| Mary (mai) Huttleston Rogers Coe |
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Her parents had been raised in working class families of '' Mayflower '' lineage in the small coastal fishing town of Fairhaven. After they were married in 1862, young "Hen" and Abbie Rogers had lived in a one-room shack in western Pennsylvania where Henry Rogers was a partner in the tiny Wamsutta Oil Refinery . Living frugally and working hard, by 1874, Henry Rogers had become a wealthy principal in Standard Oil , and was living in New York City , maintaining a summer home in Fairhaven. Mai (as she was always called) was the "baby" of the family. She 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 close family friend Mark Twain labeled her first husband a "scalawag"), on June 4, 1900, Mai married William Robertson Coe , a 30-year old Insurance company manager. Coe had met Mai during a transatlantic crossing by ship. It was the second marriage for each. Between 1900 and 1910 they 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 Johnson And Higgins Insurance Co. , and was involved in insuring the hull of the RMS ''Titanic'' which sank on its maiden voyage in 1912 . Like many other famous families of the Gilded Age , the Coe family had been booked for the ill-fated liner's return trip to Southampton, England . By 1916, Coe had been named Chairman of the Board of Johnson and Higgins. 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 in Oyster Bay . 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 a Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park . The 355-acre estate includes Coe Hall, and a large Arboretum . SEE ALSO
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