The distinguished looking woman in this photograph, shared by "Marcia in Oregon" via Ancestry.com back in 2013, is Mary Ellen Cain, The gentleman is John Newman, her second husband.
The Newmans married on the 20th of September 1875 in English Township, Lucas County, and moved soon thereafter with the children from her previous marriage, Charles and Edmond Davis, to Oregon where the remainder of their lives were spent.
Mary Ellen's people were among English Township's earliest settlers. Her parents were George W. and Rebecca (McGlothlen) Cain; her elder brother, Isaac C. Cain, among the township's most prominent citizens at the time of his death during 1908. Cain Church, a Presbyterian congregation located near what we now know as Spring Hill Cemetery, was so-called because of family involvement in it. Newbern was the nearest village.
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Mary Ellen, born during 1834 in Indiana, had married as her first husband Jesse W. Davis, whom she divorced, when both were 22 --- on the 6th of November 1856, in English Township. During the course of a 14-year marriage, they had three children, the two boys and a daughter, Rebecca, who died at age 3 and was buried in the Newbern Cemetery during 1860.
While exploring their lives a little I came across Jesse's obituary, published 48 years later in The Republic County Democrat of Belleville, Kansas, on April 1, 1908.
It concludes, "In early life, he united with the United Brethren church at Newbern, Iowa, and has lived a true and faithful life until the end."
So I got to wondering how Mary Ellen would have reacted to that line had she seen it --- and perhaps she did since it seems likely that her sons remained in contact with their father. She had good cause for doubt.
The scandal that ended their marriage rather decisively was reported in great detail as follows in The Chariton Democrat of March 14, 1870:
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Newbern, March 11th
Our little village was thrown into an intense excitement today by the sudden disappearance of W. J. Davis, of English Township, Lucas Co.
It appears from the best information that we can gather that some two months ago, Davis took his wife to his mother-in-law's to remain overnight, as his wife's mother was quite ill, but after staying until ten o'clock he went home under the pretext that his children would be very lonesome, and that he thought it best to be with them. He has two boys, aged six and eight years. There was also a girl, aged 18, that he had taken to raise, she being a niece of his wife and an orphan, with them.
The girl states that the first she knew of Davis' return, he was in bed with her and by threats of wagon-whipping if she did not remain quiet, he so intimidated here that she swooned, and the villain then violated her person. He then informed her if she ever dared to reveal his dastardly conduct he "would whip her to death."
A short time ago she told Davis' wife and others about the occurrence. Her grandmother, and guardian, being sick, it was kept quiet until yesterday, when a warrant was sworn out before Esq. G. T. Mays for his apprehension, but before it could be put into a baliff's hands he "skedaddled" for parts unknown.
The last heard from him he was four miles west, at Mr. Mumford's at 11 o'clock last night on horseback. He stated there that he intended to take the next train west. He is about five feet ten inches high, 37 years old, sandy complexion, red beard, whiskers some five inches long, and gray eyes.
There seems to be a general desire to lynch him if found, and the man that assisted him to escape. His wife is an estimable lady, and his children are very promising. His relatives include some of our best citizens.
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There were no follow-up stories in Chariton newspapers; no lynching occurred. And it appears that after Mary Ellen divorced Jesse, both continued to live in Lucas or nearby counties for a time.
On the 28th of March 1874, also in Lucas County, Jesse married Viola A. Fogle, born in Lucas County during the year he had married Mary Ellen and some 22 years his junior. If online records are to be believed, there was some urgency here --- their first child was born seven months later.
Soon thereafter, Jesse and Viola and their son moved west to Republic County, Kansas, where they produced four more children and lived out their lives. He died on the 24th of March, 1908, age 73, memorialized as "true and faithful until the end." Viola lived on until Jan. 19, 1926, when she died at the age of 69.
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Mary Ellen married John Newman, some 10 years older and a widower with several children, the next year and they moved west to Oregon. He died on the 23rd of May 1919, age 93, in Yamhill County. Mary Ellen died at the age of 91 on April 17, 1926, having outlived Viola by three months. She is buried in City View Cemetery, Salem.
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