Martha Grace Edwards (1865-1921) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 49) Theme: "Oops!"

By all accounts, my great grandaunt Martha Grace Edwards ("Grace") was a much-loved and highly respected member of her extended family. Still, her life contains one or two events that might garner this lovely lady an "oops!". I suppose, in fairness, most of us have had at least an oops! or two in our lives.

Grace Edwards in 1916

To begin at the beginning, it is anything but clear that her mother's husband was Grace's biological father.  Mother Barbara Hoover had married her second husband, Lewis Edwards, on 24 October 1861 in Henry County, Illinois. The American Civil War had already begun and, just a few months into their marriage, on 9 August 1862, Lewis enlisted as a private in Company C, 112 Illinois Infantry and was off to war. 

Serving with the army near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, Lewis contracted a severe cold and cough in early spring of 1863 and was sent to the camp hospital.  After this, he never returned to active duty.  He was sent home to Orion, Henry County, Illinois on a brief sick furlough in February of 1865.  Lewis was formally discharged from the military on 24 July 1865. According to a deposition of his brother-in-law Clark Bleakney, Lewis returned home in August of 1865 from military service, at which time he was suffering so severely from "disease of the lungs" that he "remained sick and suffering from said disease . . . up to the 18th day of February 1866 at which date he died and is buried in Orion cemetery."

No official birth records exist for the time of Grace's birth, and the date shows signs of revision in the family Bible. The revising may have occurred during the time that Grace's mother Barbara was applying for a Civil War orphan's pension on behalf of Martha (Grace) and her twin sister Mary (Minnie) Edwards, trying to establish that they were the legitimate children of deceased veteran Lewis Edwards. The girls were  born on 28 November in either 1865 or 1866, not in Orion, Henry County, Illinois where Lewis lived and died but at the home of Barbara's sister in Jasper County, Iowa. Either birth year makes for interesting speculation, given the tenuous state of Lewis Edwards' health and the timing of his furlough and release from the army which was followed shortly by his death. Oops? Maybe. 

Grace and her twin sister Minnie had an older half-brother Samuel Lester Hoover born 1855 from their mother's first marriage and would go on to have another half-brother Charles Francis Edwards (my great grandfather) born in 1869. After Lewis's death, Barbara and her children lived with her parents in Keokuk, Iowa where they can be found in the extended family in the 1870 U.S. census. Strangely, the twins show up as one individual in that census: M. M. age 4. (The census was taken as of 1 June 1870 and the stated age was to be the age at that date, which would put the twins' birth year at 1865.)

Grace listed as  "M" (for Martha) in the 1870 US census for Keokuk County, Iowa
This is the first record that can be found for Grace

Barbara married an older family friend named George Payton 18 August 1873 in What Cheer, Keokuk, Iowa. Their combined household can be found in Howard, Elk County, Kansas in the 1880 U.S. census. Here we find Grace listed as George's 14 year-old stepdaughter Martha. As in 1870, the census was dated as of 1 June and age was to be given as of that date, giving added credence to a birth year of 1865 for the twins. 

Grace listed as "Martha" at age 14 in the 1880 U.S. Census for Howard, Elk County, Kansas

More information about the extensive activities and business ventures of Grace's mother Barbara and step-father George Payton in Howard can be read in my story from earlier this year. It is clear that the family lived in town and all took an active part in the life of the community. Grace at this time is often known as "Gracie Payton".

Grace and Minnie celebrate their 15th birthdays
Newspapers.com - The Howard Courant 1 December 1881
(supports a birth year of 1866 for the twins) - apparently Gracie and her friend Minnie Momma paid a visit to the newspaper office, according to an item in the same issue:

By the time of the retroactive Civil War orphans' pension applications begun on their behalf  by their mother in March of 1890, both Minnie and Grace had new married names. Minnie is now Mary Simmers (sometimes given as Simmons) and Grace is Martha Lemon. 

Grace's married surname might foreshadow the biggest "oops!" of her life. 

The marriage record that has been uncovered for Gracie Edwards and John Fillmore Lemon shows that their marriage didn't occur until the following year - 5 January 1891 in Fredonia, Wilson, Kansas. By that time, they had had two children: Winfield Scott Lemon, born 29 July 1886 in Winfield, Kansas and Maud Lemon, born in December of 1887 in Independence, Kansas. 

John Fillmore Lemon was more than ten years Grace's senior. He had been married in Illinois in 1878 to a woman named Mary E. Barber. At least two sons (Albert and William) had been born to them. No record of a divorce has been located. Apparently he worked on the railroad, and this may explain how he was able to meet Grace who was living in Kansas.

John Fillmore Lemon in foreground

A health report appeared in the local paper for John F. Lemon in September of 1890, wherein he is referred to as the son-in-law of Henry Barber (presumably wife Mary Barber's father). 

Independence Daily Reporter, Independence, Kansas for 3 September 1890 in Newspapers.com

Ill or not - and still married to Mary or not - John was definitely in a relationship with Grace. His surname was used in her 1 December 1890 Civil War minor's pension application. 

Portion of Grace's Civil War Orphan's Pension Application Dated 1 December 1890
(Signed by her as Mrs. Martha Lemon - the actual marriage occurred one month later)

Grace and her sister had immediately taken over their own application process after their mother Barbara's death just over a week earlier on 22 November 1890. What difficult times these must have been for the family! 

It would be informative if the 1890 U.S. census were available to show who was living where and with whom; presumably John and Grace would have been living in Kansas with their two young children. The Lemon family does show up living together in Pueblo, Colorado ten years later in the 1900 U.S. census:

John and Grace with children Winn and Maud in the 1900 U.S. Census, living in Pueblo, Colorado 

(the 2/2 beside Grace's name indicate that she has given birth to 2 children, both of whom are still alive and the 16 listed for both John and Grace indicate they had been married 16 years, when their official marriage record would indicate 9 years.)

A family photo from Colorado was provided by one of Winn's descendants.

Grace, John, Maud and Winn Lemon in Pueblo, Colorado

If Grace was in fact the proverbial "other woman", all did not remain wedded bliss between her and John. The 1908 newspaper headline could not resist reporting this Oops!:

The Deseret Evening News, Salt Lake City, Utah, 4 August 1908 from Newspapers.com

(Perhaps the statement that "there are no children" does not mean that they never had any, just that the two children were now adults. In fact both are now married and can be found with their spouses in the 1910 U.S. Census.)

By 1910, John Lemon is single and one of a long list of boarders living in Boulder, Colorado, working in a stone quarry. 

John Lemon in 1910 U.S. Census

This was apparently not the life John wanted for himself. After this, he seems to have ingratiated himself with his first wife Mary and is once again living with her and their two adult sons in Ohio by the time of the 1920 census.

John and Mary Lemon with sons in Ohio, 1920 U.S. Census

Grace seems to have escaped the Oops! factor thereafter. 

Immediately after her divorce from John Lemon, we find her getting married again on 12 August 1908 to Henry Bradshaw ("Brad"),  a man some 15 years her junior. (Like her sister Minnie and mother Barbara, she sometimes fudged her age a bit. All three often seemed to get away with claiming to be younger than their years, especially when in relationships with younger men.) That same year, they relocated to Portland, Oregon, where we find them in the 1920 U.S. census.

Henry and Grace Bradshaw in Portland, Oregon in the 1920 U.S. Census

Brad and Grace (center front) at the Cliff House, San Francisco in 1907

Brad and Grace, Portland, Oregon 1916

The couple seemed to enjoy their lives together until her untimely death in her mid-50s in Tacoma, Washington on 20 September 1921. 

Some Resources:

• Edwards, Lewis C. (Pvt., Co. M, 112th Ill Vol. Inf.), Civil War widow's pension application no. 394,573, certificate no. 265.106 and minors' pension application no. 418,303, certificate no. 265.106 ; Case files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934, Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• Lemon, Winfield Scott, Personal Memoirs "Compiled at the request of his grandson Dick," copy provided to the author by Richard Lemon.