The Book of Isaiah -
Part Four
There is another relationship
here that is interesting to me. On Louisa’s death
certificate (which was filled out by Fred), it states
that she was born in Washington County (near Crawford
and Dent counties) and that her parents were Wesley
and Sarah (Eaton) Wood. Fred’s sister Elizabeth
was married to William J. Self, who was the son of Lemuel
Self and Sarah Eaton of Washington County. Sarah’s
sister was named Emily, and while my information has
Emily’s husband as Wiley instead of Wesley, I’m
sure this is the same Emily Eaton who was the mother
of Louisa Jane. So Isaiah (and then Fred) married his
daughter’s husband’s first cousin!
Before I can accept
all of the above as fact and not just a nice juicy family
scandal, there are some questions that need to be answered
with further documentation. For example, in the 1880
Jasper County Missouri census, there are four children
listed with Fred and Jane Molesdale. Daugher Isabell
is 18 (making her born in 1862 which is before Isaiah’s
marriage to Louisa).
Isabell’s mother
is listed as born in Missouri, and her father in England.
Bell married Charles Hickman on March 16, 1885, in Jasper
County, Missouri, and in the 1900 Jasper County census
had two sons, the oldest of which was named Fred, so
it seems likely that Fred Molesdale was her father.
Perhaps Isabell was Fred’s daughter from a relationship
before he married Louisa. Also in the 1880 census, there
is a Mary E., age 15, living with Fred and Louisa.
There is also a Mary
E., age 15, living with Isaiah and his wife Mary in
the 1880 Dent County Missouri census. I need to go back
and check the dates that the census was taken in each
county. Perhaps Mary E. was living with one and visiting
the other and happened to be counted twice. Her presence
in each household would seem to be an indication however
of a connection between Isaiah and Louisa. There are
two other children listed with Fred and Louisa in 1880
– Lucy J., age 13, and Ezra G., age 11. Perhaps
this is a portrait of a blended family – his daughter,
her daughter, and their children.
“I
have nourished and brought up children, and
they have rebelled against me.”
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A second question is
when Fred and Louisa moved to Jasper County. Fred’s
obituary states he lived in Jasper County for 39 years
(since 1877). Daughter Lucy’s obituary states she
was born in Cherryville (Crawford County) in 1867 and
moved to Jasper County when she was 15 (1882) –
the latter of which could not be accurate since she
is listed in the 1880 Jasper census.
However, Cherryville
is where Fred’s sister Elizabeth and her family
lived. Could she have perhaps been sympathetic to their
situation? After all, she had supposedly intervened
in her father’s affair with the woman in New York.
Yet while travel in those days made what for us would
be a short trip an all day affair, if Fred and Louisa
had run off together, would they have lived even that
close to Isaiah (in Dent County) for that long?
A third question concerns
information from the 1900 Jasper County census. Louisa
stated she was the mother of 6 children, 2 of whom were
still living and that she had been married for 33 years
(since 1867). The only children that I know of that
she had with Fred were Lucy (1867) and Ezra (1868).
There could of course have been children that died at
birth or as infants, but they are not listed in the
cemetery there in Joplin, and I have not been able to
check Crawford County records since learning they may
have lived there for a while.
The census was taken
in June of 1900, and Ezra had died in May of 1900, so
Lucy was one of the living children. Isabell (born 1862)
died in 1901 (she is buried in another part of the Joplin
cemetery with her husband), so she would have still
been alive, but was she Louisa’s child? I don’t
know when Mary E. died, but she was probably one of
the 6 children Louisa was counting. To add a further
mystery, in the 1880 Jasper County census there is an
E. Mosedale (F), age 19, living with the Robert Miller
family and listed as a servant. Could she have been
another child of Fred’s from a previous relationship?
I have found no other mention of her in any other records
or obituaries.
As with most scandals,
I’m sure a great many things were covered up, so
it may be hard to find the truth. I would like to find
more divorce and marriage records, but the thought has
even occurred to me that perhaps Fred and Louisa never
married. When they moved to Joplin, she could have quite
honestly told people her name was Louisa Molesdale,
and everyone would have assumed she was married to Fred.
Some long hours may be needed in courthouses in Crawford,
Dent, Washington, and Jasper counties in the future.
