This time last year I blogged about Anna Soupcoff who made national headlines when she eloped with a wealthy heir, Carlton O. Lewis. (Details
here.) Newspapers talked about the "beautiful Jewess" who won the heir's heart, to the despair of both families.
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| Oakland (CA) Tribune; July 1, 1908 |
When I originally wrote that post, I mentioned that by the 1910 census, less than two years after her Phoenix marriage, Anna was back living with her family. I assumed that perhaps their different backgrounds clashed or that married life wasn't what they'd expected. I was wrong.
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| Carlton O. Lewis's Death Certificate; Phoenix, Arizona; January 1910 |
Carlton had actually died of tuberculosis at the age of 27. He is said to have contracted the disease in Pittsburgh two years earlier--right around when he met Anna. (And the 1910 census was wrong, since she was not listed as a widow, although other people on that page were.) So it was tuberculosis, not marital strife that separated the two.
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Nice find!
ReplyDeleteDid you find his will? Did she inherit?
ReplyDeleteNo probate records for him on ancestry or familysearch. His parents were still alive at that point (even though he was called an heir in newspapers, it was more like "presumed heir someday"), so perhaps he was disinherited because of the marriage? I don't know.
DeleteGood to know the end of the story, even though it's a sad ending. There should be obits in the Pittsburgh newspapers. too.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no mention of his death at all in the Pittsburgh papers!
DeleteHow sad. The whole thing---the family's reaction to their relationship and his tragic death. Have you tried the Pittsburgh Jewish newspapers? Perhaps they reported on his death.
ReplyDeleteNothing in the Jewish newspapers or in the secular ones. It's like he completely was disowned from his family.
DeleteHow terrible. I have a similar story that I am posting tomorrow, but the opposite. My cousin's Jewish family never acknowledged his marriage to a non-Jewish woman (though they did not disown him).
DeleteNice story! I'll bet he didn't really contract TB in Pittsburgh.
ReplyDeleteSmall nit to pick: The right rail overlaps the main images by about a quarter-inch
Thanks!
DeleteIt's blogger. *sigh*
The Pittsburgh connection caught my eye! I didn't see anything in Pittsburgh papers either, but there were 2 small mentions in the Arizona Republic: one when he was ill in 1909 and then when he died. Both refer to him as "C.O. Lewis". Thanks for sharing this story!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I see them now.
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