Multiple

 

Tracing a female ancestor can be difficult when she assumes the surname of her husband.  The challenge is greater when she marries multiple times.  Such was the case with my great aunt Hattie Macy Baxter (1874-1954).  After years of research, I have found that she married no fewer than six times.

Hattie was born at Orlando, Florida, on 22 March 1874 or 1876, depending on which source you believe.  Her grave marker says 1874, her death certificate 1876.  Census records are ambiguous, do not confirm the date and vary depending on the enumeration; but do agree she was a younger daughter of my ancestors William and Martha (Twyford) Macy.  Following is a timeline of her life that I have been able to piece together from surviving documents:

• 1880 - Hattie was enumerated as the 6-year-old daughter (thus born about 1874) of machinist W.H. Macy and his wife Mrs. M.J. Macy in the US Census, Precinct 3, Orange County, Florida, page 432d.  She had four older sisters (Nellie, Maria, Kate, and Annie), an older brother Paul (my ancestor), and a younger brother Charles.  Her father and eldest sister Nellie were born in New York, her mother in Tennessee.  She and all the other children were natives of Florida.
• 1885 - Hattie was enumerated as the 11-year-old daughter (again, born about 1874) of machinist W.H. MACEY (note variant spelling of surname) of Pine Castle in the Florida state census of Orange County.  Her eldest sister Nellie had moved out by that time but was living two houses away with her new husband Ed Miller.  Her younger brother Charles had died, and a younger sister Eunice had been born.
• 28 Nov 1889 - Hattie married her first husband George W. Kuhn, Jr., in neighboring Osceola County, Florida.  Depending on the correct year of her birth, she was either 13 or 15 years of age.  Mr. Kuhn, an immigrant farmer from Switzerland, was 31 years old.  This was not a happy marriage, doubtless due in large part to their age difference.  But it did produce one child.
• 3 Dec 1895 - Hattie gave birth in Kissimmee, Florida, to her only known child: Gertrude Pearl Kuhn.  Soon after this, Hattie and George divorced and quickly remarried--George in 1900 to another teen bride, settled in Plant City, Florida.
• 13 Apr 1898 - Hattie (age about 24) married her second husband Charles M. Hansel of Pine Castle.  He was about 40 years old at the time.
• 16 Jun 1900 - Hattie was numerated at Pine Castle as the 25-year-old wife of Mr. Hansel, who was working as a "wood chopper."  Both she and her daughter Gertrude had assumed the Hansel surname.  But this marriage also ended in divorce, soon after the census enumeration.
• 12 Oct 1903 - Hattie (age about 29) married in Orange County to her third husband James Andrew Byrd (age about 68), a man old enough to be her father, if not her grandfather!
• 21 Apr 1904 - Hattie Byrd relinquished dower rights to property her new third husband Andrew BIRD (note his surname was misspelled, hers wasn't) sold in Orange County.  [See Official Records Book 117, page 405.]
• 25 Mar 1905 - "Hattie A. Byrd" was gifted 2.5 acres of land on Lake Conway in Pine Castle by her widowed mother Martha J. Macy.
• 23 Jan 1909 - Mr. Byrd, her third husband, died at age 73 and is buried at the Conway Cemetery in Orange County, Florida.
• 9 Jun 1909 - Less than 5 months after her third husband's death, Hattie (age about 34) married in Orange County to her fourth husband Nicholas J. Evans (age about 57).  According to E.H. Gore's History of Orlando (1949), Mr. Evans came to this area in 1880 and planted an oak grove on the old Macy family property on South Street.  So, Hattie must have known him since childhood.
• 1910 - Neither Hattie nor Mr. Evans have yet been found in the US census enumeration.  Where were they?  Perhaps their surname has been indexed incorrectly . . .
• 30 Jan 1911 - "Hattie A. Evans and N.J. Evans, her husband" sold the 2.5 acres on Lake Conway that she had received from her mother in 1905.  The well-known blind poet Harvey Austin Fuller bought it from them for $285 (worth about $8,000 in today's money).  [See Orange County Official Records, Book 151, page 235.]
• 19 Sep 1913 - The Orlando Sentinel reported N.J. Evans had arrived from Tullahoma, Tennessee, "to rejoin his family here."  No mention was made of Hattie, though she was later known to live at Tullahoma herself (see 1920).
• 5 Mar 1914 - The same paper reported, "Miss Gertrude Kuhn of Orlando is visiting her mother Mrs. Hattie Evans [of Pine Castle] who is ill."  No mention was made of Mr. Evans.
• 1920 - Hattie (age 45) was enumerated as the WIDOWED housekeeper of merchant Holbert Dodd and family of Tullahoma, Tennessee.  Mr. Evans was also living at Tullahoma that year, but alone and also "widowed."  Clearly, they were living separately and may have even been divorced but didn't want to admit it to the census taker?!
• 2 Jul 1928 - Hattie is not mentioned in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her half-brother George Macy.  The obit only mentions two other half-sisters (Nellie and Annie) and omits not only Hattie but also two other half-siblings Paul and Eunice.  Was this just a poorly prepared obituary, or were these half-siblings purposely omitted due to some rift in the family?
• 1930 - Hattie (age 54) had remarried and was enumerated with her fifth husband Alfred Chastain (age 62), a farmer in Franklin County, Tennessee.
• 6 Mar 1937 - Mr. Chastain died at their Franklin County farm, of "unknown causes."  
• 1940 - Mrs. Hattie CHASTIN (age 66) was enumerated as a widow, still living on her late husband's farm in Franklin County.  Living with her was her "daughter" [?!?] Area CHASTIN (age 12), probably a stepdaughter.  Note misspelled surname.
• 3 Oct 1941 - Hattie is not mentioned as a survivor in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her sister Nellie Sparkman, indicating they were estranged or had at least lost contact.
• 26 Mar 1942 - Hattie (age 67) married in Franklin County, Tennessee, to her sixth (and last known) husband B.R. Baxter (age 75).
• 27 Nov 1948 - "Mrs. Hattie Evans of Tennessee" was mentioned as a survivor in the Orlando Morning Sentinel obituary of her brother Paul Macy.  She had not been married to Mr. Evans for about twenty years by that point and had since remarried two other men.  This is further indication of Hattie's estrangement from her Florida relatives.
• 11 Jan 1953 - Hattie is not mentioned as a survivor in the Fort Pierce News-Tribune obituary of her sister Annie Ralls, another indication of estrangement from her Florida family.
• 3 Feb 1954 - Hattie died of bronchopneumonia at McMinnville, Tennessee, age 76, according to her official death certificate.  She had been living about an hour away at Lynchburg, Tennessee, until a few months before her death.  This information was provided by her daughter Mrs. Gertrude Bowen of St. Petersburg, Florida.
• 4 Feb 1954 - A very brief death notice was published in the Nashville Banner, naming no survivors, only that "Mrs. Hattie Baxter, 77" of Winchester and McMinnville had died.  She was buried the same day at the City Cemetery in Winchester, Tennessee.

It has taken me years to piece together this timeline of Hattie's life due to her multiple marriages.  Records had to be searched and re-searched not only for her maiden name of MACY, but for all of her husbands' surnames as they were discovered: KUHN, HANSEL, BYRD, EVANS, CHASTAIN, and BAXTER.  Many of these names were prone to variant spellings, which added to the challenge: MACEY, KUEHN, HANSELL, BIRD, and CHASTIN.  The usual "FAN" (friends, associates, and neighbors) research tactics were thwarted by some estrangement from her birth family after her removal to Tennessee.

I may never know the details behind the apparent estrangement.  But a year or so ago, I was able to visit Hattie's final resting place at Winchester--or, should I say, the general vicinity.  I arrived on a Saturday afternoon when no one was available to assist me in finding the exact spot.  Typical, I thought.  Aunt Hattie is still playing games with me, still making it tough to track her down!