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Born Millicent Vernon Hammond, she was the middle of three children born to renowned politician and later Ambassador to Spain, Ogden Haggerty Hammond (October 13, 1869 – October 29, 1956) of Louisville, Kentucky and his first wife, Mary Picton Stevens (May 16, 1885 – May 7, 1915) of Hoboken, New Jersey. Her paternal grandparents were General John Henry Hammond (June 30, 1833 – April 30, 1890), who served as chief of staff for William Tecumseh Sherman during the Vicksburg Campaign, and Sophia Vernon Wolfe (1842 – May 20, 1923), daughter of Nathaniel Wolfe, a lawyer and legislator from Louisville. Her maternal grandparents were John Stevens (July 1856 – January 21, 1895), oldest son of Stevens Institute of Technology founder Edwin Augustus Stevens and grandson of inventor John Stevens, and Mary Marshall McGuire (May 4, 1850 – May 2, 1905). Ogden Hammond and Mary Stevens got married on April 8, 1907 and both derived from families who were heavily involved in history. Ogden Haggerty Hammond was “the son of a civil war general,” and after his father’s passing, he “entrenched himself in all aspects of superior life.” Mary Picton Stevens “was the heir to a fortune based largely on real estate holdings in Hoboken, New Jersey." Millicent's father attended school at Yale University and later in life became a New York financier. She had a sister, Mary Stevens Hammond, and a brother, Ogden H. Hammond, Jr. She was also cousins with John Hammond, the well-known record producer.

During World War I, Mrs. Hammond insisted on going overseas to help those who needed assistance in Europe, despite the potential dangers that were affiliated while doing so. When Millicent was 5 years old, her mother perished in the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, which her father survived. When Ogden arrived back home from this tragic event, he did not want to discuss what happened, regarding his wife nor the event, and kept himself busy and distracted by becoming very involved with his work. Everyone, both friends and family, respected his decision and carried on with their normal lives as if nothing transpired. He remarried two years later, to Marguerite McClure Howland, and by that marriage Fenwick had a stepbrother, McClure (Mac) Howland. Marguerite McClure Howland, nickname Daisy, was now Ogden’s children’s stepmother. However, Daisy was so preoccupied with herself, Mac, and her social status that she spent minimul time with her stepchildren. Millicent and Daisy did not have a good relationship and her father was no help. If there were any family issues going on, Ogden requested that his children would go to Daisy and not him. After their mother’s passing, Millicent and her siblings developed a closer relationship, especially the relationship between her and her sister, Mary. In 1918, the trial of the Lusitania took place, as people were suing the ships company for failure to show passengers aboard the safety precautions. Ogden was one of the many people to testify and when the jury reached the verdict, the Hammond’s family were each compensated, receiving over sixty-thousand dollars.

Raised in comfortable circumstances in Bernardsville, New Jersey, she attended the exclusive Nightingale-Bamford School in nearby Manhattan, Foxcroft School and college at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research.

In 1931, Millicent Hammond met Hugh McLeod Fenwick (February 17, 1905 – July 24, 1991), who was already married to the former Dorothy Ledyard, the daughter of New York attorney Lewis Cass Ledyard. Hugh briefly attended Harvard University before he began working in the field of aviation in Pensacola, Florida. Fenwick later earned the position of becoming a “lieutenant in the flying section of the New Jersey National Guard." The relationship between Hugh and Millicent was kept discrete until he got a divorce. When the two got engaged, Millicent’s stepmother was beside herself and Ogden, too, was disappointed with his daughter. Daisy, "a devout Catholic," was so disenchanted with Millicent to marry a divorced man that she prohibited her from ever being allowed to return back to the house. Despite her father's and stepmother's disapproval, Hugh and Millicent got married on June 11, 1932. The couple rented a house in Bedminster, New Jersey for about a year before moving to Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Born on February 25, 1934, the Fenwick’s welcomed their first child, Mary Stevens Fenwick, also born on Millicent’s birthday. Becoming a mom did not come easy to Millicent and she therefore had to hire a nanny to help raise her daughter, Mary. When Hugh and Millicent welcomed their second child, Hugo Hammond Fenwick, their marriage started to go downhill. Hugh’s dishonesty about telling different stories and lying played a big role in the separation between the two. Hugh relocated to Europe leaving behind an enormous amount of debt his wife had to pay off. After several years of being separated, Hugh and Millicent divorced in 1945. Hugh remarried to Barbara West and had a daughter, Maureen, while Millicent did not remarry and instead focused on working and caring for her children.

While Hugh and Millicent were still together, she briefly modeled for Harper’s Bazaar. When they divorced it was difficult for Millicent to find a job that would support both herself and her children because she never received a high school diploma. After searching for jobs and not being recognized by publishers for the stories she wrote, Millicent was hired to work for Vogue magazines as a “caption editor.” She stayed with Vogue for a little over a decade and held several job titles while serving her time with them. She concluded her career at Vogue magazines in 1948. She compiled Vogue's Book of Etiquette, which sold a million copies and eventually went on tour around the country. By 1952 Millicent officially retired from work because her children were old enough to support themselves. She also “inherited money,” which was substantially enough to support her after retirement.