LYDIE MILLER (ROBERTS) MARLAND
(April 7, 1900 ~ July 5, 1987)
ONE OF OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADIES
Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland was born April 7, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. She died at 87 years old on July 5, 1987 in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Lydie was the second wife of Ernest Whitworth Marland, Pioneering Oil Man and 10th Governor of Oklahoma. Ernest started the company that later became Conoco. Ernest was first married to Lydie's aunt, Virginia (Collins) Marland. They lived in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Ernest Marland was the governor of Oklahoma from 1935 to 1939, so Lydie was OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADY during that time. When Ernest Marland was the governor, he founded the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Department of Safety.
Lydie's biological parents were George Frederick Roberts and Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandparents were George W. Roberts and Mary B. (Fine) Roberts. Lydie's maternal grandparents were Samuel Cavin Collins, Sr. and Lydie "Eliza" (Miller) Collins. Lydie was named after this maternal grandmother.
Lydie was born in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, the second child of four (4) who were born to Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts and George Frederick Roberts.
In 1916, Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland and her brother George Roberts (George was 19, and Lydie was 16) were adopted by her aunt and uncle, Ernest Whitworth Marland and Virginia (Collins) Marland who lived in Ponca City, OK. George and Lydie were children of Virginia's sister, so they were not blood related to Ernest Marland. Lydie and her brother, George had already lived with Ernest and Virgina Marland for quite some time before the adoption took place, as their biological parents, Virginia's sister and her husband couldn't financially take care of them.
Lydie and George's biological parents later had two more children, whom they themselves raised on their own.
After a long illness, Virginia Marland, Ernest Marland's wife died in 1926. A couple of years later, Ernest got the adoption of Lydie anulled, and he married Lydie on July 14, 1928. Lydie was 28 and Ernest was 54.
Ernest had built a lavish mansion in Ponca City which still stands today-2018.
Ernest Marland went broke, and in 1940, he was forced to sell his beloved Ponca City, Oklahoma Mansion. It cost $5.5 million to build, but it sold for a mere $66,000.00.
(Helen Baker Foglesong)
MORE INFO BELOW:
Suggested edit: Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum - https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch
She was a FIRST LADY of Oklahoma with a tragic past. Adopted into fabulous wealth, it would be her mysterious disappearance and the search for a broken statue that would seal her legacy as one of the most interesting women in Oklahoma history.
Lyde “Lydie” Miller Roberts Marland – April 20, 1900 – July 25, 1987
Lyde Miller Roberts was born April 20, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania to Margaret Reynolds and George Frederick Roberts. Lydie, as she preferred to spell her name, was the second child of the family with an older brother, George. Her family struggled financially in Flourtown and in 1912, the family traveled to Ponca City to visit their Aunt Virginia. Mary Virginia Collins Marland was married to Oklahoma oil magnate E.W. Marland and it was hoped that the childless couple would take an interest in the two children. Lydie and George stayed in Oklahoma with their aunt and uncle, starting school and beginning to settle into Ponca City. In 1916, two pair were officially adopted into the Marland family.
Lydie was provided an education in various schools in Oklahoma and New York. After she graduated from Oaksmere School in New Rochelle, New York, she returned to Ponca City to enter Oklahoma society. E.W. Marland used his wealth to afford a new lifestyle for his entire family. Through all the booms and busts that happened in the oil business, he enjoyed the finer things in life. The family was invested in forming a polo league, fox hunts, golfing, and sightseeing around the world.
In 1925, Marland commissioned architect John Duncan Forsyth to begin designing a new home in Ponca City. The family had lived at the Marland-Paris mansion on Grand Street in Ponca City since 1916. The 16,500 square foot resident was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and featured many amenities such as a dishwasher and air conditioning. However, after viewing the famed Palazzo Davanzati in Italy during a vacation it was decided that a much larger and grand home was needed.
Along with the impressive $5.5 million Italianate mansion, Marland employed various artisans and craftsmen from around the world to fill his home with European glamor. Three statues were commissioned to grace the halls of the Marland mansion. E.W. Marland, George, and Lydie would be immortalized by American artist Jo Davidson. There had never been plans to sculpt Virginia Marland, who was suffering from cancer and had become reclusive from both the public and her family.
Lydie’s statue was provocative. The picture of a 1920s woman, she was sculpted in a diaphanous gown that hugged her body, ending in a cloud of feathers at her feet. Her hair is short cropped and waved in the style of the day and one hand rests on her hip while the other grasps a summer hat ringed with flowers. The original statue was placed in the garden for all to see. However, excitement over the new home was not to last for long as Mary Virginia Marland lost her battle with a long illness at the age of 49 on June 6, 1926. She never lived in, nor saw, the completed Marland Mansion. Within a week of Virginia’s death, E.W. Marland and Lydie boarded a train for the East Coast and then launched a European tour. Through 1927, the Marland Oil Company continued to flourish, making E.W. Marland an estimated $85,000,000.
In 1928, E.W. Marland and Lydie returned to her hometown of Flourtown and had her adoption annulled. This action would clear the way for the couple to be married on July 14, 1928 in her parents’ home. The engagement was a shock and provided tabloid fodder across the United States. The new bride was 28 while her groom was 54. The couple traveled across Canada on their honeymoon before ending their trip in California. In September 1928, as the Marland Mansion was finally completed, E.W. gave his new bride the gift of moving into their new home.
On November 1, 1928, E.W. Marland was forced from his position as the president of Marland Oil during a hostile takeover. Nearly over night, his name was removed from anything to do with the business and a new name was coined: Conoco. Between this take over and the Great Depression of 1929, E.W. Marland’s fortune was greatly depleted. By early 1930, the cost of upkeep on the mansion had become too great for the couple and they were forced to move to the much smaller Artist’s Studio on the property grounds. They would only live in the Marland Mansion for 18 months.
With the Marland fortune mostly gone, E.W. turned his attention towards politics. He used the loss of his business to a larger oil company as a catalyst to run for office, successfully being elected as a U.S. Congressman in 1932. Lydie moved with her husband to Washington, D.C., but because of the scandal that had surrounded her marriage in the beginning, she was often shy and reclusive. In 1934, E.W. Marland became the 10th governor of Oklahoma, thrusting Lydie into the spotlight as Oklahoma’s First Lady.
The new First Lady shied away from the spotlight. When she was seen in public, she often wore dark sunglasses. She also declined the opportunity to march in Marland’s inaugural parade in Oklahoma City. She was well read and charming, a lover of dancing and a good time, but she never quite fit into the high-profile role. By the end of his term as governor, the Marlands were broke. In 1939, they moved back to Ponca City where they moved into the newly restored chauffer’s house on the Marland Mansion grounds. Trying to make ends meet, in 1941, Lydie and E.W. sold the possessions of the mansion in a yard sale before finally selling the mansion to the Carmelite religious order for $66,000.
On October 3, 1941, E.W. Marland died of a heart condition at the age of 67. He was buried in Ponca City and for the first time in her life, Lydie Marland was alone. Her brother, George, had married and started a life in Tulsa with his new family while Lydie lived alone in the chauffer’s quarters as the religious order took up residence in the mansion. Her famous statue, which was viewed as too worldly for the new monastery, was taken off display in the mansion’s gardens.
In 1950, the mysterious second chapter in Lydie’s life began. Having lived isolated for so long, she began a relationship with a younger man named Lewis Cassel. She was smitten with him, but the relationship soured and in 1952, Lewis broke up with Lydie while in the middle of a crowd on Grand Avenue in Ponca City. Despondent and ready for change, Lydie ordered her statue smashed and buried. Her request was that she never wanted to see the statue ever again and she wanted the face smashed first.
In 1953, Lydie packed up her possessions, gathered $10,000 in cash, and drove away from Ponca City. Lydie had no driver’s license and had notoriously bad eyesight, causing many to become alarmed at her sudden disappearance. In July 1955, after her brother filed a missing person’s report, newspaper articles ran around the country asking, “Have you seen Lydie Marland?”. While her whereabouts were largely unknown for 22 years, she was often briefly spotted performing odd jobs in hotels, standing in bread lines, and attending anti-Vietnam War rallies. Friends would say, “She sometimes spoke of desire for anonymity. It wasn’t that she mourned the past – she just wanted to forget it.” However, no matter where she was, Lydie always made sure to continue payment on the taxes of her cottage yearly.
In 1975, a Ponca City attorney and friend of Lydie convinced her to return to Ponca City. Moving back into her old home on the grounds of Marland Mansion, Lydie took up the cause of purchasing the mansion back from the nuns that now owned it. She said of the mansion, “To me, it is a place of rare beauty and artistic integrity. A structure that is an expression from mind into substance, of the quality, the strength, and the heart of a man.”
The Marland Mansion was purchased by the city of Ponca City on September 16, 1975. It would become a National Historic Landmark and Lydie could live in her little cottage on the grounds. The mysterious Lydie Marland remained an elusive figure in Ponca City. She was often seen around town, wearing a hat and veil while shopping or large sunglasses to hide her face. When parties were held at the newly minted museum, she could be seen watching from a distance and enjoying the music.
Lydie Marland passed away on July 25, 1987 at the age of 87. She is buried next to her husband in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Ponca City. True to her life, her funeral only hosted six people.
However, the story of Lydie Marland was not done. Six weeks after her death, a letter was sent to Conoco stating that the infamous statue of Lydie had not been destroyed. The man charged by Lydie with smashing the piece had been unable to complete the task. Instead, he had buried it in a barn, and it had laid untouched for 38 years.
The broken statue was restored and now resides in the foyer of the Marland Mansion. Lydie often told friends, “So many people come to me and say, tell me your story. They’d be so disappointed. There’s really not a story to tell.”
https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch/
Contributor: William Irwin (48154225) • [email protected]
(April 7, 1900 ~ July 5, 1987)
ONE OF OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADIES
Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland was born April 7, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. She died at 87 years old on July 5, 1987 in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Lydie was the second wife of Ernest Whitworth Marland, Pioneering Oil Man and 10th Governor of Oklahoma. Ernest started the company that later became Conoco. Ernest was first married to Lydie's aunt, Virginia (Collins) Marland. They lived in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Ernest Marland was the governor of Oklahoma from 1935 to 1939, so Lydie was OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADY during that time. When Ernest Marland was the governor, he founded the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Department of Safety.
Lydie's biological parents were George Frederick Roberts and Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandparents were George W. Roberts and Mary B. (Fine) Roberts. Lydie's maternal grandparents were Samuel Cavin Collins, Sr. and Lydie "Eliza" (Miller) Collins. Lydie was named after this maternal grandmother.
Lydie was born in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, the second child of four (4) who were born to Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts and George Frederick Roberts.
In 1916, Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland and her brother George Roberts (George was 19, and Lydie was 16) were adopted by her aunt and uncle, Ernest Whitworth Marland and Virginia (Collins) Marland who lived in Ponca City, OK. George and Lydie were children of Virginia's sister, so they were not blood related to Ernest Marland. Lydie and her brother, George had already lived with Ernest and Virgina Marland for quite some time before the adoption took place, as their biological parents, Virginia's sister and her husband couldn't financially take care of them.
Lydie and George's biological parents later had two more children, whom they themselves raised on their own.
After a long illness, Virginia Marland, Ernest Marland's wife died in 1926. A couple of years later, Ernest got the adoption of Lydie anulled, and he married Lydie on July 14, 1928. Lydie was 28 and Ernest was 54.
Ernest had built a lavish mansion in Ponca City which still stands today-2018.
Ernest Marland went broke, and in 1940, he was forced to sell his beloved Ponca City, Oklahoma Mansion. It cost $5.5 million to build, but it sold for a mere $66,000.00.
(Helen Baker Foglesong)
MORE INFO BELOW:
Suggested edit: Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum - https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch
She was a FIRST LADY of Oklahoma with a tragic past. Adopted into fabulous wealth, it would be her mysterious disappearance and the search for a broken statue that would seal her legacy as one of the most interesting women in Oklahoma history.
Lyde “Lydie” Miller Roberts Marland – April 20, 1900 – July 25, 1987
Lyde Miller Roberts was born April 20, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania to Margaret Reynolds and George Frederick Roberts. Lydie, as she preferred to spell her name, was the second child of the family with an older brother, George. Her family struggled financially in Flourtown and in 1912, the family traveled to Ponca City to visit their Aunt Virginia. Mary Virginia Collins Marland was married to Oklahoma oil magnate E.W. Marland and it was hoped that the childless couple would take an interest in the two children. Lydie and George stayed in Oklahoma with their aunt and uncle, starting school and beginning to settle into Ponca City. In 1916, two pair were officially adopted into the Marland family.
Lydie was provided an education in various schools in Oklahoma and New York. After she graduated from Oaksmere School in New Rochelle, New York, she returned to Ponca City to enter Oklahoma society. E.W. Marland used his wealth to afford a new lifestyle for his entire family. Through all the booms and busts that happened in the oil business, he enjoyed the finer things in life. The family was invested in forming a polo league, fox hunts, golfing, and sightseeing around the world.
In 1925, Marland commissioned architect John Duncan Forsyth to begin designing a new home in Ponca City. The family had lived at the Marland-Paris mansion on Grand Street in Ponca City since 1916. The 16,500 square foot resident was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and featured many amenities such as a dishwasher and air conditioning. However, after viewing the famed Palazzo Davanzati in Italy during a vacation it was decided that a much larger and grand home was needed.
Along with the impressive $5.5 million Italianate mansion, Marland employed various artisans and craftsmen from around the world to fill his home with European glamor. Three statues were commissioned to grace the halls of the Marland mansion. E.W. Marland, George, and Lydie would be immortalized by American artist Jo Davidson. There had never been plans to sculpt Virginia Marland, who was suffering from cancer and had become reclusive from both the public and her family.
Lydie’s statue was provocative. The picture of a 1920s woman, she was sculpted in a diaphanous gown that hugged her body, ending in a cloud of feathers at her feet. Her hair is short cropped and waved in the style of the day and one hand rests on her hip while the other grasps a summer hat ringed with flowers. The original statue was placed in the garden for all to see. However, excitement over the new home was not to last for long as Mary Virginia Marland lost her battle with a long illness at the age of 49 on June 6, 1926. She never lived in, nor saw, the completed Marland Mansion. Within a week of Virginia’s death, E.W. Marland and Lydie boarded a train for the East Coast and then launched a European tour. Through 1927, the Marland Oil Company continued to flourish, making E.W. Marland an estimated $85,000,000.
In 1928, E.W. Marland and Lydie returned to her hometown of Flourtown and had her adoption annulled. This action would clear the way for the couple to be married on July 14, 1928 in her parents’ home. The engagement was a shock and provided tabloid fodder across the United States. The new bride was 28 while her groom was 54. The couple traveled across Canada on their honeymoon before ending their trip in California. In September 1928, as the Marland Mansion was finally completed, E.W. gave his new bride the gift of moving into their new home.
On November 1, 1928, E.W. Marland was forced from his position as the president of Marland Oil during a hostile takeover. Nearly over night, his name was removed from anything to do with the business and a new name was coined: Conoco. Between this take over and the Great Depression of 1929, E.W. Marland’s fortune was greatly depleted. By early 1930, the cost of upkeep on the mansion had become too great for the couple and they were forced to move to the much smaller Artist’s Studio on the property grounds. They would only live in the Marland Mansion for 18 months.
With the Marland fortune mostly gone, E.W. turned his attention towards politics. He used the loss of his business to a larger oil company as a catalyst to run for office, successfully being elected as a U.S. Congressman in 1932. Lydie moved with her husband to Washington, D.C., but because of the scandal that had surrounded her marriage in the beginning, she was often shy and reclusive. In 1934, E.W. Marland became the 10th governor of Oklahoma, thrusting Lydie into the spotlight as Oklahoma’s First Lady.
The new First Lady shied away from the spotlight. When she was seen in public, she often wore dark sunglasses. She also declined the opportunity to march in Marland’s inaugural parade in Oklahoma City. She was well read and charming, a lover of dancing and a good time, but she never quite fit into the high-profile role. By the end of his term as governor, the Marlands were broke. In 1939, they moved back to Ponca City where they moved into the newly restored chauffer’s house on the Marland Mansion grounds. Trying to make ends meet, in 1941, Lydie and E.W. sold the possessions of the mansion in a yard sale before finally selling the mansion to the Carmelite religious order for $66,000.
On October 3, 1941, E.W. Marland died of a heart condition at the age of 67. He was buried in Ponca City and for the first time in her life, Lydie Marland was alone. Her brother, George, had married and started a life in Tulsa with his new family while Lydie lived alone in the chauffer’s quarters as the religious order took up residence in the mansion. Her famous statue, which was viewed as too worldly for the new monastery, was taken off display in the mansion’s gardens.
In 1950, the mysterious second chapter in Lydie’s life began. Having lived isolated for so long, she began a relationship with a younger man named Lewis Cassel. She was smitten with him, but the relationship soured and in 1952, Lewis broke up with Lydie while in the middle of a crowd on Grand Avenue in Ponca City. Despondent and ready for change, Lydie ordered her statue smashed and buried. Her request was that she never wanted to see the statue ever again and she wanted the face smashed first.
In 1953, Lydie packed up her possessions, gathered $10,000 in cash, and drove away from Ponca City. Lydie had no driver’s license and had notoriously bad eyesight, causing many to become alarmed at her sudden disappearance. In July 1955, after her brother filed a missing person’s report, newspaper articles ran around the country asking, “Have you seen Lydie Marland?”. While her whereabouts were largely unknown for 22 years, she was often briefly spotted performing odd jobs in hotels, standing in bread lines, and attending anti-Vietnam War rallies. Friends would say, “She sometimes spoke of desire for anonymity. It wasn’t that she mourned the past – she just wanted to forget it.” However, no matter where she was, Lydie always made sure to continue payment on the taxes of her cottage yearly.
In 1975, a Ponca City attorney and friend of Lydie convinced her to return to Ponca City. Moving back into her old home on the grounds of Marland Mansion, Lydie took up the cause of purchasing the mansion back from the nuns that now owned it. She said of the mansion, “To me, it is a place of rare beauty and artistic integrity. A structure that is an expression from mind into substance, of the quality, the strength, and the heart of a man.”
The Marland Mansion was purchased by the city of Ponca City on September 16, 1975. It would become a National Historic Landmark and Lydie could live in her little cottage on the grounds. The mysterious Lydie Marland remained an elusive figure in Ponca City. She was often seen around town, wearing a hat and veil while shopping or large sunglasses to hide her face. When parties were held at the newly minted museum, she could be seen watching from a distance and enjoying the music.
Lydie Marland passed away on July 25, 1987 at the age of 87. She is buried next to her husband in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Ponca City. True to her life, her funeral only hosted six people.
However, the story of Lydie Marland was not done. Six weeks after her death, a letter was sent to Conoco stating that the infamous statue of Lydie had not been destroyed. The man charged by Lydie with smashing the piece had been unable to complete the task. Instead, he had buried it in a barn, and it had laid untouched for 38 years.
The broken statue was restored and now resides in the foyer of the Marland Mansion. Lydie often told friends, “So many people come to me and say, tell me your story. They’d be so disappointed. There’s really not a story to tell.”
https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch/
Contributor: William Irwin (48154225) • [email protected]
LYDIE MILLER (ROBERTS) MARLAND
(April 7, 1900 ~ July 5, 1987)
ONE OF OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADIES
Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland was born April 7, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. She died at 87 years old on July 5, 1987 in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Lydie was the second wife of Ernest Whitworth Marland, Pioneering Oil Man and 10th Governor of Oklahoma. Ernest started the company that later became Conoco. Ernest was first married to Lydie's aunt, Virginia (Collins) Marland. They lived in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Ernest Marland was the governor of Oklahoma from 1935 to 1939, so Lydie was OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADY during that time. When Ernest Marland was the governor, he founded the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Department of Safety.
Lydie's biological parents were George Frederick Roberts and Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandparents were George W. Roberts and Mary B. (Fine) Roberts. Lydie's maternal grandparents were Samuel Cavin Collins, Sr. and Lydie "Eliza" (Miller) Collins. Lydie was named after this maternal grandmother.
Lydie was born in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, the second child of four (4) who were born to Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts and George Frederick Roberts.
In 1916, Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland and her brother George Roberts (George was 19, and Lydie was 16) were adopted by her aunt and uncle, Ernest Whitworth Marland and Virginia (Collins) Marland who lived in Ponca City, OK. George and Lydie were children of Virginia's sister, so they were not blood related to Ernest Marland. Lydie and her brother, George had already lived with Ernest and Virgina Marland for quite some time before the adoption took place, as their biological parents, Virginia's sister and her husband couldn't financially take care of them.
Lydie and George's biological parents later had two more children, whom they themselves raised on their own.
After a long illness, Virginia Marland, Ernest Marland's wife died in 1926. A couple of years later, Ernest got the adoption of Lydie anulled, and he married Lydie on July 14, 1928. Lydie was 28 and Ernest was 54.
Ernest had built a lavish mansion in Ponca City which still stands today-2018.
Ernest Marland went broke, and in 1940, he was forced to sell his beloved Ponca City, Oklahoma Mansion. It cost $5.5 million to build, but it sold for a mere $66,000.00.
(Helen Baker Foglesong)
MORE INFO BELOW:
Suggested edit: Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum - https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch
She was a FIRST LADY of Oklahoma with a tragic past. Adopted into fabulous wealth, it would be her mysterious disappearance and the search for a broken statue that would seal her legacy as one of the most interesting women in Oklahoma history.
Lyde “Lydie” Miller Roberts Marland – April 20, 1900 – July 25, 1987
Lyde Miller Roberts was born April 20, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania to Margaret Reynolds and George Frederick Roberts. Lydie, as she preferred to spell her name, was the second child of the family with an older brother, George. Her family struggled financially in Flourtown and in 1912, the family traveled to Ponca City to visit their Aunt Virginia. Mary Virginia Collins Marland was married to Oklahoma oil magnate E.W. Marland and it was hoped that the childless couple would take an interest in the two children. Lydie and George stayed in Oklahoma with their aunt and uncle, starting school and beginning to settle into Ponca City. In 1916, two pair were officially adopted into the Marland family.
Lydie was provided an education in various schools in Oklahoma and New York. After she graduated from Oaksmere School in New Rochelle, New York, she returned to Ponca City to enter Oklahoma society. E.W. Marland used his wealth to afford a new lifestyle for his entire family. Through all the booms and busts that happened in the oil business, he enjoyed the finer things in life. The family was invested in forming a polo league, fox hunts, golfing, and sightseeing around the world.
In 1925, Marland commissioned architect John Duncan Forsyth to begin designing a new home in Ponca City. The family had lived at the Marland-Paris mansion on Grand Street in Ponca City since 1916. The 16,500 square foot resident was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and featured many amenities such as a dishwasher and air conditioning. However, after viewing the famed Palazzo Davanzati in Italy during a vacation it was decided that a much larger and grand home was needed.
Along with the impressive $5.5 million Italianate mansion, Marland employed various artisans and craftsmen from around the world to fill his home with European glamor. Three statues were commissioned to grace the halls of the Marland mansion. E.W. Marland, George, and Lydie would be immortalized by American artist Jo Davidson. There had never been plans to sculpt Virginia Marland, who was suffering from cancer and had become reclusive from both the public and her family.
Lydie’s statue was provocative. The picture of a 1920s woman, she was sculpted in a diaphanous gown that hugged her body, ending in a cloud of feathers at her feet. Her hair is short cropped and waved in the style of the day and one hand rests on her hip while the other grasps a summer hat ringed with flowers. The original statue was placed in the garden for all to see. However, excitement over the new home was not to last for long as Mary Virginia Marland lost her battle with a long illness at the age of 49 on June 6, 1926. She never lived in, nor saw, the completed Marland Mansion. Within a week of Virginia’s death, E.W. Marland and Lydie boarded a train for the East Coast and then launched a European tour. Through 1927, the Marland Oil Company continued to flourish, making E.W. Marland an estimated $85,000,000.
In 1928, E.W. Marland and Lydie returned to her hometown of Flourtown and had her adoption annulled. This action would clear the way for the couple to be married on July 14, 1928 in her parents’ home. The engagement was a shock and provided tabloid fodder across the United States. The new bride was 28 while her groom was 54. The couple traveled across Canada on their honeymoon before ending their trip in California. In September 1928, as the Marland Mansion was finally completed, E.W. gave his new bride the gift of moving into their new home.
On November 1, 1928, E.W. Marland was forced from his position as the president of Marland Oil during a hostile takeover. Nearly over night, his name was removed from anything to do with the business and a new name was coined: Conoco. Between this take over and the Great Depression of 1929, E.W. Marland’s fortune was greatly depleted. By early 1930, the cost of upkeep on the mansion had become too great for the couple and they were forced to move to the much smaller Artist’s Studio on the property grounds. They would only live in the Marland Mansion for 18 months.
With the Marland fortune mostly gone, E.W. turned his attention towards politics. He used the loss of his business to a larger oil company as a catalyst to run for office, successfully being elected as a U.S. Congressman in 1932. Lydie moved with her husband to Washington, D.C., but because of the scandal that had surrounded her marriage in the beginning, she was often shy and reclusive. In 1934, E.W. Marland became the 10th governor of Oklahoma, thrusting Lydie into the spotlight as Oklahoma’s First Lady.
The new First Lady shied away from the spotlight. When she was seen in public, she often wore dark sunglasses. She also declined the opportunity to march in Marland’s inaugural parade in Oklahoma City. She was well read and charming, a lover of dancing and a good time, but she never quite fit into the high-profile role. By the end of his term as governor, the Marlands were broke. In 1939, they moved back to Ponca City where they moved into the newly restored chauffer’s house on the Marland Mansion grounds. Trying to make ends meet, in 1941, Lydie and E.W. sold the possessions of the mansion in a yard sale before finally selling the mansion to the Carmelite religious order for $66,000.
On October 3, 1941, E.W. Marland died of a heart condition at the age of 67. He was buried in Ponca City and for the first time in her life, Lydie Marland was alone. Her brother, George, had married and started a life in Tulsa with his new family while Lydie lived alone in the chauffer’s quarters as the religious order took up residence in the mansion. Her famous statue, which was viewed as too worldly for the new monastery, was taken off display in the mansion’s gardens.
In 1950, the mysterious second chapter in Lydie’s life began. Having lived isolated for so long, she began a relationship with a younger man named Lewis Cassel. She was smitten with him, but the relationship soured and in 1952, Lewis broke up with Lydie while in the middle of a crowd on Grand Avenue in Ponca City. Despondent and ready for change, Lydie ordered her statue smashed and buried. Her request was that she never wanted to see the statue ever again and she wanted the face smashed first.
In 1953, Lydie packed up her possessions, gathered $10,000 in cash, and drove away from Ponca City. Lydie had no driver’s license and had notoriously bad eyesight, causing many to become alarmed at her sudden disappearance. In July 1955, after her brother filed a missing person’s report, newspaper articles ran around the country asking, “Have you seen Lydie Marland?”. While her whereabouts were largely unknown for 22 years, she was often briefly spotted performing odd jobs in hotels, standing in bread lines, and attending anti-Vietnam War rallies. Friends would say, “She sometimes spoke of desire for anonymity. It wasn’t that she mourned the past – she just wanted to forget it.” However, no matter where she was, Lydie always made sure to continue payment on the taxes of her cottage yearly.
In 1975, a Ponca City attorney and friend of Lydie convinced her to return to Ponca City. Moving back into her old home on the grounds of Marland Mansion, Lydie took up the cause of purchasing the mansion back from the nuns that now owned it. She said of the mansion, “To me, it is a place of rare beauty and artistic integrity. A structure that is an expression from mind into substance, of the quality, the strength, and the heart of a man.”
The Marland Mansion was purchased by the city of Ponca City on September 16, 1975. It would become a National Historic Landmark and Lydie could live in her little cottage on the grounds. The mysterious Lydie Marland remained an elusive figure in Ponca City. She was often seen around town, wearing a hat and veil while shopping or large sunglasses to hide her face. When parties were held at the newly minted museum, she could be seen watching from a distance and enjoying the music.
Lydie Marland passed away on July 25, 1987 at the age of 87. She is buried next to her husband in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Ponca City. True to her life, her funeral only hosted six people.
However, the story of Lydie Marland was not done. Six weeks after her death, a letter was sent to Conoco stating that the infamous statue of Lydie had not been destroyed. The man charged by Lydie with smashing the piece had been unable to complete the task. Instead, he had buried it in a barn, and it had laid untouched for 38 years.
The broken statue was restored and now resides in the foyer of the Marland Mansion. Lydie often told friends, “So many people come to me and say, tell me your story. They’d be so disappointed. There’s really not a story to tell.”
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Contributor: William Irwin (48154225) • [email protected]
(April 7, 1900 ~ July 5, 1987)
ONE OF OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADIES
Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland was born April 7, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. She died at 87 years old on July 5, 1987 in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Lydie was the second wife of Ernest Whitworth Marland, Pioneering Oil Man and 10th Governor of Oklahoma. Ernest started the company that later became Conoco. Ernest was first married to Lydie's aunt, Virginia (Collins) Marland. They lived in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Ernest Marland was the governor of Oklahoma from 1935 to 1939, so Lydie was OKLAHOMA'S FIRST LADY during that time. When Ernest Marland was the governor, he founded the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Oklahoma Department of Safety.
Lydie's biological parents were George Frederick Roberts and Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts of Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandparents were George W. Roberts and Mary B. (Fine) Roberts. Lydie's maternal grandparents were Samuel Cavin Collins, Sr. and Lydie "Eliza" (Miller) Collins. Lydie was named after this maternal grandmother.
Lydie was born in Flourtown, Pennsylvania, the second child of four (4) who were born to Margaret Reynolds (Collins) Roberts and George Frederick Roberts.
In 1916, Lydie Miller (Roberts) Marland and her brother George Roberts (George was 19, and Lydie was 16) were adopted by her aunt and uncle, Ernest Whitworth Marland and Virginia (Collins) Marland who lived in Ponca City, OK. George and Lydie were children of Virginia's sister, so they were not blood related to Ernest Marland. Lydie and her brother, George had already lived with Ernest and Virgina Marland for quite some time before the adoption took place, as their biological parents, Virginia's sister and her husband couldn't financially take care of them.
Lydie and George's biological parents later had two more children, whom they themselves raised on their own.
After a long illness, Virginia Marland, Ernest Marland's wife died in 1926. A couple of years later, Ernest got the adoption of Lydie anulled, and he married Lydie on July 14, 1928. Lydie was 28 and Ernest was 54.
Ernest had built a lavish mansion in Ponca City which still stands today-2018.
Ernest Marland went broke, and in 1940, he was forced to sell his beloved Ponca City, Oklahoma Mansion. It cost $5.5 million to build, but it sold for a mere $66,000.00.
(Helen Baker Foglesong)
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She was a FIRST LADY of Oklahoma with a tragic past. Adopted into fabulous wealth, it would be her mysterious disappearance and the search for a broken statue that would seal her legacy as one of the most interesting women in Oklahoma history.
Lyde “Lydie” Miller Roberts Marland – April 20, 1900 – July 25, 1987
Lyde Miller Roberts was born April 20, 1900 in Flourtown, Pennsylvania to Margaret Reynolds and George Frederick Roberts. Lydie, as she preferred to spell her name, was the second child of the family with an older brother, George. Her family struggled financially in Flourtown and in 1912, the family traveled to Ponca City to visit their Aunt Virginia. Mary Virginia Collins Marland was married to Oklahoma oil magnate E.W. Marland and it was hoped that the childless couple would take an interest in the two children. Lydie and George stayed in Oklahoma with their aunt and uncle, starting school and beginning to settle into Ponca City. In 1916, two pair were officially adopted into the Marland family.
Lydie was provided an education in various schools in Oklahoma and New York. After she graduated from Oaksmere School in New Rochelle, New York, she returned to Ponca City to enter Oklahoma society. E.W. Marland used his wealth to afford a new lifestyle for his entire family. Through all the booms and busts that happened in the oil business, he enjoyed the finer things in life. The family was invested in forming a polo league, fox hunts, golfing, and sightseeing around the world.
In 1925, Marland commissioned architect John Duncan Forsyth to begin designing a new home in Ponca City. The family had lived at the Marland-Paris mansion on Grand Street in Ponca City since 1916. The 16,500 square foot resident was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and featured many amenities such as a dishwasher and air conditioning. However, after viewing the famed Palazzo Davanzati in Italy during a vacation it was decided that a much larger and grand home was needed.
Along with the impressive $5.5 million Italianate mansion, Marland employed various artisans and craftsmen from around the world to fill his home with European glamor. Three statues were commissioned to grace the halls of the Marland mansion. E.W. Marland, George, and Lydie would be immortalized by American artist Jo Davidson. There had never been plans to sculpt Virginia Marland, who was suffering from cancer and had become reclusive from both the public and her family.
Lydie’s statue was provocative. The picture of a 1920s woman, she was sculpted in a diaphanous gown that hugged her body, ending in a cloud of feathers at her feet. Her hair is short cropped and waved in the style of the day and one hand rests on her hip while the other grasps a summer hat ringed with flowers. The original statue was placed in the garden for all to see. However, excitement over the new home was not to last for long as Mary Virginia Marland lost her battle with a long illness at the age of 49 on June 6, 1926. She never lived in, nor saw, the completed Marland Mansion. Within a week of Virginia’s death, E.W. Marland and Lydie boarded a train for the East Coast and then launched a European tour. Through 1927, the Marland Oil Company continued to flourish, making E.W. Marland an estimated $85,000,000.
In 1928, E.W. Marland and Lydie returned to her hometown of Flourtown and had her adoption annulled. This action would clear the way for the couple to be married on July 14, 1928 in her parents’ home. The engagement was a shock and provided tabloid fodder across the United States. The new bride was 28 while her groom was 54. The couple traveled across Canada on their honeymoon before ending their trip in California. In September 1928, as the Marland Mansion was finally completed, E.W. gave his new bride the gift of moving into their new home.
On November 1, 1928, E.W. Marland was forced from his position as the president of Marland Oil during a hostile takeover. Nearly over night, his name was removed from anything to do with the business and a new name was coined: Conoco. Between this take over and the Great Depression of 1929, E.W. Marland’s fortune was greatly depleted. By early 1930, the cost of upkeep on the mansion had become too great for the couple and they were forced to move to the much smaller Artist’s Studio on the property grounds. They would only live in the Marland Mansion for 18 months.
With the Marland fortune mostly gone, E.W. turned his attention towards politics. He used the loss of his business to a larger oil company as a catalyst to run for office, successfully being elected as a U.S. Congressman in 1932. Lydie moved with her husband to Washington, D.C., but because of the scandal that had surrounded her marriage in the beginning, she was often shy and reclusive. In 1934, E.W. Marland became the 10th governor of Oklahoma, thrusting Lydie into the spotlight as Oklahoma’s First Lady.
The new First Lady shied away from the spotlight. When she was seen in public, she often wore dark sunglasses. She also declined the opportunity to march in Marland’s inaugural parade in Oklahoma City. She was well read and charming, a lover of dancing and a good time, but she never quite fit into the high-profile role. By the end of his term as governor, the Marlands were broke. In 1939, they moved back to Ponca City where they moved into the newly restored chauffer’s house on the Marland Mansion grounds. Trying to make ends meet, in 1941, Lydie and E.W. sold the possessions of the mansion in a yard sale before finally selling the mansion to the Carmelite religious order for $66,000.
On October 3, 1941, E.W. Marland died of a heart condition at the age of 67. He was buried in Ponca City and for the first time in her life, Lydie Marland was alone. Her brother, George, had married and started a life in Tulsa with his new family while Lydie lived alone in the chauffer’s quarters as the religious order took up residence in the mansion. Her famous statue, which was viewed as too worldly for the new monastery, was taken off display in the mansion’s gardens.
In 1950, the mysterious second chapter in Lydie’s life began. Having lived isolated for so long, she began a relationship with a younger man named Lewis Cassel. She was smitten with him, but the relationship soured and in 1952, Lewis broke up with Lydie while in the middle of a crowd on Grand Avenue in Ponca City. Despondent and ready for change, Lydie ordered her statue smashed and buried. Her request was that she never wanted to see the statue ever again and she wanted the face smashed first.
In 1953, Lydie packed up her possessions, gathered $10,000 in cash, and drove away from Ponca City. Lydie had no driver’s license and had notoriously bad eyesight, causing many to become alarmed at her sudden disappearance. In July 1955, after her brother filed a missing person’s report, newspaper articles ran around the country asking, “Have you seen Lydie Marland?”. While her whereabouts were largely unknown for 22 years, she was often briefly spotted performing odd jobs in hotels, standing in bread lines, and attending anti-Vietnam War rallies. Friends would say, “She sometimes spoke of desire for anonymity. It wasn’t that she mourned the past – she just wanted to forget it.” However, no matter where she was, Lydie always made sure to continue payment on the taxes of her cottage yearly.
In 1975, a Ponca City attorney and friend of Lydie convinced her to return to Ponca City. Moving back into her old home on the grounds of Marland Mansion, Lydie took up the cause of purchasing the mansion back from the nuns that now owned it. She said of the mansion, “To me, it is a place of rare beauty and artistic integrity. A structure that is an expression from mind into substance, of the quality, the strength, and the heart of a man.”
The Marland Mansion was purchased by the city of Ponca City on September 16, 1975. It would become a National Historic Landmark and Lydie could live in her little cottage on the grounds. The mysterious Lydie Marland remained an elusive figure in Ponca City. She was often seen around town, wearing a hat and veil while shopping or large sunglasses to hide her face. When parties were held at the newly minted museum, she could be seen watching from a distance and enjoying the music.
Lydie Marland passed away on July 25, 1987 at the age of 87. She is buried next to her husband in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Ponca City. True to her life, her funeral only hosted six people.
However, the story of Lydie Marland was not done. Six weeks after her death, a letter was sent to Conoco stating that the infamous statue of Lydie had not been destroyed. The man charged by Lydie with smashing the piece had been unable to complete the task. Instead, he had buried it in a barn, and it had laid untouched for 38 years.
The broken statue was restored and now resides in the foyer of the Marland Mansion. Lydie often told friends, “So many people come to me and say, tell me your story. They’d be so disappointed. There’s really not a story to tell.”
https://www.facebook.com/pawneebillranch/
Contributor: William Irwin (48154225) • [email protected]
