What happened to Peggy's husband in The Gilded Age? Details from the HBO series, explored

Peggy Scott has had one of the most interesting character arcs in The Gilded Age. Due to an unexpected meeting with Marian Brook, she got connected to the old-money van Rhijn family and became Agnes van Rhijn's secretary.

The HBO period drama revolves around the clash between the new money Russell family and the old money van Rhijn-Brook family in 1880s New York, and Peggy Scott, played by Denée Benton, has an integral role to play in the narrative.

However, she did not always have a smooth life. It is revealed that she was married before the events of the show, which makes the audience wonder what happened to Peggy's husband in The Gilded Age. Peggy's first husband was Elias Finn, who disappeared from her life due to troubles caused by her father, Arthur Scott.

The Gilded Age: What happened to Peggy's husband, Elias Finn?

Before being the smart and determined secretary to Agnes van Rhijn in The Gilded Age, Peggy Scott had a young romance that led to her heartbreak. Peggy is the daughter of Arthur Scott, a successful pharmacist in Brooklyn. Her family was well-off compared to many Black families of that time.

When she was young, Peggy fell in love with Elias Finn, a young worker at her father’s store. Elias had no money or schooling, which made Arthur feel that he was an unworthy match for his daughter. However, Peggy did not care about his social status and loved him deeply. The two ran away to Philadelphia and got married in secret, as they hoped to start a new life away from Arthur’s control.

But their bliss did not last long, as Arthur tracked them down and forced Elias to sign a paper saying he had already been married before. This allowed a judge to cancel Peggy and Elias’s marriage. Hence, Peggy’s husband was taken away from her. To add to her misery, she was pregnant at the time.

After nearly dying during childbirth, she was told her baby had not survived. But in reality, Arthur had secretly arranged for the child to be adopted by another family in Philadelphia. With his marriage broken and his child hidden away, Elias vanished from Peggy’s world. She never got the chance to build a future with him.

Most people in society never knew about her past, but Peggy carried its trauma with her. She finally found the truth about her son later and learned that his name was Thomas, who was raised by the Spring family. But before Peggy could meet him, tragedy struck again. Both Thomas and his adoptive mother died from scarlet fever in The Gilded Age Season 2.

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Thus, Peggy’s first marriage ended in tragedy. Her past came back to haunt her when she found a new suitor, Dr. William Kirkland, in The Gilded Age Season 3. William’s mother did not want her son to marry Peggy due to her troubled past. However, after some persuasion by his father, William proposed to Peggy, giving her a second shot at love and marriage.

The Gilded Age Seasons 1 to 3 are streaming on HBO Max.

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