Oh Sophia

   Stephen B. LaSalle married Addie Deckner around 1878 in Atlanta.  Together they had two children, and when the youngest child was two years old, Stephen married Addie's younger sister, Sophia.  In Atlanta!  Stephen and Addie had two more children, and when the youngest one of those two was six years old, Stephen married Sophia again!!  But seven years later, Stephen and Addie appear on the census together as a couple who had been married for 23 years.  Stephen never appears in the city directory without Addie.  Surprising is Stephen's occupation of city marshal.

   So what is going on here?  Bigamy? 

From Wikipedia: In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another.  Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other.  

   How can a man with a high profile government job be married to two women at the same time, who live in the same city, who are also sisters?  Were Addie and Sophia really unaware that their husband was the same man?  And if Stephen and Sophia just wanted to carry on an adulterous affair, why did they bother to get married in the same town where Addie lived?  Or why did they bother to get married at all?  And why did they get married twice?  Talk about a family scandal!

Addie and Sophia are the sisters of Pauline Deckner Thaden--my 2nd great grandmother.

Picture from http://www.dre1allianceent.com/married-three-times-pastor-charged-with-bigamy/

Busy, Busy, Busy

   

 All I can say is busy, busy, busy.  Family research could keep me busy all day long, every day; such a change from years ago.  Back then, I wrote a letter in longhand and put it in my mail box, then waited.   I tended to other projects until a few weeks later when I received a reply telling me how much money to send.  I put a check in my mailbox and waited some more.  Again I dabbled in other interests until another few weeks later, when I had the document which I had anticipated.
     Family matters over the past year have kept me from spending a lot of time on my research, but lately, finally, I have enjoyed again the hunt for and discovery of my family's story.  But I find myself in somewhat of a quandary.
     Databases:  I foremost use a commercial home database to digitally gather my information.  I am the only contributor so I never find any surprises, unless I have made a silly mistake.  However, I tend to be quite thorough and accurate, so I like having a place all to my own.  I upload my data regularly to Ancestry and RootsWeb for the benefit of other researchers.  But every time I do this, I get hundreds of leafs--hints, many of which, I have already seen.  It is time-consuming to sift through them to find hints that are new to me.  Then there is FamilySearch.  As a Mormon, I am encouraged to use this database.  But I am having a hard time learning to love it.  Since it is interactive, changes can be made to my tree!!  I have had many discouragements over finding erroneous information or having a line of ancestors, unknown to me, who extend way back to the kings and queens.
   But I do like FamilySearch's Memories feature, where I can add photos and stories.  I can also add those everywhere else, but in Ancestry, they will disappear the next time I upload my data from RootsMagic.  I can add photos to RootsMagic, but they are all housed in a different file, so they will not follow my gedcom file over to Ancestry.  I can send all kinds of data over to FamilySearch from RootsMagic, but not my photos.
     I haven't even yet mentioned my own family website, which I have created through Google Sites.
It is a great way to get my family history on the internet where it can be easily found.  Not everyone has a paid subscription to Ancestry.  And not everyone has a free subscription to FamilySearch.  And there's still that nagging ability for anyone to make changes to the pictures or stories I send to FamilySearch.
     As one who embraces simplicity and minimalism, I yearn for a way to push one button and all my data, stories, and photos will be accessible to all interested researchers.  Entering the same family history facts and pictures into so many places makes me unnecessarily busy.  If anyone has found a practical way to accomplish the task, I'd love to hear from you.