Standard Oil tycoon (and real-life Monopoly Man) Henry Flagler is most well known today for his contributions to modern Florida’s development of the East Coast and tourism industry. He is honored memorialized across the State by statues and declarations, with even a museum and esteemed college named for him.
But little acknowledgement is made of the tragic fate of his 3 wives—nor how he used his vast wealth and influence to change Florida law so that he could divorce his second wife, who had been declared insane—and subsequently marry his much-younger mistress.
To this day debate remains over whether or not his actions were that of a devoted husband doing everything to arrange the best possible care for his “demented” wife in a time where mental illness was poorly understood, or if his wife was a defenseless victim of the the wealthy and autocratic Gilded Era, when women were subject to an indifferent legal and medical establishment that society turned a blind eye and deaf ear to.
Ida Shourds had actually been the caregiver of Flagler’s first wife, Mary Hawkins, when the couple first moved to Jacksonville as recommended by Mary’s physician, who believed the warm climate would help her ailing health. Unfortunately for Mary, the Florida sun did not improve her condition, but it seems to have warmed up something.
It is unknown when exactly Flagler and Ida would began their affair, but in 1883, just two years after Mary’s death, the two were married. The 53-year-old Flagler and his 35-year-old bride travelled to St. Augustine for their honeymoon—which he found so charming, it it sparked his idea of creating “a New American Riviera.”
No doubt Ida, a failed actress and former nurse, encouraged her husband’s Florida investments and acquisitions. She delighted in being the center of a social swirl that included the Vanderbilts and Astors. She could have never predicted that it was at one of these soirées where her life may very well have soon began to unravel—and unbeknownst to her, that she would never become part of her husband’s grand Florida Dream.
Like many of her contemporaries, Ida Flagler dabbled in Spiritualist seances and Ouija board consultations, claiming to converse with long-dead historical figures, along with other increasingly odd behaviors.
Supposedly, she believed that the Czar of Russia was madly in love with her and that the Flagler mansion was full of spies, and had become increasingly paranoid that her husband was unfaithful to her, frequently throwing fits of temper at social engagements.
However far-fetched some of her beliefs may have been, she was correct about her husband’s infidelity—and in fact, Flagler first laid eyes upon his future mistress, Mary Keenan, at one of their opulent dinner dances.
By 1894, Ida’s “glib tongue” prompted Flagler to place his personal physician to place himself in her presence at almost all times. Meanwhile, Flagler was supposedly lavishing his mistresses with gifts, such as an impressive home, tropical vacations and $1 million worth of jewelry.
In 1895, two alienists (a former term for psychiatrists who assess the competence of a defendant in a court of law) visited Ida to assess her, which caused her to become frantic and upset. She was recommended to be removed from her home and placed in a sanitarium, where she was diagnosed as having “incurable delusional insanity.”
Flagler never saw her again.
By 1899, newspapers were openly questioning Flagler’s affair and Mary demanded they wed. However, there was a problem—under Florida law, incurable insanity was not considered grounds for divorce.
So, in 1901, Flagler bribed the Florida Legislature and Governor to pass a law that which allowed those with insane spouses to obtain a divorce. It is unknown how much money he spent to influence the Legislature, but talk was that Flagler Hall at Stetson University in DeLand was built with a donation designed to influence passage of the bill.
Despite public outrage, Flagler, 71, and Mary, 36, were married two weeks later. Flagler was the only person to be divorced under the law before it was repealed in 1905. A spouse’s mental incapacity was later restored by the legislature as a grounds for divorce, and remains the law of Florida today.
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