On March 18, 1909, the Timothy Dexter House in Newburyport, Massachusetts, was sold to an esoteric occult group who planned to turn it into a school.
The group was called the Theosophical Society, which was led by its high priestess, Newburyport native Katherine Tingley, who was referred to as the “Purple Mother.”
Although the society had been established in California, Tingley wanted to open a school for Theosophy in her hometown of Newburyport and began scouting for a property to purchase.
After failing to buy her childhood home, located on the banks of the Merrimack River between the former estates of Fred S. Moseley and Charles W. Moseley (now Maudslay State Park), in 1907 and then reportedly buying a property in West Newbury in 1908, Tingley instead decided to buy the historic Timothy Dexter House on High Street. She renamed it Laurel Terrace and made plans to build more buildings on the property, such as academic halls, temples, and dormitories.
The plans didn’t go well, though, because the house soon became the target of burglars and arsonists.
In June of 1910, burglars broke into the mansion and stole many valuable paintings and works of art. The robbers broke open a window, stole several oil paintings, and ransacked the mansion but took nothing else despite the fact the house was filled with many expensive items. Some believed the robbers were actually looking for secret information about Tingley and the Theosophical Society.
A few months later, in September of 1910, arsonists set the barn on the property on fire, destroying not only the barn but also hundreds of tons of hay, equipment, and numerous carriages. Fortunately, the livestock was rescued in time, and firefighters managed to put out the fire before it reached the historic mansion.
In addition, a murder mystery also unfolded at the mansion that summer when a wealthy member of the Theosophical Society, Mrs. Thurston, who had recently married the head of the financial board of the society, Clark Thurston, died at the mansion in July and was quickly cremated before her family could even arrive to view the body. When her will was later read, it was discovered that she had left $150,000 to Tingley.
When Mrs. Thurston’s son, George Patterson, later looked into his mother’s estate and her connection to the Theosophical Society, he discovered $700,000 missing from her accounts and filed a suit against Tingley in September, accusing her of having “undue influence” over his mother at the time of her death.
After an 80-day trial, the will was denied probate, and the case was settled by agreements, with 40 percent going to Clark Thurston and Tingley and 60 percent going to Patterson.
A few years later, the Timothy Dexter House was ransacked again in May of 1913 when intruders broke in and tore every room apart, from the cellar to the attic, yet stole nothing.
The intruders ripped open panels in the wall, tore up carpets, pried open desk drawers, and broke into a sealed lockbox in what appeared to be a quest to find possible secret papers or some small hidden object. Police had no clue as to the motive for the crime, and Tingley refused to comment on the break-ins, which just added to the mystery.
In April or May of 1914, Tingley had apparently had enough of the intrusions and sold the mansion to local shoe manufacturer George Learned, claiming it was due to her inability to travel to the East Coast often because of her Theosophical work overseas.
Yet, Tingley immediately began searching for a new property to purchase in Newburyport, telling the Boston Herald in May of 1914 that she was actively looking at many estates in Massachusetts but preferred to establish her school in Newburyport:
“I have seen some very beautiful estates between here and Boston, but I prefer a location in the Newburyport suburbs on the banks of the Merrimack with a commanding view and extensive grounds.”
In December of 1919, Tingley finally acquired possession of her childhood home, Laurel Crest, on the banks of the Merrimack River, and continued her plans to open a school there, but it does not appear that those plans ever came to fruition.
Tingley died 10 years later, after succumbing to injuries sustained in a car accident in Germany.
Sources:
Katherine Tingley on Marriage and the Home: An Interview by Claire Merton. Theosophical Publishing Company, 1921.
“Will Found a School Here.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 8 Aug. 1907, p. 1.
“Trouble in Getting Land.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 19 Dec. 1907, p. 1.
“School of Theosophy to Be Started in West Newbury.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 18 Nov. 1908, p. 4.
“Purple Mother to Live in Bay State.” The Boston American, 21 Mar. 1909, p. 91.
“Mrs. Tingley Buys a Home.” The Boston Post, 18. Mar. 1909, p. 1.
“To Teach Theosophy In Her Birthplace.” The Boston Herald, 28 Mar. 1909, p. 24.
“Theosophists’ Head to Open Bay State School.” Boston Sunday Post, 21 Mar. 1909, p. 28.
“Mrs. Katherine Tingley Buys Site in Massachusetts.” The Evening Star, 19 Mar. 1909, p. 12.
“Mrs. Tingley Robbed.” The New York Times, 20 Jun. 1910, nytimes.com/1910/06/20/archives/mrs-tingley-robbed-theosophist-leader-says-nothing-but-paintings.html
“Tingley Mansion is Robbed.” Wood County Reporter, 23 Jun. 1910, p. 6.
“Purple Mother in Mystery.” The Boston Post, 19 Jun. 1910, p. 1.
“Theosophists’ Home Menaced by Incendiary.” The Boston Traveler, 28 Sept. 1910, p. 4.
“Mrs. Tingley’s Barn is Burned.” The Boston American, 28 Sept. 1910, p. 8.
“Mrs. Tingley Is Sued for Missing Million Dollars.” The Boston Post, 19 Sept. 1910, p. 14.
“Suit Against Mrs. Tingley.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 19 Sept. 1910, p. 1.
“Verdict Returned In Contestant’s Favor.” The Daily Missoulian, 16 Mar. 1912, p. 1.
Ames, Dorothy. “Mysterious Ransackings of Katherine Tingley’s Mansion.” The Boston Herald, 8 Jun. 1913, p. 26.
“Fear Mrs. Tingley’s Paintings Gone.” The Boston Post, 1 Jun. 1913, p. 10.
“Mrs. Tingley Sells Newburyport Home.” The Boston Post, 3 May. 1914, p. 9.
“MME. Tingley To Duplicate Point Loma School at Newburyport.” The Boston Herald, 24 May. 1914, p. 4.
“Laurel Terrace Sold.” The Newburyport Daily News, 29 Apr. 1914, p. 2.
“Mrs. Katherine Tingley, Noted Theosophist, Dies.” The Boston Traveler, 11 Jul. 1929, p. 1.
“Katherine Tingley Dies, Theosophist Leader.” The Boston Globe, 11 Jul. 1929, p. 9.
“Theosophist Leader Dies.” The Newburyport Daily News, 11 Jul. 1929, p. 1.