1887 Aug 7 Born in Springfield Ohio. Her father was postmaster, an attorney and journalist in Springfield, Ohio.
1900 United States Federal Census: Frances Rabbitts. : in her parents house at Springfield Ward 1, Clark, Ohio. Her father James H Rabbitts had been born in England circa 1853, and her mother Cornelia was born in Baltimore, Maryland circa 1858. Other sibling was brother Burt aged 16,
1909 June Goes to France
1910 Jul 6 arrives back in New York on SS Potsdam from Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France
1910 United States Federal Census still living with her parents at Springfield Ward 1, Clark, Ohio. Brother Burt there too
1913 Feb. Leonard Wilde, born Reading UK c.1891/2, occupation teacher, lands at New York en route to "c/o H.S.Chown, Ringbert College, Cuba". Horace Stanley Chown (born Wandsworth 1880) is a teacher/professor who travels back and forth between Cuba and the UK via New York several times between 1913 and 1945. Googling his name reveals that he was author of Spanish and French language courses (Hispanophone: Method for Learning Spanish and Francophone: Method for Learning French in the 1930s). There may or may not be a connection here as to how she met Wilde. It may be just coincidence, but an ancestor of Horace Chown married a Rabbitts from Wiltshire in the 1840s. I couldn't find any positive link to Frances' father (who was born and bred in Ohio anyway), but Rabbitts is a very rare name.
1914 Jul 2. Leaves USA for Europe
1914 Aug 20. She makes an emergency passport application in Venice
1914 Sep 30. Arrives back in Boston, USA on SS Arabic
1917 Nov 24. Sails to France on the French Line to do "hospital work" and describes herself as a "former teacher". She worked with the French Red Cross at Hopital Auxiliaire 521 in Paris.
1919 Feb 12, Married Leonard Wilde in Notre Dame in Paris.
1919 Jun 16 Mrs Frances Wilde arrived at New York as a passenger aboard the SS Espagne from Le Havre. She gave her age as 30 and was going on to Springfield, Ohio which was where she was born. Her last place of permanent residence had been in Madrid and she gave as the name and address of a near relative or friend in the country from whence she came as ' Husband - Madrid - Spain'.
1919 Jun 29 Frances returned to the US in 1919 soon after getting married probably because her father was on his death-bed. James Henry Rabbitts, husband of Cornelia Burt, died on 29 June 1919, just a couple of weeks after Frances arrived in New York from Spain. His death was announced in the Springfield Daily News of 2 July 1919. It is not clear when F left the US and returned to Europe. In July 1919, however, her mother applied for a passport to travel to Spain to stay with F and son-in-law LA Wilde. F's mother returned to USA in Mar 1921, which would have been after Wilde's death
1920 Nov 21 Her husband was shot in Dublin. Her whereabouts at this time are not known. She was probably in Paris, but there is no evidence. There is no evidence to suggest she was in Dublin
1921 Sep 21. Frances Wilde arrives into NY again, gives her "next of kin" in Paris as a friend called "Grommbach" of "34 Rue Laugier" (Same address as when studying at Sorbonne in 1909) Occupation "none." . She puts on the form that she is going to see her mother in Ohio for 3 months. Her mother Cornelia is on the passenger lists of ships from Le Havre to New York in March 1921, January 1925 and July 1929, when she is aged 70. However, none of these give her address in France. Cornelia died in Springfield in 1934. She is listed as an English citizen who had been living in living in Paris, France.
1922 A City directory shows his widow as living with mother at 211 N Limestone, Springfield; identified as the widow of Leonard. It is unclear when Frances left Ohio and when or how she came to be in Tehran two years later. 1924 Nov 5. Frances was re-married to Wallace Smith Murray (1887–1965) by a Presbyterian minister at the Tehran home of Col. DW MacCormack. WSM was the U.S. charge d'affair to Persia (acting ambassador). Frances is identified as a British subject. Frances' husband was the second U.S. Ambassador to Iran (5 Jun 1945 - 18 Apr 1946). During this time, the Iranian Crisis of 1945-46 occurred, which was the first Cold War showdown between the US and the Soviet Union.
1924 Jul 18 . U.S. Vice Consul Robert Imbrie, assassinated in Tehran. Charge d’affairs Wallace Smith Murray was the investigator of the murder. Frances married Wallace Smith Murry in Tehran in November 1924.
1924 Nov 5. Frances was re-married to Wallace Smith Murray (1887–1965) by a Presbyterian minister at the Tehran home of Col. DW MacCormack. WSM was the U.S. charge d'affair to Persia (acting ambassador). Frances is identified as a British subject. Frances' husband was the second U.S. Ambassador to Iran (5 Jun 1945 - 18 Apr 1946). During this time, the Iranian Crisis of 1945-46 occurred, which was the first Cold War showdown between the US and the Soviet Union.
1938 Nov 24 Arives in New York from Gibralter on SS Vulcania. He address is Dept of State, Washington, and she is Mrs Frances Rabbitts Murray, travelling with Mr Wallace Smith Murray (the date of birth is given and is correct)
1983 Feb 3. She died Washington DC
There exists today a Wallace S Murray and Frances Rabbitts Murray Memorial, a registered charity in Springfield, Ohio. In 2007 it filed its assets as $537,000 and its objective was "supplying money, goods or services to the poor". She remarried to Wallace Smith Murray