Teenagers can be a lot of work. George Cheshire, my
husband’s 3rd-great grandfather, certainly knew that.
At 15, his daughter Maud ran away from home, possessed of
the “childish notion that married life [was] absolutely necessary to her
existence.”1 Fortunately, she was discovered before she was able to
leave Utah for Montana, where she was supposed to meet her paramour. She “sassed
her aged father,” however, and refused to return home. George asked the police
to intervene, charging that Maud’s associates were “questionable, to say the
least.”2
For her part, Maud alleged “that her stepmother treats her
cruelly, often striking her with a walking stick.” Maud’s brother told police
that she “had always been inclined to run wild”; her father seemed to agree--rather than
denying her charges of corporal punishment, he said she deserved it.3
Five days after running away Maud was arrested. Two days
later, she went to court “and pleaded guilty to the charge of residing in a
house of prostitution.” Calling her associates “questionable” was evidently an
extreme understatement. Maud’s sentence was suspended when an aunt agreed to
take charge of her, and Maud “promised to do better.”4
Promises, promises.
Two months later, Maud was arrested again. She and another
girl were picked up in a rooming house, located above a saloon5, on
charges of prostitution. The detective “testified that the girls bore a bad
reputation, and had been in the hands of the police on several occasions on
similar charges.”6 The girls admitted that “two gentlemen” had
rented the room for them.
The judge remanded Maud to the state reform school and Maud
“clapped her hands in glee.” She explained that she “had lots of friends there.”7
After 3 or 4 years’ incarceration (at the school), Maud was
paroled.8 Whether through conformity
or discretion, she kept her name out of the papers for almost a decade, with
the exception of a brief notice that she was getting married.9
Unfortunately, matrimony did not make it easier for Maud to abide
family life or social conventions. After 7 years of marriage, her husband filed
for divorce.
Her husband alleged that during their married life, she had
“become accustomed to the use of drugs and that she also…acquired the habit of
entertaining other men.”10 One night, “when he came home at
midnight…his wife was entertaining another man and…when he remonstrated against
such action she struck him with her fist and threatened to carve him with a
knife.”11
The divorce was quickly granted.
Maud didn’t have long to regret or rejoice in her return to
singleness. Nine months later, she died of a heart condition, worsened by
morphine use. She was 28 years old.
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Line of descent:
George Cheshire, 1822-1908 (Maud's father, mentioned in the article)
Thomas Cheshire, 1843-1925
George Cheshire, 1873-1935
Clara Lavon Cheshire, 1915-2007
___________________________________________
1 - Salt Lake Herald, 17 Oct 1899, page 3
2 - Salt Lake Herald, 19 Oct 1899, page 5
3 - Salt Lake Herald, 19 Oct 1899, page 5
4 - Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Oct 1899, page 5
5 - Salt Lake Herald, 28 Dec 1899, page 3
6 - Salt Lake Herald, 14 Jan 1900, page 5
7 - Salt Lake Herald, 29 Dec 1899, page 5
8 - Salt Lake Tribune, 13 Sep 1903, page 3
9 - Salt Lake Herald, 29 Sep 1904 or 1905, page 5
10 - Evening Standard, 3 Sep 1912, page 9
11 - Evening Standard, 3 Sep 1912, page 9
These newspapers are all available at either digitalnewspapers.org or myheritage.com.
