John Van Rensselaer and His Mother

The Chattanooga Star, July 27, 1908

I knew that there was a reason that I was so quickly enamored with the Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer woman and her books about playing cards as soon as I heard of her. She, like most extremely rich people, had divided lives of both prosperity and tragedy. 

So far, I've found instances where Mrs. Van Rensselaer's son John threatened to kill her, calling her a selfish peacock for not lending him $5,000. He was later self-committed to a mental hospital and the charges of threatening to murder his mother were set aside.

The Kansas City Times, April 6, 1903

A few years beforehand she and her equally rich and very elderly aunt got into a financial scuffle over 30 cents postage due and she was all but disowned by the woman whom she cared for for half a decade when she became an invalid. The matter was latter blamed on a black house servant whom had resented the woman's intrusion into the estate. 

All the while Mrs. Van Rensselaer kept adding to her vast collection of playing cards, including the first deck ever produced in America, and writing her books, two which delved into the history and uses of playing cards in all manners.

Curiously enough, I bought Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer's book "The Devil's Picture-Books" from the local and legendary John King Bookstore in Detroit.