Just when I thought that the story of my third great-aunt Fanny (White) (Burns) Ives and her daughter Elsie (Burns) (McNichol) Younie couldn’t get any sadder, I found yet another tragedy in Elsie’s life.
When I found the newspaper article describing the granting of divorce to my great-grandmother Bertha from Frederick French, I set it aside until I received the court paperwork from the judicial archivist. I reviewed that paperwork, as well as the original article, dated June 30, 1910.
Bertha’s divorce was the second of two listed in that article; the first read as follows:
“In the jury waived session of the Superior Civil court, before Judge Bell this morning, the following uncontested divorces were heard: Elsie McNichol vs. James L. McNichol, married in 1903 at Lynn and lived in Lynn and Swampscott. He struck her and choked her. He has been arrested for drunkenness and assault. Decree for cruel and abusive treatment, with right to resume her maiden name.”
Elsie McNichol…that name sounded familiar! Then I realized that this was Bertha’s first cousin Elsie! Poor Elsie, no wonder why she and James were divorced and why I’d found her alone in the 1910 Census with her mother and stepfather.
I looked back at the timeline of Elsie’s life and found that her divorce from James occurred just under four months from her subsequent marriage to William Younie and just under nine months (yes, you read that right) from the seeming stillbirth of their unnamed baby girl. Of course Elsie went on to have two more living children, only to have her own life cut short under seven years later.
Beautiful Water Genealogy 
Sad story, indeed. But she fought for her life and her own name. Something to be proud of.
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Very true!
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