A Couple of My Outcasts, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Thanks to Amy Johnson Crow, who year after year posts "challenges" her followers to share thoughts and/or photos in whatever manner suits each individual. Blogs, social media, or just in your personal memories. I have played before, and will play along a bit this year, God willing and the creek don't rise.

This week's challenge is: Outcasts

I consider ancestors as outcasts when some behavior or action of theirs was deemed unacceptable by their families.  At the time of the behavior, they seemed to cease to exist for the remaining family members, never mentioned in any way, legally or via social media/newspapers. 

I have found several in my years of research.  The most recent was the bigamist I wrote about in the post titled ”Social Media of 130 Years Ago”.

For my bigamist, Isaac Marion Blanton, coming from what appears to be a highly religious family, his trip off the edge, his seemingly crash and burn after the death of his first wife, was more than they could deal with.  His birth mother had died well before 1893, the year that he was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee for bigamy.  

Isaac’s father, died in 1907, at the ripe ole age of 102.  I found a nice obituary, but, the names of children were not included.  His father’s second wife, died in 1920, again again, no names of survivors, even tho she claimed to have given birth to 16 children.  I have yet to trace those children, to see if any of them happened to mention Isaac Marion at any point of their lives or in any obituaries.  

Isaac’s eldest daughter by his first wife, married in 1903, I found three newspaper articles about the wedding/marriage, not one mentioned any of her kin, in fact, they all mentioned it was a “quiet” affair.  Her obituaries name her sister, late husband, children and grandchildren.  Isaac’s youngest daughter by his first wife, married and had several children.  I find no mention of Isaac in any documents or articles about her, except death indexes found online.  

It is as if Isaac ceased to exist to the rest of his family.  As a note in passing, his last wife, my great XX aunt did not record Isaac’s parent’s names on his death certificate.  Was that a matter of being “outcast”?  Hard to tell, we all have found many death certificates with errors.  Lots and lots of errors.  I have yet to discover any obituary for Isaac (who was going by Marion). 

The other outcast would be the great-grandfather of Man’s.  William Franklin Fenton, who lived and died in Nova Scotia Canada.

William’s first marriage, to Fannie, resulted in the birth of 4 children.  His second marriage, to Ida, resulted in the birth or adoption of 6 children.  The issue here is that Ida happened to be of black and other heritages, and William was not.  Back around 1900 this was not thought well of in Nova Scotia.  

Most records for this clan I have found do reflect the parentage of the children, on marriage and death records.  I have some obituaries, but, not enough to please my tenacity.  

In my mind William is considered an outcast due to the fact that when his father died William was the informant on the death certificate. However, William was not counted or named as one of his children/siblings.  All of the other surviving children were named and their place of abode was mentioned.



William had 8 siblings, two of whom died in 1882 in a tragic accident.  Of the remaining 6, two others died before William did.  His brother Robert died in 1914, and I have yet to find if there was ever an obituary.  His sister, Julia died in 1913, and her obituary was found.  It states she was survived by her father (who was named), 2 brothers (again, both named) and 3 sisters (all named).  However, William was not named or counted.  He was outcast.

 

There are family stories that exist till today, passed down by several generations, that William was shunned because of his choice of a second wife.  I have even heard stories that at least one of his brothers would sneak off to visit William on occasion despite the rest of the families objections. Researchers need to be careful with those types of stories, and I report it as just that, a story passed down through the generations.

The Fenton research continues, as it has since 1991.  

In my opinion, these "outcasts" were cast aside by their choices in marriage and life style.  I can affirm from personal experience, that there are ramifications of these family events that are still felt in the 2020's.  

* Image from http://clipart-library.com/