Several years back, I wrote about the six wives of my 2nd great grandfather, James Baker Warner. Since then, I’ve discovered a 7th wife and further identified one of the wives who I’d only known by a first name and middle initial.
As a review, James was born in South Norwood, Surrey, England in 1879. He immigrated to Canada with his family and then down into New Hampshire, where he married for the first time.
In 1903, at the age of 23, he married Annie Hughes, age 22. It was the first marriage for both of them. He was listed as a laborer. A stillborn son was born to them in August of 1904. In 1907, another son, James, was born, but he died two month later of marasmus. I don’t have any record of Annie’s death or a divorce.
In 1908, James married my 3rd great grandmother, Sara Matilda Zutavern at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chester, PA. He was working as a cotton finisher in Bergen, NJ at the time of their marriage. They settle in Bergen and over the next two years, have two children, including my 2nd great grandfather James William Warner, and his sister, Iola. Six year after their marriage, Sara died.
In 1914, less than three months after Sara’s death, James married Alice Amanda Tillotson in Clifton, NJ. He was 34, she was 19. He was still working as a cotton finisher. He reported himself as a widower and on his 2nd marriage. They appeared together on the 1915 NJ State Census with his two children, James and Iola. Alice died in 1919, apparently of a heart attack at the age of 24.
One month later, in August 1919, James has married again! This time he married Irene May Dent Brodhead in Easton, PA. She was previously married and widowed and had two children, Edith and John. Based on the 1920 census, James was working as a finisher at a silk mill in Easton. The couple even showed up in the city directory together in 1920. However, by 1927, Irene had moved to her hometown of Plainfield, NJ. In the 1930 census, she reported herself as widowed. She continued to go by Irene Warner until the 1940 census when she reverted back to her first married name, Irene Brodhead. She died in 1961.
By 1928, James had moved to Virginia and married Ruth Virginia Nunnally. Their marriage record lists him as a widow. In the 1930 census they were living in Delaware, but he still worked in the textile industry as a cotton finisher. Ruth’s son from her previous marriage lived with them. By 1940 they have moved to New Jersey where James worked as a foreman at a cotton mill. Ruth died shortly after the census is taken.
James made his way back to Virginia and married Lillian Ragan in 1949. This is the wife I have the most doubts regarding because their marriage certificate lists James as being a doctor. However, his age and the names of his parents fit. And Lillian is listed as working in the textile industry, the field James had worked in up to this point. They must divorce, because Lillian didn’t die until 1987.
James married one last time in 1953 in North Carolina. Clevra Glendolia Batchelor became his seventh and final wife. When James died in 1966, she was mentioned in his obituary along with his daughter, Iola.
Left Brain Write Brain 