Afghan Hound Times
(Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange)
Baroness Hilda De Rothschild (1895-1981)
(USA - Ellis Farm Afghan hounds)
by Steve Tillotson, June 2016


http://www.afghanhoundtimes.com ARTICLE Baroness Hilda De Rothschild, USA llis Farm Afghan hounds


ROTHSCHILD FAMILY WEALTH, POWER AND INFLUENCE
Many wealthy people were involved in the establishment and development of breeds of dogs. In the case of Afghan hounds, in the USA we have Q A Shaw McKean (Prides Hill, ) Amelia and Martha White (Kandahar), Joseph Brown Thomas Jnr (O'valley Farm Afghan hounds), Clarence Dillon (Dunwalk Afghan Hounds). Mckean was involved in Banking, and investments, the White sisters were daughters of the owner/editor of the New York Times and The Chicago Tribune, Dillon was head of investment bankers Dillon Read and Co Inc. Thomas was an investment banker/broker..

If you were to add together the fortunes of all of the above wealthy people, the grand total would come nowhere near the wealth of the Rothschild family. Current estimates of the Rotschild family wealth varies between $500 Billion - $2 Trillion. Without doubt, the Rothschild family are the richest family in the history of the world. The Rothschilds story is huge and complex. Wikipedia is a good starting point if readers wish to know more. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia that sums up the wealth and power of the family -

"The Rothschilds are the wonders of modern banking … we see the descendants of Judah, after a persecution of two thousand years, peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands. The Rothschilds govern a Christian world. Not a cabinet moves without their advice. They stretch their hand, with equal ease, from Petersburgh to Vienna, from Vienna to Paris, from Paris to London, from London to Washington. Baron Rothschild, the head of the house, is the true king of Judah, the prince of the captivity, the Messiah so long looked for by this extraordinary people. He holds the keys of peace or war, blessing or cursing. … They are the brokers and counselors of the kings of Europe and of the republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire?". Source - (Wikipedia)

Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild (1868 – 1937), a scion of the Rothschild family, was a British banker, politician, and zoologist He was also a trustee of the British Museum (Natural History). As readers may know, Shahzada and Moroo, (two Afghan hounds, imported to England in the 1890's) ,were donated to ehe British Museum after their death, stuffed and put on display in the British Museum in London. These two exhibits have since been relocated to the Biriths Museums annex located in Tring in Hertfordshire, England where they are now on display. The building at Tring is named "The Walter Rothschild building".. A link to the British Mmuseum (Tring) can be found here The person driving the Zebra drawn cart on the Museums link page is Lionel Rothschild, he was quite famous for using Zebra's to pull his cart on his estate..

http://www.afghanhoundtimes.com ARTICLE Baroness Hilda De Rothschild, WADDESON MANOR, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, ENGLAND


BARONESS HILDA DE ROTHSCHILD (Ellis Farm Afghan hound USA)
Our interest in family Rothschild is primarily with the Baroness Hilda De Rothschild (1895-1981). Born Countess Hildegard Johanna Von Auersperg, her parents were Anton Alexander Adolf Wolf Maria Von Auersperg - Valerie Elisabeth Josephine Von Auersperg.



Baroness Hilda was married twice, her second marriage (in 1946) was to - Baron Louis Nathaniel von Rothschild. Louis was born in Vienna on 5 March 1882 and died of heart failure while swimming in Montego Bay, Jamaica on 15 January 1955. While living in Austria in 1938 Baron Louis was imprisoned by the Nazi's for several months, most of his property and valuable art and antique collections in Austria and Germany were taken from him and were never returned. This was part of the " Anschluss" (Nazi propaganda term for the annexing of Austria into Nazi Germany in March 1938). Upon his release he emigrated to the USA. In the USA Louis and Hilda owned various homes/properties including Ellis Farm, East Barnard, Vermont, where their "Ellis Farm" Afghan hounds were raised. Hilda and Louis also owned various homes in England in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Ellis Farm, early 1930's
http://www.afghanhoundtimes.com PHOTO Ellis Farm, East Barnard, Vermont,


ELLIS FARM, EAST BARNARD, VERMONT
The town of Barnard was given a charter on July 17,1761. However, the first settlers in East Barnard did not arrive until 1785. In 1785 Moses Ellis settled on the place later owned by Mrs. De Rothschild. His farm was in the Ellis family for 165 years. The stone quarry on Ellis Mountain furnished granite for many foundations and for door steps for many homes in the valley and for houses as far away as Woodstock, Vermont, Hilda and Louis purchaed Ellis Farm around 1947. Until 1947 the Ellis farm had not been out of the family. It became a real show place after being remodeled and landscaped.

The following are notes by R.H. Ellis "The Baron and Mrs. de Rothschild are both dead (she is buried in the cemetery at East Barnard) and the farm has been passed to MIT, then to a man from Texas who never lived at the farm, and now to a family named Desmond. I visited the farm around 1973 and met the Baroness. She showed us around the house and barn and allowed us to take pictures. She shared a story about when they first bought the farm, “The neighbors said that now that the Baron had purchased the farm. He would probably paint out the Ellis name." She stated, "He did precisely that and then had the name repainted with orders that as long as he had the farm the name would always stay. She also told me about a visit she had from my Uncle Bert who brought her a black walnut tree and she gave him a pine to take back to Iowa Falls, IA."

From the Book belonging to Helen Moe: "The Rothschild’s--A Family Portrait" by Frederic Morton Published by the Curtis Publishing Co. Copyright 1961 Page 264-265. "Then Louis returned to his spacious farm in East Barnard, Vermont. The New England highlands evoked the Alps. The tart reserve of the Vermonters matched his own temper well. Professors of art and botany came to visit from Dartmouth. Baroness Hilda created a beautiful garden on the grounds, as well as something Louis had never been sure he would like: a family home. He liked it. In the last years of his life the Rothschild folks even gave open-air barn dances, and the Baron do-si-do'd with the same cool grace with which he had once waltzed on Vienna parquets. He died, in his seventies, the way a grand seigneur should--swimming in Montego Bay, under a blue and perfect Caribbean sky".

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