When I saw this week's theme, I immediately thought of this family of characters! Bad luck and even worse choices! I wrote this up about 5 years ago.
What A Family!!!
This is about a collection of newspaper articles that I ran
across while searching the Rosengrant name, which detail various members of
some families from the Forkston area of Wyoming Co, PA. Most of the events recounted here, you can
refer to a clipping about it. The rest have public records.
George Rosengrant was born Feb 18,1864, the son of John
Rosengrant and his 2nd wife Mariah Palmer. In 1870 the family was
living in Forktson Twp, Wyoming Co, PA.
By 1880, George was 17 and working as a live in servant for Charles
Burgess in Forkston and his future wife Cora Spencer was living in Bradford
with her parents. George and Cora, who
was born on July 29, 1872 in Lovelton, Wyoming Co, PA, were married on Sep 20,
1888. They had three children, John
Henry in 1889, Loretta in 1892 and Wesley in 1895. There is no information available from 1890 or
1910 but in 1900 George was listed as a boarder in Forkston. So we will rely on
these news articles to follow him.
Cora had the first newsworthy event when her father Samuel
Spencer and her brother Samuel Jr were both killed by a freight train on Feb
17, 1897 in Wyalusing. Earlier, in 1871, Samuel Jr was sentenced to Eastern
Penitentiary for one year. His crime was Forgery and he was 18 years old.
George’s notoriety starts hitting the newspapers in 1898. There was a dispute over a coon dog that George had sold. But his most notorious act comes early. On July 5, 1900, he “sells” his wife Cora to his 1st cousin Raymond Palmer for $3 and agrees to “throw in the girl (Loretta)”. The transaction was complete with a written receipt that was also published in the newspaper. All parties were agreeable and lived happily for a time. This story went viral, to use today’s lingo. It was picked up by newspapers all over the country and reprinted for years after the event. George was a farmer at the time and Raymond was a wood chopper. One account says that George was so happy that he bought a pig, roasted it and gave it to the new couple which they celebrated over for a few days, including George.
The Scranton Republican, Monday Feb 24, 1902
George and related families kept the Gossip column busy. In 1901, George’s sister, Ruey, found herself involved as one of two wives of Jacob Mansfield. But then she herself took a 2nd husband, Henry Brewer and flitted back and forth between them. All without the use of divorces. Jacob went on to have 5 wives. 1901 was a big year. Cora, the sold wife, had a brother, Samuel Spencer who was rumored to have had at least 4 or 5 wives. But wait – I thought Samuel was dead! If true, he did all of this by age 44. Not impossible based upon this family’s activities! I was only able to find one wife, but 8 children. No evidence of these rumors found. And one of George’s other sisters, Euphemia, found herself abandoned by her husband leaving her with 3 or 4 children to raise.
The Scranton Republican, Jan 19, 1901
In the meantime, George has fancied himself a book agent and
has been selling Bibles among other miscellaneous books and in April 1901, he
found himself in a fist fight with a postmaster when he tried to recover a
letter that he had forgotten to place the proceeds from his sales into. His sister, Ruey’s, death was suspicious
enough that there was a coroner’s inquest after her 2nd husband
Henry requested help from a passerby in placing her bloody body in a
coffin. George and her 1st
husband, Jacob Mansfield ended up on the scene as well. She was buried but exhumed a few days later
for the inquest. It was determined that there
was no foul play, so she must have done it herself.
By the end of 1902, George was calling himself a retired
book agent, farmer and handy man. He
found himself working the farm of a woman and in court over an unpaid
blacksmith bill. None other than Ruey’s first husband, Jacob Mansfield defended
him but they lost the suit. After this
Jacob took up with George’s sister Euphemia.
They were to marry, but could not prove that she was free from her 1st
husband who had run off on her.
And speaking of divorce, in 1904, George decides that he had
better divorce the wife, Cora, that he had sold. Rumors were that he had found his next lady
love. Apparently the divorce went thru(Apr
20, 1905) because, Raymond Palmer and the sold wife Cora were married by 1906 (Feb
14, 1906, really Valentines Day!). And George was married to Theresa Carpenter
in July of 1905.
Now Cora and George’s daughter, Loretta, who was “threw
into” the sale, was 8 years old at the time.
Now it is 1906, she is 14 and finds herself with child by one Claude
Rose who at some time before the birth of their child, disappears into the local
woods. Little Madaline is born in May
1906. Loretta’s parents demand that he
be found, so the police conduct a search but with no luck send one officer
under cover into a lumber camp and finally catch Claude. They bring him back and he and Loretta marry
in July 1906. By 1909, Loretta must have
been divorced from Claude Rose because she had a child with one Daniel Adams
and their marriage date is Apr 16, 1909.
Poor little Edward Adams was born on Feb 9, 1910 and died on May 4, 1910
of syphilis that was contracted from his mother before he was born.
In 1910, Raymond & Cora Palmer were living in Noxon Twp
with one of Cora’s young sons, Wesley, from her marriage to George.
And apparently, Theresa, the lady love George had needed the
divorce for, had placed a notice in the newspaper stating that she was not
responsible for any debt that George may incur as he had taken his bed and left
her.
In 1912, Cora & George’s son, John Henry age 24, met a tragic end when a tree he was cutting fell and rolled over him. Five years later in 1917, they lost their son, Wesley, to pneumonia at age 23 and Loretta’s former husband Claude Rose also died. Cora herself would die of mouth cancer in 1920. Her death certificate states that she was divorced at the time of her death, but who did they mean – George or Raymond? I guess Raymond as we knew the divorce from George had gone thru, but when was she divorced from Raymond?
But back to George.
In June of 1914, George files a marriage license with Alice Wright
Smith, a widow. She becomes George’s 3rd wife.
Six months after Cora passes in July 1920, her daughter
Loretta is applying for a marriage license with a Samuel Dailley and claiming
that she had never been married before. Also in 1920 we find George living in
Tunkhannock still married to his 3rd wife, Alice. He is listed as the owner of
a restaurant. One can only assume that Alice may have been a good influence on
him as he is the owner of various restaurants over the years until around
1930. Unfortunately, Alice dies in December
1926 and in January 1930, George is in trouble again. He was pleading guilty to violating liquor
laws and sentenced to 6 months in county jail where we do find him listed in
the 1930 census as an inmate. By 1940,
George is living alone in Tunkhannock and at age 81 he dies in 1947 and is
buried in Sunnyside Cemetery.
But back to Loretta, in 1927 she marries for the 4th time, to Cecil Switzer. Cecil had at least two previous marriages, one in 1912 and the 2nd in 1917. He died before they were married 3 years in 1931. And one month later Loretta also dies. They had been living in Cortland, NY.
Remember Madaline, born to Loretta & Claude in 1906? There is a marriage record from 1920 where she marries a John Butters. AND a corroborating news article about 13 yr old Madaline running away to marry 17 yr old John Butters in Elmira NY and fudging their ages. The marriage lasted but two months when according to the newspaper, Madaline left and returned home to her mother. Neither party pursued each other and Butters left to join the Navy. But next, we find Madaline living in Endicott, NY in 1925 with a husband Albert Warfle, whom she married in 1922. She calls herself Elizabeth Rose on this marriage certificate. Elizabeth is her middle name and she must have taken her father’s name at some point also. Albert Warfle died in Feb of 1925. His death notice in the newspaper mentions a long illness and no mention of a surviving wife. I do not want to think that Madaline left him because of this illness, but it can be a possibility. Later in 1925, Madaline marries for a 3RD time to Ralph Lee. They have a son Ronald in 1927. All of this by the time she was 21 years old! In the 1930 census there are two older Lee children living with them and we can only assume that Ralph had a previous marriage as well. It appears that they may have divorced because Ralph Lee marries again in 1947 and passes away in 1958. The trail runs cold after this, except for one family tree and two records of death that has Madaline passing away in 1983 in Binghamton, NY. with the name Lee.
Finally, Madaline’s son Ronald Lee, seems to have gotten it right. But not before a few of his own incidents. In 1950, at age 22, he was found in a stupor and remained in that state for at least two days. No apparent cause. In 1952, he was put on probation for larceny. He marries in 1955 but not before a daughter, Charlene Lee appeared. Charlene, age 2, had an accident of her own in 1956. She fell from a 2nd floor window and suffered an apparent skull fracture but survived. In 1958, Ronald was assaulted by a neighbor and suffered a jaw fracture and a concussion. Ronald ended up with 5 children with his only wife, 13 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He worked with a Handicapped Childrens Association and the Red Cross and was a WW2 Navy veteran. He passed away in 2004.
The only loose end here is Raymond Palmer who “bought” Cora
for a wife. I was unable to find out what happened to him.
You can’t make this stuff up !!!
Here is how we are related to the three characters from the
wife sale.
My husband Tom Sinton &
George Rosengrants are 11th cousins 4 times removed and have to
go way back to the year 1436 to find the common ancestor, Frederick
Rosenkrantz, Tom’s 14th great grandfather and George’s 10th
great grandfather.
Ann Heacock Sinton
& George Rosengrants are 5th cousins 3 times removed and
have to go back to William Holdridge born in 1680 who is Ann’s 7th
great grandfather and George’s 4th great grandfather.
Tom Sinton &
Raymond Palmer are 5th cousins 4 times removed thru Walter
Palmer born in 1590 who is Tom’s 10th great grandfather and
Raymond’s 6th great grandfather.
Ann Heacock Sinton
& Raymond Palmer are 5th cousins 3 times removed thru
William Holdridge born in 1680 who is Ann’s 7th great grandfather
and Raymond’s 6th great grandfather.
Ann Heacock Sinton
& Cora Spencer are 8th cousins 3 times removed going back to
Stephen Hopkins who was born in 1518 and is Ann’s 12th great
grandfather and Cora’s 9th great grandfather.
Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved.
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