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Research in Other Countries => United States of America => Topic started by: Erato on Sunday 04 February 24 06:03 GMT (UK)
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Can anyone find a record of the marriage which terminated in this divorce? Since the notice was published in a Washington newspaper, I assume that it refers to Grant County, Washington but it's possible that it was Grant County, Oregon. I haven't been able to find a record of the marriage in either state.
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According to Family Search Grant County was formed from Douglas County 1909.
Records for Grant County begin 1909.
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There are 1114 images for Douglas County year 1904 begins at 674
They are not indexed
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I expect you have found Drusilla E Ennis in Echo, Umatilla County Oregon in 1910.
daughter of Rush and Rebecca East.
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The full article mentions two suits for divorce & gives Pendleton as the location - https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-statesman/140229122/
The only Pendleton a Google search is giving me is in Oregon and fairly close to Walla Walla, Washington, so maybe the article is referring to Grant Co., Oregon.
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"Drusilla E Ennis in Echo, Umatilla County Oregon in 1910"
Yes, I had seen that, and the fact that she was in Umatilla County, Oregon is what makes me suspect that her former husband was probably my own Thomas J. Ennis and that the marriage could have occurred in Grant County, Oregon. However, there were two men named Thomas J. Ennis in and around Walla Walla and Kennewick, Washington in that time period.
My Thomas Ennis settled in Ritter, Grant County, Oregon in about 1890 and lived there with his wife and three children until at least 1903. Thomas's wife died on 3 August 1903 in a Walla Walla hospital. Following her death, the family moved north to Kennewick, Washington. Thomas bought a small parcel of land and built a house there in 1906.
"Clarence Ennis, son of T.J. Ennis arrived last night from Ritter, Ore. He has come to make his home with the family in Section 7. Their household goods are now on the road and they will soon be in their new house which has just been completed." [Kennewick Courier, Kennewick, Washington, 6 July 1906].
It seems a good possibility that my T.J. Ennis is the one who married Drusilla but I hope I can find a little more evidence.
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The full article mentions two suits for divorce & gives Pendleton as the location - https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-statesman/140229122/
The only Pendleton a Google search is giving me is in Oregon and fairly close to Walla Walla, Washington, so maybe the article is referring to Grant Co., Oregon.
Yes, The Pendleton mentioned appears to be in Oregon.
Another source clipping-
Oregon Journal
Monday, Feb 05, 1906
Portland, OR
Page: 2
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I’m not sure that this helps, but according to a tree on Anc*try, Rush and Rebecca East had three daughters. One, Daisy Jane East, married Sylvester Ennis Mikesell in Howard, Bates, Missouri in 1895. Sylvester’s parents were George Mikesell and Mary Clark. Grandparents are unknown.
I wouldn’t think Ennis would be a common middle name. :-\ I wonder if there is any connection to one of the T.J. Ennis men?
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I don't see them listed in this index of Grant County marriages, but it may not be a complete list.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=Q678-3WR%3A1017977001%3Fcc%3D2135625
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This group of Grant County marriage records keeps telling me to visit one of their partner sites, where ever that maybe. At least this indicates these records are available, but where?
https://www.familysearch.org/search/image/index?owc=Q678-3WR%3A1017977001%3Fcc%3D2135625
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As noted, there were two men named Thomas J. Ennis iving in this area in the early 1900s.
My T.J. was born in Wisconsin on 15 January 1861. He was living in Grant County, Oregon in 1903. He was recently widowed and would have been 43 years old when and if he married 21 year-old Drusilla East in 1904. This is not impossible.
The other Thomas J. Ennis was born in Walla Walla, Washington on 25 November 1883. He would have been 21 years old when and if he married Drusilla East in 1904. This Thomas J. Ennis went on to marry Mary Margaret Brown in 1907 but he could have had a brief first marriage to Drusilla.
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In either case, the fact that Drusilla's sister Daisy married a man named Sylvester Ennis Mikesell appears to be an odd coincidence. Certainly my T.J. Ennis had no connection to Missouri and no connection to the surname Mikesell. And a quick look at a FamilySearch tree for the other Thomas J. Ennis shows no such connections there, either.
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1910 census for Thomas 1883 Ennis possibly indicates that he was married once. Under his marital status category is “M1”. Neighbouring image pages for others are M1, M2, and what could be a M3.
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Erato, do you have access to Walla Walla city directories for the 1900s? If not, and you are interested, I (or others) can look for the men to see if there are any clues.
Note: if I disappear unexpectedly, it most likely will be due to a storm-related power outage. ;)
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I see that there is a 1904 Walla Walla directory. It might be worth a look. The directories for Benton County, Washington and Grant and Umatilla Counties, Oregon are all just a few years too late.
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My gut instinct tells me that, despite the age difference, my T.J. Ennis is the one who married Drusilla. But it would be nice to find some conclusive evidence or at least some supporting evidence.
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My T.J. was born in Wisconsin on 15 January 1861. He was living in Grant County, Oregon in 1903. He was recently widowed
The Evening statesman.
Thursday, Aug 06, 1903
Walla Walla, WA
Page: 9
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I wonder if there might be any newspaper articles about Drusilla post-1906? :-\
I’ll have a look at the directories in a bit. Apologies that I cannot do so now.
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"I wonder if there might be any newspaper articles about Drusilla post-1906?"
I didn't find any.
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I love the way they refer to him as a "prominent businessman." In fact, he was a small-scale rancher and farmer. Here he is with his daughter Flossie in Kennewick in about 1906ish. It's a strawberry packing shed. I don't know if he owned the operation or they were working for someone else.
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1904 Walla Walla, WA Directory
Ennis, Christopher, pres Walla Walla Meat Co., res 315 Alder
Ennis, Frank, farmer, bds 315 Alder
Ennis, Mary, bds 315 Alder
Ennis, Thomas J., sec and treas Walla Walla Meat Co., bds 315 Alder
No other Ennis’ in 1904. Will have a look for 1905.
Added: oh wow, you are so fortunate to have the photo! Especially since he was so prominent. ;)
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Anc*try doesn’t appear to have 1905 or 1906 directories for Walla Walla (I didn’t use any first name/surname in the search in case Ennis’ were omitted for some reason).
Just one for 1907
1907 Walla Walla, WA Directory
Ennis, Thomas J., farmer, h 2 m n of city
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1905 is here - https://arminda.whitman.edu/islandora/walla-walla-city-and-county-directory-1905
Ennis, Thorn J., farmer, h 2 miles n of city
I'm guessing Thorn was a misspelled Thom.?
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Christopher Ennis was the father of the young Thomas J. Apparently he was working for his father in 1904. He must have had a farm near Walla Walla in 1907. At that time my Thomas J. was in section 7 on the southeastern outskirts of Kennewick.
Both my Thomas J. and the other, younger one are mentioned in numerous newspaper articles. For the most part they can be distinguished. The younger one did become a prominent businessman. He was a real estate dealer, involved in a lot of large land deals and a hotel in Walla Walla. Also, the younger Thomas J. was a Catholic; all of the articles which refer to the Knights of Columbus and other such religious organizations pertain to him. My Thomas J. was some sort of Protestant and a member of the Odd Fellows.
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The full article mentions two suits for divorce & gives Pendleton as the location - https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-statesman/140229122/
The only Pendleton a Google search is giving me is in Oregon and fairly close to Walla Walla, Washington, so maybe the article is referring to Grant Co., Oregon.
Yes, the Pendleton mentioned appears to be in Oregon.
Another source clipping-
Oregon Journal
Monday, Feb 05, 1906
Portland, OR
Page: 2
…My T.J. was born in Wisconsin on 15 January 1861. He was living in Grant County, Oregon in 1903. He was recently widowed and would have been 43 years old when and if he married 21 year-old Drusilla East in 1904. This is not impossible.
Perhaps it was common in the area/county / decade, but if your Thomas married Drusilla, he wasn’t the only older man to do so. A family tree indicates Drusilla’s/Drucilla’s sister, Evalyn, was married in Pendleton in 1908. Looking at just a few Oregon state marriage images before and after Evalyn’s marriage image, several couples had what might be considered large gaps in ages:
Ages 46 and 21
“ 27 and 20
“ 61 and 45
“ 28 and 16
“ 43 and 25, etc.
Evalyn was age 22, her husband was age 33.
Have you researched the history of Pendleton? I wonder if times were tough and age-difference marriages were caused by financial necessity? Were men looking for mothers for their children? Were women looking for financial stability? Was there a short supply of eligible men? Or, just possibly a way of life in the area?
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"Were men looking for mothers for their children?"
I found this small article a bit weird. In 1903 when Thomas's wife died, his daughters were hardly "little girls." Elsie was 18 and Flossie was 15; the son Clarence was 12. None of them needed full time maternal care and the two girls were old enough to handle the daily cooking and housework. In fact, many years later, Elsie was recalled as "an especially talented cook" by the author of a blog about the Hot Springs resort in Ritter, Oregon.
If Thomas did indeed marry Drusilla, it's not hard to imagine that the introduction of a 21-year-old 'stepmother' caused some friction in the household.
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Did Thomas exaggerate for some reason or, more likely, did the newspaper reporter try to make the article more newsworthy? It is odd.
Yes, I would think having a very young stepmother would be difficult for everyone.
The article that mentions the divorce stated it was due to cruelty. If it was true, perhaps Drusilla wasn’t too kind to the children.
Added: if you haven’t already investigated Mrs. Holcomb, might you find any connection between Mrs. Holcomb and the East family? :-\
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I cannot (clearly) view an article that includes
T. J. Ennis
Residence Place - Ritter, Oregon
Death Date - About 1903
Obituary Date - 10 August 1903
Obituary Place - Walla Walla, Washington
Newspaper Title - The Evening Statesman
It looks like it is an obit for Mrs. Ennis. Possibly M. H. Marvin, pastor of First Methodist Church, conducted the services.
You most likely already contacted churches/dioceses, etc. in the past to try to find Thomas’ marriage record but I just wanted to mention the above in case Thomas and/or Drusilla were parishioners of the First Methodist Church.
Added: found one that we could read (page 8 )…
https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=EVENSTAT19030810.1.7&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------
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It's Carrie's funeral and burial. They were all buried in Walla Walla - Carrie, T.J. and his brother William (who died in North Dakota). They even placed a memorial stone there for their father Thomas who died in the Civil War and was buried in an unknown, unmarked grave in the South.
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The Ennis’ certainly were/are very caring people.
My mum’s (young) cousin’s name was added to a family gravestone. His plane never reached its destination during WWII; they never found the crew or plane. I never knew her cousin but mum mentioned him numerous times; he had a incredible sense of humour and was very kind to her. It was touching to see his name included with his family’s names.
Have you checked Methodist churches for Thomas’ marriage?
Added: it’s odd that there isn’t a write-up for the wedding.
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"it’s odd that there isn’t a write-up for the wedding."
This is another thing that makes me suspect that it was my man who married Drusilla, rather than that young fellow from Walla Walla. I think if two young people got married for the first time, it would have been a newsworthy event. There would have been a religious service (especially considering the groom's devotion to his church), the families and friends would have celebrated, and the reporters would have taken note. But that did not happen. It's almost as if the marriage was a hasty, under-the-table thing that no one wanted to acknowledge publicly. You have to wonder whether eyebrows were raised in Pendleton and Ritter.