George Hyde Clarke (1858-1914) and Mary Gale Carter (1862-1929)

George ‘Hyde’ Clarke was born in New York City. He spent a few summer months and the occasional holiday at Hyde Hall as a young child. He moved to England with his mother and sisters in 1866 to attend school. He returned to New York to seek a law degree at Columbia in 1878. He was an exceptional athlete, winning various trophies at his schools. Among his athletic interests, he introduced court tennis to America and was designated the best cricket player at St. George’s Cricket Club in New York City. He became a member of the New York Tennis and Racquet Club and later in 1893, was one of the founding members of the Otsego Golf Club on land once a part of the Hyde Hall estate. With his father’s vast real estate holdings and his familiarity with the English landowning class, Hyde decided to settle into country life at Hyde Hall in 1880. He was determined to improve the family’s cattle herd and to preserve Hyde Hall. He undertook a series of deferred repairs to the roofs and floors, and in 1883 built a new woodshed to hold the 50 cords of wood needed to heat the house each year. In 1885 he married Mary Gale Carter, born in New York City and a descendant of the Averell family who had settled in Cooperstown in 1787. She attended a French finishing school in New York City that was run by the Mesdames Charbonnier, where she became great friends with fellow-schoolmate, Juliette Gordon Low, who later founded the Girl Scouts of America.

Hyde had every expectation of inheriting a large estate, but with his father’s bankruptcy in 1887, he would receive nothing of the Clarke legacy. However, Mary Gale’s mother, Jane Russell Averell Carter, was an heiress. Mary Gale was able to buy most of the contents of Hyde Hall when it was sold at auction with funds from her mother. Close friends and family members acquired about 2,000 acres comprising nine farms contiguous to Hyde Hall. When her mother died in 1888, Mary Gale was able to redeem these personal mortgages and loans and retained sole ownership of all the property including Hyde Hall.

During their tenure, Hyde and Mary Gale showed great sensitivity to the historic architecture of Hyde Hall, specifically the grand ornamental ceiling in the Great House, which they restored using the original molds. Any new woodwork carefully matched the old. They completed the plasterwork at the top of the Grand Staircase and in the billiard room; rebuilt floors and ceilings; updated the Main Kitchen with a new coal stove, hot water heater, and a large enamel sink; and added three bathrooms. Ann Cary Cooper Clarke’s suite was opened as one large space for use as a sitting room and schoolroom for the children. They also moved the carriage house to the west end of the stable and built a dairy barn in its place.

The Clarkes had four children: Ann Hyde, George Hyde, Alfred Hyde, and Averell Carter Hyde. In 1908 Mary Gale established the Hyde Hall Boys School to educate her younger sons, Alfred and Averell. Several local families also had sons attend the school, which ran at Hyde Hall until 1912 when the students went to more established preparatory schools.

George died in 1914, and Mary Gale was declared mentally incompetent in 1916. She remained with her son George, Jr., and his wife Milly at Hyde Hall. She passed away in 1929. Her obituary noted: "To the older residents of the village, she is remembered as a woman of extraordinary beauty and charm in a family noted for those qualities."