Mary Hoyt Wiborg

Mary Hoyt Wiborg, Claire Bird, and Leta Pell Wright in 1922

Mary Hoyt Wiborg (January 28, 1888 - March 27, 1964) was a New York City socialite. She wrote the 1922 play Taboo that starred Paul Robeson.[1]

Biography

Mary Hoyt Wiborg was born on January 28, 1888, to Frank Bestow Wiborg in Cincinnati. Her mother was a daughter of financier Hoyt Sherman, and a niece of General William Tecumseh Sherman and Senator John Sherman.

She had two sisters, Olga Wiborg and Sara Sherman Wiborg. Olga married Sidney Webster Fish, the son of Stuyvesant Fish, on September 18, 1915, in St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Easthampton, New York.[2] The family moved to New York City and Frank became the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Labor.[3]

Mary Hoyt Wiborg lived in Paris, France, and according to her obituary in The New York Times, was active in the Red Cross and, during World War II, served in the French Resistance. She was a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Early Actors and Directors". eO'Neill. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Because of his performance in that play, the people involved in a production called Taboo asked him to be in it. The play was written by a white woman named Mary Hoyt Wiborg and treated a familiar theme of superstitions and myth among black people.
  2. ↑ "Ms. Wiborg a Bride". Washington Post. September 19, 1915. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Marries Sidney Webster Fish at East Hampton, L.I. Big Wedding Avoided Because of Recent Death of Bridegroom's Mother, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. Motion Pictures Taken of Party. After Breakfast and Dancing Couple Start on a Cruise. Miss Olga Wiborg, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank S. Wiborg, of New York, previously of Cincinnati, and Sidney Webster Fish, youngest son of Stuyvesant Fish, of Garrison and New York city, were married here today in St. Luke's Episcopal Church.
  3. ↑ "Wife of ex-Government Official Pleads Not Guilty to Smuggling Charge." (PDF). New York Times. September 28, 1913. Retrieved 2008-12-08. Mrs. A.S. Wiborg, wife of Frank B. Wiborg, ex-Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Labor, has been indicted in the Federal District Court on two counts for smuggling. She appeared yesterday in court and through her counsel, John B. Stanchfield, entered a plea of not guilty.
  4. ↑ "Mary Hoyt Wiborg, aided French in War", New York Times (Archives), March 28, 1964.

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