The Greenwood Mock Marriages, Part 2

Fannie Breakspear had a secret, one that never made it into the newspapers. I don't know whether Walter, Fred and Viola knew about it - if they did, they were remarkably quiet about it.

When the two couples went to Greenwood for a nocturnal frolic, and to the saloon - and then to the minister to get married on impulse - Fannie Breakspear was already married.

A certificate exists stating that on November 22, 1883, in Brooklyn, Fannie Breakspear married a man called Edward Barefield. Barefield was a 36 year old insurance agent in South Brooklyn, born in Georgia in 1847. He was already married to a woman named Rebecca Rosell, and had two children.

This suggests another level of urgency in Fannie's desire to get married to Walter Hill - who didn't have a wife and children back home in South Brooklyn.

The Reverend Uriah Gulick was criticized roundly in the newspapers for "springing out of bed at midnight to 'solemnize' real marriages between children in an advanced state of intoxication." Four years later, Gulick would be back in the news for his money-grubbing ways - apparently any time one of his parishioners came into money, Gulick would pop over and ask for a loan. In 1887, he was on the verge of being ousted as minister of the Twelfth Street Dutch Reformed Church.

Viola Hamilton emerged remarkably unscathed. Her energetic mother, Phebe, was able to have the marriage to Fred Barnett annulled. Viola testified that Fred had threatened to tell all her friends that she "was not a girl of good character" if she did not marry him, and also threatened to kill himself and her too. Fred denied this, saying that he was "unconscious" during the marriage ceremony and didn't know what he had done. They were both glad to put an end to the marriage, in any case. In February 1887, Viola married William E. Brown, Jr., son of a wealthy shoe manufacturer. This merited a sizable article in the Eagle, which recapped the mock marriage case and emphasized Viola's beauty, wealth and innocence.

Not surprisingly, Fannie ended up in the most pitiable circumstances of the four young people. Fannie Breakspear, unlike Viola, had no mother to help her fight in court. Her widowed father Thomas did his best, but he does not seem to have had the tenacity (or the family wealth) that Phebe and Viola had. And Fannie's history seems to have been somewhat murky, which could not have helped matters.

Walter Hill, insisting that he was only a "lad of 18," though he was really 27, had his mother apply to get his marriage annulled. He stated in court that he lived with his widowed mother in Flatbush. He had no property, he didn't even know Fannie until December 1883 (not August, as she had said). He had proof that in August 1883, Fannie was "the inmate of a certain resort on Canal street, New York" - i.e., living in a brothel. He said that he had been drunk and "under a misapprehension of the character of the young woman" on the night of the marriage.

The court refused the annulment, and ordered Walter Hill to pay $2 a week to support Fannie and the child who was born "not long after the marriage."

Walter and Fannie were still married a decade later, though (not surprisingly) estranged. In 1897, Walter put several notices in the paper for Fannie to appear at a court hearing to annul the marriage. I have not been able to trace Fannie beyond this mention of her. In 1910, Walter Hill was living with his brother Reuben's family, working as a telegraph clerk. He is listed on the census of that year as single, and 54 years of age - which would have made him 27 in 1883.

Image from NYPL Digital Gallery.

SOURCES

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

"A Gay Ball Pitcher," Feb. 12, 1882, p. 6.
"More Folly," Mar. 28, 1884, p.4.
"That Frolic," Mar. 29, 1884, p. 4.
"Another Flatbush Scandal," Mar. 29, 1884, p. 2.
"Fannie J. Breakspear's Answer," Apr. 10, 1884, p. 4.
"The Hill-Breakspear Suit," Apr. 26, 1884, p. 6.
"Miss Hamilton," May 23, 1884, p. 4.
"A Statement From Mrs. Hankey," May 27, 1884, p. 2.
"Another Chapter of the Midnight Marriage," Jul. 5, 1884, p. 4.
"To Be A Wife: This Time the Marriage Will Be Binding," Feb. 11, 1887, p. 6.
"Gulick's Flock," Apr. 29, 1887, p. 6.
[no title - re Hill v. Hill, NY Supreme Court, County of Kings], Feb. 23, 1897, p. 12.

US Census Records

John Ryerson household, 1860 US Census, Brooklyn, Kings, NY; p. 140, #595/1203, Series M653, Roll 770.
John C. Ryerson household, 1870 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 22, Kings, NY; pp. 657-8, #710/944, Series M593, Roll 962.
Uria[h] S. Gulick household, 1880 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 22, Kings, NY; p. 170, #31/42, Series T9, Roll 855 [257 Twelfth St.]
Thomas Hill household, 1880 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 17, Kings, NY; p. 682, #18/26, Series T9, Roll 851 [141 Calyer St.]
George W. Barnett household, 1880 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 22, Kings, NY; p. 102, #31/40, Series T9, Roll 855 [285 First St.]
Susan S. Ryerson household, 1880 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 22, Kings, NY; p. 104, #66/81, Series T9,Roll 855 [385 Third St.]
Thomas Breakspear household, 1880 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 22, Kings, NY;
Edward Barefield household, 1900 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 13, Kings, NY; p. 1A, #6/10, GSU # 1241051, Ref. #43 [114 South 2nd St.]
Reuben Hill household, 1910 US Census, Brooklyn Ward , Kings, NY; p. , #340/500, [730 East 32nd St.] Reuben was Walter Hill's brother; Walter was living in this household, age 54, single, Telegraph Clerk.

Lain's Brooklyn City Directory [via the Brooklyn Genealogy Information Pages]

(1879/80):
Sprague Joseph E. broker 93 Wall St, h 672 Carroll
Ryerson John C. builder h 672 Carroll [Viola Hamilton's grandfather]

Breakspear Thos. E. clerk h 338 9th
Barnett Geo. W. photographic materials 31 Franfort NY h 285 1st
Hill Thomas W. machinist h 141 Calyer

(1896/97):
Reuben Hill fireman h 81 Hooper
Walter Hill tel oper h 81 Hooper

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) was also used to confirm birthdate and parents of Viola Hamilton and Fannie Breakspear.

New York City Brides Marriage Index at Italian Genealogy Pages was used to confirm Hill, Barnett and Barefield marriages. Interestingly, the Hill and Barefield marriages, though on two different dates, have the same certificate number, see here.

NOTE: The divorce suit between Phebe Hankey and Joseph E. Sprague, the baseball player, is so wonderfully interesting and complicated that it deserves (and will get) a post of its own in the near future.