True love and family history in 1907 from the front page
of the Chicago Tribune for three two people in my family tree.

Frederick William Jellison and Anna Grant fell in love in Chicago in 1907. Anna was a milliner and the daughter of Irish-born Roman Catholics. Frederick worked at a building supply company. But Frederick’s archetypal rich uncle and mean sisters apparently judged Anna as “not ‘high-toned’ enough.”

True Love and Family History

Chicago Tribune, 16 Aug 1907, pp. 1, 3.

To see what happened to the lovers, I ended up researching the wife of the husband of the niece of the wife of my 2nd great-uncle. We’ve all been there, I know, and usually after midnight!

True Love Elopement

Frederick did indeed forsake his family fortune and eloped over the state line with his chosen bride, Anna. After their marriage on 14 Aug 1907 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Frederick and Anna returned to Chicago to live with her parents. There Frederick progressed in his career.

Frederick and his sister Elsie repaired their relationship at some point; in 1908, Frederick and Anna named their first-born after this sister. (I haven’t figured out who the rich uncle was – yet.)

In 1910, Frederick, Anna, and their first-born are living with Anna’s parents in Chicago. Two years later, a namesake son is born to the couple.

The Parting

But this story does not end happily. On 22 Feb 1917, Anna Grant Jellison died of brain cancer, just short of ten years after her marriage to Frederick. She was just 34, leaving two children under the age of 5 and her grieving widower.

Afterwards

Four years later, Frederick and my relative wed in Ohio, but the marriage failed after a few years. Frederick continued his successful career as an executive in a building supply company. My relative contracted a second marriage that lasted 37 years.

Frederick died in Washington, DC, in 1945. His obituary said he was the “beloved husband of the late Anna Grant Jellison.”

True love and genealogy – for two people, but not three.

For the tender-hearted among my readers, here’s one more story of true love and family history at this link.

For other entries in this month’s Genealogy Blog Party, click here.