Mai Rogers, christened Mary, was born in 1875 in New York City, the youngest daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers and Abigail Gifford. The Rogerses, an old Yankee family, had arrived in America on the Mayflower. Mai's maternal grandfather Peleg Gifford was a whaling captain, and had participated in the "Great Stone Fleet" of scuttled ships that blockaded Charleston Harbor during the Civil War. Mai Huttleston Rogers Coe H.H. Rogers Her father H.H. Rogers (1840-1909) had made his fortune as one of the founders and organizers of the Standard Oil Company. A "robber baron" of the old style, Rogers' many business interests included transportation, utilities, and mining. Dubbed "Hell Hound Rogers" by his enemies and by the press, and said to have been "pitiless as a shark", Rogers was a generous philanthropist, endowing his native town Fairhaven with a school, town hall, library, roads, and a magnificent Unitarian church. He provided financial backing for Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute, and paid for Helen Keller's college education (all anonymously). A man of immense charm, his circle of close friends included Mark Twain, whom he saved from financial ruin. Mai was strikingly pretty and reportedly her father's favorite. Brought up with all of the advantages the Gilded Age had to offer, she was educated at private seminary schools. Mai spoke fluent French, played the piano, and was interested in art and decoration. In 1893, at age eighteen, Mai eloped with Joseph Cooper Mott, but the marriage ended in divorce due to Mott's alleged adultery. Not much is known about Mr. Mott or the nature of Mai's relationship with him, but when divorce proceedings concluded in 1896, Mott was pictured as a ne'er-do-well who was out of work and too poor to pay the alimony ordered by the court. In letters between H.H. Rogers and Mark Twain, the two men labeled Mott a scalawag. Afterwards, Mai traveled extensively throughout Europe with her older sister Cara Rogers Broughton as her chaperone. Cara and her two sons would later be raised to the British peerage for her husband Urban Broughton's charitable work. Urban, a successful civil engineer, passed away shortly before the title was bestowed in 1929, but Cara became the Lady Fairhaven; she presented Fort Phoenix to the town of Fairhaven, and Runnymede (which at one time she owned) to the British nation. It was Mai who brought two noted American artists to leave their mark at Coe Hall and Planting Fields. She loved interiors that were rich in details as seen in the murals executed by Robert Chanler for her bedroom suite and the Breakfast Room. Her love of European culture was evident in her involvement in the Louis XVI Reception Room, the final form of the Blue Pool Garden, her frequent trips abroad, and her collection of books about European court life. Under Mai's directive, artist Everett Shinn designed a charming interior and executed murals for the Tea House, the focal point of the Blue Pool Garden. Mai was a fashion plate with great taste and style, and was particularly fond of diamonds, sapphires, and hats. The Coes shared an interest in horticulture and landscape design. Their development of Planting Fields also influenced the landscape design of Lady Fairhaven's estate in England, Anglesey Abbey (now a National Trust property). Chronically ill for the last decade of her life, Mai died on December 28, 1924 at the age of forty-nine. Her distinctive taste can be seen throughout Coe Hall and Planting Fields.

Related Links Related Articles