RootsTech!

 Today is the day!!!!

The Five Wives of James C. Bohall

 I've been adding source material to the Bohall line in my tree. I love this line of my family. They are fascinating, full of great people, sad people, people that are strong and caring, criminals, strange people and people of joy and tragedy. You know, normal life stuff. Being in a rural type of area their lives end up in the newspapers. For me, this is great. 

I found an article about the death of Malinda Bohall that was interesting. She was born Malinda Hart. Now, on Find-A-Grave and FamilySearch she is listed as Malinda Hedrick.  This is simply not true. Mary Jane Hedrick married James Seth Bohall, and that is the only Hedrick in the Bohall family. Since she married a James Bohall, I feel like that is where it all went wrong for the other family researcher. I have attempted to "fix" profiles on FamilySearch before, which were so much worse than this one, only to have my "fix" that I added with sources to prove it, undone by the same researcher. I may give it a try on Find-A-Grave, but judging by the comments on the page it has been attempted before.  This wrong information is cloning itself as I write this. Over and over again. Researching over 40 years you would think I would not feel so frustrated about this, but I do. I will be calm.

On August 16, 1856 Malinda married Frederick Miller, born September 25, 1804 and died on December 31, 1862. On November 23, 1864 she married James C. Bohall in Jackson County, Indiana. Malinda was born in 1823 and died on April 9, 1881 in Jackson County. Her cause of death is here in the article:

Death of Mrs. Malinda Bohall.

Mrs. Malinda Bohall, wife of James Bohall, of this place, died on Saturday last under circumstances which should serve as a fearful warning to people against carelessness in the administration of medicines. Mrs. Bohall had been suffering from an attack of pneumonia, combined with neuralgic pains. She was in great agony on the Sunday preceding her death, and among the prescriptions was one containing chloral. The instructions of her physician were explicit, but either through carelessness of the nurse or ignorance of the danger attending the medicine when given excessively, the chloral was administered too frequently, the result of which was that she was thrown into convulsions, while her whole body assumed a dark purplish hue. But for the speedy arrival of her physician, Dr. Stilwell, she undoubtedly would have died at the time. She remained in critical condition through the week until Saturday, at 11 o'clock a.m., when her spirit took its flight for the summer land. Indirectly, at least, the chloral was the cause of her death, aided somewhat by the other ailments with which she was afflicted. She was about 58 years of age. Formerly she was the wife of Frederick Miller, a well-known citizen of this vicinity, who died nearly 20 years ago. some years after his demise she was united in marriage to James Bohall, who survives her. She has three children by her former husband living, namely, Mrs. David H. Lubker, Mrs. Solomon Perrin, and Cyrus L. Miller. The funeral took place on Sunday afternoon and was largely attended. An appropriate discourse was preached by Elder Washington Hogg, after which the remains were deposited in the Burrell burying ground, below town, where her former husband was buried.

Poor James. He was a widower 3 times before he married Malinda. She was wife 4 of 5.  He waited until January 31, 1882 to marry his 5th and final wife, Emily Cornett. She had been married to a William Goble until his death in 1858. James died in 1886. So Emily outlived him. She died in 1903. 

I'm going to he** for the place my brain went when I read the article. But, really??! How could you not wonder? Maybe James was just unlucky in marriage? Indiana did not require death certificates until 1907, though some counties did issue them around 1882. My only hope in finding out how the other wives expired, is finding an article in the newspapers.  So far, my luck equals James, I haven't found anything.

For the record, wife one; Perlina J. Hobbs, married 1841, wife two; Amanda Garrett, married 1857, wife three; Eliza Jane Newby, married 1860, wife four; Malinda Hart Miller, married 1864, wife five; Emily M. Cornett Goble, married 1882.

Sources:

Article: Jackson County Banner; Brownstown, Indiana; Thursday, April 14, 1881; Page 4.See original newspaper clip here at my GooglePhotos:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/t9tdd23nHFUMqrr38

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQT-64M), Entry for James Bohall and Pelina J Hobbs, 22 Oct 1841.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQR-FRM), Entry for James Bohall and Amanda Garr*Tt, 29 Oct 1857.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQR-X95), Entry for James Boholl and Eliza Jane Newby, 20 Nov 1860.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQY-867), Entry for Frederick Miller and Malinda Hart, 16 Aug 1856.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQB-Q5W), Entry for James Bohall and Malinda Miller, 23 Nov 1864.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQB-HY3), Entry for James Bohall and Emily Goble, 31 Jan 1882.