Marguerite Sawyer was first married to Dr. Clarence Fahnestock on June 5, 1906 in
Marion, Massachusetts. His parents were Margaret A. (McKinley) and banker
Harris C. Fahnestock. Clarence was a physician and big game hunter. The Fahnestocks divorced, and Marguerite went to Europe. Clarence gave up his practice in New York to join the army during
World War I and became the chief surgeon for the 301st Infantry with service in France. He died there of pneumonia in 1918. Marguerite Sawyer Fahnestock married James Norman "Jimmy" Hill (born 1870), the son of railroad tycoon
James J. Hill. Hill was the vice-president of
Great Northern Railway in 1905, trustee of Great Northern Iron Ore Properties, and president of United Securities Company of St. Paul. The couple were married in London on August 23, 1912 at a Registry Office and then in Savory at the
Chapel Royal. The wedding was a quiet ceremony that was not attended by any of Hill's family members. Marguerite wore a large
picture hat and a traveling costume. The wife of Admiral
Swinburne was one of the half dozen people who attended the wedding. They had a luncheon celebration with the wedding party and Mr. and Mrs.
De Lancey Nicoll at
Claridge's. The Hills honeymooned on an automobile trip down the south coast of England from
Margate. Her sister Pauline married James' brother, Walter. Marguerite was never received by her in-laws at the
family home in
Saint Paul, Minnesota, "apparently because she was a divorcee." James J. Hill's wife, Mary Theresa (Mehegan) Hill, was a Roman Catholic. James Norman Hill became quite wealthy independently owing to his investment in Texas Company, later
Texaco. He and Marguerite owned Big Tree Farm on Wheatley Road in
Brookville, New York on
Long Island.
Walker & Gillette designed the building and the landscaping was designed by the
Olmsted Brothers. On their 230-acre estate, they bred Holstein and Ayrshire cattle, grew 769 species of trees, and had three large duck ponds. The Hill's interests included arboriculture, gardening, horses, tennis, shooting and golf. The Hill home at
Wheatley Hills, New York, considered one of the East Coast's show places, was the site of lavish events. They were on the
Social Register. According to a census, the Hills had at least one child, Marguerite, named after her mother; the child died in her youth. James Norman Hill died in 1932 and Marguerite, his wife, was said to have been left with an estate estimated at $80 million, but she was only left $2 million of the Hill fortune. Her husband was buried at the James Norman Hill mausoleum in
Woodland Cemetery in
Bronx, New York. Marguerite grew the money she was left from her husband from $2 to $9 million, she said, by the efforts of her financial adviser and common sense. Marguerite next married Herbert Neal, a descendant of
John Adams, on October 3, 1933 in Elkton, Maryland. He worked for Standard Oil Company of New York for 20 years. They spent their honeymoon in South America, France, and Spain. Shortly after, she returned from a trip to Honolulu and found that Herbert Neal was staying with another woman in a New Orleans Hotel. They were divorced in 1937. After the divorce, she resumed the name Marguerite Hill. She then entertained at Big Tree Farm in New York, Palm Beach, and in Washington, D.C. and dated a number of society men. She was good friends and vacationed with David S. Cowles, Baron George Wrangall, and Jean Saint Cyr. Wrangall had given a toast to her, "the most glorious woman in the world." On Long Island, she favored
clam bakes and sometimes had impromptu parties that lasted a week. She had a large collection of jewelry featuring
diamonds,
emeralds,
rubies,
sapphires, and other gems; the collection was stolen from her jewel safe at the Big Tree Farm in October 1942. The collection including heirloom pieces, and was worth at least $350,000 (), but she soon began to rebuild a collection. In 1946, Marguerite married
Blevins Davis at the
Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was attended by
Bess Truman. The
Harry S. Truman family had been neighbors and lifelong friends of her husband. After the wedding, the couple took the ship
America to Europe for their honeymoon. ==Death and legacy==