helen Hunt (b. 1839), the daughter of Seth B. Hunt, Esq. of Maple Grove, Bennington, Vermont. Her sisters were Edith Catlin and May Catlin. She lived at 16 East 49th Street in New York City. Her paternal grandfather was Julius Catlin, the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1858 to 1861. Her aunt, Hannah Maria Catlin, married Benjamin K. Phelps, the New York County District Attorney. During World War I Julia turned her Château d'Annel in Longueil d'Annel into a 300-bed Allied military hospital at the front lines of World War I. It was the first hospital for the Allies' wounded soldiers opened in France by an American so near the front.