Let me introduce you to my paternal great-uncle Edward Henry Arnold (1889-1918) and his wife Bessie Pearl Edgcomb (1890-1972).
Edward and Bessie both grew up in Hancock County, Illinois, where they married in 1914. In December of 1917, their first child was born – a son, Lowell Edward Arnold. They seemed well on their way to living a happy life.
But tragedy struck just a year later. Edward and Bessie both became ill with the Spanish Influenza of that year, and although Bessie recovered, Edward did not. He died in December of 1918, when Lowell was just a year old. The newspaper article announcing his death noted that his brother, Joseph, was “in France” at the time. A little research revealed that Joseph was among a group of 125 young men from Hancock County who had been drafted for military service in April of 2018. Just a couple of months before Edward’s illness and death, another newspaper article noted that “the boys” – including Joseph – were on their way back to the east coast from their training base in California and would be passing through Ft. Madison, Iowa, just a few miles from Hancock County. The article listed the residents of the county who caravanned to Ft. Madison to greet the boys on their way to their deployment to France. Edward Arnold was one of the people who made this trip. He died three months later.
Bessie apparently never recovered from Edward’s death. The 1920 census show Bessie and her toddler son Lowell living with Bessie’s parents (Morgan and Nancy Edgcomb) and her older brother Fred in Carthage, the county seat of Hancock County. Morgan died late in 1920, and the 1930 census shows that Bessie and Lowell were still living with Nancy and Bessie’s two older brothers – Fred and James – in Carthage. The 1940 census shows that the situation had not changed.
Things changed a lot shortly after 1940, however, when Lowell registered for the draft. Nancy died in 1941, but Bessie continued to live with James; Fred had moved to Oklahoma after Nancy’s death and he died there later in 1941. I don’t know the details of Lowell’s service, but he died at Anzio in Italy in 1944. His body was returned to the United States and he was buried the National Cemetery in Quincy, Illinois.
Here's Lowell, my father’s first cousin. They were born within one year of one another and grew up together in Hancock County. My father referred to him one time that I recall, mentioning him as “my cousin who died at Anzio.”
Bessie lived until 1972 and never remarried. I found a 1968 newspaper article that reported “Strong-Arm Robbers Take $600 in Cash” from “elderly Carthage widow.” The elderly widow was Bessie, and the newspaper reported her age as 77. The article indicated that she lived alone, and that one of the robbers had lured her outside by saying that he had seen a kitten with a broken leg in front of her house. The article noted that Bessie “takes in stray cats,” and when she opened the door two men came in, held a knife to her neck, and demanded money. Here’s the newspaper article with Bessie’s picture.
In summary:
Bessie and Edward married in 1914 and welcomed their first child in 1917.
One year after that, Edward died of influenza.
Bessie and Lowell moved in with Bessie’s family, where she apparently lived the rest of her life. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 census records show that the family lived on First Street in Carthage; the 1967 news article about the home invasion identifies her as living on First Street. I’m pretty sure she lived in the same house the entire time.
Her father Morgan died in 1920
Her mother Nancy died in 1941
Her brother Fred died later in 1941 in Oklahoma, where he had moved to be with his children after Nancy’s death.
Lowell was drafted in 1941, and he died in Italy in May of 1944.
Bessie’s brother James died in September of 1944
Bessie never remarried, and lived in the same house until her death in 1972.
It’s hard to see Bessie’s life as anything but a series of tragedies that left her alone in the world at the age of 54. But it’s possible to see it as a love story as well; Bessie never found anyone to replace her husband who had died so young.
Sad, but to know this story is probably satisfying to you in the detail of their lives discovered through your impressive research. Nice.