Izola Martha Mills marriage certificate/note to Mr. Hall

[Steve]

(10-17-2019 09:18 AM)Steve Whitlock Wrote:  I also have the marriage records, as well as the 1871 birth of Harry Jerome Dresback Stevenson, which is sometimes claimed to have occurred in 1870 in order to go along with the myth of Martha running off to be with JWB and coming back pregnant in 1869.

I'm unsure as to exactly how long Charles S. Bellows Sr was away at sea, and whether a short term child could have been claimed. However, even in the case of a Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith and his vasectomy supporting his divorce against his wife for adultery the presumption was that when a couple is married any children that come along are the husband's. That's why Timothy Lincoln Beckwith got a million dollar settlement from RTL Beckwith's estate, rather than test his paternity, again, in court. And that was after a judge had already ruled against his mother for refusing dna testing.

Perhaps the feeling was the same for the probate and pension of Seaman Charles Still Bellows; however, had they known that she was a bigamist the results might have been different, and yet, would the children have still had a claim, having been born while Martha and Charles were still married. Why didn't he divorce her if not his children?

Do we know exactly when Martha and Rosalie got chummy? I noticed that in the hearings, and on her birth certificate, Ogarita was Ogarita Elizabeth Bellows, but later was Ogarita Elizabeth Rosalie Booth/Bellows.

Martha and Rosalie knew each other from at least 1869. Besides the Baltimore marriage record with her surname recorded as "Booth", Martha's anonymous 05 Dec. 1885 New York Sun letter (which got Edwin Booth so mad) claims that she saw John Wilkes Booth's body reburied. Also, Martha and John Stevenson's first child, a daughter named Rosalie Izola Stevenson was born in Boston on 17 Oct. 1870, and obviously named after Rosalie Booth. Rosalie continued to keep in contact (and sending funds) to Martha at least until 1883. Although, it appears Rosalie cut off contact with Martha by 1885 after apparently being persuaded by relatives, like brother Edwin, that Martha was a fraud.

Young Rosalie Izola seems to have died before 1880. Ogarita didn't originally have the middle name Rosalie, it seems to have been added later to try and convince Rosalie that her niece was partially named after her by JWB.