Lydie Marland
Encyclopedia
Flourtown, Pennsylvania
Flourtown is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 19031. Flourtown is adjacent to the Philadelphia neighborhoods of West Oak Lane, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill...
, Montgomery County
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Montgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010, the population was 799,874, making it the third most populous county in Pennsylvania . The county seat is Norristown.The county was created on September 10, 1784, out of land originally part...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, the second child to George Frederick Roberts and Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts and granddaughter of George W. Roberts and Mary B. (Fine) Roberts and Samuel Cavin Collins, Sr. and Lydie "Eliza" (Miller) Collins. Lydie Miller Roberts' brother, George Roberts, was born about two and a half years earlier, on November 19, 1897, also in Flourtown, Pennsylvania.
Early life
Lydie, her preferred spelling of her name, and George's parents were not well off financially, so in 1912 they went to visit their mother's sister, Mary Virginia (Collins) Marland and her millionaire husband, E. W. MarlandE. W. Marland
Ernest Whitworth Marland was an American lawyer, oil businessman, and politician who served as the tenth Governor of Oklahoma.-Career as an Oilman:...
, whose full name was Ernest Whitworth Marland, in Ponca City
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Ponca City is a small city in Kay and Osage counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, which was named after the Ponca Tribe. Located in north central Oklahoma, it lies approximately south of the Kansas border, and approximately east of Interstate 35. 25,919 people called Ponca City home at the...
, Kay County
Kay County, Oklahoma
Kay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 48,080. Its county seat is Newkirk. The largest city in Kay County is Ponca City.-19th century:...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, who were childless. In 1916, the Marlands adopted Lydie and George and they moved to Ponca City and moved in with the Marlands. After moving to Ponca City she attended thelocal Catholic school, but soon left to attend various boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
s in the East, ending her schooling at Oaksmere School on Long Island, New York, a school founded by Winifred Edgerton Merrill
Winifred Edgerton Merrill
Winifred Edgerton, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, was the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. She earned her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1883. She attended Columbia University in New York after a short stay at Harvard...
, the first American woman to be awarded a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in mathematics. The school was known for it high academic standards so it stands to reason that Lydie received a good education.
Following the completion of her formal education Lydie returned to Ponca City where she became known for the parties she attended, as well as her attachment to outdoor activities such as the fox hunts that E. W. Marland had instigated. At this time the Marlands were living at the Grand House on Grand Avenue in Ponca City, while Marland's mansion, the "Palace on the Prairie" was being built [1925 - 1928].
Wife of E. W. Marland
On June 6, 1926, Mary Virginia (Collins) Marland, E.W.'s wife died. Within two years, E.W. returned to Flourtown, Pennsylvania, and had Lydie's adoption of a dozen years earlier annulled. On July 14, 1928, E. W. and Lydie were married in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. After an extended honeymoon that took the couple across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, ending up in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, the Marlands returned to Ponca City.
The lifestyle that Marland, at one time considered one of the richest men in the world, had set up for them did not last long. By 1928 the Marland Oil Company
Marland Oil Company
Marland Oil Company was an American oil company founded in 1917, by Ponca City, Oklahoma oil exploration pioneer E. W. Marland when he assembled his various holdings including the 101 Ranch Oil Company into one unit, forming Marland Oil Company...
, now Conoco, had been taken over by "the Wolves of Wall Street", primarily by J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
, and so, by 1930, the Marlands had moved out of the mansion and set up in the studio and guest house.
"First Lady of Oklahoma"
Two years later, in 1932, E. W. ran successfully for the U.S. Congress from Oklahoma's 8th District and the couple moved to Washington, D. C. In 1934 they returned to Oklahoma, this time with E. W. being elected as governor and Lydie as his First Lady. Although his tenure [1935-1939] was politically successful, Marland took the part of his oath that stated "that I will not, knowingly, receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing, for the performance or nonperformance of any act or duty pertaining to my office, other than the compensation allowed by law;" seriously and came out of the governorship a financially broke man.In 1941 Lydie and E.W. moved into the chauffeur's quarters and the "Palace of the Prairie" was sold to the Discalced Carmelite Fathers of Mexico." Marland died several months later, leaving Lydie a widow at age 41. The Carmelite Fathers requested that the statue of Lydie that stood on the grounds be removed, Jo Davidson
Jo Davidson
Jo Davidson was an American sculptor of Russian-Jewish descent. Although he specialized in realistic, intense portrait busts, Davidson did not require his subjects to formally pose for him; rather, he observed and spoke with them...
's work no doubt being a bit too worldly for the good fathers. So, doubtlessly feeling very depressed, Lydie paid a Ponca City man to destroy the statue and haul it away. Years later, after Lydie had died, the man, on his deathbed, related how the statue had been broken and described where he had buried the pieces. The statue was eventually discovered, dug up and restored. Today [2005] it stands next to the statue of her brother, George Roberts Marland, in the entrance hallway of the "Palace on the Prairie" that she and E.W. lived in for such a short time.
Meanwhile, following E. W.'s death Lydie continued living in the chauffeur's cottage for another dozen years, all the while becoming more and more of a private person.
Disappearance of Lydie
In 1953 she loaded what was left of in the way of worldly goods and drove away from Ponca City - without a driver's license. Her whereabouts for the next 22 years remain much of a mystery. Because she was a nationally known figure at that time, it would be reported in the newspapers of the day when she was discovered working as a maid in Independence, MissouriIndependence, Missouri
Independence is the fourth largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri, and is contained within the counties of Jackson and Clay. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area...
. Later she was rediscovered in a bread line in New York City. In 1967, she surfaced marching in an anti-Vietnam War rally in Washington, D.C., after that she next appeared in San Francisco.
In 1975, a Ponca City lawyer (and childhood friend) located Lydie in Washington, D.C., and financed her return to Ponca City. She moved back into the chauffeur's cottage, and spearheaded a movement to have Ponca City purchase the Mansion when it came up for sale again, and turn it into a museum, which is what happened. She remained living in the cottage until her death on July 25, 1987.