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Mary Galvin Springsteen Mythen-Her Adult Years, continued

Headline concerning John Mithen in 22 July 1889 Indianapolis News, page 1.

HELBLING, SPRINGSTEEN Family (Click for Family Tree)

An old newspaper adage is “If it bleeds, let it lead” and that was the case her for the poor Mithen family- the above headline was on the front page of the city newspaper.

We know this is “our” John Mithen, as the paper describes him as a tailor living at 18 Greer St., and that he had a little shop on Illinois Street.

John became “madly insane” on Saturday afternoon, 21 Jul 1889. Mary had left their home to make arrangements for the insanity commission to examine him, but while she was gone, he “secured a butcher-knife and made an effort to commit suicide by cutting his throat.”

The story continued:

John Mithen suicide attempt in 22 July 1889 Indianapolis News, page 1.

John was brought back to Indianapolis, and the next morning was examined and committed to the asylum.

What a sad story- the suicide attempt, his trek to the cemetery where his two children were buried, and then his wandering and eventual return home to sleep and then be committed to an asylum in the morning.

This article also does suggest (without naming her) that Mary E. I., daughter of “Mr. J. Mithen”, who died at age six (see previous post), could have been one of the children he had buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery. We have evidence that all his other children survived into adulthood.

As discussed in our previous post, we curiously found John listed as a tailor in the 1900 directory for Indianapolis, not in the asylum. He lived at a different address than Mary, so they must have been more officially separated by that date. Apparently the treatment at the asylum was adequate to help John get back into his occupation and live a ‘normal’ life, although a single one.

We have not found information for the intervening 10 years, until 24 May 1899, when John filed suit for a divorce from Mary A. Mythen. The case was tried in Superior Court on 17 Jun 1899, and the case had some “queer features” per the newspaper article. John was described as a “ruddy-faced Scotchman” who claimed Mary had “abandoned” him. His tailoring business had been doing well, John stated, “his wife was saving,” and they had $2,000 or $3,000 put away. Ten years ago, he continued, Mary took most of the savings and their children, and “deliberately” left him. She started her millinery store on Virginia Avenue, and was successful. Mary was not in court to provide any defense so we do not know her side of the story. The judge must have asked how the children were doing, and John replied that she was “raising them properly and dresses them well.” His only complaint against Mary was that she did not want to live with him. John lamented that they were happy together but when she left, she told him the reason was that she was tired of living with him. She “had no use for a husband” but did say that she “liked him as well as she could like any man.” “Grew Tired of a Husband” was the headline, and thus the judge granted the divorce to John. Mary, however, was required to pay court costs.

Perhaps John’s “madly insane” episode was triggered by Mary leaving him?

 

Coming up: the last of the story as we know it (right now).

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. GenealogyBank.com and Hoosier State Chronicles (https://newspapers.library.in.gov) have the source newspaper articles. A search on the websites will help with finding the articles.
  2. Indianapolis, Indiana city directories on Ancestry.com and InternetArcive.org.

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2020 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
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A Mystery Solved: Mary G. Springsteen Mythen

Mary G. Springsteen’s marriage to John Mithen, from Springsteen Family Bible.

HELBLING, SPRINGSTEEN Family (Click for Family Tree)

Mysteries are fun, but solving them even moreso.

Back on June 20, 2016, we posted about Mary G. Springsteen Mythen as a part of the Springsteen family bible series. The bible, we now think, belonged to Anna Conner Springsteen and Jefferson Springsteen. (Please see the original article on the bible for the updated information.) Their children and their spouses, and a couple of grandchildren, were listed in the births, marriages, and deaths in the family record section. There was also an entry for a marriage for “Mary G. Springsteen,” as seen above.

Mary G.’s entry is curious for a number of reasons:

1) There was no birth or baptism entry for Mary G., but there was for Anna, Jeff, and all the other persons listed in the bible.

2) Jeff and Anna Springsteen had a daughter named “Mary E. Springsteen” and we know she married Joseph Beckwith in 1872. The bible and many other records support this fact. Families sometimes named a second child after one who had died young, but both Marys survived into adulthood, married, and had children.

Mary G. (Springsteen) Mithen death from Springsteen Family Bible. (Click to enlarge.)

3) “Mary Mythen” had her death at age 44 recorded in the Bible, as was the death of Mary E(lizabeth) [Springsteen] Beckwith, aged 82. Indianapolis has death certificates for both women.

4) Mary Elizabeth is buried with the Springsteen family in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, under the Beckwith name. There is no Mary G. Springsteen Mythen/Mithen buried in Crown Hill with the family.

5) Mary Elizabeth (Springsteen) Beckwith is found in the 1926 Indianapolis city directory, listed as the widow of Joseph F. Beckwith. There is no entry in the 1907 Indianapolis city directory for Mary Mythen, nor Mary Mithen.

With all this evidence, we can be pretty certain these Marys are not the same person.

In the previous article, we hypothesized a number of explanatory scenarios as to the relationship of the mystery Mary G. to the Springsteen family. We had no proof of any of them, except a few clues such as the Indiana Marriage Index 1800-1941 on Ancestry, which mentioned a Mary A. Galvin who wed John Mithen in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1885. We asked for anyone with information to contact us, and waited.

Four years after publication of the mystery, a genealogy librarian working for the State Library of Indiana contacted us. Angi Porter (nporter@library.in.gov) wrote that while doing research for a library patron, she found a newspaper article about Mary’s marriage to John Mythen. The article solved our mystery- Mary G. was the adopted daughter of Jefferson and Anna (Conner) Springsteen. 

It was one of those “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that??” moments. No birth record in the Bible? That makes sense if she was adopted when she was older than a baby. The same first name as another Springsteen daughter? Sure, because she had likely been named by her biological parents, and then adopted out. Not buried with the Springsteens? Again, logical since by blood she was not a Springsteen, family burial plots are only so big, and they may have bought the plots before her adoption. The new information fits easily within what we know, including that Mary G. was obviously very important to the Springsteen family.

As always in genealogy, an answer generates new questions, such as:

  1. When was Mary G. adopted by the Springsteens?
  2. What were the circumstances of the adoption?
  3. What was Mary’s life story before and after her time living with the family?

Being researchers, we of course had to learn more about Mary G.

Next: a bit more about Mary Galvin Springsteen Mythen.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. “Mystery Monday: Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen,”  Heritage Ramblings family history blog, 20 June 2016. https://heritageramblings.net/2016/06/20/mystery-monday-mary-g-springsteen-mythen/
  2. “Treasure Chest Thursday: The Springsteen Family Bible,” Heritage Ramblings family history blog, 9 June 2016.
    https://heritageramblings.net/2016/06/09/treasure-chest-thursday-the-springsteen-family-bible/
  3. Angi Porter, Librarian, Genealogy Division, Indiana State Library– https://www.in.gov/library/genealogy.htm
  4. Indianapolis, Indiana city directories, found on Ancestry.com and InternetArchive.

 

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We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Original content copyright 2013-2020 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly, i.e, reference this blog.
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Mystery Monday: Mary G. (Springsteen) Mythen

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series The Springsteen Family Bible
Mary G. Springsteen marriage to John Mitten from Springsteen Family Bible.
Mary G. Springsteen marriage to John Mithen from Springsteen Family Bible. (Click to enlarge.)

Helbling Family, Springsteen Family (Click for Family Tree)

 

So just who is Mary G. (Springsteen) Mithen/Mythen? And why is she in our family bible?

 

Mary is listed in the Springsteen Family Bible twice- once as getting married, the second a record of her death.

Mary G. (Springsteen) Mitten death from Springsteen Family Bible. (Click to enlarge.)
Mary G. (Springsteen) Mithen death from Springsteen Family Bible. (Click to enlarge.)

There was (and still is) a St. Patrick’s Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, at that time.

No one other than immediate family members (and their spouses) are mentioned in the bible, plus two grandchildren.

There is no birth record of a Mary G. Springsteen that we have found, but there is a Mary E. Springsteen who was the daughter of Jefferson and Anna M. (Conner) Springsteen. It does not seem logical that they would have a daughter with the first same name and a different middle initial, and there is no record of an additional daughter. Mary E. married Joseph Beckwith in 1872; Mary G. married John Mithen in 188(6?). Mary E. did not have a second marriage that we know of, is buried with family in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis as a Beckwith, and the handwriting in the bible record is clear enough to be the middle initials discussed.

Interestingly, the Indiana Marriage Index 1800-1941 on Ancestry.com lists a Mary A. Galvin who married John Mithen on 25 February 1885 in Marion County, Indiana- the number written in the bible could easily be a 5 instead of a 6. The Galvin name could explain the Mary “G.” Springsteen.

Mary A. Galvin was about 19 when she married John per the marriage record, so she would have been born about 1866, and the bible states she died in 1906.

So was the Mary in our Springsteen Family Bible a Galvin who married first a Springsteen, and then John Mithen? Or was she a Springsteen who married a Galvin, then John Mithen? She was only 19 when she married John, so she would have been a very young widow but that was possible. Or was Galvin just her middle name?

Getting a copy of the marriage record might be of help in learning more about Mary.

It would be interesting to know if she is a married-in, or a Springsteen cousin. Of the Springsteens that we know about, there is no Mary G. Springsteen. Jefferson’s brother Abraham, who also lived in Indianapolis, had only two sons who survived into adulthood per our research.

One last minute bit of research, since doing genealogy is like eating potato chips- you just can’t stop:

FamilySearch has a listing for the marriage of Anna Laurel Mythen, who married Robert Willis Merriam on 23 November 1910 in Medford, Massachusetts. Anna was 20 as was her groom, but she was born in **Indianapolis, Indiana.** Her parents were listed as John Mythen and Mary A. Springsteen. Note that Mary’s middle initial is “A” instead of “G” in this source. Another Massachusetts marriage record states that Anna Laurel’s mother’s middle name was “Agnes.”

The 1910 US Federal Census for Anna L shows her living in the Merriam household, where her future husband is a son. Anna is listed as being born in Indiana, but her parents (John Mythen and Mary Agnes Springsteen) as born in Holland-Dutch! Of course, we do not know who gave that information, and ‘our’ Springsteens have been in America even before it was a country- back into the 1600s. So that does not fit, but otherwise it sure does seem like this is the correct family. But how are they related to ‘our’ Springsteens?

Any light that can be shed on this mystery would be much appreciated!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. Family treasure chest.
  2. Indiana Marriage Index 1800-1941 on Ancestry.com.
  3. FamilySearch marriage record for Anna Laurel Mythen- “Massachusetts Marriages, 1841-1915,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N48R-YQP : accessed 12 June 2016), John Mythen in entry for Robert Willis Merriam and Anna Laurel Mythen, 23 Nov 1910; citing Medford, , Massachusetts, United States, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,315,512.
    https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-63PY-4Z?i=696&wc=3G11-PTL%3A1063288401%3Fcc%3D1469062&cc=1469062

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2016 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.