Mar 2, 2024

The Susie Situation - Episode 6 - Hot For You

This can be viewed as a YouTube video (below) or read as a blog post (below that.) Accompanying documentation is at the end.



How far would you go for your Significant Other? Would you eat the food she likes? Move to the city he loves? Would you change religions? If your man were big into blackmail, would you participate? 

If you are joining us for the first time, this is Episode 6 in a series. Kate, Melody, and Nancy have been exploring a family mystery involving Aunt Susie, whose family house and barn burned down in 1912, soon after she was shipped off to a school for girls. We found out that Frank Hamilton was arrested for harming Susie, but was there a trial? We think all of these things are related, and we think this fire marked the beginning of this family’s downward spiral into intermittent homelessness. We’ve hired a genealogist to help us find out more, and we’re anxiously awaiting her findings.

We've also taken a look at my grandfather, Orland Carver. Grandpa Orlie. We don’t like what we see. But what about his wife, Annis Hubbard Sholes Carver? How does Grandma Annie fit into this equation?

It's 2018. The MeToo movement goes global. Sears and Roebuck goes bankrupt. And I receive a 54-page packet of court papers in the mail. The genealogist tells me they are preliminary court papers. Most are handwritten, in a really fast scribble, chicken scratch legalese, and they are incomplete.

What does she mean by incomplete? Well, they do suggest that a trial occurred, but they do not say what happened at the trial. There are papers about the original arrest, about the trial being rescheduled to a later date, subpoenas for witnesses to appear, and some curious pre-trial testimony from Ruth Hamilton.

I have to switch glasses, magnify the writing on a big screen, and reread this really bad handwriting several times, but fortunately, I have some experience reading chicken scratch.

It's 1978. The TV Show Dallas debuts on CBS. Everyone at school is singing "You're the one that I want" after watching Grease for the 3rd time. And The Reverend Jim Jones shocks the world, leaving us all with a new saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid." I'm 19 years old, working my first college job, grading freshmen comp papers. These are handwritten. Scribbled. Chicken scratch. I get a lot of practice reading really bad handwriting.

Throughout the semester a parade of young men come through the English Department doors in search of homework help. One of these boys asks me out. I change college majors because of him, follow him to another town, even get a job where he works. One Saturday night he takes me out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. He says he has something important to discuss. He reaches into his pocket. Is he about to propose? I hold my breath as he extends his hand and opens it to reveal ... his key to my apartment. He says he needs to give it back because he has just proposed, to his other girlfriend, and she said yes. That's when I realize, my man-picker is malfunctioning. Broken down. In need of an upgrade!

Like grandmother, like granddaughter. And now I wonder, if I had married that man, after changing my major and following him to another town, how much would I have been willing to do to keep him happy? Watch his TV shows? Raise kids his way? Blackmail the neighbor of his choice?

It's 1888. Imagine Annie Hubbard, 19 years old, at a neighborhood barn dance in Mars, Nebraska. Chet Fields plays the fiddle. His brother Ed is there too. When the Fields brothers play, all the young people come. The air crackles with a mix of nerves and excitement. Annie tugs at the faded ribbon in her hair as she watches him across the rough-hewn dance floor. The new boy, with his sun-streaked hair and the beginnings of a shy smile. He glances her way, then quickly down at his boots. The music breaks off, replaced with the dance caller's booming voice. Annie turns to her friend, swallowing a surge of disappointment. But then she sees him, shouldering his way through the crowd. "Hello, I'm Charley. Would you like to dance?"

I don't know if that's what happened, but dances were popular in the area, and so was Chet Fields. By March of 1889, Annie Hubbard and Charley Sholes must have found a meeting spot much more private than a public dance hall. According to her divorce papers, Annis and Charles got married on October 9, 1889, and he then deserted her, on October 9, 1889. Daughter Florence was born on December 31, 1889. It looks like Annie and Charles never planned to live together. I don't know if Florence ever met him or his 2nd family.


And you know that little voice I mentioned last episode, the one that says, "You're no good; you should be ashamed; you need to know your place?" How loud do you think that voice gets in the head of an unwed pregnant girl in 1889? Or a divorced lady with a small child? So when Orlie Carver came along, willing to marry her, did Annie feel like she had many choices? Don't you just want to travel back in time, take her by the shoulders, and shout, GRANDMA, THINK THIS THROUGH?!!

What do we really know about Annie? Not a lot. Childhood stories suggest that the Hubbard children were playful, with a tendency towards mischief, and that they all had a solid education in Vermont before arriving in Nebraska. Not a college education, but good for the times. 

Dad said Annie was not particularly demonstrative. Orlie was more affectionate, when he wasn't being violent. He also said that Annie had a lot of anxiety in later years, and that once she almost gave up on life. It was some time after the fire, in a little spider-infested stone house in Kansas, the house that leaked like a sieve, where she tried to hang herself from the rafters, but Uncle Bob cut her down. Bob would have been quite young still, perhaps 9 or 10?

Bob also tells of her calmly removing my dad, little Willie, from the middle of the bed when he was a toddler, so that she could shoot a rattlesnake that she saw hanging from the rafters directly above where he slept. 

And Dad wrote about Annie's actions during the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, when she spent countless hours caring for sick neighbors.

We’ve heard that in the years after the fire, Annie’s children were often dirty and unkempt, that she was often sick, and that she had a tendency to forget what years her children were born when reporting their ages to school authorities, or to coroners.

And what was her relationship with Orlie? From Dad's description, Orlie was in charge, and Annie's job was to follow along. 

At the end of her life Annie lost a fight with colorectal cancer. She was 56 years old, and when the kids visited the hospital, they report that she was incoherent, probably from pain medication. I don't think that's how she would like to be remembered. I'd rather remember her as the lady who shot down the rattlesnake. Annie, get your gun!

But now we have a new story from Ruth Hamilton. Ruth paints Annie in a very different light. Of course, just like that dance story that I made up a few paragraphs back, we have no idea how much of Ruth's story is true. 

It's 1911. September 12. Annie is a mother of eight. She’s been living with Orlie for 14 years. The Hamiltons are neighbors. And here is what Ruth Hamilton says in her pre-trial testimony. She says that Mrs. Carver came to the Hamilton home after dinner and asked to speak with her husband, Frank, who was upstairs resting. He came down. Then Mrs. Carver said, "I am going to send you over the road for having Susie out all night, but I am willing to settle if you will give me your grey team."

Ruth asked Mrs. Carver if Frank had done anything wrong or harmed Susie in any way, and Mrs. Carver said that he had not, but that he had Susie out all night, and that was against the law, and that she would send him over the road for it unless Frank gave her that grey team. 

According to Ruth, when the Hamiltons turned Mrs. Carver down, she then said that she would be willing to settle for the bay colts, which were inferior to the grey team, not worth as much money. And when they refused to part with either the greys or the bays, Mrs. Carver proclaimed in a loud and angry voice, "I will make it hot for you and send you over the road."

Ruth goes on to testify that Carver and his wife live on a Kincaid homestead not far from the Hamilton's, and that on several occasions they've offered to trade the entire homestead for that grey team.

And finally, Ruth says that she ran into Mrs. Carver in front of the drug store in O'Neill on the same day after the preliminary hearing in this case, and she said to her then, “I hope you feel better since you swore to all those lies!" 

Whereupon Mrs. Carver started to cry and answered, "I had to do it, and if you were in my place, you would do it." 

Where do I start?

Everybody seems to agree that Frank had Susie out all night. Had her out where? What would a middle aged neighbor-man be doing all night with a 13-year-old girl that falls into the category of “not harmful”? Astronomy lessons? Feeding homeless cattle? I've wracked my brain. 

And what about the language here? Would somebody with Grandma's education level use phrases like "I will make it hot for you" or "I will send you over the road"? Maybe. 

Then there's this whole thing about the horses. The Carvers would do anything to get those greys. Would a set of horses really be worth an entire 600-acre homestead? And I'm remembering comments Kate used to hear from the family years ago, "The Carvers were nothing but a bunch of horse thieves." I didn't think they meant literal horse thieves, but ... maybe they did?

And finally, back to the language. 

  • I will make it hot for you. 

  • I will send you over the road. 

Doesn't this sound like something we should put on a set of travel mugs?

2018 was an eventful year, with all these court papers, and this new story about Grandma. Newspapers started to be digitized at a faster and faster pace. And I talked to Cousin Melody for the first time. You know that surgery I mentioned back in Episode One? It's Melody's fault I got that surgery to start with. If you want to hear more, check back next time!


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. 

Photo Credits From the video

The Pre-Trial Testimony of Ruth Hamilton

I am going to put this in a separate post here.

Florence's Birth Year

We have several documents to help understand Florence's birth year. When put together, the evidence suggests December 31, 1889 as the logical birth date. Further evidence in the future may prove this incorrect; however, it is a reasonable conclusion at this time.

Birth Certificates, Announcements Etc
Unfortunately, no birth certificates were issued for this time frame, and so far I've found no church records or announcements in local papers. The Neligh Leader was publishing quite regularly at that time and seems to have covered the Mars area fairly well. I see a number of references to Cyrus and Mary Carver in 1889. In next door Knox county the Niobrara Pioneer was also in print. But, nothing about this birth, so far.

Whenever her birth month is listed, it is always listed as December, so I'm going to assume December is correct.

These state that Charles and Annis were married Oct 9, 1889 and that he deserted her on Oct 9, 1889. They further state that daughter Florence is 6 years old. This was initially filed on January 14, 1896 and then finalized on June 5, 1896.

Obvious thing here: it is all handwritten, and the 5 and the 6 look very similar. So I could be wrong in how I am reading that handwriting. But the part that says when they were married and when he deserted her is very legible.

This is in April of 1906 and states that Florence is 16. It is signed by Florence, Annis, and Orland. This would put her birth year in 1889 if birth month is December.

1900 Census Record
This was enumerated on June 28, 1900. It says that Florence is 10 and was born in December of 1889. The birth years and ages of the other children are correct, although I cannot tell you why Clarence is called Admiral here.








1910 Cen1910 Census Record
This was enumerated on May 10. It states that Florence is 19, which would put her birth year in 1890 if birth month is December.


1920 Census Record
Taken in January 1920. Age 30 in January 1930 puts birth date in 1889 if birth month is December. Note that this record is extremely accurate. All 8 children's ages are correct (according to the birth information I have for them) including the 3 youngest, whose ages include number of months. 


This gives a birth date of Dec 31, 1890, provided by husband Clarence. It wouldn't surprise me at all for Clarence to get the birth year incorrect. He's got 9 kids, no wife, and a funeral. He's getting ready to pack the whole bunch up and drive them all to Grandma and Grandpa's house so they can try to fit 10 more people into a 3 room abode where some of the Carver kids are already camping in the back yard. When does he have time for the finer things in life, like remembering what year his dearly departed was born?

Gravestone
Says "1889 - 1890" age 30. Since 2 out of those 3 facts are incorrect, I don't put much stock in the gravestone. It is wonderful that somebody put it there that, but it is not a good source for factual info. Probably put there later by one of the children?

The Susie Situation - Notes - Ruth Hamilton's Pre-Trial Testimony

This is a transcription of several pages of handwritten testimony provided to me by Holt County courthouse. It is a sworn statement from Frank Hamilton explaining in (excruciating) detail while his wife Ruth cannot come to trial. (Honestly, Frank, you could have just said, "She is very pregnant and cannot travel." You did not have to go on and on with the embarrassing details. Do you think Ruth wanted you to do that?) Then it goes on to detail what he says is Ruth's testimony that she would provide if she could come to the trial. 

I'll provide all of the transcription first, followed by copies of the handwritten pages after that. At some point in the future perhaps I'll figure out how to provide the entire document with transcription in a PDF. But for now, this is it.

PAGE 36-Now comes the defendant Frank Hamilton and moves the Court to continue this case until the next regular term of this Court, for the reasons set forth in the Affidavit hereto attached, marked "Exhibit A" and which is hereby made a part of this motion.

PAGE 37- Exhibit A - Frank Hamilton being first duly sworn upon oath deposes and says that he is the defendant in the above entitled cause that Ruth Hamilton is the wife of the defendant and is a necessary and natural witness in defendants behalf in the trial of said case and without her testimony the defendant cannot safely proceed to trial that she is at this time sick and confined to her bed and is unable to leave it. That on the 2nd day of June 1912 she gave birth to a child. That her labor pains were most severe and she was unable to give

PAGE 38- birth to said child until she obtained assistance of doctors Hooper and Battis of Butte Nebraska. That it was necessary for said Doctors to use forceps and other surgical instruments in the delivery of said child. That by reason of these facts she became physically weak and exhausted and was subjected to a great nervous shock from which she has not as yet recovered, that she is also at this time and for some time past has been suffering from a large tumor of the womb and that as soon as she recovers sufficient strength to endure an operation it may be absolutely necessary that she be operated on for said tumor. That affiant knows from her present condition that it will be impossible for her to


PAGE 39- go to O'Neill the place of trial for at least two months and probably longer. That her home is 35
 miles from O'Neill and that her means of conveyance will have to be by team. That she could not go to O'Neill at this time or within the time heretofore specified without placing her life in danger, that if this case is continued to the next regular term of this court that affiant will have said witness present in court for the trial of said case. That if she were present in court she would testify that on the day following the night the crime is alleged to have been committed that Mrs. Annis Carver mother of the prosecutrix Susie Carver came to the home of affiant after dinner on said day. That at the time 

PAGE 40- she came and for about a half hour prior that affiant was upstairs in his dwelling lying on his bed. That Mrs. Carver asked affiant's wife where affiant was, that she told her where affiant was and that she then had one of the children call affiant. That affiant came down ? To where his wife and Mrs. Carver were. That Mrs. Carver said to affiant in the presence of his wife that she (Carver) wanted to talk to affiant privately, whereupon affiant's wife said Mrs. Carver he is my husband and if you have anything to say to him why don't you say it my presence. That Mrs. Carver then said, "I am going to Send you over the road for having Susie out all night, but I am willing to settle it if you will give me your grey team."
 
PAGE 41- That affiant's wife then asked Mrs. Carver in substance if her husband (affiant) had done anything wrong or harmed Susie in any way, that Mrs. Carver said that he had not but that he had Susie out all night and that that was against the law and that she would send him over the road for it unless affiant would give her the grey team, that affiant and his wife both said that affiant had done nothing wrong to the girl as she herself Mrs. Carver had stated and that they would not give her the team because there was nothing to settle, that Mrs. Carver then said that affiant and his wife would ----- it that she would be willing to take the bay colts. That said team of bay colts were inferior to the grey team and were not worth near

PAGE 42- so much as the gray team. That affiant and his wife both refused to give her the bay team or anything else. That Mrs.Carver then in a loud and angry voice said, "I will make it hot for you and send you over the road."

That Carver and his wife lived on a Kinkaid homestead not far from affiant's place, that on several occasions prior to the time specified in this affidavit and on different occasions offered to trade their Kinkaid homestead to affiant for the aforesaid grey team. That affiant's wife will testify that both Carver and his wife have done everything in their power to get ahold of affiant's grey team. That affiant's wife in O'Neill and on the same day and right after the preliminary hearing in this case

PAGE 43- met Mrs. Carver in front of one of the drug stores in O'Neil, Nebr and said to Mrs. Carver, "I hope you feel better since you swore to all those lies." Whereupon Mrs. Carver started to cry and answered, "I had to do it, and if you were in my place you would do it." That affiant's wife then immediately walked away from Mrs. Carver. That this affidavit is not made for the purpose of delay but is made for the sole purpose of obtaining justice and further affiant sayeth not. Signed, Frank Hamilton.


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