My children descend from a variety of cultures.

The BRIGHT family relocated from Pennsylvania to the booming riverfront town of Wyandotte, Kansas, shortly after the Civil War.

The MOORE family, of Scots-Irish descent, lived in the upcountry of South Carolina for a hundred years or more.

The THADEN family came from German immigrants and Tennessee Scots-Irish clans.

The NICHOLAS family originated in Tripoli and Beirut, Syria, and lived among a Syrian colony in Jacksonville, Florida.

The HAHN and LUTES families raced for land in the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893 and had been ever on the frontier prior to that time.

The ROMEO and MOTTA families immigrated to this country at the turn of the century from Sicily.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

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 monogamybigamy 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/

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