The Tumult and Trauma of Eva's Life

In a dispassionate summary of her final days, an attending physician wrote that Eva "... was admitted [to the hospital] because she was having severe abdominal pain... Her condition worsened. She expired on May 11, 1972."

Eva, my second great-grandmother, succumbed to ovarian cancer at the age of 86, ending a life marked by unrelenting adversity.

Eva Matilda Adaline Lamb Stevens Fagan

A Wayward Childhood

Born in Vermont in December 1885, she was baptized four months later as Eva Matilda Adaline in a Methodist Church across the border in Quebec, Canada. She was the eldest child of Francis and Phoebe (Jarvis) Lamb.

Eva Lamb's April 1886 Baptism - Methodist Church,
Windsor, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada

When his daughter was born, Francis (Frank) Stephen Lamb was a brakeman for the railroad. The young family lived in Island Pond, Vermont, which was situated on the Grand Trunk Railway midway between Montreal and Portland, Maine.

In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, the Lamb family was enumerated in Denver, Colorado. Curiously, Frank used a modified version of his middle name as his surname (Stephen became Stephens). Family lore said Frank killed a man in Canada and changed his name to evade the law. No evidence has surfaced to corroborate the Canadian murder mystery. However, for the rest of his life, he used this alias.

1900 US Federal Census, excerpt of Frank Stephens family in Denver, Colorado

Frank and Phoebe had a tumultuous marriage. In June 1901, it was punctuated by a violent attack. Frank, suspecting an adulterous relationship, shot a gentleman friend of Phoebe's. The salacious scandal splashed their personal lives across Denver's headlines, left an innocent bystander clinging to life, sent Frank into hiding deep inside a Colorado mine shaft, and shattered the Lamb family (see Till Jealousy and Bullets Do Us Part).

Newspaper accounts included an interview with Eva. She tearfully told a reporter with the Denver Rocky Mountain News that, "Papa and mamma have been quarreling off and on for over two years."

A month after the violent attack, the Denver Post published an article: "Children Gone: Stephens Family Disintegrating at a Rate That Frightens Mother - Stephens Suspected." The article revealed that Eva was now "wayward" and had been sent to the Home for Incorrigible Girls.

Unto My Beloved Wife

Three years after her parents' calamitous quarrel, Eva married William John Stevens.

William, a young gold miner from Idaho Springs, Colorado, had grown up in a mining family. His father, Thomas, was born to a mining family in Cornwall, England, immigrated to Canada and eventually moved to the Rocky Mountains where he was killed in an 1886 mine explosion.

William and Eva (Lamb) Stevens
Photo from the collection of Stevens cousin Amy Goodman

William and Eva settled in Idaho Springs and had two children: Thurlow (born in 1907) and Bernice (born in 1910). But tragedy loomed. Just three months shy of their 12-year wedding anniversary, William died at the age of 36 from mitral insufficiency and Bright's Disease. The contributing causes of death were dropsy and miners disease.

Tragically, William must have known he was dying. In February 1916, one month before his untimely death, he drafted his will. With moving language, he bequeathed his estate and effects "unto my beloved wife, Eva A. Stevens, absolutely; and I appoint her sole executrix of this my will, and guardian of my infant children during their respective minorities."

Excerpt from William Stevens' February 1916 Last Will and Testament

At the age of 30, Eva was a widow with two young children to raise.

Hardships To The End

Eva's medical records indicated that she was afflicted with influenza soon after her husband's passing, perhaps an early victim of the Spanish flu pandemic that swept the world in 1918.

In about 1919, Eva married Thomas Fagan. By the enumeration of the 1920 U.S. Federal Census, the Fagans were living in Denver.

On November 1, 1930, Eva's daughter Bernice married Robert O'Connor. Less than five months later, she gave birth to a daughter named Beverly (my grandmother). Clearly, Bernice was already pregnant when she married Robert. Tragically, one week after the birth, Bernice passed away due to complications. She was only twenty years old.

Five days after Bernice's death, on April 1, 1931, Thomas and Eva Fagan petitioned to adopt Beverly as their own child. A court determined "that consent in writing by said Robert V. O'Connor, sole surviving parent of said child, has heretofore been given to the petitioners herein for the adoption of said child, Beverly Bernice O'Connor..." and a decree granted the adoption, changing Beverly's surname from O'Connor to Fagan.

In later life, Beverly shared that, during the Great Depression, she spent her early childhood living in a tent city while Thomas Fagan worked on the construction of Hoover Dam. She wrote in her journal that Eva "was very mean to Grandpa [Thomas] and I never knew why. I realized that Grandpa was drinking then the fights would start."

Thomas passed away in August 1950, once again leaving Eva a widow. She was 64 years old.

A decade later, in January 1961, her son Thurlow passed away from a sudden heart attack. Eva had outlived her last surviving child.

A Quiet Repose

In her final years, Eva lived alone in a mobile home in a Denver trailer park.

Eva pictured standing outside her mobile home

She was close with her granddaughter Beverly and her young family. She cooked and had a special knack for baking breads, especially wheat and rye. She busied herself gardening in the small yard in front of her trailer, and sewing clothes for her great-grandchildren who all remember her affectionately.

Eva in a rare film clip, 1957

One could mistake her serene golden years for a life happily lived, but, in reality, that facade belied its true churning turbulence.

Eva's childhood was fraught. She lost her first husband. She outlived her daughter and raised her granddaughter as her own child. She lived in poverty with an alcoholic husband and outlived him. Then, the final injury, she lived through the sudden death of her son - her last living child.

Indeed, Eva lived a life of tumult and trauma.

Perhaps that's why she refused to ever discuss the past with Beverly. Forgetting was a coping mechanism. Forgetting allowed Eva to move beyond the incessant heartaches and survive in a world that had dealt her an exceedingly heavy hand.

My Last Grandparent

Tick. Tick. Tick.

I could hear the pendulum of the grandfather clock methodically counting time.

I had been at her dining room table for an hour when I broke the silence.

“I should probably get going.”

Our conversation had ebbed and flowed and ebbed again as I thought of and then exhausted discussion topics. Grandma was comfortable with silence.

I had taken an Uber to her house after breakfast with a friend in downtown Denver. She answered the door and ushered me directly to a seat at the table just a few steps beyond the front entryway.

My readiness to leave hung in the air. Her eyes were momentarily pleading.

“Do you want to go get some lunch?” she asked.

Recognizing that she didn’t want me to go, I immediately said I did. Only after I agreed did I wonder how we would get there. At 87, could grandma still safely drive? I hadn’t been in a car with her in years, and she often talked of how she drove less. A fleeting moment of worry crossed my mind as I remembered those calls.

Quieting my apprehension, I lifted the locking mechanism on her gate and swung the wide chain link fence open. We climbed into her 2003 blue four-door Kia Rio, pulled out of the drive and accelerated down the street, paying modest attention to full stops at signs that requested them.

I had no idea of our destination. Our mutual company was my lone concern. Her breakneck driving seemed directed by muscle memory. My stomach dropped as we dipped under a low hanging train trestle, then sailed around two tight bends. The first pulled me closer to her in the driver’s seat and the second quickly pushed me back against the passenger door.

She turned into a Wendy’s parking lot, and slid into a handicap space. Opening her door, she slung her portable oxygen machine over her shoulder, and made a beeline for the restaurant with no attempt to lock the car. I followed suit, indulging in her rebel moment.

Before we reached the counter, a cashier and several employees in the kitchen warmly greeted her. “Hi, Beverly. How are you?”

“This is my grandson,” she answered by way of proclamation.

My offer to buy lunch was swiftly refused. Grandma tersely spelled out her order’s requirements: extra butter for the baked potato and a packet of ranch dressing, too.

Employees who knew her passed our table to make sure she had everything she needed. We ate with little conversation.

Back at the house, she let the dog out in the yard to do his business. She wandered into her garden with a line of oxygen tubing trailing her path. At her pre-fabricated pond, she told me that her great-grandson recently said there were fish in it. She dismissed his claim, and kicked the stone pavers that wrapped around the plastic pool. I peered down at the shallow murky water in time to see a flurry of coy scatter among the ripples.

I pulled her close to me and snapped a photo, part of our routine during my visits to Colorado. Now living on the east coast, my trips home were rare and time with family too brief. The few photographs we took over the years punctuated our more regular phone calls.

With Grandma Dyer May 24, 2018

When I finally left, my taxi pulled away and I glanced back to see her on the front porch watching. I had no inkling that would be the last time I would see her - my last living grandparent.

In August, my paternal grandmother Beverly passed away. With her, another generation of my family tree faded to history.

Beverly Dyer

Remembering Beverly Dyer

Born at home on March 21, 1931, Beverly was raised by her maternal grandmother, Eva Fagan, after her mother, Bernice, died when she was only six days old and her father, Robert, was unable to care for an infant. During the Great Depression, Beverly spent her early childhood living in a tent city while Eva’s husband, Thomas Fagan, worked on the construction of Hoover Dam.

She grew up on a farm near Bennett and, later, Westminster, Colorado where the Fagans grew wheat, corn, and raised pigs and cows. During evenings on the farm, Eva sewed Beverly’s clothes and Thomas would play the piano. Beverly learned to knit and crochet, and even made scarves for the servicemen during World War II.

Eva Fagan and granddaughter Beverly

She was a cowgirl who loved the freedom of riding her horse, Dusty, and often participated in rodeos in Westminster. Once, in a rare rebellious moment, she decided to play hooky and brazenly ride her horse in front of the school where she was promptly caught and reprimanded by the principal.

Although not a fan of school, she excelled in math and would play chess with her geometry teacher. At 16, she landed her first job at Denver’s historic The Oriental Theater where she sold and collected tickets earning 35 cents an hour.

She made a life-long career of teaching knitting, including at the May Department Store in downtown Denver, and later at the exclusive Daniels & Fisher Department Store located on 16th Street where the store’s landmark clock tower still stands today.

Beverly enjoyed the outdoors and loved to camp, fish, water-ski, and snowmobile. She had a cabin in Florissant, Colorado where she enjoyed spending time in the mountains knitting apparel for her family while watching the deer and elk herds.

Beverly was an avid gardener growing rose bushes, including one she still had from her grandmother. She also enjoyed the slot machines in Black Hawk, the camaraderie of friends early in the morning at McDonald’s, and quiet afternoons on her porch with the company of her dog, Little Bit.

52 Ancestors: #6 Jelina Williams O'Connor Trimble

Jelina Williams (alternately spelled Gelina) was my 2nd great-grandmother. She was the wife of John O'Connor and mother of Robert O'Connor. A year ago I knew nothing about her - not even her maiden name.

From the Colorado State Archives, I learned that John O'Connor filed for divorce from Jelina in Denver in 1922. In the divorce record, John indicates that they were married in Rolla, Missouri in 1902. With this information, I was able to find their Missouri marriage record online.

John O'Connor & Jelina Williams 1902 Marriage

I next searched census records for Rolla and that's where I found the 1900 Federal Census with Jelina living with her parents Johnson and Caroline Williams (my 3rd great-grandparents).

In the 1922 divorce record, John also states that Jelina deserted the family in July 1919. After this divorce record, the trail for Jelina goes cold. Did she remarry and change her last name? Or did she die as Jelina O'Connor? Did she stay in Colorado or move home to Missouri or elsewhere? I was stumped and had no idea.

Eventually, I came across the 1943 Missouri death record for Johnson Williams, and was struck by the name of the informant for his death: Mrs. Lina Kiser. Could this be Jelina (by a nickname) remarried with a new surname?

Johnson Williams Death Certificate - Lina is Informant

A search of Find a Grave in Rolla turned up a record for Fred Kaiser. The grave inscription said that Fred was the son of Henry Kaiser and husband of Lina. This led me to the 1940 census, where Fred and Lina Kaiser's household also includes Johnson Williams (who's listed as being the father in law of Fred). I quickly found the death certificate online for Fred Kaiser, which lists his wife and informant as Lina.

I next found the marriage license for Lina Connor to Fred Kaiser. It mentions that she's from Denver. With this preponderance of evidence, I'm pretty sure Lina Kaiser is my Jelina Williams; remarried in 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri - her second marriage.

Lina Conner and Fred Kaiser 1925 Marriage

I began corresponding with a user on FindAGrave.com who lives near Rolla. I asked him to provide a photo of Fred Kaiser's grave stone because his grave website said the stone had the inscription "husband of Lina." I wanted to see if the stone was a shared marker that provided her death date and therefore would confirm she was also buried in the cemetery. This guy had local burial records for the cemetery that confirmed the names of everyone buried in the grounds. He told me there were no other Kaisers buried in the cemetery.

However, he also told me that Fred was buried in the same plots as Johnson and Caroline Williams (Jelina's parents). At this point, I was even more certain we had the right woman (double confirming that the Lina Conner from Denver who married Fred Kaiser was our Jelina, daughter of Johnson and Caroline). He said the records showed a grave between Fred and Jelina's parents, and that he would take photos and let me know what - or who - was there. He came back with a photo of Fred's grave which only included dates for him - no shared marker with Jelina. However, he also informed me that there was a gravestone between Fred and Jelina's parents. The marker was for a Jelina Williams Trimble who, according to the burial records, was a daughter of Johnson and Caroline Williams.

I did some online research for Jelina Trimble and found a couple Ancestry.com pages where people are researching an apparent husband, Willie Trimble. This Willie Trimble was born in 1895 and died in 1983. The Ancestry pages have him remarrying to Jelina after the death of his first wife. Unfortunately, none of the pages provide a marriage date or location. It looks like he lived mostly in Kentucky and briefly in Illinois and Indiana before being buried in Rolla (but a different cemetery from Jelina). I haven't been able to locate a marriage record. It's entirely possible that after the death of Fred Kaiser yet before marriage to Willie Trimble that Jelina remarried someone else thus changing her surname again.

I soon had another success on Ancestry.com when a user, who is somehow related to Willie Trimble, responded to one of my direct messages. She shared a little bit about Willie and Jelina. She wrote:

Hi!

I believe I have a hard copy of the marriage certificate for Willie & Jelina. They lived in Rolla, MO & may have been married there. It would have been between 1959 & 1961, I think. Because of a recent move, I'm not quite sure where my copy of the marriage license is, but will keep your message here & let you know when I find it.

I visited Willie & Jelina 2 or 3 times in Rolla when I was in grade school in the 1960's. We called her Grandma Jemmy (or possibly Jimmy?) & I believe Jemmy may have been a name she went by with other people as well. She was a round little woman with pretty white hair, a twinkle in her eye and hands crippled by arthritis. She was always very sweet to us kids (though she seemed to favor my brothers over my sister & I). And, like my grandfather, she was a hard worker, always busy in her garden or in the house when we visited.

I have a photo & will be posting it as soon as possible. When it goes up, you're certainly welcome to snag it for your own tree.

Jelina and Willie Trimble

From nothing to a photo. I know more of her chronology, but I still haven't uncovered or grasped what led her to abandon her family in 1919, as John suggested in his divorce petition. I hope to locate others who knew her and could help flesh out more of her life.

52 Ancestors: #5 Robert O'Connor

Robert Vincent O'Connor was my great-grandfather; father of my paternal grandmother. He married Bernice Stevens in November 1930 when he was just 19 years old. At the wedding, Bernice was already pregnant with my grandmother. Sadly, she passed away a week after giving birth.

Robert was removed from my grandmother's life when Bernice's parents, Eva and Thomas Fagan, adopted my grandmother as their own daughter. Presumably they did this because he was still a kid and in no position to take care of a newborn.

In chatting with my grandmother, she had little interaction with him throughout her life. This made uncovering his past more challenging since so little was known about him.

As an amateur genealogist, Robert represents for me my first successful foray into tracking down descendants with letters out of the blue, Facebook, and online white pages.

I knew he remarried and had other children. Using a variety of means I was able to locate addresses for the children. I sent the same letter to each one, apologizing for writing them out of the blue. I asked what they could tell me about Robert. And then I waited.

An email came first, then phone calls, and from further correspondence I was able to learn stories that shed more light on his life. I even received the first photographs I'd ever seen of him.

I learned that he was born in Colorado, and that his parents, John Francis O'Connor and Jelina Williams, had divorced when he was 12 years old. He was married several times. He passed away in 1981 in California, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery with a plaque commemorating his military enlistment.

While my research on his life and his ancestry continues, Robert is my lesson in the value and power of reaching out beyond the internet and talking with people. The stories, the images, the pieces are out there waiting to be discovered and brought together.

52 Ancestors: #4 Bernice Myrtle Stevens O'Connor

My grandmother never knew her birth mother Bernice. Grandma told me befuddling stories about how her one-time uncle became her brother and grandparents became parents. The concept sounded to me like a twisted Shakespeare plot.

As I researched Bernice's life, I was struck by its brevity and, throughout, the youthfulness at the core of each hardship.

Bernice Myrtle Stevens, my great-grandmother, was the second child of William John Stevens and his wife Eva. She was born in July 1910 in Idaho Springs, Colorado.

In March 1916, her father passed away at the age of 36. Bernice was only five years old. Sometime before the 1920 Federal Census, her mother Eva remarried to Thomas Augustus Fagan. In that census, Bernice is listed as the 9 year-old step-child of Thomas along with her brother Thurlow. The family had moved from the mountains of Clear Creek County to Denver.

1920 Federal Census - Denver, Colorado

As early as 1927, when she was only 17, Bernice appears as a working girl in Denver city directories. Her occupation is given as phone operator. She appears again in the 1929 directory with the same position. I can imagine her connecting calls on a towering switchboard - a teenager mastering the new technology of the day.

City of Denver 1927 Directory

In the 1930 census, she's still living at home with her parents and brother. However, we learn that she's landed a new job. She's working as a sales lady at a candy store.

1930 Federal Census - Denver, Colorado

On November 1, 1930, Bernice married Robert V. O'Connor. Less than five months later, she gave birth to a daughter. Clearly, she was already pregnant when she married Robert. Tragically, one week after the birth, Bernice passed away due to complications. She was only twenty years old.

Shortly afterwards, Bernice's daughter, my grandmother, was adopted by Eva and Thomas Fagan. The once grandparents became parents, and Uncle Thurlow became a brother. I speculate that a formal adoption was initiated so Eva and Thomas Fagan could legally keep and raise their daughter's child.

After her passing, Thomas Fagan made a gravestone for Bernice. For years, Eva would visit the burial with my grandmother and hold emotional vigil. Once, after Eva had passed away, my grandmother returned to visit the grave. The original handmade marker was gone. When she inquired with the cemetery management, she was told that it didn't meet new restrictions on grave stones and was subsequently removed. The cemetery did not have up-to-date contact information for next of kin, so no family was notified. My grandmother promptly commissioned a new marker, which rests on Bernice's grave today and serves as commemoration of her short life.