What happened to Lizzie?
This is what I have come up with:
It appears that James Edwin Kensinger was called up to do military service. He deserted from Fort Worden, Washington state, on 9th August 1915. I believe he then went to Canada and gave a false name - Charles Edwin Thomas. He signed up for the Canadian Army on 13th December 1915 in Calgary. He served with the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force in France. He was shipped to England in 1916 and his discharge papers are dated 7th July 1919 in Quebec. Lizzie, or Betty, arrived in Quebec in July 1919 with their child. She must have been pregnant when they got married. On 9th July 1919 they crossed the border to Detroit and headed back to Missouri. I suppose that should be the end of the story but James Edwin Kensinger appeared in court twice, charged with neglect of his wife and children. Both times he was given a suspended sentence on condition that he got employment and took care of them. Lizzie had a son, went back to England where she had a daughter and then went back to the States. By 1930 I think that she had left James and was living with somebody else but I cannot prove that. On 30th April 1938 she married John Holland (known as Charley) in St Louis, Missouri. They had one daughter. Charley predeceased her (I cannot find out when). Lizzie died on 8th July 1976 in St Louis, Missouri. Her death and funeral notice read: HOLLAND, BETTY (nee Lay). Thurs., July 8, 1976, wife of the late John (Charley) Holland, dear mother of Peggy Lodes, Thelma Patch, James Kensinger, Wanata Morrlssey, our dear mother-in- low, grandmother and great-grandmother. Funeral from GEBKEN-BENZ Mortuary, 2842 Meromec St., Man., July 12 of 1:30 p.m. Interment National. Visitation Sun after 2 p.m.
James died on 17th January 1949 in San Francisco Hospital, San Francisco. He had remarried but I didn't research his second marriage.
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