The Susie Situation - Episode 4 - Sensational Testimony

If you're joining us for the first time, we're investigating a family mystery from 1912. It centers around a homestead fire in Nebraska. One word of caution, this week's content does include references to historical events that contain sensitive information, so discretion is recommended.

This can be watch as a video (below) or read as a blog post (below that). 

It's 1965, and my parents have planned the vacation of a lifetime, to Nebraska! One of my Oregon cousins was supposed to come along. She's like a big sister, and she knows how to make shy little girls feel safe. It really seemed like my uncle was leaning towards letting my cousin come. But he was taking a long time to say so, and then my mom made a tragic mistake. She was visiting one day after picking berries, and Uncle Ivan asked if he could have a few berries to put on his cereal, and she said, "Sure, if your daughter can come with us to Nebraska."

Never bargain with Uncle Ivan. He will not be bought with berries.

So here we are in Nebraska, and my big sister-cousin is not along to protect me. We are staying with Uncle Bob, but today we're going to visit his son, who is Cousin Bob, except he's old, like an uncle. We pull into the driveway, and out comes a lady, a man, two girls, and a boy. The man pats me on the head, and we go inside. There's a western on TV. I know that one of the girls has the same first name as mine, and also they all have the same last name. The taller girl comes down to my level. She holds out a chicken leg.

"Would you like something to eat?"

Dad says I should never take food from strangers, but she must not be a stranger since I'm in her kitchen. So I ask what this food is called.

She smiles. "It's chicken-licious."

I eat it all. Then we play. We watch TV. And by the end of the afternoon, I've decided I have a new sister-cousin, but I don't think I like westerns very much. And that's how I meet Kate, whose first name is Nancy and last name is Carver.

Now flash forward almost 60 years. Kate is at the kitchen table. She's looking at news clippings, and she glances up as Bob shuffles in with a notepad.

"Hi Dad, are we making a grocery list?"

"Nope, bank supplies. I want to deck my wheelchair out with flashing lights so I can motor safely through the bank drive-thru."

She recalls her sister's account of a recent episode where he took his riding lawnmower through that drive-thru, and she decides to very quickly change the subject. "Hey, did you see this article about Susie? Wasn't she the oldest Carver girl?"

Bob pushes his walker out of the way and sits down. "Well, let's see now, yes. Susie is the oldest of Orland's kids."

Kate asks about photos, and Bob points to the album on the bookcase. There are several photos of Bob and Bill, two of Sina, and that's it. Eight kids, four with children of their own, and only three with photos. 

Orland William Carver Jr 1924

Robert and Sina Carver, Est early 1920s or a little earlier?

Kate takes Bob's notepad and pen and writes across the top, Holders of Family Photos. She puts Annis Hubbard at the top, between her two husbands - Charles Sholes and Orland Carver. Below Annis, she adds the four children who lived long enough to have their own kids - Florence, Bob, Sina, and Bill - and then she notes which cousins currently possess photos by putting little camera icons next to their names. This is a simple genogram.

She remembers kitchens past, where the grown-ups would congregate and talk, quiet words that left her with so many questions.

Did Grandpa Shorty's brother really shoot his hand off?

And the Orland Carver family, were they really just a bunch of horse thieves?

And did one of those Carvers actually kill somebody else, like she heard Grandma whisper that one time?

Whenever she walked into the kitchen, the grown-ups would clam up, which didn't seem fair because, come on, who doesn't want to hear about real, live horse thieves?

She felt like her history was just this accumulation of puzzle pieces. And she wondered, are all families like this?

She majored in social work at university. When she hit her class in family therapy, the instructor wanted her to practice on her own family, but she felt paralyzed. Where do you start? Are family stories based on fact, beliefs, fears, or some combination?And how do you figure out which stories are true and which aren't?

Then she learned how to construct a genogram, and for her, this was a way to make order out of chaos. Genograms look like a standard family tree, until you look more closely. They might tell you about medical histories or significant life events across generations.

Bob picks up his notepad and looks through his magnifying glass. "Read me that article about Susie."

The article is from the Norfolk Weekly News, Friday, September 15, 1911.

"Frank Hamilton, living near Catalpa in northwestern Holt County, was yesterday given a preliminary hearing for alleged criminal assault upon Susie Carver, a 13 year old girl. Hamilton is married and has nine children and both sides promise to produce sensational testimony at the trial."

As Kate reads, Bob's face grows more and more puzzled. The article continues by explaining that the trial will be held at the next term in O'Neill, that Hamilton's bond is $2,500, which he cannot pay, and that he remains in jail at this time.

Bob shakes his head and looks at Kate. "Well, what in the world?"

What in the world, indeed? I first noticed this article not long after the article about that homestead fire, mentioned in Episode One. That fire happened near Catalpa in June of 1912. Now this article shows that 10 months before the fire, a man named Frank Hamilton was accused of harming Susie. Who was Hamilton?

I remember asking Dad about Susie years ago, back in the hospital after he broke his hip. It's 1995, and we're passing time after surgery. I brought some of his stories to review because we've decided to see if we can put those stories into a book. And I ask him about a paragraph from 1916, where he says his mother is all dressed up and they're headed back to Nebraska to get Susie.

"Dad, where are you getting her from? I didn't know she went anywhere."

"Oh, well, she was in a school for girls. She went there before we left Nebraska, when I was about two."

"But Dad, why?"

He swallows, and now I have to believe the pain medication is loosening his lips, because this is the first time Dad has ever said anything like this.

"Well, you see, I suspect my father was inappropriate with her." A tear runs down Dad's cheek.

"Dad, wasn't this about the same time as the fire?"

"Oh. Yes, the fire was when I was about two, then we moved to Missouri."

So way back in 1995, I knew about some of these events, but I didn't really think of them as related.

I did know that the move seemed like the beginning of a downward spiral for this family, a time of homelessness and hunger, and I have thought about that a lot over the years.

After Dad got out of the hospital, we wrote our book. He had every part he wrote bookmarked, and he would turn from part to part, showing the pages to people at his assisted living home.

"See here now? My daughter put my words in print. I was a witness to history."

His eyes would just light up, and that was only a few months before he passed away, so I'm glad we wrote it when we did, even though I had no idea what I was doing, and could probably do a much better job now.

But here's the thing. In the book, we blamed Grandpa for Susie's enrollment in that school, and now looking at this newspaper article, I'm starting to wonder, all these years, have we been blaming Grandpa for something he actually didn't do?

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow for providing a framework for people who don't know what to say next when writing about genealogy. We're loosely following her 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks framework. #52ancestors