Abbie G. Rogers
Encyclopedia
Abbie Gifford Rogers was the first wife of Henry Huttleston Rogers, (1840-1909), a United States
capitalist
, businesswoman, industrialist, financier
, and philanthropist
.
As children, Abbie and "Hen", each of Mayflower
lineage, grew up and went to school together in Fairhaven, Massachusetts
, a small coastal fishing town with a whaling
heritage. They were married in 1862, and started their family life together in a one room shack in the newly discovered western Pennsylvania
oil fields
. Although he and Abbie lived frugally for many years, by 1875, Henry Rogers had risen in the petroleum industry
to become one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller
’s Standard Oil
Trust. He invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways. The Virginian Railway
is widely considered his final life's achievement. Rogers amassed a great fortune, estimated at over $100 million, and became one of the wealthiest men in the United States.
Abbie and Henry Rogers were generous, providing many public works for their hometown of Fairhaven
, including the Town Hall which Abbie donated in 1894 shortly before her death. Rogers also financially assisted such notables as Mark Twain
, Helen Keller
, and Booker T. Washington.
Abbie and Henry Rogers had 5 children, four of whom survived to adulthood. She died suddenly on May 21, 1894, following an operation in New York City. After her death, Henry Rogers is said to have immersed himself even more in his work during the 15 years he outlived her. When he died in 1909, he was interred with her at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven.
" of scuttled ships that blockaded Charleston Harbor
during the American Civil War
. It is said that Captain Gifford loved to discuss his career as a very successful ship-master. The Giffords' home, built in 1835, was located at 36 Green Street in Fairhaven.Among The first cousins Her mother was Frances Ford Seymour
, a socialite the second wife of actor Henry Fonda
and the mother of actors Jane Fonda
and Peter Fonda
.
As Abbie grew up, one of her schoolmates and neighbors in the small coastal town was young Henry Huttleston Rogers
, nicknamed "Hen", her future husband. Both Abbie and Henry were descendants of colonists who had arrived at the Plymouth Colony
on the Mayflower
in 1620.
was the primary source of fuel for lighting in the United States. The whaling
industry was the mainstay for many New England
coastal communities for over 200 years. Among these was Fairhaven, Massachusetts
, founded on land purchased by English settlers of the Plymouth Colony
from a friendly Native American
tribal chief, Massasoit
, and his son, who was named Wamsutta
.
In 1854, natural oil (petroleum
) was discovered in western Pennsylvania
. In 1859, George Bissell
and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig at Titusville, Pennsylvania
. Production from this single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output which had taken place in Europe
since the 1650s. The principal product of the oil was kerosene
. Another related product was natural gas
. Kerosene and natural gas soon replaced whale oil in North America for illuminating purposes. In New England, whaling reached its peak in 1857, then gradually began a period of decline, partially due to Scandinavia
n competition. The situation was aggravated considerably by the American Civil War, as whaling vessels and crews were diverted to assist in blockading the Confederate
coastal areas and ports. By 1900, the whaling industry had collapsed, due in part to the discovery and refining of petroleum
from the western Pennsylvania oil fields.
Perhaps realizing both the trend and opportunity, in 1861, in Fairhaven
, 21 year-old Henry H. Rogers
pooled his savings of approximately $600 with a friend, Charles Ellis. They set out to western Pennsylvania
and its newly discovered oil fields. The young partners began their small Wamsutta Oil Refinery
at McClintocksville
near Oil City, Pennsylvania
.
The old Indian name "Wamsutta" was apparently selected in honor of their hometown area of New England. In nearby New Bedford
, the Wamsutta Company
had opened in 1846, the first of many textile
mills that gradually came to supplant whaling as the principal employment activity in the area.
Rogers and Ellis, and their tiny Wamsutta Oil Refinery, made $30,000 their first year. This amount was more than 3 entire whaling ship trips from back home could hope to earn during an average voyage of more than a years' duration. Of course, he was regarded as very successful when Rogers returned home to Fairhaven for a short vacation the next year.
There, in 1862, Abbie Palmer Gifford married young Henry Rogers, her childhood sweetheart. She returned with him to the oil fields where they lived in a one-room shack along Oil Creek where her young husband and Ellis worked the Wamsutta Oil Refinery.
A short time later, Rogers met Charles Pratt
. Pratt (1830-1891) had been born in Watertown, Massachusetts
. In nearby Boston, he had joined a company specializing in paints and whale oil products. In 1850 or 1851, Pratt moved to New York City, where he worked for a similar company handling paint and oil.
Charles Pratt saw the same trend as Ellis and Rogers and became a pioneer of the natural oil (petroleum) industry. He established a kerosene
refinery Astral Oil Works
in Brooklyn, New York. Pratt's product later gave rise to the slogan, The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil.
In Pennsylvania in the mid 1860s, when Pratt and Rogers met, Pratt had earlier bought whale-oil from Ellis in Fairhaven, and they were already acquainted. The two young men agreed to sell the entire output of their small refinery to Pratt at a fixed price.
This went well at first. However, Ellis and Rogers had no wells of their own, and were dependent upon purchasing crude oil to refine and sell to Pratt. A few months later, crude oil prices suddenly increased due to manipulation by speculators. The young entrepreneur
s struggled to try to live up to their contract with Pratt, but soon their surplus was wiped out. Before long, they were heavily in debt to Pratt.
Charles Ellis gave up, but in 1866, Henry Rogers went to Pratt in New York City, and told him he would take personal responsibility for the entire debt. This so impressed Pratt that he immediately hired him for his own organization.
, Pratt's "hands and feet and eyes and ears" (Little Journeys to the Homes, 1909).
The Rogers continued to live frugally and young Henry worked very hard. Abbie brought his meals to the "works," and often he would sleep but three hours a night rolled up in a blanket by the side of a still. Rogers moved steadily from foreman to manager, and then superintendent of Pratt's Astral Oil Refinery
. Pratt finally gave Rogers an interest in the business as promised. In 1867, with Henry Rogers as a partner, he established the firm of Charles Pratt and Company
.
In the early 1870s, Pratt and Rogers became involved in a conflict with the infamous South Improvement Company
, which was basically a scheme to obtain favorable net shipping rates of oil owned by John D. Rockefeller
's interests from the Pennsylvania Railroad
(PRR) and other railroads through a secret system of rebates. Rockefeller and the South Improvement Company scheme outraged independent oil producers in western Pennsylvania and refineries there and afar alike.
The opposition to the South Improvement Company scheme among the New York refiners was led by Rogers. The New York interests formed an association, and about the middle of March, 1872, sent a committee of three, with Rogers, representing the Pratt interests, as head, to Oil City
to consult with the Oil Producers' Union there. Their arrival in the oil regions was a matter of great satisfaction to the Pennsylvania independents. Together, they soon managed to forge an agreement with the PRR and other railroads whose leaders eventually agreed to open rates to all and promised to end their shady dealings with South Improvement. The oil men were most exultant, but their joy was to be short-lived, for Rockefeller had already begun forming his Standard Oil
organization and was busy trying another approach, which included frequently buying-up opposing interests.
A short time later, Rockefeller approached Charles Pratt
with his plans of cooperation and consolidation. Pratt talked it over with Rogers, and they decided that the combination would benefit them. Rogers formulated terms, which guaranteed financial security and jobs for Pratt and himself. John D. Rockefeller
quietly accepted the offer on Rogers' exact terms. In 1874, Charles Pratt and Company (including Astral Oil) became one of the important formerly independent refiners to join Rockefeller's organization, and it was to become part of the Standard Oil
Trust when it was formed. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt
(1858-1913) became Secretary of Standard Oil.
Charles Pratts' former protégé, Henry H. Rogers
, soon rose to become one of Rockefeller's key men of Standard Oil. By 1890, he was a Vice-President and headed the important production committee. Rogers also invested outside of Standard Oil and became one of the wealthiest men in the world. He had interests in oil, gas, steel, copper, coal, and railroads, and eventually founded and built the Virginian Railway
at the end of his own career.
After 1874, the Rogers family continued to live in New York City, but vacationed at Fairhaven, where a large mansion was erected for them.
The family moved to New York in 1866. Daughter Cara Leland Rogers was born in Fairhaven in 1867, Millicent was born in 1873, followed by Mary (who became known as Mai)
in 1875.
Their son, Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr., was born in 1879, and came to be known as Harry. In adulthood, after the death of his father, he became known as Colonel Henry Huddleston Rogers, apparently returning to an earlier spelling of his middle name. The title of Colonel was apparently honorific, not uncommon in those times.
Local historians recall that the children of Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abbie Gifford Rogers were far more than vacationers in Fairhaven. Their roots were deep in the community. They spent time with grandparents and family friends and became knowledgeable about the traditions of the old whaling town.
In the 1890s, Cara's father had begun to consider a sewer and water project for the Fairhaven community. After much consultation with experts, he had chosen to adopt a sewerage plan developed in England known as the "Shone Sewer System". To manage the project, a young English engineer, Urban Hanlon Broughton
, was sent to town by the Shone executives to explain procedure and direct the actual work.
During his stay, Cara Duff had become acquainted with the young Englishman. By 1895 the sewer work was well on the way to completion, and Cara Rogers Duff and Urban Broughton had decided to be married. Cara became Mrs. Urban Broughton in late 1895. Departing on Christmas Day, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on a honeymoon trip to Europe.
The Broughtons' first child, a son, was born in Fairhaven in 1896, and was named Urban Huttleston Broughton. A second son was born in 1900, and was called Henry Rogers Broughton.
Although Urban Broughton was by birth an English subject, he spent more than twenty-five years in America, many of them in Chicago, Illinois. Urban Broughton became president of Utah Consolidated Mining Co. in 1901, and was chosen a director and a manager of the United Metals Selling Co., the selling agency for Amalgamated Copper Co.. He was also a director of the Atlas Tack Co. in Fairhaven, the Santa Rica Mining Co., and the Butte Coalition Mining Co. in Montana.
After the sudden death of his father-in-law (Henry H. Rogers Sr.) in 1909, Urban Broughton became president of The Virginian Railway Company
.
In 1912, Urban, Cara, and their two sons, Huttleston Broughton, and Henry Broughton, moved to England. They took up residence in Mayfair, London. Urban became a member of Parliament
(MP
). He found pleasure in this new career, becoming a close personal friend of Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law. Cara devoted herself to family matters and other domestic duties. Their young sons soon became thoroughly-oriented British subjects.
During World War I
, both Urban and Cara were very active in the war effort. Urban served the English government in many ways. He published a strong brochure designed to appeal to the good will of America entitled "The British Empire at War".
Cara offered all her efforts to the good of her adopted country as well, sponsoring many types of war work. She was deeply interested in the well-being of Bethnal Green Military Hospital. She gave hospitable parties for wounded soldiers at the family home in Broadoaks, Byfleet.
During the 1920s, the Broughtons visited Fairhaven several times. In 1926, Cara purchased the revolutionary war site of Fort Phoenix
and donated it to the city of Fairhaven, Massachusetts
. Today, it is a park.
Urban Broughton died in 1929, at the age of 72. Earlier in the same year, his name had been pending for elevation to the peerage
by King George V
. On May 2, 1929, the King proclaimed "... Cara Leland Broughton, widow of Urban Hanlon Broughton, may henceforth enjoy the same style and title as if her husband...had survived and received the title and dignity of Baron Fairhaven
".
The eldest son, Huttleston, was elevated to his father's barony, and became the first Baron Fairhaven, and Cara, the first Lady Fairhaven.
The grieving Rogers family sought an appropriate means of memorializing her short life. Because she had been an avid reader, especially of poetry, the Rogers decided that they would build and donate to the town of Fairhaven a library
named for her and given in the names of her sisters and brother.
In the same year she had died, land was acquired and plan were begun to erect in Fairhaven a unique and lavish tribute to the arts, the splendid yet functional Millicent Library
. The cornerstone was laid in September, 1891 at a quiet morning ceremony with only the family and their clergyman, Rev. J.M. Leighton, in attendance. After prayer, Millie's little brother, Harry, set the cornerstone. Within its confines were a sketch of Millicent, a tracing of the Rogers' ancestry, and a copy of the Fairhaven Star carrying a picture of the proposed building.
The Millicent Library describes the memorial window to the little girl who wished for a good library in Fairhaven as follows:
After an earlier marriage which was unsuccessful (her father and family friend Mark Twain
labeled her first husband a "scalawag"), on June 4, 1900, Mai Huttleston Rogers married William Robertson Coe, a 30 year-old insurance company manager. Coe had met Mai during a transatlantic crossing. Between 1900 and 1910, the William and Mai Coe had four children, William Rogers Coe
(1901-1971), Robert Douglas Coe
(1902-1985), Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe
(1907-1966), and Natalie Mai (née Coe) Vitetti
(1910-1987).
By 1910, Coe had become president of insurance broker Johnson & Higgins
, and was involved in insuring the hull of the RMS Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. Coe rose to Chairman of the Board of Johnson and Higgins by 1916, a position he held until 1943.
Coe was on the Board of Directors of The Virginian Railway Company
from 1910 until his death in 1955, and headed the company for a brief period during World War II
. He was also a director of Loup Creek Colliery and the Wyoming Land Company.
Mai and her husband had a large estate, Planting Fields, built on the Gold Coast
of Long Island, New York. They named the manor house "Coe Hall". Mai and her husband shared a love of horticulture
. Following an extended illness, Mai died in 1924, and was interred nearby. In 1949, their estate was donated by Coe to become Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park
.
Harry became a favorite of Rogers family friend Mark Twain
, who
in 1897 dedicated his new book Following The Equator with the following quipping preface:
As a young adult, Harry often joined his father and family friends on trips aboard their luxury steam yacht Kanawha
, built in 1899.
Harry married his first wife, Mary Benjamin. He and his wife traveled to Virginia with his father and Twain on the Kanawha in September, 1907 when the latter spoke at Robert Fulton Day at the Jamestown Exposition
. After their 1929 divorce he married 2, Marguerite von Braun Savell Miles (married 1929-33) and 3, Pauline Van der Voort Dresser (married 1933).
Harry journeyed again with his father and Twain to Norfolk, Virginia
in April, 1909 for the dedication ceremonies and dinner to celebrate the completion of the Virginian Railway
, which turned out to be his father's s final life achievement. After his father's death the following month, Harry took over his father's seat on the Board of Directors of the new railroad, with his brother-in-law, Urban Broughton, serving as the railroad's President.
He assembled a valuable collection of model sailing ship
s, which were donated the United States Naval Academy
at Annapolis, Maryland
after his death in 1935.
Harry and Mary Rogers had a son, Harry III, and a daughter, Millicent Rogers
, a prominent socialite during the 1930s and 1940s whose vast collection of turquoise jewelry and Native American artifacts are housed in the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico
.
, Fairhaven Massachusetts.
"Mother of six children, Mrs. Rogers is represented as having been of a quiet and retiring disposition, completely devoid of the ostentation often associated with great wealth. Contemporary photographs attest to a shy and gentle charm of feature, and she is known to have cherished a deep affection for Fairhaven and a nostalgia for the simple ways of her childhood.
"She was, therefore, delighted to become the donor of Fairhaven's beautiful new 'Town House,' and on February 22nd and 23d, 1894, she attended dedication exercises and received graciously at the splendid Dedication Ball, in the first gala functions marking the opening of the new building.
"It was not given those attending these happy festivities to know that - but three months later - in May, 1894, this gentle woman was to die in New York City after an operation performed to save her life."
survives, as do many other gifts of the Rogers' family to Fairhaven, where she and her husband grew up. The home of Captain Peleg Gifford (Abbie's childhood home), a two-story gable-end frame house built in the Greek Revival style at 36 Green Street, has been preserved. It and many other historic buildings in Fairhaven are opened periodically for special public tours.
The bronze plaque on the Fairhaven Town Hall, reads:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, businesswoman, industrialist, financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
As children, Abbie and "Hen", each of Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
lineage, grew up and went to school together in Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
, a small coastal fishing town with a whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
heritage. They were married in 1862, and started their family life together in a one room shack in the newly discovered western 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...
oil fields
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
. Although he and Abbie lived frugally for many years, by 1875, Henry Rogers had risen in the petroleum industry
Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...
to become one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
’s Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
Trust. He invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways. The Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
is widely considered his final life's achievement. Rogers amassed a great fortune, estimated at over $100 million, and became one of the wealthiest men in the United States.
Abbie and Henry Rogers were generous, providing many public works for their hometown of Fairhaven
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
, including the Town Hall which Abbie donated in 1894 shortly before her death. Rogers also financially assisted such notables as Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
, and Booker T. Washington.
Abbie and Henry Rogers had 5 children, four of whom survived to adulthood. She died suddenly on May 21, 1894, following an operation in New York City. After her death, Henry Rogers is said to have immersed himself even more in his work during the 15 years he outlived her. When he died in 1909, he was interred with her at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven.
Childhood in Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Abigail Palmer Gifford was the daughter of Mary (née Palmer) Gifford and Captain Peleg W. Gifford. Abbie's father had been a whaling ship captain and participated in the "Great Stone FleetStone Fleet
The Stone Fleet consisted of a fleet of aging ships purchased in New Bedford and other New England ports, loaded with stone, and sailed south during the American Civil War by the Union Navy for use as Blockships...
" of scuttled ships that blockaded Charleston Harbor
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It is said that Captain Gifford loved to discuss his career as a very successful ship-master. The Giffords' home, built in 1835, was located at 36 Green Street in Fairhaven.Among The first cousins Her mother was Frances Ford Seymour
Frances Ford Seymour
Frances Ford Seymour was a socialite, the second wife of actor Henry Fonda and the mother of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda.-Early life:...
, a socialite the second wife of actor Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and the mother of actors Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
and Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
.
As Abbie grew up, one of her schoolmates and neighbors in the small coastal town was young Henry Huttleston Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
, nicknamed "Hen", her future husband. Both Abbie and Henry were descendants of colonists who had arrived at the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
on the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
in 1620.
Whaling, oil, opportunity, roughing it in Pennsylvania
Prior to the second half of the 19th century, whale oilWhale oil
Whale oil is the oil obtained from the blubber of various species of whales, particularly the three species of right whale and the bowhead whale prior to the modern era, as well as several other species of baleen whale...
was the primary source of fuel for lighting in the United States. The whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
industry was the mainstay for many New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
coastal communities for over 200 years. Among these was Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
, founded on land purchased by English settlers of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
from a friendly Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribal chief, Massasoit
Massasoit
Massasoit Sachem or Ousamequin ,was the sachem, or leader, of the Pokanoket, and "Massasoit" of the Wampanoag Confederacy. The term Massasoit means Great Sachem.-Early years:...
, and his son, who was named Wamsutta
Wamsutta
Wamsutta , also known as Alexander Pokanoket, as he was called by New England colonists, was the eldest son of Massasoit and a sachem of the Wampanoag native American tribe. His sale of Wampanoag lands to colonists other than those of the Plymouth Colony brought the Wampanoag considerable power,...
.
In 1854, natural oil (petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
) was discovered in western 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...
. In 1859, George Bissell
George Bissell (industrialist)
George Henry Bissell is often considered the father of the American oil industry. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, the son of Isaac Bissell and Nancy Wemple....
and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig at Titusville, Pennsylvania
Titusville, Pennsylvania
Titusville is a city in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,146 at the 2000 census. In 1859, oil was successfully drilled in Titusville, resulting in the birth of the modern oil industry.-History:...
. Production from this single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output which had taken place in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
since the 1650s. The principal product of the oil was kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
. Another related product was natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
. Kerosene and natural gas soon replaced whale oil in North America for illuminating purposes. In New England, whaling reached its peak in 1857, then gradually began a period of decline, partially due to Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n competition. The situation was aggravated considerably by the American Civil War, as whaling vessels and crews were diverted to assist in blockading the Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
coastal areas and ports. By 1900, the whaling industry had collapsed, due in part to the discovery and refining of petroleum
Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...
from the western Pennsylvania oil fields.
Perhaps realizing both the trend and opportunity, in 1861, in Fairhaven
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
, 21 year-old Henry H. Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
pooled his savings of approximately $600 with a friend, Charles Ellis. They set out to western 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...
and its newly discovered oil fields. The young partners began their small Wamsutta Oil Refinery
Wamsutta Oil Refinery
Wamsutta Oil Refinery was established around 1861 in McClintocksville in Venango County near Oil City, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It was the first business enterprise of Henry Huttleston Rogers , who became a famous capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist.-...
at McClintocksville
McClintocksville, Pennsylvania
McClintocksville, Pennsylvania was a small community in Cornplanter Township in Venango County located in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States.- History :...
near Oil City, Pennsylvania
Oil City, Pennsylvania
Oil City is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania that is known in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. After the first oil wells were drilled nearby in the 1850s, Oil City became central in the petroleum industry while hosting headquarters for the Pennzoil, Quaker...
.
The old Indian name "Wamsutta" was apparently selected in honor of their hometown area of New England. In nearby New Bedford
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
, the Wamsutta Company
Wamsutta Company
Wamsutta Company, also known as Wamsutta Mills, was located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a port known for its whaling ships. The company was named for Wamsutta, the son of an Native American chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th...
had opened in 1846, the first of many textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
mills that gradually came to supplant whaling as the principal employment activity in the area.
Rogers and Ellis, and their tiny Wamsutta Oil Refinery, made $30,000 their first year. This amount was more than 3 entire whaling ship trips from back home could hope to earn during an average voyage of more than a years' duration. Of course, he was regarded as very successful when Rogers returned home to Fairhaven for a short vacation the next year.
There, in 1862, Abbie Palmer Gifford married young Henry Rogers, her childhood sweetheart. She returned with him to the oil fields where they lived in a one-room shack along Oil Creek where her young husband and Ellis worked the Wamsutta Oil Refinery.
A short time later, Rogers met Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist.Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. An advertising slogan was "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil." He...
. Pratt (1830-1891) had been born in Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown, Massachusetts
The Town of Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,915 at the 2010 census.- History :Archeological evidence suggests that Watertown was inhabited for thousands of years before the arrival of settlers from England...
. In nearby Boston, he had joined a company specializing in paints and whale oil products. In 1850 or 1851, Pratt moved to New York City, where he worked for a similar company handling paint and oil.
Charles Pratt saw the same trend as Ellis and Rogers and became a pioneer of the natural oil (petroleum) industry. He established a kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
refinery Astral Oil Works
Astral Oil Works
Astral Oil Works was founded in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York by Charles Pratt. Pratt was a pioneer of the petroleum industry who formed Charles Pratt and Company with Henry H. Rogers. The Pratt interests became part of John D...
in Brooklyn, New York. Pratt's product later gave rise to the slogan, The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil.
In Pennsylvania in the mid 1860s, when Pratt and Rogers met, Pratt had earlier bought whale-oil from Ellis in Fairhaven, and they were already acquainted. The two young men agreed to sell the entire output of their small refinery to Pratt at a fixed price.
This went well at first. However, Ellis and Rogers had no wells of their own, and were dependent upon purchasing crude oil to refine and sell to Pratt. A few months later, crude oil prices suddenly increased due to manipulation by speculators. The young entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
s struggled to try to live up to their contract with Pratt, but soon their surplus was wiped out. Before long, they were heavily in debt to Pratt.
Charles Ellis gave up, but in 1866, Henry Rogers went to Pratt in New York City, and told him he would take personal responsibility for the entire debt. This so impressed Pratt that he immediately hired him for his own organization.
Moving to New York, oil refining
Pratt made Rogers foreman of his Brooklyn refinery, with a promise of a partnership if sales ran over fifty thousand dollars a year. Abbie, Henry, and their baby Anne moved to Brooklyn. In the next few year Rogers became, in the words of Elbert HubbardElbert Hubbard
Elbert Green Hubbard was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher. Raised in Hudson, Illinois, he met early success as a traveling salesman with the Larkin soap company. Today Hubbard is mostly known as the founder of the Roycroft artisan community in East Aurora, New York, an...
, Pratt's "hands and feet and eyes and ears" (Little Journeys to the Homes, 1909).
The Rogers continued to live frugally and young Henry worked very hard. Abbie brought his meals to the "works," and often he would sleep but three hours a night rolled up in a blanket by the side of a still. Rogers moved steadily from foreman to manager, and then superintendent of Pratt's Astral Oil Refinery
Astral Oil Works
Astral Oil Works was founded in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York by Charles Pratt. Pratt was a pioneer of the petroleum industry who formed Charles Pratt and Company with Henry H. Rogers. The Pratt interests became part of John D...
. Pratt finally gave Rogers an interest in the business as promised. In 1867, with Henry Rogers as a partner, he established the firm of Charles Pratt and Company
Charles Pratt and Company
Charles Pratt and Company was an oil company that was formed in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States by Charles Pratt and Henry H. Rogers in 1867. It became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil organization in 1874....
.
In the early 1870s, Pratt and Rogers became involved in a conflict with the infamous South Improvement Company
South Improvement Company
The South Improvement Company was a Pennsylvania corporation in 1871-1872. It was created by major railroad interests, but was widely seen as part of John D. Rockefeller's early efforts to organize and control the oil and natural gas industries in the United States which eventually became Standard...
, which was basically a scheme to obtain favorable net shipping rates of oil owned by John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
's interests from the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
(PRR) and other railroads through a secret system of rebates. Rockefeller and the South Improvement Company scheme outraged independent oil producers in western Pennsylvania and refineries there and afar alike.
The opposition to the South Improvement Company scheme among the New York refiners was led by Rogers. The New York interests formed an association, and about the middle of March, 1872, sent a committee of three, with Rogers, representing the Pratt interests, as head, to Oil City
Oil City, Pennsylvania
Oil City is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania that is known in the initial exploration and development of the petroleum industry. After the first oil wells were drilled nearby in the 1850s, Oil City became central in the petroleum industry while hosting headquarters for the Pennzoil, Quaker...
to consult with the Oil Producers' Union there. Their arrival in the oil regions was a matter of great satisfaction to the Pennsylvania independents. Together, they soon managed to forge an agreement with the PRR and other railroads whose leaders eventually agreed to open rates to all and promised to end their shady dealings with South Improvement. The oil men were most exultant, but their joy was to be short-lived, for Rockefeller had already begun forming his Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
organization and was busy trying another approach, which included frequently buying-up opposing interests.
A short time later, Rockefeller approached Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist.Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. An advertising slogan was "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil." He...
with his plans of cooperation and consolidation. Pratt talked it over with Rogers, and they decided that the combination would benefit them. Rogers formulated terms, which guaranteed financial security and jobs for Pratt and himself. John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
quietly accepted the offer on Rogers' exact terms. In 1874, Charles Pratt and Company (including Astral Oil) became one of the important formerly independent refiners to join Rockefeller's organization, and it was to become part of the Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
Trust when it was formed. Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt
Charles Millard Pratt
Charles Millard Pratt was an American oil industrialist and philanthropist.-Early life:Pratt was born and raised in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the eldest son of Charles Pratt and Lydia Ann Richardson....
(1858-1913) became Secretary of Standard Oil.
Charles Pratts' former protégé, Henry H. Rogers
Henry H. Rogers
Henry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
, soon rose to become one of Rockefeller's key men of Standard Oil. By 1890, he was a Vice-President and headed the important production committee. Rogers also invested outside of Standard Oil and became one of the wealthiest men in the world. He had interests in oil, gas, steel, copper, coal, and railroads, and eventually founded and built the Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
at the end of his own career.
After 1874, the Rogers family continued to live in New York City, but vacationed at Fairhaven, where a large mansion was erected for them.
Family and children
Abbie was the mother of five children, four girls and a boy. Another little son had died at birth. Their oldest daughter, Anne Engle Rogers, was born in 1865 in Pennsylvania.The family moved to New York in 1866. Daughter Cara Leland Rogers was born in Fairhaven in 1867, Millicent was born in 1873, followed by Mary (who became known as Mai)
Mary (Mai) Huttleston Rogers Coe
Mai Rogers Coe was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. She was christened Mary Huttleston Rogers, and was the youngest of four daughters of Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abbie Palmer Rogers ....
in 1875.
Their son, Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr., was born in 1879, and came to be known as Harry. In adulthood, after the death of his father, he became known as Colonel Henry Huddleston Rogers, apparently returning to an earlier spelling of his middle name. The title of Colonel was apparently honorific, not uncommon in those times.
Local historians recall that the children of Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abbie Gifford Rogers were far more than vacationers in Fairhaven. Their roots were deep in the community. They spent time with grandparents and family friends and became knowledgeable about the traditions of the old whaling town.
Anne Engle Rogers Benjamin
Anne married William Evarts Benjamin, a prominent Boston publisher and collector. They had 2 children, Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright and Henry Rogers Benjamin.Cara Leland Rogers Duff Broughton: Lady Fairhaven
In 1890, Cara Leland Rogers married Bradford Ferris Duff of New York. Their marriage was to end a year later, in 1891, when her new husband, aged twenty-four, died of a lung ailment at the Rogers' Fairhaven residence, making Cara a widow at twenty-three.In the 1890s, Cara's father had begun to consider a sewer and water project for the Fairhaven community. After much consultation with experts, he had chosen to adopt a sewerage plan developed in England known as the "Shone Sewer System". To manage the project, a young English engineer, Urban Hanlon Broughton
Urban H. Broughton
Urban Hanlon Broughton was an English civil engineer, railroad and mining executive, and Conservative Party Member of Parliament. In 1929, he was in line for elevation to the peerage, but he died in January before the process was finalized...
, was sent to town by the Shone executives to explain procedure and direct the actual work.
During his stay, Cara Duff had become acquainted with the young Englishman. By 1895 the sewer work was well on the way to completion, and Cara Rogers Duff and Urban Broughton had decided to be married. Cara became Mrs. Urban Broughton in late 1895. Departing on Christmas Day, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on a honeymoon trip to Europe.
The Broughtons' first child, a son, was born in Fairhaven in 1896, and was named Urban Huttleston Broughton. A second son was born in 1900, and was called Henry Rogers Broughton.
Although Urban Broughton was by birth an English subject, he spent more than twenty-five years in America, many of them in Chicago, Illinois. Urban Broughton became president of Utah Consolidated Mining Co. in 1901, and was chosen a director and a manager of the United Metals Selling Co., the selling agency for Amalgamated Copper Co.. He was also a director of the Atlas Tack Co. in Fairhaven, the Santa Rica Mining Co., and the Butte Coalition Mining Co. in Montana.
After the sudden death of his father-in-law (Henry H. Rogers Sr.) in 1909, Urban Broughton became president of The Virginian Railway Company
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
.
In 1912, Urban, Cara, and their two sons, Huttleston Broughton, and Henry Broughton, moved to England. They took up residence in Mayfair, London. Urban became a member of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
(MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
). He found pleasure in this new career, becoming a close personal friend of Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law. Cara devoted herself to family matters and other domestic duties. Their young sons soon became thoroughly-oriented British subjects.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, both Urban and Cara were very active in the war effort. Urban served the English government in many ways. He published a strong brochure designed to appeal to the good will of America entitled "The British Empire at War".
Cara offered all her efforts to the good of her adopted country as well, sponsoring many types of war work. She was deeply interested in the well-being of Bethnal Green Military Hospital. She gave hospitable parties for wounded soldiers at the family home in Broadoaks, Byfleet.
During the 1920s, the Broughtons visited Fairhaven several times. In 1926, Cara purchased the revolutionary war site of Fort Phoenix
Fort Phoenix
Fort Phoenix is a Revolutionary War-era fort located at the entrance to the Fairhaven-New Bedford harbor, south of U.S. 6 in Fort Phoenix Park in Fairhaven, Massachusetts....
and donated it to the city of Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
. Today, it is a park.
Urban Broughton died in 1929, at the age of 72. Earlier in the same year, his name had been pending for elevation to the peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. On May 2, 1929, the King proclaimed "... Cara Leland Broughton, widow of Urban Hanlon Broughton, may henceforth enjoy the same style and title as if her husband...had survived and received the title and dignity of Baron Fairhaven
Baron Fairhaven
Baron Fairhaven, of Anglesey Abbey in the County of Cambridge, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1961 for Urban Huttleston Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven, with remainder to his younger brother Henry Broughton. He had already been created Baron Fairhaven, of Lode in...
".
The eldest son, Huttleston, was elevated to his father's barony, and became the first Baron Fairhaven, and Cara, the first Lady Fairhaven.
Millicent Gifford Rogers
Millicent (Millie) Gifford Rogers was born in 1873. It is recorded that the child loved to draw sketches and read. She is to have once said on a visit to Fairhaven "I wish we had a good library!" However, in 1890 she died of heart failure at the age of only 17 years-old.The grieving Rogers family sought an appropriate means of memorializing her short life. Because she had been an avid reader, especially of poetry, the Rogers decided that they would build and donate to the town of Fairhaven a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
named for her and given in the names of her sisters and brother.
In the same year she had died, land was acquired and plan were begun to erect in Fairhaven a unique and lavish tribute to the arts, the splendid yet functional Millicent Library
Millicent Library
Millicent Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts was donated to the town by the family of Millicent Gifford Rogers, the youngest daughter of Abbie Gifford and wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers. Young MIllicent had died of heart failure in 1890 when she was barely seventeen years old...
. The cornerstone was laid in September, 1891 at a quiet morning ceremony with only the family and their clergyman, Rev. J.M. Leighton, in attendance. After prayer, Millie's little brother, Harry, set the cornerstone. Within its confines were a sketch of Millicent, a tracing of the Rogers' ancestry, and a copy of the Fairhaven Star carrying a picture of the proposed building.
The Millicent Library describes the memorial window to the little girl who wished for a good library in Fairhaven as follows:
- "In the Library, just to the left of the main entrance, is a stunning stained-glass window made by Clayton and Bell of London. In the central panel is the figure of EratoEratoIn Greek mythology, Erato is one of the Greek Muses. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully suggested in the invocation to Erato that begins Book III of his Argonautica....
, the Muse of Poetry, and her features bear a striking resemblance to those of the girl to whose memory the library was erected."
Mary (Mai) Huttleston Rogers Coe
Mary (Mai) Huttleston Rogers, was the youngest daughter, born in 1875 in Fairhaven. Mai was educated at private seminary schools, spoke fluent French, played the piano, and was interested in art and decoration.After an earlier marriage which was unsuccessful (her father and family friend Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
labeled her first husband a "scalawag"), on June 4, 1900, Mai Huttleston Rogers married William Robertson Coe, a 30 year-old insurance company manager. Coe had met Mai during a transatlantic crossing. Between 1900 and 1910, the William and Mai Coe had four children, William Rogers Coe
William Rogers Coe
William "Bill" Rogers Coe was the first son of William Robertson Coe and Mai Huttleston Rogers Coe. He followed his father into the railway business.Educated at St...
(1901-1971), Robert Douglas Coe
Robert Douglas Coe
Robert Douglas Coe was a career diplomat and the U.S. ambassador to Denmark from 1953 to 1957.-Biography:He was the second son of William Robertson Coe and Mai Huttleston Rogers Coe. He attended St. Paul's School; later he received an A.B. in fine arts from Harvard University, and completed an M.A...
(1902-1985), Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe
Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe
Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe or Hank as he was known to his wife and friends, was the third and youngest son of William Robertson Coe and Mai Huttleston Rogers Coe....
(1907-1966), and Natalie Mai (née Coe) Vitetti
Natalie Mai Vitetti
Natalie Mai Coe, Countess Vitetti was the only daughter of insurance and railroad executive William Robertson Coe and Mai Huttleston Coe....
(1910-1987).
By 1910, Coe had become president of insurance broker Johnson & Higgins
Johnson & Higgins
Johnson & Higgins was one of the largest brokerage firms in the world until it sold out to Marsh & McLennan in 1997.-History:Initially founded in 1845 as Jones & Johnson by Walter Restored Jones, Jr. and Henry Ward Johnson, the company acquired its new name in 1854 when A. Foster Higgins replaced...
, and was involved in insuring the hull of the RMS Titanic which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. Coe rose to Chairman of the Board of Johnson and Higgins by 1916, a position he held until 1943.
Coe was on the Board of Directors of The Virginian Railway Company
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
from 1910 until his death in 1955, and headed the company for a brief period during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was also a director of Loup Creek Colliery and the Wyoming Land Company.
Mai and her husband had a large estate, Planting Fields, built on the Gold Coast
North Shore (Long Island)
The North Shore of Long Island is the area along Long Island's northern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. The region has long been the most affluent on Long Island, as well as the most affluent in the New York metropolitan area, which has earned it the nickname "the Gold Coast." Though some...
of Long Island, New York. They named the manor house "Coe Hall". Mai and her husband shared a love of horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
. Following an extended illness, Mai died in 1924, and was interred nearby. In 1949, their estate was donated by Coe to become Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park
Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, which includes the Coe Hall Historic House Museum, is an arboretum and state park covering over located in the Village of Upper Brookville in the town of Oyster Bay, New York....
.
Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr.
Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr. was born in 1879. He came to be known as Harry. He was the youngest of the Rogers children.Harry became a favorite of Rogers family friend Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, who
in 1897 dedicated his new book Following The Equator with the following quipping preface:
- "This Book Is Affectionately Inscribed To My Young Friend,
- - HARRY ROGERS -
- With recognition of what he is and apprehension of what he may become, unless he form himself a little more closely upon the model of - The Author"
As a young adult, Harry often joined his father and family friends on trips aboard their luxury steam yacht Kanawha
Kanawha (1899)
Kanawha was a 471-ton steam-powered luxury yacht initially built in 1899 for millionaire industrialist and financier Henry Huttleston Rogers . One of the key men in the Standard Oil Trust, Rogers was one of the last of the robber barons of the Gilded Age in the United States...
, built in 1899.
Harry married his first wife, Mary Benjamin. He and his wife traveled to Virginia with his father and Twain on the Kanawha in September, 1907 when the latter spoke at Robert Fulton Day at the Jamestown Exposition
Jamestown Exposition
The Jamestown Exposition was one of the many world's fairs and expositions that were popular in the United States in the early part of the 20th century...
. After their 1929 divorce he married 2, Marguerite von Braun Savell Miles (married 1929-33) and 3, Pauline Van der Voort Dresser (married 1933).
Harry journeyed again with his father and Twain to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
in April, 1909 for the dedication ceremonies and dinner to celebrate the completion of the Virginian Railway
Virginian Railway
The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
, which turned out to be his father's s final life achievement. After his father's death the following month, Harry took over his father's seat on the Board of Directors of the new railroad, with his brother-in-law, Urban Broughton, serving as the railroad's President.
He assembled a valuable collection of model sailing ship
Sailing ship
The term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
s, which were donated the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
at Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
after his death in 1935.
Harry and Mary Rogers had a son, Harry III, and a daughter, Millicent Rogers
Millicent Rogers
Mary Millicent Abigail Rogers , better known as Millicent Rogers, was a socialite, fashion icon, and art collector...
, a prominent socialite during the 1930s and 1940s whose vast collection of turquoise jewelry and Native American artifacts are housed in the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico
Taos, New Mexico
Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico, incorporated in 1934. As of the 2000 census, its population was 4,700. Other nearby communities include Ranchos de Taos, Cañon, Taos Canyon, Ranchitos, and El Prado. The town is close to Taos Pueblo, the Native American...
.
1894: A new Town Hall and tragedy
In 1894, Fairhaven received the gift of a new Town Hall from the Rogers Family. Abbie dedicated it to the memory of her mother. The following text about Abbie Rogers is from the Millicent LibraryMillicent Library
Millicent Library in Fairhaven, Massachusetts was donated to the town by the family of Millicent Gifford Rogers, the youngest daughter of Abbie Gifford and wealthy industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers. Young MIllicent had died of heart failure in 1890 when she was barely seventeen years old...
, Fairhaven Massachusetts.
"Mother of six children, Mrs. Rogers is represented as having been of a quiet and retiring disposition, completely devoid of the ostentation often associated with great wealth. Contemporary photographs attest to a shy and gentle charm of feature, and she is known to have cherished a deep affection for Fairhaven and a nostalgia for the simple ways of her childhood.
"She was, therefore, delighted to become the donor of Fairhaven's beautiful new 'Town House,' and on February 22nd and 23d, 1894, she attended dedication exercises and received graciously at the splendid Dedication Ball, in the first gala functions marking the opening of the new building.
"It was not given those attending these happy festivities to know that - but three months later - in May, 1894, this gentle woman was to die in New York City after an operation performed to save her life."
Death
Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers died unexpectedly on May 21, 1894, age 53 in New York City. She had been undergoing an operation to remove a previously undiagnosed tumor. Her widower, Henry Rogers Sr., eventually remarried, but had no children with his second wife. Outliving her one day short of 15 years, after his death on May 19 1909, he was interred beside her in Fairhaven's Riverside Cemetery.Legacy
The Town Hall in FairhavenFairhaven, Massachusetts
Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
survives, as do many other gifts of the Rogers' family to Fairhaven, where she and her husband grew up. The home of Captain Peleg Gifford (Abbie's childhood home), a two-story gable-end frame house built in the Greek Revival style at 36 Green Street, has been preserved. It and many other historic buildings in Fairhaven are opened periodically for special public tours.
The bronze plaque on the Fairhaven Town Hall, reads:
- This Building was presented to the Town of Fairhaven February 22, 1894 three months prior to the death of the donor Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers. The people of Fairhaven in expressing their appreciation and gratitude for the gift would also record the sorrow they feel as a community through the loss of one whose life was full of good works. May this structure in its strength and beauty ever stand as commemorative of her character and thoughtful kindness.
See also
- Henry H. RogersHenry H. RogersHenry Huttleston Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist. He made his fortune in the oil refinery business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil....
- Fairhaven, MassachusettsFairhaven, MassachusettsFairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is located on the south coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean...
- Charles PrattCharles PrattCharles Pratt was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist.Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. An advertising slogan was "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil." He...
- Standard OilStandard OilStandard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
- Virginian RailwayVirginian RailwayThe Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads....
- William N. PageWilliam N. PageWilliam Nelson Page was an American civil engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and capitalist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War...
- Mark TwainMark TwainSamuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
- Booker T. WashingtonBooker T. WashingtonBooker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...
External links and further reading
- Elbert Hubbard, 1909, Little Journeys to the Homes
- Tarbell, Ida M. The History of Standard Oil
- The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates - A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present. Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther (contributor). Seacaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, 1996.
- Millicent Library, Fairhaven MA, Henry Rogers homepage
- Mark Twain and Henry Huttleston Rogers in Virginia. Excerpts from their trips together to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition and the 1909 Dedication of the Virginian Railway
- Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers, 1893-1909
- The Works of Mark Twain, Chapter-indexed, searchable versions of Twain's works.
- Project Gutenberg, where more than 60 works of Twain's are freely available.
- Full text of the biography Mark Twain by Archibald Henderson
- Mark Twain and Henry Huttleston Rogers in Virginia excerpts from their trips together to the 1907 Jamestown Exposition and the 1909 Dedication of the Virginian Railway
- Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers, 1893-1909
- Mark Twain quotes
- Dr. Booker T. Washington papers - comments about Henry Rogers
- Virginian Railway (VGN) Enthusiasts Group of preservationists, authors, photographers, historians, modelers, and rail fans
- Standard Oil History
- Ohio History
- Some Memories of Cara Leland Rogers Broughton the first Lady Fairhaven material researched and integrated by Mabel Hoyle Knipe Fairhaven, Massachusetts, March, 1984
- The Story of Fairhaven compiled by Thomas Tripp in 1929
- Planting Fields website, Mai Rogers Coe and family history
- Fairhaven Massachusetts Public Schools
- Napoleon Series Henry H. Rogers webpage
- Olean Town history
- Oil History website
- Venango County Pennsylvania Oil History
- Oil Well website
- Henry Rogers and Fairhaven website