With the country recovering from the depression of ’93 and prosperity returning to Boulder, Benjamin Nelson sold his house at 1937 Spruce for $2200. His $300 property investment provided him a whopping 600% profit! Not bad for a four-year investment! How well would the next owner fair? The buyer, Mollie G. Whiteley, would own the home until her death in 1936.
Mollie was the second wife of powerful Boulder lawyer, Richard H. Whiteley. Richard’s divorce from Margaret Devine Whiteley, his wife of 33 years on August 12, 1884 stunned the people of Boulder. Even more shocking was his marriage to Mary Strickland (aka Mollie) within two hours of the divorce. Here is an account of what precipitated the divorce as published in A Scalawag in Georgia: Richard Whiteley and the Politics of Reconstruction by William Warren Rogers:
“With cause, Margaret suspected (or knew) that her husband was involved in a relationship with Mollie Strickland, a local woman. On the evening of July 15, 1884, finding the two walking together, Margaret approached them. Whiteley knocked her down, and when she got up, struck her to the ground again. Some witnessed the altercation, and the incident became the object of considerable gossip.”
Richard and Mollie were married by a justice of the peace because no local clergymen would agree to perform the ceremony. Mollie, the 21-year old daughter of a miner, was 33 years younger than Richard and there is evidence indicating she was a prostitute. The community was so outraged that, fearing violence against Whiteley, the sheriff and several policemen were called in to provide protection to the couple.
What a fiery start to this young woman’s life.
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