Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Mary Estelle ROBINSON
[Bio of Mary Markle]
Mary R. Markle, born Mary Estelle Robinson in the early 1860's, was a daughter of Mary Moore Robinson of Wilmington, Delaware, and J. Norris Robinson, a partner in Drexel, Morgan & Company, leading bankers and financiers in Philadelphia and New York. Widowed early with four children, Mrs. Robinson married J. Hood Wright--also a Drexel, Morgan partner--and the family moved to New York City.
They retained family and business ties in Pennsylvania, where Mary was introduced to young John Markle, manager of his family's coal mining operations. The couple married in Manhattan in 1884. They lived in Hazleton and Jeddo, Pennsylvania, then moved their principal residence to New York around 1902.
Mary's Connections in New York
In New York, the Markles became deeply involved in the intricate web of interpenetrating connections which bound the city's--and in many cases the nation's--elite and their social, financial, industrial, and charitable interests.
Mrs. Markle's personal connections were centrally important to the couple's fortunes. For example her stepfather, J. Hood Wright, was a partner of J.P. Morgan at a time when Morgan's involvement in railroad finance, industrial "reorganization," and the establishment of powerful voting trusts of stockholders gave the firm a quasi-governmental hold on the U.S. economy. One of her brothers, Edward M. Robinson, was also a Drexel, Morgan partner, first in New York and later in Philadelphia.
Mary's Charitable Activities
Mrs. and Mr. Markle served, respectively, on the women's association board and the board of managers of an upper Manhattan voluntary hospital, joining a whole network of Wrights, Robinsons, and J.P. Morgan.
Originally the Manhattan Dispensary, this institution was renamed the J. Hood Wright Memorial Hospital in 1895. Mr Wright chaired the board while his wife led the women's association until his death, when Mrs. Wright and her sister-in-law Elizabeth Wright offered substantial building, endowment, and operating support. Later, Mrs. Markle honored her mother--through whom she inherited substantial shares of her father's and stepfather's estates--with a $200,000 bequest used to erect a hospital building known as the Mary Robinson Wright Memorial.
Mrs. John Markle driving a beautiful pair of bays. In the background is the villa in Hazleton, which the Markles later left for "The House that Jack Built" in Jeddo.
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