Suffragettes of the oil field

Mrs. Frederica Dudley was Gulf Publishing Company’s V.P. of Personnel Relations.

The 1916–1938 era was still a man’s world. Nevertheless, a few intrepid women did make their mark in this early phase of the oil and gas industry. To be sure, some of the pictorials in The Oil Weekly were exploitative. Long before Sports Illustrated, The Oil Weekly published a swimsuit page. More appropriate were articles on women as oil company owners, drilling contractors and early geologists.

Mrs. Laura Koppe. An ad in the June 22, 1918, issue of The Oil Weekly by Mrs. Laura Koppe, of No. 10 Oxford Apartments in Houston, describes two wells producing natural gas on a 600-acre property in an undisclosed location. The ad says, “if this looks interesting to you, get in touch with us.” There is now a street in northwest Houston named after Laura Koppe.

“Sooner” geologists. An article in the March 20, 1920 issue of The Oil Weekly explains that war work brought many women into commercial and industrial positions, but it took post-war oil and gas development to bring them into the geological field in the Southwest. According to the article, two University of Oklahoma Sooner coed graduates were employed by oil producing companies. These include Miss Grace Jennings, B.A. ’18, employed in the sub-surface department of the Marland Refining Company, and Miss Linda Green, B.A. ’19, working in the sub-surface department of the Roxana Petroleum Company. The article reports that a number of freshmen coed students in the university had signified their intention of majoring in geology.

Mrs. Lloyd Sigler. The May 1, 1920, issue of The Oil Weekly has an extended article on Mrs. Lloyd Sigler, who sold her Cadillac automobile and jewelry for money to acquire $2,500 of stock in a well near Wichita Falls, Texas, that most experts in the area considered to be dry. The money was used to complete the well, which started producing about 300 bopd. “I knew it was going to be an oil well,” Mrs. Sigler told The Oil Weekly. “We couldn’t afford to abandon it after going as far as we did.” Mrs. Sigler’s intuition succeeded in opening up a new, deep field in North Texas.

Mabel Young. The Dec. 1, 1921, issue of The Oil Weekly reported on Miss Young as the only woman truck driver in Wyoming, and the owner of two trucks with a hauling contract for building a 90-mi gas line from Carbon County to Casper. The article warns that “It will do no good to propose to her for she has had plenty of chances to support a husband since starting in business for herself.”

Mabel Clare Orr. The Oil Weekly Staff Representative Grady Triplett wrote a full-page article, “Only woman oil well contractor has sights set on millions”. The woman was Mrs. Mabel Clare Orr, and at the time of this article in the Jan. 1, 1926 issue, Mrs. Orr had been “at it for eight years” in Blackwell, Okla. “It is a hazardous game,” Mrs. Orr said. “There are dry holes, as well as producing wells. But the reward is there for those who remain at the task.”

Alva C. Ellison, research paleontologist for Humble Oil & Refining Company in Houston, was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1929. Miss Elisor was a graduate of the University of Texas and a member of the AAPG.

Frederica “Freddie” Dudley, wife of GPC President Ray Dudley, was born July 14, 1894, in Cedartown, Georgia, to Joseph L. Gross and Ella Turner. The family moved to Houston when Dr. Gross became pastor of the First Baptist Church. Frederica Gross met Mr. Dudley while both were college students at Baylor University. They were married in April, 1916. Mrs. Dudley earned concurrent degrees from Baylor University; a BA degree in English and a BS degree in music.

In an interview that is archived in the Houston Public Library, Mrs. Dudley described her duties during the early days at the Gulf Publishing Company. “Mr. Dudley gave me three emphatic do’s and three emphatic don’ts. He said, “Do not attempt to run either one of those companies, but be there every morning, and at Publishing, be vice-president in charge of personnel relations. Not hiring or firing or anything like that, but just take care of all the joys and all the sorrows of the employees, and stay close to them.” Mrs. Dudley certainly took her tasks to heart. She did have her own don’t for the office employees—no typewriter noise near her while she was working in the office.

About the Authors

Pramod Kulkarni

World Oil

Pramod Kulkarni pramod.kulkarni@worldoil.com