The Unforgotten - The First Edith Lenora Sauser

 I must warn you, this blog post is tragically sad. 

Years ago, when researching my step-father's side of the family, I came across a conundrum. It has literally taken me five years to solve.

Let's begin with my step-great grandmother, Edith Lenora SAUSER. 

She was the daughter of Paul Frederick SAUSER and Orpah Annette SCHNOOVER who were married in Johnson County, Iowa, 27 July 1911. According to her birth certificate, she was born 07 October 1911 in Prarieburg, Linn County, Iowa. Paul was 23 and Orpha was 28. Edith was born after just 2.5 months of marriage. 

As I began to work my way up her tree, I came across an article before her birth, mentioning her father, Paul SAUSER. It was a plea for divorce by a Margaret SAUSER who claimed abuse and wanted custody of their ONE YEAR OLD daughter, EDITH LENORA SAUSER. 

The Courier; Page 3, Waterloo, Iowa, Mon 30 March 1908

I immediately began investigating this Margaret, but couldn't find a marriage record on Family Search or Ancestry. I also began looking for records for an Edith Lenora SAUSER born 1907 and all the results were either completely wrong or records that I knew were MY Edith Lenora SAUSER born 1911.

Then last week I decided to google archived marriage records for North Dakota. I ended up at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. I did a vague search, only entering SAUSER for the groom's last name and then the year 1905 and got exactly one hit. 

SAUSER/BEATTY 

Notice this tells us Paul's middle initial is the same as MY Paul FREDERICK.

The next information I found were Waterloo, Iowa,  city directory entries for Paul F SAUSER, wf Margaret, for the years 1906 and 1908. 

Then the 1910 census find Paul F SAUSER living in Boulder, Linn, IA, with his brother John M. SAUSER. His marital status was marked 'D' for divorced. 

So then I began looking for Margaret V. BEATTY. I found her in the 1900 census as VIOLA M. BEATTY age 12, birth state, Illinois, the daughter of James W. and Edith BEATTY, living in Whitewater, Dubuque, IA.  and in the 1905 Iowa State census she's again listed with J W BEATTY as Margaret BEATTY, her mother, Edith is not listed. I later find two obituaries for Edith and it creates more questions than answers. 

The first obituary is from page 5 of Monticello Express 11 Dec 1902. It states, "Mr. and Mrs. BEATTY had no children of their own but their hearts were full of sympathy for the little ones who were without parental care"

And the second obituary from page 5 of the Cascade Pioneer, published in Cascade, Iowa on Friday, December 12th, 1902 goes on to name the foster children as "Margaret BEATTY, Mildred RAFFETY, Myrta DAVIDSON, Elon RAFFETY, and Linnie SHOTWELL" 

I have searched and searched for Margaret Viola BEATTY SAUSER in the 1910 census and can find no trace of her or the one year old baby, Edith Lenora SAUSER, from the 1908 article. 

I keep searching and find a marriage record in Jackson County, Missouri on the 21 Dec 1918 for a Margaret V BEATTY, born in 1888, to a Charles PRATT. I decide to look for them in the 1920 census to see if this Margaret was also born in Illinois and sure enough, they're living in Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri and she is indeed born in Illinois. But there is no Edith Lenora born 1907. It's only Charles and Margaret PRATT.

I research this couple a little more to discover sadly, that two short years later, Margaret dies from pulmonary tuberculosis. Her death certificate goes on to list her parents as David E. GLENN and Mary L. CLARK. I begin to second guess myself. Maybe this isn't the right woman after all. But when I find the obituary for this Margaret I get some answers..... and more questions.

So now I don't know who Margaret's birth parents were and I don't know why baby Edith born 1907 wasn't with her in 1920 or mentioned at all in her obituary. Did Paul get custody? Was my Edith actually 4 years older? Did they falsify records? Was her birth certificate accurate? Was Orpha SCHNOOVER not her mother after all?

Or, more likey, maybe the first Edith Lenora SAUSER died. Babies died often back then. I can find no birth record or death record no matter how much I search. I laid everything aside and decided to come back later. Maybe a few days would give Ancestry's algorithms a chance to catch up to all the new information. 

When I came back, there weren't any accurate hints. They all are records for my grandmother born in 1911. But when I hit "search" a Find-a-grave record comes up for an Edith SAUSER born in 1906 and died 24 March 1930 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. I feel this is unlikely to be her so far away but the inscription on her stone makes me decide to dig a little further. 

EVEN THOUGH ALONE IN LIFE NOT FORSAKEN IN DEATH

I decide to once again turn to old newspapers and there her tragic story unfolds. 

Edith had been adopted around 1908 to a Mr. and Mrs. H T HECHT according to the below articles. This turns out to be an error that I discover once I was able to find her marriage record. She married Mr. Alphia O HART in 1921. Marriage announcements give her the name Hazel HECHT, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A B HECHT of San Bernardino, CA. I was then able to find Hazel E HECHT, the adopted daughter of  Albert and Jessie HECHT in the 1920 San Bernardino census. She was born 1907 in Iowa. And again in 1910 with Albert and Maude HECHT in Waterloo, IA.

Maude died in 1912. Notice that her husband, Albert worked for the same company Paul SAUSER did in the 1906 Waterloo, IA, directory. 

Something happened between Hazel/Edith and her husband and the marriage ended in 1927. Sometime afterwards in Jan 1929 she gave birth to an "invalid" son at Holmes Home of Redeeming Love in Oklahoma, City. He was 14 months old at the time of his mother's death. I'm unsure if Mr. HART was his father or not.

Edith struggled to make ends meet and suffered with unimaginable heartbreak and depression as well as failing health. She was a waitress making $16/week. Because of sympathy and her good nature, her employer paid her more than the going rate. But life was just too cruel. I imagine when child services took her son, it was the last straw and she decided to end her life by drinking poison. Her last words, "I'm to blame for everything."

In one of the articles it mentions that she was born in Waterloo, IA.  

Edith Lenora Sauser - May she rest in peace. 

Edith Sauser sketch

So here's to a woman whose history and existence is only to be found in Newspapers for those who would take the time to connect the dots. 

If her son survived and has heirs, I hope they one day find this information. I have no idea what his name was, first or last. 


Here's a picture side by side of Grandma Edith and her half-sister by the same name. As well as a picture of their father in later years. 

Until next time
Becky 

After posting inquiries online where one might find old adoption records, the following article from the 'Semi Weekly Reporter' 7 July 1908 was shared with me. 

I dug a little more using a different newspaper archive and found another similar article from the Waterloo Daily Courier 3 July 1908. This article gets the name change right.