Edith Louise O'Shaughnessy (née Coues; January 31, 1868 – February 18, 1939) was a journalist, biographer, film screenwriter and, as the wife of United States Chargé d’Affaires in Mexico, Nelson O'Shaughnessy, during the early years of the Mexican Revolution she was both a witness and a participant in Mexican political affairs during the presidency of Francisco I. Madero and Victoriano Huerta.
Biography
She was born Edith Louise Coues on January 31, 1868, in Columbia, South Carolina. Her parents were noted ornithologist Elliott Coues (1842-1899) and Jane 'Jeannie' Augusta McKinney (also spelled McKenney in some sources) (1845-1925). She was the eldest of five children, but only Edith and two brothers survived into adulthood. Her brothers were Elliott Baird Coues (January 19, 1872, in Baltimore, Maryland – January 2, 1913, in Zurich, Switzerland) and Beverley Drinkard Coues (born November, 1878, in Washington, D.C.). Her parents' marriage was a difficult one, due in part to her father's frequent absences on scientific and ornithological research trips and his womanizing. Her parents separated in 1880, and finally divorced in 1886. Edith, eighteen, and Beverley, eight, remained with their mother in Washington, D.C., while fourteen-year-old Elliott lived with his father.
She was educated by private tutors and attended the Institute of Notre Dame
After her convent education she was sent to Europe both for the experience, and in the hope of finding a suitable husband. She married Oxford-educated diplomat and lawyer Nelson O’Shaughnessy in 1901. From 1901 to 1915, Edith O’Shaughnessy was a diplomatic wife, serving her country (and tea) as a proper diplomatic hostess in Copenhagen, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Bucharest, Mexico, and Rio de Janeiro. Her fame as a writer rests on her experiences in Mexico City during the Madero and Huerta Presidencies.
