Mary Huttleston (Rogers) Coe (1875 - 1924)

Born 26 Sep 1875 in New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph Cooper Mott — married 28 Jul 1893 (to Dec 1895) in Sheepshead Bay, Kings, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 28 Dec 1924 at age 49 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

Biography

Mary Huttleston Rogers, known as Mai, was born 26 September 1875 in Fairhaven, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States, to Henry Huddleston Rogers (1840–1909) and Abigail Palmer Gifford (1841–1894), who were married 17 November 1862 in Fairhaven, Bristol, Massachusetts.

Her father was an associate of John D. Rockefeller and one of the wealthiest men in the United States through Standard Oil. By 1874, the Rogers family was living in New York City and maintaining a summer home in Fairhaven.^[1]

Mai's first marriage to Joseph C. Mott was annulled. Her father and her close family friend Mark Twain both labeled her first husband a "scalawag".^[2]

Mai married William Robertson Coe (1869–1955) 4 June 1900 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Children of Mary (Mai) Huddleston Rogers and William Robertson Coe are

William Rogers Coe 1901–1971

Robert Douglas Coe 1902–1985

Henry Huttleston Rogers Coe 1907–1966

Natalie Mai Coe 1910–1987

Planting Fields^[3]

Mai and her husband shared a love of horticulture. They purchased a large estate, Planting Fields, in 1913. It had been established in 1904 by Helen MacGregor Byrne – wife of New York City lawyer James Byrne, and built on the Gold Coast of Long Island, New York in Oyster Bay.

When used as the Coe family estate, the mansion was referred to as "the residence" or "the house." The name "Coe Hall" was coined much later, when the land was used as a temporary campus for the State University of New York (SUNY) in the 1950s and 1960s. The Coes began planting and landscaping under the guidance of the Boston landscaping firm of Guy Lowell and A. R. Sargent.

The property's first mansion burned to the ground on March 19, 1918; its replacement, the present Coe Hall, was constructed between 1918 and 1921 in the Tudor Revival style and faced in Indiana limestone. It was designed by the firm of Walker & Gillette and was completed in 1921. Images from a book of English country houses, especially those of Moyns Park, Athelhampton, and St. Catherine's Court, inspired its architecture. William and Mai Coe's interest in rare species of trees and plant collections made the estate a botanical marvel.

The 353 acre estate, including Coe Hall and a large arboretum, was deeded to the State of New York in 1949 (during Mr. Coe's lifetime) to become Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park.^[4]

Mary Huttleston Rogers died 28 December 1924 at the age of 49 in Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(Mai)_Huttleston_Rogers_Coe
2. ↑ Twain, Mark (1969). Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers, 1893-1909. University of California Press. p. 744. ISBN 9780520905061.
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(Mai)_Huttleston_Rogers_Coe#cite_note-Twain1969-2
4. ↑ Mai Huttleston Rogers Coe. Planting Fields. 2006

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(Mai)_Huttleston_Rogers_Coe