Mother's Day Approaches

I wrote this 6 years ago, and Mother's Day has not become less complicated. I do know this, I am proud of the women who brought me here.

***********

They really gave her only one option.

An assortment of tools-almost all of which were incompatible for the work before her.

Looked at her and whispered.."just like her mother".

The mother whose pictures had all been taken down.

Made sure she knew her beauty was the tool they expected her to wield, and a weapon she would be judged guilty of owning with intent.

When boundaries were crossed, the men only had to say, "well, her mother was a whoo-ore, what do you expect ?" They said the word with two syllables, stretching it out for effect.

To escape the judgment, refuge of sorts was found living a life in punishment. The blows lost their power if she exacted a balance of words that stung and flagrant betrayals. There was power there. He might think he kept her honor hostage, but she cheated him, and he held nothing.

Once her daughter had a new last name, responsibility passed, and the ruse of a marriage dissolved.

Knowing full well what people said about her, much of it true, she carried on regardless. Too much time had passed, caring now would only show weakness. Her spine straight, she convinced herself that these were her desires, her choices.

Pride in work was a gift to her. Stamina comes with survival. Not known for truth telling, there are other forms of honesty, and sometimes virtue exists in a lie.

Years after her death, a granddaughter seeks out what friends survive. I want to know her.

It's hard to convince some that I want unfiltered truth, and hard for me sometimes when I receive it. Usually a smile, a reference to her strength, liveliness, and always her toughness. I learn quickly not to ask men about her in front of their wives.

I still don't know all I'd like to, and my perception will always be skewed to the positive. I know she felt-and inflicted-pain. I know she loved clumsily and with many rules. She could laugh, and now and again, in certain parts of Utah County, I hear her voice.

A friend once said to me, "They're not perfect, but they're our mothers."

In The Matter of the Inquisition . . .

In this, the coroner's inquest of my Great Grandmother's murder; one officer testified, several written reports were read into the record, and jurors reached their verdict in ten minutes.

Ten days earlier, police had been called to the Modern Rooms, by the manager, Mrs.S. Fujita.

Within the coroner's remarks, Mrs. Fujita's statement is paraphrased as follows:  

"Mrs. Fujita stated they [Benny Espinsen and Blanche Shepherd] went to the room about 11 P.M on the night of May 9th, 1937. She [Fujita] received a phone call from Miss Owen's sister, Patsy about 10:30 A.M. May 10th, 1937, asking her to call her sister to the phone. [Fujita] went to Miss Owen's roomand knocked on the door several times, receiving no response shetold Miss [Patsy] Owen her sister did not answer and to come over to the hotel. [Mrs. Fujita] then notified the police, Officer Lennon answering the call."

The autopsies were performed by Dr. M. J. Lipp. Cause of death for Blanche was detailed as "gunshot wound of chest, through heart and lungs". For Benny Espinsen, the cause was "bullet wound of chest through heart".

THE CRIME SCENE

"May 10, 1937 

Captain McAllister: Re Murder and Suicide Dorothy Owen and Benny Espinsen.

'We received a call at 11:10 A.M. informing us that there was a murder committed at the Modern Rooms, 1116 1/2 Fifth Street. When we arrived there we found Officers Lennon, Webster, and Lyon there. We took charge of the case and sent them back to the Police Station.

'In Room 29 of the Modern Rooms we found Dorothy Owen and Benny Espinsen in bed, dead. Dorothy Owen was stripped excepting a pair of panties. Espinsen was in his underwear. Both were shot through the heart, the bullets going through them. The bullet that went through Espinsen we found in the mattress of the bed after we moved Espinsen's body. The bullet that went through Dorothy Owen we found on the floor of the room near the bed. Also found two empty 32 automatic shells in the bed amongst the covers.

'It is our opinion that Espinson shot Dorothy Owen while she was asleep, and then shot himself. There was a powder burn on Dorothy Owen's left breast where the bullet entered. There were powder marks on Espinsen's left hand and also powder marks on his underwear [undershirt] where the bullet entered his body. There were no holes through the bed clothing. Evidently the shooting took place under the covers as we found powder burns on the top sheet. This evidently deadened the report of the shots as we could not find anyone in this rooming house that heard the reports of the shooting.

'The gun, a 32 Spanish automatic, was found laying along the left side of Dorothy Owen's body. This pistol was turned over to Lee Cox to check for fingerprints. No prints that could be of use were found on the pistol. There were no shells left in the gun after the shooting.This gun is being checked by the State Bureau.

'Les Cox took pictures of the bodies and the bodies were removed by the Coroner's Deputies to Gormley's Undertaking Parlor.

POLICE INTERVIEW WITH FAYE SHEPHERD a/k/a PATSY OWEN

'We talked to Patsy Owen, sister of Dorothy. She told us that at 7:00 P.M. last night Dorothy went to work at the Lee rooms where she was a prostitute. Patsy told us that at 10:30 P.M. last night Dorothy came back to the [Coloma] hotel and told her that she had made $8.00 so far that night, and that now she had an all night date at the Modern Rooms and had a chance to make more money. She told Patsy that she would be home about 4:00A.M.

'Dorothy Owen has been working at the Lee Rooms 923 1/2 Fourth Street for the past three years as a prostitute."

Report signed by Sergeant Ray Peart and Ray Kunz

TESTIMONY OF OFFICER LENNON

Officer John F. Lennon, among the first officers on the scene, who had been sent back to the stationhouse when Peart and Kunz arrived, was called to testify.

Q: "Will you tell the jury in your own words just what your investigation disclosed there ?"

A:  "It was May 10th about 11:00 a call come to the Police Station that there was a murder or suicide in the Modern Rooms at 1116 1/2 Fifth Street. The ambulance had already been there, taken there by Officer Webster and Officer Lyons. 

I got there and the door and the door of the room was open, and I see this girl Dorothy Owens and Benny Espinsen in bed. They were dead. Of course, in that case, like that, why it is always necessary to call the Coroner immediately, which we did. I also called back the Station and called to Sgt. Peart and  Officer Ray Kunz whose duties are to investigate such cases as murder and suicide.

They got there, and this Dorothy Owen's sister was there. She was rather in a hysterical condition, and Officer Peart suggested that I take her, and there was another girl, I think a friend of hers, back to the station and wait until he would return a little later and question her and see if--there was things that he wanted to talk to her about, where she was born, and one thing and another, and if she knew this Filipino[Espinsen] that was with her, and that's about all I know. I left there after a matter of fifteen or twenty minutes. I also called back to the Police Station and called Les Cox to go to the Modern Rooms to take photographs of the room and these two people who were in bed dead."

Q: " Is that about all you know, Mr.---"

A: "That's about all I know."

Q: "Well, Officer Lennon, the investigation that you made and the rest of the officers names that I have read off, you are all satisfied that Mr. Espinsen murdered Mrs. Owen and then committed suicide?"

A: "Yes. That's our conclusion, yes

Coroner Garibaldi: "Has the District Attorney any questions he wants to ask Officer Lennon ?"

Mr. Pelligrini : "Was the gun in the Filipino's hands?"

Lennon: "No, the gun was laying on the bed on the left hand side."

Pellegrini: "Left hand side ?"

Lennon: "Yes"

Pellegrini: But, he was shot on the left hand side ?"

Lennon: "Well, they were both shot around the heart

Coroner Garibaldi: "We have some pictures, Mr. District Attorney, if you would wish to introduce them here."

Pellegrini: "I don't think it is necessary."

Coroner Garibaldi: "---showing the position of the gun and everything."

Pellegrini: "Oh, they are all satisfied it is murder and suicide."

Lennon: "Yes, we are."

Coroner Garibaldi; "That will be all."

The jury retired at 2:50 P.M. and returned with their verdict ten minutes later.

"We, the jurors summoned to appear before the Coroner of Sacramento County, at 1:30 P.M. on the 20th day of May, 1937 to inquire into the cause of the death of said Blanche Emma Shepherd, alias Dorothy Owen and Blanche Morgan having been duly sworn according to law, and having made such inquisition, after inspecting the body and hearing the evidence adduced, upon our oaths, each and all do say that we find that the deceased was named Blanche Emma Shepherd, alias Dorothy Owen and Blanche Morgan, a female, divorced, a native of Utah, age about 26 years, and that she came to her death on the 10th day of May, 1937, by murder.

 Signed this 20th day of May, 1937."

Despite the sworn oath by the jury, there was no way the body of Blanche Shepherd was inspected for this inquest. Gormley Funeral Parlor, had shipped her remains to her family in Spanish Fork, Utah the day after her murder was discovered.

Rough Seas and Fine China

This is Eveline Mercy Tuckett McCafferty and her daughter Mercy Ellen McCafferty. I don't have a date for this photo, but if Mercy Ellen is between 2 and 4 years old, that would place this as between 1883 and 1885.

I introduced Eveline in an earlier post about Mormon Polygamy. She was the plural wife of my great-great grandfather, William Wallace White. This marriage did not last long, and there were no children born as a result of William and Eveline's union. Neither my family or Eveline's descendants were aware of this marriage for many years. It could easily have stayed a secret forever.

Yet, this episode, like others kept as silent memories, was meant to be discovered. Another family researcher was poring over microfilms at the LDS Family History Library, and saw William Wallace White's name on a sealing record with Eveline. In Mormon parlance, a temple marriage is referred to as a sealing-as the ordinance is meant to seal the union for eternity.

When this marriage record was discovered, much of my family-the grandchildren of  William and Louisa-found it unbelievable. There followed questions and rationalizations. Maybe this was a DIFFERENT William Wallace White ?

In an effort to eliminate any room for doubt, I began to dig harder into Eveline's story. What I found was a woman whose life wove in and out of many key events of Western US and Mormon history.



PIONEER ROMANCE
Eveline's parents met as early Mormon pioneers in St. Louis, Missouri. Henry Tuckett was a shoemaker, and Mercy Westwood was an actress, from a theatrical family. While in St. Louis, Mercy and her brother Philip staged plays to raise funds for the Westwoods and Tucketts travel west. Henry emulated the iconic western frontiersman: driving oxen, scouting trails, and eventually serving in the Pony Express.

By the time Henry and Mercy arrived in Salt Lake City, they had a six week old baby, Henry Augustus Tuckett.

Part of Brigham Young's plans for the State of Deseret included a refined center of culture. Drama and dance had been staples of Mormon social life from the beginning under Joseph Smith's direction. The first large structure the Mormons erected in the Salt Lake Valley was The Bowery. This structure served multiple needs--feeding large groups, sheltering many while their homes were being built, and staging of concerts, dances, and plays..

A more permanent structure was built by 1852 for community entertainment. Designated as The Social Hall, Brigham Young set about the establishment of the Deseret Dramatic Association.  Within LDS ecclesiastical structure, very nearly everyone was given a job-these were known as "callings". Your calling could be farming, weaving, learning midwifery, or carpentry, etc.

Brigham Young called Mercy Westwood Tuckett to the stage.

She was a popular, well-received actress, and played the lead in "The Stranger", "The Honeymoon", "Lady of Lyons", "Robert McCaire", "School for Scandal", and all the popular plays of that day.  Henry would attend the productions, with their (now 2) children in tow.


THE UTAH WAR
In 1857, due to shared animus between the US government and Brigham Young, President Buchanan sent a show of strength by way of military force to the Utah Valley. Residents of Salt Lake were directed by Brigham Young to vacate the city in preparation for war. As a result, the Tucketts relocated some 50 miles south with Westwood relations.

There would be more war hysteria and war preparations than actual war, but the occupation was not without negative impact. There were casualties and loss. Farming was disrupted, laborers were pulled away from their families to join the reactivated militia-The Nauvoo Legion, and added pressure was placed on those left to fend for themselves in a year already plagued by drought.

Mercy and her brothers David and Philip Westwood, organized a new acting troupe. With permission from their local religious leaders, they took their performances to the US Army encampment.  Starved for entertainment, the soldiers happily paid to attend the musicals and dramas. The funds raised were distributed to families and neighbors in Spanish Fork.

Not surprisingly, as the partnership between the Westwood Dramatic Association and the Army solidified, jealousies appeared. Richard C.White was the military's liaison for entertainment, and at some point, gossip began that he and Mercy were far too familiar and friendly. While there was no proof, and Mercy was never given opportunity to defend herself, local religious leaders accepted the rumors as truth, excommunicated Mercy, and granted Henry a divorce in proceedings she was not able to attend.

In the acrimonious fallout, Mercy had her baby Philip with her, so was able to keep him. But Henry hid her oldest two children, and barred her from their home, disregarding her appeals for entry.

Weary of rural starvation and shunned by their more pious neighbors, Philip Westwood, David Westwood, and Richard White decided to go to west with their families and establish a theatre. Mercy was compelled by circumstance to accompany them. Four months after leaving Utah, in March of 1860, Eveline Mercy Tuckett was born in Folsom, California. There is a window of time here, where the group of dramatic hopefuls may have tried their luck in San Francisco, but by 1861, they were living in Virginia City, Nevada.



VIRGINIA CITY
The Westwoods arrived in Virginia City as the Silver boom erupted. Theirs was one of the very earliest theatres in what would, for a time, be a metropolis to rival San Francisco.  After a couple years, Mercy Tuckett and Richard White did marry. During childbirth, Mercy died, and Richard's child also died, shortly thereafter. This left Eveline and her older brother Philip orphaned with a stepfather ill-equipped to raise them-even had they been his children. Richard left Virginia City to write plays in San Francisco, and the children were left in the care of Philip and Mathilda Westwood.

Henry Tuckett was contacted, and he came to Virginia City to retrieve his children. He may have still harbored doubt or resentment regarding Eveline's paternity; or perhaps the childless Westwoods prevailed upon him to allow them to keep Eveline. Whatever the reason, only young Philip went home to Utah with his father.

Eveline enjoyed all the creature comforts of a well-off, socially connected family. She was educated in private schools, encouraged in musical pursuits-excelling at the piano, and prepared in all ways to the station of higher society. She had auburn hair and green eyes, with a pale, protected complexion.

When Eveline was 8 years old, Philip Westwood, whom she knew as her father, died after a short illness. Mathilda Westwood married Charles Rawson, City Clerk of Virginia City. In this way, Eveline continued to live a sheltered life with social obligations and opportunities.

At 20 years of age, Eveline married William McCafferty, a miner who had done well enough for himself to travel socially among the same elite circles as Eveline. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Eveline found a letter in the pocket of William's coat. Family in Ohio had written, seeking to know how William was faring, as it had been some time since they had heard from him. Excitedly, Eveline wrote a letter in return. She, a young woman with hardly any family, sought now to connect with that of her husband.

Before long, a reply came to her. To her shock and dismay, the letter she had read originally, was not from a sister or aunt, but from a wife William had left behind in Ohio. There, he had three children waiting for word from their father.

Broken in spirit, Eveline retreated to the Rawson's home with her baby. Unfortunately, the timing of all this heartbreak could not have been worse. The silver market was sinking, and Virginia City seemed destined to go down with it. Her stepfather Charles had suffered a stroke and lost his position with the city. As he was unable to find work to which he was suited, the Rawsons were in the midst of selling their home for a fraction of its worth.

In secret, Mathilda Rawson wrote to Utah, asking the Tuckett family to rally support and travel expenses for Eveline. She had written to them periodically over the years, so they knew of Eveline, though Mathilda had not shown any letters from the Tucketts to Eveline. Now in this time of dire need, they were not immediate in their response, frustrating Mathilda. She wrote: 

"There are so many of you there, that it would be an easy matter among you all to send for her and make her a home".

The Westwoods who had remained in Utah were also an option in Mathilda's mind, and she said as much in her letters to the Tucketts. I haven't seen anything that shows who eventually helped Eveline and Mercy travel to Utah, but once in Utah, she resided with the Tucketts, so they may well have paid the fare.


This would have been the way Eveline discovered she was not the daughter of Mathilda and Philip Westwood, but the spurned child of a man she had seen only once, as a toddler.

SALT LAKE CITY

While Salt Lake would have been quite different from Virginia City in many ways, Eveline was still part of the fortunate class by reuniting with the Tucketts. Her oldest brother, Henry Augustus Tuckett, owned a Confectioner's shop, and was a composer of hymns for LDS worship. Her sister Lillie Tuckett Freeze held a position of some authority within Mormonism--leading efforts to educate children and young women. Lillie wrote for the church publications on a regular basis. The entire family was quite devout, however, and Mormonism must have been strange to Eveline. It appears Eveline attended a Presbyterian church in Virginia City, and I would imagine it was a strong possibility that Mormonism was not looked upon fondly after the way the Westwoods had been pushed out.

But by all family accounts, Eveline was a "good girl", sensitive and delicate, and accustomed to following direction. So I imagine she did her best to assimilate into Mormon society. At this time, being a woman in Mormonism meant a high likelihood of plural marriage.

While not a mathematical issue--there were indeed more men than women in the Utah Territory--patriarchal polygamy was a matter of both earthly and Heavenly status. To reach the highest level of Heaven, a person would have to be part of a plural marriage. And to maintain a respected position in earthly Mormon society, a person would need to be actively pursuing the highest level of Heaven.

It was this social climate in which Eveline found herself in 1883. She was a divorced woman with a child--her first marriage having been to a non-Mormon. Her paternity may or may not have still been a matter of judgment, but the fact remained, her mother had been excommunicated and, by all appearances had run off with another man. (Lillie Tuckett Freeze did eventually petition for posthumous reversal of their mother's excommunication, and Henry retracted his accusations). All of these factors would have added to the pressure of ensuring her eternal salvation.

In the same congregation as the Tucketts, were my ancestors, William and Louisa. While not as well established financially as the Tucketts, the Whites were deeply involved in the religious structure. Louisa served with Eveline's sister in the youth organizations, and wrote articles for church publications as well.

On June 4 of 1884, Eveline was sealed to William W. White as his plural wife. Louisa's uncle Robert was present as a witness. There is no record showing Louisa as present, but there would have been no occasion to mention her, if she was there. (Louisa was certainly in Salt Lake City at the time, as she gave birth to Lola just two months later.) Additionally, since polygamy was by now a federal offense, there would be no public acknowledgement of the marriage. It would be very likely that Eveline and Mercy would continue to live in her brother's home. By all appearances, she would still be the single mother with no husband. She would not be allowed to even whisper to a friend that she was married. Somewhere, not far away, William and Louisa lived with their two children.

From May of 1886 to November of 1887, William and Louisa were not even in Utah. They left to visit family in Michigan, and to try and find work.

This leaves Eveline, a woman only 25 years old, living like a spinster with no options for the future. Or no options for a future here on Earth. Her Heavenly future was secure, as long as she stayed faithful to her absent husband. She listed herself in the City Directory as "Eveline Tuckett, a widow".



MANCOS, COLORADO

As part of efforts to expand Mormon settlement of the west, LDS leaders sent groups of people to farm and establish a presence in various areas radiating outward from Salt lake City. These efforts began in Brigham Young's time, and continued with the following prophets.

Mancos, Colorado was one of these places. Historically populated by Navajo and Ute tribes, Mancos was taken from the reservation land in 1873 as part of the San Juan Cession, and became a trading post. Cattle ranchers and farmers began claiming land for themselves.

In November of 1887, William and Louisa answered a call to come to Mancos and join her two brothers already engaged in farming and irrigation efforts. William spent a little over a year surveying land, building a home, and planting some kind of crop.

In June of 1889, it is known that William traveled from Mancos to Salt Lake and back.  It must have been on this trip that he brought Eveline and Mercy to Mancos. It is certain they were in Mancos on August 1st, 1889, because local church records list 8 year old Mercy's baptism at that date in Mancos, the ordinance performed by two local leaders. In May of 1890, William performed these same ordinances in Mancos for his son Charles.

What could that have possibly been like-all these people suddenly thrown together in a frontier outpost ? So many other stories of polygamy illustrate the plethora of difficulties navigating this unconventional family structure. In the best of circumstances, polygamy was a test and a trial, but some families made it work. It doesn't seem likely here, relegated as second fiddle to First Wife Louisa, and required to work at physically demanding tasks, Eveline would have been completely helpless. And poor little Mercy, it appears that William didn't think of her as his responsibility--since her priesthood ordinances were performed by other men.

There is evidence of some trouble recorded in a visiting official's journal. Francis A. Hammond was the church leader responsible for the area now known as western Colorado and southeastern Utah. He would travel by horse and buggy from town to town in the region, and provide counsel and gather reports of progress in these young settlements. On March 7, 1890, Francis Hammond recorded in his journal:

"Evening, had a meeting at Bishop Halls with Bro. & Sis. White in relation to his treatment of her as she is his plural wife-her name was Tuckett. I counseled Bro. White to take her back to Salt Lake and treat her as a wife."


William's next recorded trip to Salt Lake was in May of 1891. After this date, we begin to see Eveline Tuckett listed again in the Salt Lake City Directory, again a resident of her brother's home. LDS church records show that the plural marriage between Eveline and William was cancelled on September 21st, 1893.

Eveline would spend another couple of years unmarried and unsaved, before meeting James Holder. He was a widower with grown children, and a congenital heart defect that kept him from consistent employment. He was handsome, and treated Eveline kindly, but they were never financially stable. They had three children. Eveline taught her children all of the graceful etiquette and refined manners with which she was raised, and showered them with love.

In her last years, she lived in the home of one of her children, and spent many hours with her grandchildren. She was still delicate, sensitive, and sweet after all the buffeting about by life. A grand-daughter fondly remembers her this way, even knowing that these characteristics may have not protected her grandmother as well as a sterner, more independent demeanor may have.

The Known and the Unknown-or What Has DNA Done For Me ?

I saw a little advertisement graphic from Ancestry.com today. It listed the breakdown of exactly how many ancestors a person has at each generational step. For example, each human mathematically has 32 Great-great-great grandparents. The graphic carried the formula out to 10 Great grandparents, at which point, the total was 4,098 ancestors per human.


Just as everything involving humanity, the math might dictate one thing, but Reality almost always diverges from the path. One factor in everyone's ancestry eventually is "pedigree collapse". Instead of consisting of all unique individuals, a tree may have multiple places occupied by a single individual. This typically happens when the parents of an ancestor are related to each other (sometimes unbeknownst to themselves). Since we are ALL eventually related to each other, our ancestor total does not keep growing exponentially.


Pedigree collapse is not my focus, although I do know of at least one case, within five generations in my tree. This is actually fairly common.

After reading the Ancestry graphic, I engaged in a little genealogical memory exercise. I decided to try and recall as many of my 32 Third Great grandparents as I could. I knew going into this exercise that I would not be able to list them all. I was able to come up with 22 names, several almost stumped me, and one is actually questionable as to whether she belongs.

It was no surprise that 16 of those names represent all of my 3rd Greats from my paternal line. That line has been carefully tended, and centrally located in one geographic area for generations, creating a living repository from their descendants. We know each other, and our shared heritage.

Over the past 10 years or so, research into my maternal line has brought with it stories, rumors, and mysteries that cast doubt on my written pedigree. With DNA testing, I have been able to confirm the veracity of those stories, and now have 10 Third Great grandparents whose names I know only from my recent record searches and online family trees built by people I do not know.


DNA testing affected my paternal line as well, but in different ways. My grandmother and her siblings have searched for years for a SOLID link to the genealogy of their paternal grandfather John Patrick. We have submitted both autosomal and YDNA tests from the remaining siblings. (Autosomal tests for all ancestry. Y-DNA tests a male along his direct paternal line). So far, no immediate close matches have resulted.

There have been some glimpses into parts of that line's heritage of which we were previously unaware. A significant percentage of  my grandmother's ethnicity estimate takes her ancestor pool further into Europe than she had ever considered. Additionally, YDNA testing implies that Once Upon a Time, their family name may have been Bailey rather than Patrick.

As with pedigree collapse, finding a different name than your own tied to your YDNA is fairly common. It's really to be expected. People change their names, children are born and raised by families other than their genetic parents, and yes, sometimes people lie about paternity. In actuality, patrilineal naming patterns are a recent practice as world history goes, and mostly Anglocentric. If your ancestry takes you back to anywhere outside of the United Kingdom, your Family Name will have any number of origins. Even with the many varied reasons behind such differences, people are often upset by these changes to the family narrative.


Ethnic heritage is another factor of DNA testing that can cause consternation. My own ethnicity estimate includes the surprise slivers of heritage from Africa and Polynesia. For me, this is fascinating. I have a friend however, who is still trying to process the fact that her ethnic heritage is different than the 75% Irish, 25% Italian she has embraced as a hard and fast truth all her life.


Of the 22 Third Greats I was able to recall by name, there are only 14 who I could tell you anything about. And for half of those, I barely know anything, though I'm sure resources are available to me. only about 8 are familiar enough to me that they come close to feeling real. They are the Known. So many are silently Unknown.


Unknown                                                            Known

John Bastin                                                          Thomas David Evans
Ann Jaggers                                                         Priscilla Merriman
Frances Potter (connection unsure)                William Cox
William Morgan White                                      Rebecca Fox
Eliza Maria Sawyer                                             Jonathan C. Harrington, Sr.
Jens Hansen                                                         Julia Ann Clark
Maren Kirsten Nielsdatter                                 John B. Patrick
Michel Rasmusen                                                Charles Hulet
Elle Sorensdatter                                                 Mary Lawson
Ambrose H. Pierce                                              Charles Morris
Elizabeth McCorkle                                             Ann Ellwood
George W. WIlliams                                            Isaac Garner Shepherd                                      
Catherine Bolinger                                               Josephine Nielsen                                             
James Fulton Porterfield                                    Alma Cox
Orpha C Donnell                                                  Emily Page
Uriah Smith
Mary E. ________





Finally, for all of my disappointment that I know little about so many, I am dearly aware that genealogy for so many opens doors to secrets and mysteries that may not be welcome. I have encountered this myself, as I try and connect to the living cousins who never knew about our shared lineage. For some this is a search tied to years of doubt, fear, and anxiety.  I still believe that for most, Truth can be healing, and DNA can help in that process.

Never Alone

Let me tell you about the people who live in my head.



It's always been this way. It started with books. The books I read brought real people to me.

Jane Eyre, Francie and Neely Nolan, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, The Pevensie children-Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan; were all as good as real to me.  Books like "The Call of the Wild" and "Island of the Blue Dolphins" took me to places and times I would probably never experience in the flesh. When Karana survived alone with her dog, by ingenuity, strength, and fortitude, I was there.



So now, as I track down details-alone or sitting with cousins, reading court transcripts, medical files, and newspaper articles, letters written in a time when to move a few states away meant a lifetime separation between parent and child; when I'm mapping out a street from a census record, these people and places are real.


Not just Blanche and Faye, or Louisa, William, and Eveline; but the other characters in their stories who are not my family, come forward and make themselves known. Scenes from their lives are played out in dark archive reading rooms and images from Ancestry.com.


I see couples trying to blend children from previous marriages, coping with job loss, depression, and addictions; pictures of families with the sun shining on their faces that day they went to the lake. . . .


When an ancestor of mine disengages from a husband, or their best friend leaves town-never to return, I follow. What happened next ? Who did they marry ? Are any of the new people with whom they connect, from associations made and nurtured behind the scenes earlier ? And sometimes, they are. Circles return and layer upon themselves.


I am there--or they are here. We're never alone.

"On the Line"

At 16 years old, Jean Larson (I am using her chosen alias) found herself far from her parents' farm, in metropolitan Sacramento. Enrolled in junior college, arrangements were made for her to earn room and board by keeping house for Kenneth and Helena MacLachlan.  Not surprisingly, studies and housework were no match for the urban social scene and the pretty things Jean saw displayed in the shop windows. She said "My family wouldn't give me any money for pretty things or good times." So Jean set out to find a job.

The St. Nicholas Pool Room and Dance Hall was advertising in the Sacramento Bee:  "Girls Wanted for Taxi Dancers". To spend the evenings dancing, and to be paid for it ? Jean applied, and was interviewed by the proprietor--Big Nick Matcovich. (I've mentioned him before, he remains my favored suspect in Blanche's killing). Realizing that there probably were age requirements to dance for pay, and encourage men to spend their money at the bar, Jean lied and said she was 18 years old.

Jean's first night of work at the dance hall was October 14th, 1933. Mabel Wortman, Betty Lynch, Billy, and Bubbles were among the new friends Jean made, and they helped her find a room to rent in the building where Mabel and Betty lived. Jean soon found that dancing for hire was not truly social. It was rare that a girl could refuse a partner, regardless of manners, hygiene, or drunkenness. For every gallant, lonely boy who only wished to spend some time with a friendly girl, there were at least as many men who felt their dime bought them hands-on access for the length of the tune. Besides this aspect, being the Swing era, the popular dances such as the Foxtrot or the jitterbug were physically taxing--particularly when required from 7pm to 2am, with few breaks. The most popular dancers were usually the most exhausted. In court, Jean said she had also been asked to be among the dancers "On Call" after closing time, but she declined.

 Jean had only been dancing for 5 nights when one night at the dance hall, Mabel offered to introduce her to a friend-Joseph Franks. Mabel said Joe was a showman, and a young, pretty girl like Jean stood to make far more money (and with far less effort) by "going on the line" with him.  Jean imagined a show business atmosphere, possible fame, and definite fortune.  Within minutes of broaching the subject, Mabel led Jean to the bar where Joe stood, smoking. Normally, employed dancers were not given real alcoholic drinks, but this night, the bartender poured Jean a beer along with Joe. Franks occupied Jean's dance ticket for the rest of the evening-only a half an hour-though no dancing occurred. It felt so grown up to Jean, sitting at the bar, receiving compliments from a worldly man who spoke glowingly of her potential.

From Big Nick's establishment; Mabel, Joe, and Jean went to eat at the Bright Spot restaurant(also known as the Red Spot--possibly a reference to communist leanings?). As they arrived, Pinky Logan, the bartender from the Dance Hall, joined them. Seated at the counter, Mabel and Pinky turned as if in their own conversation, leaving Joe and Jean to discuss her possible future under his guidance. Joe passed a flask of whiskey around the foursome, and everyone smoked. Joe offered a cigarette to Jean from his pack of Chesterfields, holding the pack toward her with one cigarette extended. Jean later said, "It tasted peculiar, but I didn't think anything about it, because he was a friend of Mabel's". Before long, Mabel said she was tired and needed to go home. Leaving Pinky behind, the three of them hailed a cab. Even though Mabel and Jean lived in the same building, only Mabel got in the cab. It was at this point, that Jean's recollections end.


In the morning, Jean awoke, fully clothed, in Joe Frank's bed in the Coloma Hotel (Another tie to Blanche. The Coloma is the same hotel where she and Faye were living at the time of  Blanche's murder). In court, Jean testified that she had no memory of their morning conversation. Joe took her out to breakfast at the Peking Cafe, and it was here that Jean revealed to him her true age. Joe Franks was no showman, nor was he so inexperienced to be surprised to hear that Jean was only 16. Unperturbed by her status as a minor, Joe assured Jean that he would "protect" her from her father, as Jean feared he would soon come to Sacramento looking for her. A chronic felon, Franks had been incarcerated for crimes involving minors at least as early as 1924.


After breakfast, Joe and Jean met up with Mabel. It was Mabel who suggested that Jean needed new dresses for dancing at the St. Nicholas, and Joe gave Mabel some money to take Jean shopping. He said she would be able to make more money if she had newer, more fashionable clothes. For the remainder of the day, Mabel guided Jean through a parade of department stores, picking out dresses, stockings,  and other accessories. Several times throughout the afternoon, Joe rejoined them briefly to give Mabel more money. Sometimes, Mabel let Jean pay for the items and keep a little change for herself. They went for lunch at Hart's Cafeteria, and finished their day with a visit to the Peter Pan beauty parlor. All along, there was a cab driver at their beck and call, commissioned to take them wherever they needed to go.


In the true pattern of predatory grooming, Joe Franks did not push Jean to immediately come to work for him. Initially, Jean had no idea what it meant to "go on the line", but Joe provided a peek in to the true nature of what such work entailed.  He told her she was not ready. that he needed to "wise her up" first. Joe explained to her how to "roll drunks". The girls Joe employed would entice drunken men to hotel rooms, and when the man passed out, their job would be to take any cash or valuables,  and clear out. (The eventual certainty of prostitution was never discussed.) But again, he emphasized that she was far too green, and not ready. In the meantime, she would need to continue working every night at the dance hall. Gifted with the glittering new wardrobe, and challenged to prove her maturity, Jean was in this way groomed and enticed. Besides, she could not go back to school or her parents' farm, how does a girl explain the fact she had gone to a hotel room and spent the night with a man she just met ? These are among the same methods traffickers have used throughout history and still do now, in contemporary time.


That night, Jean arrived for work as her updated and fashionable self. As she told the other girls of her new association with Joe Franks, some of them warned her that he was no good. As the evening progressed, Jean became more and more alarmed. Mabel tried her best to disrupt the flow of conversation and keep Jean interested in Joe Franks' proposition.  As it turns out, Jean, Mabel, and Joe were all arrested that same evening. It appears that Joe Franks (and possibly Mabel Wortman) was already known to Sacramento Police. It was not Jean who called the police. The Sacramento Bee laid credit at the feet of a new committee formed to rout out "men living off the earnings of women".


Reading newspapers from the time period, it is pretty clear that vice laws had not been vigorously enforced, with most prosecutions and arrests concentrated on immigrants and people of color. Public sentiment had been rising against the City officials and police department. One of the scenarios fueling the surge in public outcry was the encroachment of  vice activities in to the more affluent, "white" parts of town. This incident seems to have been part of a public display of efforts to appease those petitioning for action. Nick Matcovich and his dance establishments had long been targeted because their demographic included people of color.


In reality, not much of lasting impact occurred in this case. A grand Jury was empaneled with the sole charge being against Franks for "Contributing to the Delinquency of a minor". Mabel testified, proclaiming her full willingness to cooperate, and simultaneously presented the story in such a way as to absolve herself (and Nick Matcovich) of any implication of criminal intent. She portrayed Jean as a fully capable and consenting participant--even going so far as to say that Jean had paid for the shopping and other expenses from her own money.  Even with this minor charge, amendments were made to lower the gravity from a felony to an "indictable misdemeanor". Joseph Franks served less than a year in the County Jail.


This all took place in Sacramento one year before Blanche came there to live. Faye was already "in the business", however. I can't say yet that Faye knew Joe Franks, but there are multiple ties between witnesses in this case, and players in Blanche's growing drama. These people frequented the Coloma Hotel, the St. Nicholas dance hall, and the Modern Rooms.

Mormon Polygamy-an example from my Family History

The people pictured above are William Wallace White, and his wives in chronological order. The women are (from Left to Right) Martha May Pancoast, Louisa Morris, and Eveline Mercy Tuckett.


William is my 2x great-grandfather, ascending from my paternal grandmother's line. Louisa Morris is the woman from which my line descends.

The practice of plural marriage—the marriage of one man to two or more women—was instituted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s. Thereafter, for more than half a century, plural marriage was practiced by some Latter-Day Saints. William and his family are counted among these.


William and Martha May Pancoast were married in 1870, and had one daughter-Lenna May. At this point in time, they had not encountered the Mormon religion.  In 1876, when Lenna May was still a little girl, Martha died. Martha's family took the little girl in and raised her, as William worked and moved westward. Surviving records indicate he sent money and letters to Lenna May through the years.

William W. White was baptized a member of the LDS Church in 1879. Within a year's time, he met and married Louisa Morris in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were sealed in the Endowment House.


In Mormonism, marriages performed in temples are considered eternally covenanted.  In the years before the Salt Lake Temple was completed, eternal (or Celestial) ordinances were performed in the smaller Endowment House, which had been specifically built to serve this purpose while several temples were under construction. The eternal promises and ordinances performed within the walls of the temple would carry a family beyond the earthly "til death do us part". Hierarchical structures-both familial and ecclesiastical would be continued in the hereafter based upon these sealings, if all remained faithful and righteous.


In addition to the doctrine of Eternal marriage, the practice of plural marriage had been part of Mormonism from the very early days in Kirtland and Nauvoo. Entering into a plural marriage was believed to be a step in the direction of reaching the highest level of heavenly glory after the Resurrection.


The 1880s were a time of conflict between the LDS church and the US Government. Laws were passed in 1879, criminalizing the practice of plural marriage. If the Utah Territory was to be included in the body of the United States, the Mormons would be required to abandon this doctrine. At the time of William and Louisa's marriage, Brigham Young was in the last years of his life, and in October of 1880, John Taylor became the President of the LDS church. John Taylor was adamant in his resolve to continue polygamy. Shortly after being sustained as Prophet, Taylor said "One sure thing is that we will not surrender polygamy." Even more dramatic rhetoric ensued between the LDS church and the US government in the years following.


It was in this climate that William and Louisa lived for a time in Salt Lake City. By 1884, they had 2 children-Charles and Lola. William and Louisa were both educated people, Louisa being the more sober and serious of the couple. William was fond of music and theater, and writing poems. Louisa wrote articles on occasion for the Mormon women's publication, The Exponent. Both held positions of leadership within their congregations.


In about 1883 or 1884, the Whites were introduced to Eveline Mercy Tuckett.

Eveline had only recently been reunited with family in Utah. She had lived in Virginia City from infancy, raised by an aunt and uncle-active in society and theater. Until the financial crash of the silver market, Virginia City was a thriving metropolis. Eveline had married there, and was the mother of a young daughter. Her marriage ended by divorce, and at the same time, she was told the truth about her parentage. Cornered by her divorce,the illness of her uncle, and sudden destitution, Eveline and her daughter came to Salt Lake to live. In the process of reuniting with her Utah family, she joined the Mormon church.

In June of 1884, Eveline Mercy Tuckett was sealed to William Wallace White, thereby entering William, Louisa, and Eveline into plural marriage. Louisa's brother was recorded as a witness to the ceremony.


One reaction to the government efforts to end polygamy, was that polygamous families were sent to various places in the regions surrounding the Utah Territory. One such place was Mancos, Colorado; and the Whites were called to go there. Mancos was a frontier area---homes would need to be built, land tilled, fences built, and irrigation engineered. It was rugged work in a dry climate.


This is where my family history gets fuzzy on the details. Actually, fuzzy is the wrong word for it--in our family narrative, Eveline and this marriage were NEVER mentioned.  It was not until another family researcher discovered a record of the temple ordinance, that Louisa and William's grandchildren learned of this event. It was certainly a shock for them to consider that part of the history had been edited. It took some adjustment, and the discovery of more documentation to fully accept this.


It was not only the descendants of William and Louisa who were surprised by this revelation. I have been able to correspond with some descendants of Eveline's daughter, Mercy. While they knew of the marriage between Eveline and William, they had not ever been told it was a plural marriage.

The time in Mancos was not a happy time for Eveline. One factor contributing to this was the frontier nature of their existence there. So far, we have not found any journals details feelings or circumstances within the family unit, but it was common for polygamous households to crack under the many pressures of that commitment--especially for people who were not financially well-off.


Congregational records provide a scant framework establishing that the Whites made a solid effort to fulfill this tenet of their faith. In 1890, a religious leader would write in his journal that he had counseled with William and Eveline on the matter. It was not to be, however, and in 1893, the union between Eveline and William was dissolved. Eveline remarried some years later and lived the rest of her life as a faithful, monogamous Mormon.


In 1890, the LDS church would publicly announce via Manifesto, the end of the practice of plural marriage. The practice would continue in secrecy--not unlike the secrecy that had been deemed necessary during other periods during which the practice existed--until 1904.

In 1900, William must have made a trip to Salt Lake City, as it was recorded that he facilitated (by proxy) the baptism of Martha May Pancoast, and had her sealed to him as an eternal wife. This means that the marriages between William, Martha, and Louisa are eternal. Because Eveline's sealing was dissolved-something only the First Presidency of the LDS church can authorize-she is not considered part of that eternal family, but is the eternal spouse of her third and final husband James Holder.


This post is fairly reductive in many ways, but it is intended mostly as a kind of primer on the history and background before I dive deep into the stories of these people and places. Research, as always, is continuing. I want to do these people and events justice.