August Bailey: Love is Complicated...
My 3rd great grandfather August Bailey has a LOT of stories to be told, I might have to select him again to tell some of his other stories. But for now , going off week 7's theme of LOVE, I'm going to talk a little about his complicated relationship with his wife Lizzie Garrity.
August and Lizzie "Garrity" Bailey were married in November, 1880. In June of that year, in the 1880 Census. Lizzie "Garrity" is listed as a servant in the home of John Bryant. John Bryant was the widower of August Bailey's sister, Mary Jennie (Jane) Bailey. At the same time that Lizzie is living in the Bryant home as a servant, another of August's sisters, Josephine is also listed as living in the home and is identified as John Bryant's sister in law. John and Jane had small children, and it is logical that one of the Bailey sisters would have gone to help him take care of the children. It is impossible to know whether or not Lizzie got the job in the Bryant household because she and August were already courting, or if she had been working in the household, and met August through Josephine and John. It is neat to see this connection between them before they were married though, so often a marriage license is the first connection you can find.
1880 Census
Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, Tue, Jan 27, 1880, Page 4
August and Lizzie's Wedding License
August and Lizzie had 4 children together: Mary, William, Harry and Edward. Our ancestor was William, whose little brother Harry was 14 pounds at the time of his birth. Did you catch that.... FOURTEEN POUNDS... in 1887!!!!! The happy occasion of Harry's birth was noted in the paper (below).
The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Tue, Nov 1, 1887, Page 1.
August and Lizzie's marriage was not without its struggles.The 1890 census is unavailable so we can't check in on what the family was up to in 1890, however, in the 1900 census Lizzie and the children are living on their own and Lizzie is listed as the head of the household. At the same time, August is listed in another household as a boarder. This was very strange to me until I found a few news articles that indicated that August and Lizzie were separated.
The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 5 Feb 1893, Page 8.
The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 18 Feb 1893, Page 8.
A divorce never followed the separation and the suit for spousal support, at some point between the 1900 Census and an article published in 1906, August and Elizabeth got back together, although the article mistakenly calls August "William". They are also together in the 1910 Census, which shows the length of there marriage as 30 years.
The Fort Wayne Sentinel, 5 Nov 1906, Page 6
1910 Census
A few years later August dies tragically in a train crash.... that is a story for another time. However, after August and Elizabeth's complicated relationship. I found a line in this article regarding August's death particularly moving.
His wife is prostrated over his death....
