Auntie Jen's Family Trees: Maggie Helfrich

We all have the one ancestor that no matter what research you try to do, what rabbit holes you dig, and what lies you try to dispel, they continue to hide behind that proverbial brick wall. While I have done extensive research on my 3rd great-grandma, I can not get past her to go back any further. Her life in St. Louis, Missouri was easy to track. I have a ton of sources and documents that add to her life in Missouri. But when it comes to her life in Tennessee, that's where things get fuzzy and complicated. So the purpose of this post is to lay out for you the information I have on Maggie Helfrich, the sources that back it up, and the questions I have still yet to find answers to. Let's dig in!

Birth

Margaret Mary Molten was born supposedly on 15 June 1863 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. Why do I say supposedly? Well, some sources contradict this information. Let's start with what we have that backs this information up.

Family Date Book - This book was given to me by my grandma Ruth Wheeler, great-granddaughter to Maggie Helfrich. The information contained in this book was written by at least two people: Pauline Ilg and Margaret (Honey) Ilg. Honey is the granddaughter of Maggie Helfrich and the mother of my grandma, Ruth Wheeler. Honey was raised by Maggie Helfrich for most of her life, so she was pretty close to her. That would make the information written by her in the book credible. Unfortunately, the credibility of Honey would be called into questions later when it was found out she lied about the year she got married to her husband to cover up the fact she got pregnant out of wedlock. But for now, we take the information written in this book about Maggie Helfrich as it is written. The birth information in this book is written as "Born 16 June 1863 in Tennessee".
Missouri Death Certificate - Missouri Digital Heritage has been a great resource for me when it comes to researching my family. I found Maggie Helfrich's death certificate and downloaded it. The birth written on this death certificate is the same as listed above: 15 June 1863 in Nashville, Tennessee. The informant on this death certificate is Ruth Kelley, the second granddaughter of Maggie Helfrich who was also raised by her. I have not found anything to question the credibility of Ruth Kelly, so her word can be taken truthfully.
Cemetery Headstone - Maggie Helfrich is buried in St. Trinity Cemetery in Affton, Missouri. Ruth Kelley was the executor of her will and in charge of making the arrangements of everything. The headstone that is placed has a birth date of 15 June 1863. I have created a Find a Grave memorial based on this information. You can see it here: Maggie Helfrich Find a Grave Memorial
Census Records 1900-1940 for the state of Missouri - All census records back up the year within a couple years on either side. It is unclear who for sure was giving the information for each census.
Obituary - Her obituary lists her age of 79 at the time of her death. That puts the birth year being 1863. The obituary would have been put together probably by Ruth Kelley as part of making the final arrangements. This obituary was found in my Grandma Ruth Wheeler's datebook. It was published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

As you can see, I have quite a few sources to back up this information. But the one thing they have in common is they are all sources from St. Louis, Missouri. It's when I trace back to Tennessee that the birthdate comes into question. I will get to those sources in just a minute. Let's continue with what we know.

Marriages

Most of the information I started with came from the Family Datebook I mentioned above. It provided me with the names of her two husbands: Logan Dennis and Joseph Helfrich. Unfortunately, no marriage dates were listed. The book states:

"Married Logan Dennis had 1 child Oma. Came to St. Louis Oct. 19, 1890 married Jacob Helfrich who was killed."

Finding the marriage information for either of these marriages was a challenge. Since the 1890 US Federal Census was destroyed in a fire, the next census available was the 1900 US Federal Census. By then, Maggie was listed as a widow. I also found City Directories for St. Louis, Missouri starting in 1899 that lists Maggie as the widow of Jacob Helfrich. Besides these sources, I had nothing connecting Maggie to Jacob. I did follow a paper trail of sources to finally determine Maggie's connection to the Helfrich family. Read the blog post here: My Helfrich Connection. As you read in that post, I did track down the marriage information for Maggie thanks to a fellow GAA member. Here is the post talking about that connection: Found it! - Maggie & Jacob Helfrich Marriage. The big surprise with this was the fact they were married in Tennessee. So I closed out doing research in Missouri and transferred my focus to Tennessee.

Tennessee Sources

As you read in the post about Maggie and Jacob's marriage record, I also found a newspaper article mentioning the divorce of Maggie and Logan. These articles list Maggie by her middle name of Mary. Since I knew that she married both Logan Dennis and Jacob Helfrich, I knew this had to be her. Research in Tennessee has not been easy. Unfortunately, fires have destroyed many records over the years, so things are scarce at best. I was able to find an 1880 US Federal Census record mentioning Logan and Maggie early on in my research but questioned whether or not this was the correct couple or not based on the incorrect age of the Maggie listed. According to this census, Maggie was 24 so that would have put her birth around 1856. That's a seven-year difference. But further research has since made me believe this is the correct couple and Maggie lied about her age later on in life.
The 1880 census has them living in Jackson County, Tennessee. So that means research needed to be done in that county for sure to track down this couple. After performing searches online for Jackson County, Tennessee records, I came across a website that has transcribed records from the Chancery County in Jackson County, Tennessee. A quick search of the page brought about this transcribed record:

"[NEW] DENNIS, MARY M. vs. DENNIS, LOGAN H. et al Circut 1873
BILL OF COMPLAINT: Mary Maynes [or Magnes] Dennis against
John Dennis, William E. Smith, & John Whitiker, all Jackson Co. except Logan Dennis of parts unknown.

Married 30 October 1872 in Jackson Co. Morning of the day therafter defendant abandoned her. Lists personal property, including crops growing on land of John Dennis, William E. Smith, & John Whitiker. 29 Nov 1872 M. M. [X] Dennis

ANSWER: Defendant does not recall marriage ceremony. Was so drunk he didn't remember. Never courted complainant, never promised to marry her. He is not a drunkard but sometimes imbibes too freely. On the day of said marriage, defendant had gone to Cookeville to hear Andrew Johnson speak. Before he returned, drank more of the ardent than he should have. Started for his home in the Free State, got as far as the home of David Case in Black Springs. Complainant was living there at Case's at the time. Respondent was drunk to imbecility. Was told they bedded together, has no recollection. Awoke, found himself in bed with Mary Magnus [?Maynes] Martin Dennis. Complainant told him there was no sexual intercourse. Crawled out of bed as quietly as possible, got his mare and left.
ANSWER: William E. Smith, says he does not believe marriage is valid."

Now, this is interesting! This is only a transcript. So the misspelling of Mary's last name is understandable. ~~I have not been able to review the original record as of yet.~~ *See update below. When I located this information, I did question if this was the correct Logan and Maggie Dennis or not. So I tried to perform more searches of the area to see if there were any other Logan and Maggie Dennis' in the area. I have not yet found any, so given that, this must be them. But the age still threw me off. If I was to go by Maggie's age from the sources above, she would only be 9 years old. Yeah, not happening. But if I were to go by the age from the 1880 census, she would have been 16. That makes more sense. Let's go on from here and see what else we can find.

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*UPDATE 10/20/2020: With a recommendation from Melanie McComb from American Ancestors, I did some more searching on FamilySearch.org for some documents relating to Jackson County, Tennessee. I was finally able to locate the actual Chancery Court records for the transcript above. I've learned the transcript is only a summary of what all the court records actually say. I am currently, as of 10/20/20, transcribing each page of the file so as to hopefully find more clues. I also found Circut Court records for the divorce.

Here are some interesting facts I have currently found from these documents:

The summarized transcription given above states that Mary M. Dennis was living with David Case. Upon further examination of the actual court document, it is possible the last name may be "Cose". Another option may be Cox. There are misspellings in these documents so it could be what the writer of this document thought they heard.
There are more details listed in these documents pertaining to the "property" that is mentioned. It's not land, it's items
Mary M. Dennis has another name associated with her in these documents, but can not determine if it is supposed to be Maggie, Magus, Magnus, or maybe something else. It is unclear if they are referring to a middle name or maiden name. This is written a couple of times, but can not determine what the name is. Again, this may be based on what the writer heard.
In the documents, Mary M. Dennis claimed to be living in Jackson County for MORE than two years. That could potentially put her in the county around the 1870 US Federal Census. Can not find her though.
By the last document in the circuit court records, it was found that Maggie and Logan were living together (Jan 1874) and the suit was dropped.

Sources
Here are the sources for the court records

Court Transcripts of the county, chancery and circuit courts, 1839-1915

Cunningham, S - Dewitt, A. (C Divorces)
Image: 1294-1317

Court Minutes, 1872-1893 - Indexes

Minutes, v. A-B, 1872-1876 (v. A)
Images: 9, 98, 130, 131, 238

After learning some of this information, I searched the 1870 US Federal Census for clues. In District 1 for Jackson County, Tennessee, I found the defendants named in the Divorce suit all living next to each other: William Dennis, Henderson Young, William E Smith, & John Dennis. The interesting thing is, Logan Dennis is listed nowhere on this census. The records state that these people listed are the ones holding the property. I also looked for anyone in the Gainesboro area with the last name of "Case/Cose/Cox". I did find a few leads, but nothing concrete without more research. I feel this is going to be a way for me to break through this brick wall.

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Thanks to the newspaper article I found mentioning Maggie's divorce from Logan and this transcript from the Chancery Court, I decided to reach out to the Metro Archives at the Nashville Public Library to ask for some guidance. I had a marriage date of 30 October 1872 and a divorce time frame of April 1890 for the divorce. Unfortunately, a marriage record for Logan and Maggie was never found, BUT they found the divorce decree! I shared my exciting find here: The Search for Maggie Molten Continues: Huge Shock!

The decree listed the marriage date, which matches the Chancery Court record, and the name of Mary being used first, which matches the newspaper articles. Unfortunately, the divorce decree doesn't mention the age of Maggie, so I can't compare the birth years. Although, as you read in the blog post, I received a huge surprise. Turns out Maggie is not related to my family by blood. She is not the biological mother of my 2nd Great-Grandma, Oma. From my understanding, no one in my family knew about this. So with that secret looming, it makes me question Maggie's character as far as truthfulness goes. I don't judge Maggie or blame her for keeping certain secrets. She lived during a different time period that was really difficult for women. Unfortunately, though, it makes it hard to trace her life.

One last record I have that mentions Logan and Maggie comes from a court case that they both just happen to be mentioned in that took place in Jackson County, Tennessee. There was a Bill of Complaint of G.B. Braswell against Pollie Braswell in 1889 that drags Logan and Maggie into the middle.

". . he and the defendant Pollie Brazzill were intermarried in Jackson Co. TN on the 1st of March 1864. He states that he is a poor man and has been for years afflicted with disease of the lungs, which affliction came upon him shortly after his marriage. . . . [Polly] has been guilty of divers lewd acts of adultery with one Berry Coomer . . . She has left the county and gone to Nashville TN to live with one Logan Dumis, whose wife Mag Dumis, formerly Mag Moton, is a woman of lewd character . . . He asks for divorce. -bp. G. B. Brasel (his mark)"

This is a transcription that was found on a blog at first, then found in the Chancery Court files. (*Note: This is not my transcription, this is what was posted online. I have since reviewed the original documents. See below.) Maggie is accused of being a woman of "Lewd Character" which I find hard to believe based on what I know of her. Now, Logan is a man of lewd character, ~~fathering a child with another woman that Maggie chose to raise as her own.~~ He was very abusive to her as claimed in the divorce decree. It wasn't long after this court case that Maggie filed for divorce. Then she married Jacob Helfrich and moved to St. Louis.

*UPDATE 8/19/23
I found the complete divorce file for the couple listed above (Brazil, Brazel, Braswell). It's interesting that this divorce decree started back in Jackson County in 1868, four years before Maggie and Logan married. But there were some interesting details in the pages that have shed some new light on my research.

Brazil, Pollie vs Brazil, Green B., et al 1868

There is a John Whitaker and William Whitaker mentioned (same as the court cases above for Maggie and Logan)
John Whitaker is Pollie's brother
Image #494 has a list of names of people that were summoned to court including some "Dennis" family members. Wonder how they knew this couple?
A name listed in the suit was "Lovell"

This got my attention because Logan worked with a Capt. Lovell in Nashville on the ship, Matt F. Allen
In the suit, Lovell worked on a ship called I.N. Phillips back in 1868

That last piece of information was very intriguing. The court records for the divorce in Nashville mentioned Logan's occupation as a shipmate. Doing a newspaper search for Logan's name brought up a couple of clippings about some steamer excursions that mention Logan. When I first found these, I wasn't sure if this was him, but after finding the divorce decree and city directories, this confirmed his occupation as a shipmate.
The newspaper clippings talk about the ships running on the Upper Cumberland River, which travels from Nashville to a few places in Tennessee, including Gainesboro. This must have been how Logan got into being a shipmate. And since he worked with Capt. Lovell later in Nashville, he must have met him back in 1868 when the scandal between Pollie and her husband developed.
In the divorce suit, the only document that had a different date was the one where Pollie was supposedly living with Logan and Maggie in 1889. This further confirms she knew Logan back in Gainesboro, especially since his parents were called as character witnesses for Pollie.

Adoption
As I mentioned above, Maggie and Logan's daughter, my 2nd Great-Grandma Oma, was adopted. I originally thought Logan fathered a child out of wedlock, based on the wording of the original divorce decree. But I have since found the adoption file of Oma. County Court Minutes, 1783-1929; Minutes v. V, 1885-1886
This file really shed some light on Oma's adoption but also created more questions. According to the minutes, Maggie and Logan got Oma when she was about 2-3 months old from the Bedford County Asylum. It was noted that her parents were allegedly deceased and no family had come to claim her. When she was 10 months old, they petitioned the court to adopt her. It was granted, and her name was changed from Oma Mae Collins to Oma Mae Dennis.
So neither Maggie nor Logan were blood-related to Oma. So to find Oma's bloodline, I will have to use DNA research. That will have to come later. But this just further complicates tracking down Maggie's line. DNA won't help with that.

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Now What?

I've been researching Maggie Helfrich since I began genealogy research in 2012. It has taken me this long just to get this far. I have not been able to get any further back than Maggie. Her death certificate mentions a mother by the name of Betsy McDaniel but no father. I have tried searching for a Betsy McDaniel to no avail. So here are the questions I have yet to answer:

Was Betsy Married to a man with the last name of Molten? Where did the last name Molten come from? Where is Betsy McDaniel?
UPDATED 10/20/2020-When Maggie got married in 1872 she was living at David Case/Cose residence in Black Spring. Why was she living there? What is her relationship to this family?

Where is the Case/Cose family?
Where is the town of Black Springs?

What is Maggie's correct birth year? Why did she change it?
NEW-Where is Maggie in 1870? Gainesboro? Black Spring? Nashville?

Maybe one day, I will find the answers to these questions. Obviously, a DNA test won't help lead me to these answers as Maggie is not related to us by blood. I am hoping one day to travel to Nashville, Tennessee to do some research. I have reached out to Jackson County, Tennessee for any help and they have no other records mentioning Maggie.

It is worth noting that Maggie was illiterate. She could not read or write. So the spelling of her last name could be different than what I have. In the datebook, it is spelled Molten, but I have found spellings ranging from Moulten to Molton. In one court case, it was Magnus or Maynes and the other court case was Morton. It's possible Maggie never knew how to spell her last name. We can only go with how it was pronounced. Which makes it really hard.

I don't know if I will ever find the answers to these questions, but I am for sure not going to give up until all avenues are exhausted. The Reasonably Exhaustive Research will continue. Any help is appreciated.