The Bride of Her Husband's Friend and Physician
Baltimore, April 10 {1902} — Mrs. Robert Garrett, lender of the exclusive social circles of this city, heiress to $20,000,000, is now the wife of Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs. He was the intimate, almost the life long friend and physician of the late Robert Garrett, president of the Baltimore & 0hio railroad.
The wedding is a climax of a romance begun soon after the body of Robert Garrett, son of the great railroad organizer, who died in 1806, was laid in the tomb. It forms the opening of another epoch in the life of this brilliant and beautiful woman, whose works of charity and open bounty to the poor and needy have made her blessed by thousands.
Baltimoreans of the older generation who witnessed the taking of new vows could not refrain from discussing the curious ante-nuptial agreement that marked the marriage.
This was no less than an agreement signed by both parties whereby neither one can touch the property of the other. The agreement is in the form of chattel index deed from Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs to Mary Frick Garrett.
After declaring that a marriage is contemplated between the parties to the agreement, it goes on to state that both parties fully and completely relinquish all right to any property belonging to the other, during their married life, and that after the death of either, the survivor shall not claim the property of the deceased or make any attempt to contest any last will or testament.
In a word, it leaves the property of Mrs. Jacobs willed to her by her husband entirely in her own hands, Dr. Jacobs has no power to touch a penny of it, either during her life, or after her death.
This ante-nuptial agreement caused almost as much interest as the wedding itself. The older guests could not refrain from a glance through that open door of the past that revealed the brilliant Garrett, brilliant as a financier and no less as a host.
Akron Ohio Daily Democrat, Monday, April 14 1902. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84028140/1902-04-14/ed-1/seq-3