Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall...
In 1874, Gus Franklin, the sheriff of Bartow County, had a great fall. Could there be more?
The Standard and Express
Cartersville, Bartow County, Georgia
Untitled, 21 October 1874, page 3
"We learn that Gus. Franklin, a very worthy citizen, fell from his door, last night, and was very seriously hurt. We are glad to learn, however, that his injuries are not mortal."
For a genealogist, this tidbit from a Cartersville newspaper tantalizes the imagination. It hints at a great story--but alas, the true story may never be known.
At face value, the story is simple: a man fell and got hurt. The end. The intrigue is in some other known facts, that may or may not have some bearing on the story.
"Gus" Franklin is Augustus Montgomery Franklin, a long-time sheriff of Bartow County, Georgia. On the same day that he fell, A. M. Franklin's daughter, Alice, married a mystery man, James M. Cook. There was no prior marriage announcement in any local papers, as far as we could find.
Since A. M. Franklin fell on the night of his daughter's marriage, the opportunity for speculation is rich. Did the sheriff partake of one too many cups of wedding punch? Did a violent scrap take place at the wedding? Was there, perhaps, a shotgun wedding? Or did Daddy discover an elopement in progress, and half break his neck running to catch the fleeing lovers?
The intrigue is only deepened by events that occurred later on; for, in 1877, James M. Cook sued for divorce from Alice Cook. Without any further insight into the court case, we only have some dry, terse Superior Court minutes to go by. Three brief items were published in the paper--the 1877 complaint by James (denied; that verdict went in favor of Alice); and two 1879 items, in which Alice herself sued for, and was granted, a divorce from her husband.
Thinking back to the wedding-night accident--did Alice's father know then that the groom was an unsuitable fellow, that the marriage would be an unhappy one? And in 1877, when James's suit for divorce apparently failed, did James run off anyhow, leaving Alice to struggle on her own, give up, and eventually sue for desertion? Or did the couple bear with it, stumbling along unhappily for two more years until Alice finally agreed to go to court? It will forever remain an enigma.
In 1880, Alice Cook, divorced, is back at home with Dad. James, her ex-husband, is nowhere to be found--or at least, no longer seems to be in Cartersville and is unidentifiable in census. It doesn't appear that any children were born to the couple.
James M. Cook has a common name, so identifying him in census is so far impossible. The ones who seem to fit best are either married to someone else when James should be single; had already moved to a faraway state by 1874; or are living in some other county and don't have any characteristics to distinguish them from all the other eligible James Cooks.
[Source for Quote]:
Gus. Franklin (untitled item) in "City and County," The Standard and Express (Cartersville, Bartow, Georgia) 1871-1875, 21 October 1874, page 3 (digital image 3), Georgia Historic Newspapers, Digital Library of Georgia (GALILEO). https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn85034018/1874-10-21/ed-1/seq-3/print/image_647x817_from_204,6363_to_1047,7427/ (accessed 10 November 2020 by D.K. Pritchett).
No comments:
Post a Comment