Person:Emma King (23)

(Notes via e-mail from Candy) Orvil Crouse was employed as a farm hand by Laird Howard and Susan. He lived at the farm with them. He became the father of Maggie's first Grandchild. Orvil and Emma were never married.

    Also interesting to note is the fact that Maggie listed her marital status as widowed, but reverted back to her maiden name. Infact, she was not a widow, as her former husband Wn. King, was living in Marshall, ILL, with his widowed mother and brother. In the same census (1900) Willima listed his marital status as single. Neither he nor Maggie seemed willing to admit that they had been divorced. Maggie was apparently remarried to a Mr. Webster. William never remarried.
    Dec 11, 1912, Emma died during brain surgery in Kern Co., CA. She was buried in the Union Cemetery in Bakersfield, CA. Emma had been having extremely severe headaches, caused by a brain tumor. After her, death, Bert Lapham suddenly found himself unable to work and care for his two daughters, Violet, aged 7 and Edith aged 5. He placed the girls in the care of his parents, Elmer and Mary Jane Lapham at their small farm in Narod, CA (Now Montclair, in San Bernardino, CA). Within a year or two he remarried but his new wife was unwilling to care for both his daughters and said he must find someone else to care for one of them. Since his wife's grandmother, Susan, now married to Frederick Landeau, had recently moved to CA, he called upon her to care for Violet. At the time Violet did not remember her and the move was a traumatic one for her. She never again lived with the Laphams or her half-sister Edith. Time and a very loving Great Grandmother soon brought happy days to Violet's life. She lived with them for about four years.

1. ↑ From the Files of Candy.