# E. W. Marland

Ernest Whitworth Marland (May 8, 1874 – October 3, 1941) was an American lawyer, oil businessman in Pennsylvania and later Oklahoma, and politician who was a United States Representative (congressman) and 10th Governor of Oklahoma. He served in the United States House of Representatives (lower chamber of the Congress of the United States) from a district in northern Oklahoma, 1933 to 1935, and as the tenth Governor of Oklahoma from 1935 to 1939. As a Democrat, he initiated a "Little Deal" in Oklahoma during the Great Depression of the 1930s, working to relieve the distress of unemployed people and the economic hardships affecting the state and nation-wide and to build infrastructure as investment for the future.
Marland made his earlier fortunes in oil in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s and more later in Oklahoma during the 1920s, and lost each in the volatility of the industry and the times. At the height of his wealth in the 1920s, Marland built a mansion known as the Palace of the Prairies in Ponca City, after introducing fox hunts (and red foxes) and polo games on horseback to the local wealthy elite society. It has since been designated a National Historic Landmark. The Marland-Paris Mansion, his former home on Grand Avenue, is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places (listings maintained by the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior).
Marland and his first wife Virginia did not have any children. To share their wealth and help her sister Margaret Roberts and her family, in 1916 they adopted their two children, nephew and niece George and Lydie, who were then 19 and 16 years old. The Marlands sent them to private school and gave them other advantages. A decade later and two years after first wife Virginia's death in 1926, Marland had niece Lydie's adoption annulled. He then married her as Lydie Roberts Marland (1900-1987), that same year when she was age 26 years, and she later accompanied him during the subsequent decade of the 1930s to Washington, D.C. when he served in the U.S. Congress, and later in the governor's mansion in Oklahoma City.

## Early life and education

Ernest Whitworth Marland was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 8, 1874. His father was a mill owner in Pittsburgh who boasted in his later years that he never had a strike in his mill and his workers remembered him as having been "always fair to labor". This gave the son his belief in capitalism and his understanding of the importance of good labor relations.
Marland was educated in private schools, he did collegiate and law studies on an accelerated schedule, earning his LL.B. from the University of Michigan Law School at the age of 19 in 1893.

## Marriage and family

Unlike many men of the period, Marland waited to marry until he was well-established. He first married Mary Virginia Collins, known as Virginia, on November 5, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1907 he had become a millionaire from his oil dealings in Pennsylvania, but also lost a fortune in a economic / business downturn. They decided to move west to Oklahoma, where they found renewed success in its subsequent discoveries and drilling oil boom. They however had no children of their own.
In 1916, to help Virginia's sister Margaret Roberts and husband George Roberts, and to share their wealth, they adopted the Roberts' two children, George and Lydie, then ages 19 and 16, respectively. They sent them to private schools and gave them other opportunities. The Marlands were together until Virginia's death from pneumonia on June 6, 1926, in Ponca City, (Kay County), Oklahoma.
E. W. Marland had Lydie Roberts Marland's adoption annulled. The New York Times published news of Marland's engagement (a month before) to Lydie Roberts Marland, the daughter of his late wife's sister on January 6, 1928. The front-page notice was followed by an adjacent news item reporting the reaction by Miss Roberts' mother, "who broke down and wept when she learned of the engagement." On July 14, 1928, Marland married Lydie Roberts in Philadelphia. She was at the time at age 28 and he was at age 54. They were together for 13 years through his political service career and following short retirement until his death on October 3, 1941.

## Career

After law school, Marland returned to Pittsburgh where he started a private practice. Through his experiences as an attorney, he became interested in geology and entered the developing oil industry in Pennsylvania. He invested in new wells and companies and, by the age of 33, Marland had become a self-made millionaire.
That same year, Marland lost millions in the financial panic of 1907 and subsequent recession. By the next year of 1908, Marland was broke and without a job. Hoping to start their lives over, Marland and Virginia moved west to the new 46th state of Oklahoma, admitted to the federal Union in 1907. They settled in Ponca City, where he resumed his oil career.
He first founded the 101 Ranch Oil Company. Marland was successful in reestablishing his fortune. By 12 years later in 1920, it was estimated to be worth at $85,000,000 ($85 million dollars - roughly $910,000,000 - $910 million dollars in modern 2024 U.S. dollars). That year he founded the Marland Oil Company in Ponca City (it was incorporated in Delaware on October 8, 1920) and served as its president. In 1928, the Marland Oil Company was taken over in a hostile bid process by famous Wall Street / New York City financier tycoon J. P. Morgan, Jr. and was merged with the Continental Oil and Transportation Company (CONOCO). Marland's oil empire was destroyed and he was pushed out of the company leadership and replaced as President of Marland Oil by Dan Moran. He lost all of his wealth for the second time. He and William Skelly were instrumental in the founding of the Kansas-Oklahoma division of the United States Oil and Gas Association, then known as "Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association".

### U.S. Representative (Congressman)

His treatment at the hands of Morgan and other eastern Republican Party politically-connected bankers and big businessmen led him to leave the Republican Party and re-register as a Democrat. Marland supported New 32nd PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945, served 1933-1945l and his New Deal programs from the beginning of his presidential administration. Through association with the popular FDR, Marland was elected in 1932 to the United States House of Representatives to represent Oklahoma's 8th congressional district in the northern part of the state (since disbanded / redistricted). Congressman Marland was the first Democrat to hold that seat representing Oklahoma in 15 years.
Marland served in the Congress for a single two-years term, from 1933 to 1935. He declined reelection after entering the Democratic primary election to succeed ninth Governor William H. Murray. Marland won both the Democratic nomination and the general election in November 1934 to serve as the tenth governor of the state.

### Governor of Oklahoma

On January 15, 1935, Marland was inaugurated as the tenth governor. Several years before, the widower had married Lydie Roberts Marland, his niece and former adopted step-daughter. She was then 28 years old and he was age 54. She became First Lady of Oklahoma
Governor Marland quickly instituted a program that would become known as the "Little New Deal". From the start, the lower chamber of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and upper chamber of the Oklahoma Senate were dominated by his opposition and not in favor of his plans. The state legislature was more concerned with reducing the state's massive budget monetary deficit (roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in modern 2024 currency). Marland, an avid supporter of FDR and the Progressive / Liberal social / economic agenda, stressed the need for the state government to work with the federal government in creating jobs and support for impoverished families.
Despite Marland's efforts, most Oklahoman politicians never fully embraced the New Deal agenda of President Roosevelt,more popular elsewhere in America. What the Oklahoma Legislature would accept was a homestead exemption provision to the state's ad valorem taxes, increased school funds, and raising the state sales tax to two percent. Marland introduced legislation to appropriate funds raised by the sales tax for aid to the handicapped, the elderly, and dependent children.
At thar time, Oklahoma had an estimated 150,000 Oklahomans that were unemployed and 700,000 on relief lists. Marland asked the Fifteenth Legislature for a board to craft policy to develop the physical infrastructure of the state with investments to create a more diverse economy. The Legislature responded with the 15-member State Planning and Resources Board. The Board worked with FDR's Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) to create jobs through public works projects such as construction of dams and tree planting. The State Highway Department expanded its road work and created thousands of jobs. Historic properties and renovated, archeological excavations were undertaken to identify and preserve resources, and other resources were enhanced.
Though he did not balance the state's budget, Marland created the Oklahoma Highway Patrol state police agency and the Interstate Oil Compact. Through the Compact, six oil-producing states in the U.S.A. agreed to practice oil conservation and establish a fair price for petroleum. The governing body of the Compact was a commission, of which Marland was elected to serve as the first president.
Marland's term as governor ended after four years on January 9, 1939. Through more than 1,300 WPA projects, he had created jobs for more than 90,000 Oklahomans. After his term, he returned to Ponca City and tried to recreate the Marland Oil Company.
In 1940, ex-Governor Marland ran again for the United States House of Representatives in Congress but was unsuccessful against another Republican candidate.

## Pioneer Woman statue

In the early 1920s while enjoying his great oil wealth, Marland decided to commission a statue, the Pioneer Woman, for installation in Ponca City. Marland was asked, "E. W., why don't you have sculptor Jo Davidson make a statue to the vanishing American, a Ponca, Otoe, or an Osage – a monument of great size?" Marland answered, "The Indian is not the vanishing American – it's the pioneer woman."
Marland commissioned twelve miniature 3-foot (0.91 m) sculptures by US and international sculptors as models for the Pioneer Woman statue. Marland paid each sculptor a commission for these models, which has been variously cited as $10,000 and as $2,000 for each submission. The miniatures were shipped for exhibit in twelve cities, where they were viewed by a total of 750,000 people. Marland invited them to cast votes for their favorite but said he would make the final selection.
The twelve submissions included Confident by Bryant Baker; Self-Reliant by Alexander Stirling Calder; Trusting by Jo Davidson; Affectionate by James E. Fraser; Protective by John Gregory; Adventurous by F. Lynn Jenkins; Heroic by Mario Korbel; Faithful by Arthur Lee; Challenging by Hermon Atkins MacNeil; Determined by Maurice Sterne; Fearless by Wheeler Williams; and Sturdy by Mahonri Young. The New York Times reported on March 27, 1927, that the exhibition had arrived in New York City and that it had attracted "more interest than any exhibition of sculpture New York has known in a long while." After being exhibited for three weeks in the Reinhardt Galleries, Bryant Baker's model won first place in the New York balloting. The Times reported that "Baker not only won first honors, but was the last man to enter the contest having no more than a month to prepare his model and obtain a casting."
   I believe all of the sculptors have done well. We could select any one of the twelve figures and get an excellent interpretation of the frontier woman. The decision will be a hard one to make. I expect to be guided largely by public taste, but the final decision will be my own. This national vote is going to show exactly what the American people think about one of the greatest of their women.
The exhibition touched a popular chord in American culture of the time. The New York Times reported on March 27, 1927, that among the visitors was 91‑year‑old Betty Wollman, who as a young bride had journeyed from St. Louis, Missouri, to Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1855. She had once entertained Abraham Lincoln as a dinner guest in the Wollman household, long before he was a candidate for president. Wollman spoke about women's role during pioneer days in the Old West and congratulated Marland for his proposal to erect a statue in her honor.
The winning statue nationwide was Confident, which featured a woman and her son, by the British-born American sculptor Bryant Baker. Marland's personal favorite was said to be Trusting by Jo Davidson, who had already sculpted statues of Marland and his adopted children: George and Lydie.
On April 22, 1930, at a reception for 40,000 guests, Baker's sculpture was unveiled in Ponca City in a public ceremony. Guest speaker Will Rogers paid tribute to Oklahoma's pioneers. President Herbert Hoover addressed the nation in a radio broadcast to commemorate the statue. He said, "It was those women who carried the refinement, the moral character and spiritual force into the West.
The finished Pioneer Woman is 27 feet (8.2 m) high and weighs 12,000 pounds.

## Death

Marland died of a heart condition on October 3, 1941, at the age of 67. He is buried in Ponca City.

## Movie about Marland

* Filmmaker Scott Swearingen made a documentary about the oilman, High Stakes: The Life and Times of E.W. Marland (2016), which he co-produced with Steve Herrin. Supported with funding by the Marland Foundation, the film was featured with a panel discussion at the Oklahoma Historical Society on September 13, 2016.
* In August 2012, the Weinstein Company, announced that it was to produce the romantic drama film Ends of the Earth, written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Chris Terrio, and based on the lives of EW and Lydie Marland. The screenplay was said to explore the controversial love affair between the oil baron and former Oklahoma governor, and his adopted daughter, who built a mansion and other extravagances in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Actress Jennifer Lawrence was cast in the role of Lydie Marland. The screenplay went through several rewrites and the film may still be in development.

## Commemoration

* His Italianate mansion in Ponca City, the 55-room E. W. Marland Mansion designed by John Duncan Forsyth, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
* His previous home, known as the Marland Grand Home, located on Grand Avenue with eight acres of formal gardens, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

## State of the State speeches

* First State of the State Speech
* Second State of the State Speech
* Third State of the State Speech
* Fourth State of the State Speech

## Citations

* ↑ Ernest Whitworth Marland, My Experience With the Money Trust (Enid, Okla.: Enid Press, 1932)
* ↑ Scales, James R. and Danny Goble (1982). "E.W. Marland: The New Deal's Pale Imitation". Oklahoma Politics: A History. University of Oklahoma.
* ↑ Special to the New York Times (January 6, 1928). "E.W. Marland to Marry Adopted Daughter; Oil Man Plans Wedding within a Month". The New York Times. Vol. 77, no. 25549. p. 1. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
* ↑ "Lydie Roberts Marland". Tulsa World. Associated Press. July 28, 1987. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
* ↑ Marland Estate Mansion and E.W. Marland: Ponca City, Oklahoma, Ponca City, Oklahoma: City of Ponca City, 2001, pp. 17, 20
* ↑ "Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association of Oklahoma". okmoga.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
* 1 2 Savage Jr., William W. (February 25, 2023). "The awkward family affair of Gov. E.W. Marland". NonDoc. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
* 1 2 Gibson, Arrell M. (1972). Harlow's Oklahoma History, Sixth ed. Harlow Publishing Company. OCLC 495907380
* 1 2 3 John Joseph Mathews, Life and Death of an Oilman: The Career of E.W. Marland, 1941; reprint University of Oklahoma Press, 1974.
* 1 2 "Pioneers". Time. January 2, 1928. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
* 1 2 3 4 Louise Abercrombie, "Pioneer Woman Models Return to Ponca City" Archived April 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, The Ponca City News, May 23, 2000.
* ↑ Toone, Thomas E., Mahonri Young: His Life and Art, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997
* 1 2 3 4 "Pioneer Woman Seen in Bronze", The New York Times, March 20, 1927.
* 1 2 3 "Statue of the Pioneer Woman Stirs Memories of Long Ago", The New York Times, March 27, 1927.
* 1 2 PoncaCity.com Attractions: "The Pioneer Woman", Ponca City Website
* 1 2 "The Pioneer Woman Praised by Hoover", The New York Times, April 23, 1930.
* 1 2 Lackmeyer, Steve (September 11, 2016). "Marland legacy beyond scandal told in new documentary". The Oklahoman. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
* ↑ Michael Smith, "Jennifer Lawrence cast as former Oklahoma first lady Lydie Marland in a new film", Tulsa World. August 6, 2012.
* ↑ Jeff Sneider and Rachel Adams, . "Jennifer Lawrence travels to 'Ends of the Earth'", Variety, August 6, 2012