Hanna: The Many Wives of Melvin

I wanted to create a separate post for my great, great Grandfather Melvin Franklin Hanna. While doing research I discovered he married at least four times in his life and I wanted to keep track of the dates and names of all his wives.

I will relate a story that was told to me by my grandmother Joyce Noel nee Cleaver. It is about her mother, Marie Lillian Hanna. I'm going by memory:

Melvin and Elsie (Hamilton) Hanna were very poor. At some point in their childrens' lives, the children had to be split up and sent into foster homes because Melvin could not support them any more.

This was very traumatic for the children.

My great grandmother Marie was sent to a foster home in southern Michigan (Coldwater?) where she was physically abused. The abuse was so bad that one day, when Marie was at school, the teacher noted blood on Marie's legs. It was soaking through her dress. The teacher reported the abuse to the authorities and she was removed from the abusive home.

At a later time one of Marie's elder brothers, who had been sent to a farm as a foster child, began to search for his siblings. He found Marie and took her in. Marie was reunited with her sisters Nila & Alice, too.

I'm guessing right now that Elsie Hamilton passed away and Melvin remarried and got rid of the children he had with Elsie. (1-9-15 update: Elsie didn't pass away, she and Melvin divorced. I don't know why, yet. It appears that Elsie remarried two more times in her life, first to a Julian Lambert, and then to John Breseman.)

On to Melvin's marriages:

Wife #1: Nancy J. Mendall
Wife #2: Elsie Hamilton <--- my great, great grandmother
Wife #3: Elizzie Ellard
Wife #4: Mary Elizabeth Thomas

1880: Living with his parents Anson & Eliza in Wexford, Michigan. He is 4 years old. 1880 census record

1897: Married Nancy J. Mendall on December 24th. Melvin is 21 years old and living in Wexford, Michigan.

1898: Son Elmer is born on October 4th in Springville, Wexford County, Michigan.

1900: Living with wife Nancy and son Elmer who is 2 years old in Wexford, Michigan. 1900 census record

1908: Married Elsie Hamilton (my great, great grandmother) on April 16th. Melvin is 31 and they are living in Wexford, Michigan.

1917-1918: Melvin is drafted during WW1. He is living in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1920: Married Elizzie Ellard on January 10th. Melvin is 43 years old.

1928: Married Mary Elizabeth Thomas on July 3rd. Melvin is 52 years old and they are living in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1930: Living with wife Mary and brother William in Baltimore, Barry County, Michigan. Melvin is 53 years old. 1930 census record

1936: Melvin passes away on December 9th. His widow, Mary, is still alive in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Melvin was 60 years old and he is listed as a farmer. Death record