Love Letters, Lies, Truth, Half Truths ?

Nancy Ames, twenty-one, was dressed beautifully on her wedding day. A broche with Lou’s picture graced her left shoulder. Full eyebrows, hazel eyes, and dark, brown curly hair piled on top of her head spilling over her forehead framed her oval face.  Lou described her as “prepossessing brunette, who dresses well”. Lou Hansen, twenty-five, wore a black silk suit, a top hat, and a diamond stickpin in his lapel. His salary was $ 90.00 a month and he owned a 1903 Oldsmobile, a well-to-do gentleman by any standards.

“I do,” said Lou, as he slipped the one-carat ruby ring, engraved with “Nancy 1906” on Nancy’s finger. Nancy placed a matching eighteen-carat gold ring inscribed “Ludwig 1906” on Lou’s finger.

They moved into a Queen Ann-style house, lavishly decorated in romantic and feminine décor with a green Persian rug in the center of the drawing room. Palm trees adorned the rooms. The wood, marble and brass were highly polished.

Blanche was born in 1908. The marriage deteriorated. They divorced in 1913. After the divorce, Lou publicly humiliated Nancy, accusing her of having an affair with a man named J.P. Glass during their marriage, publishing his accusations in the newspaper, with contents of letters Glass had sent to her. The publicity angered and embarrassed Nancy. Lou had accomplished his purpose. [1]

In 1915, Nancy married Charlie Worthing. They moved to Truro, Iowa, and lived a quiet life with Blanche and their daughter Grace.

Did my grandmother, Nancy and J.P. Glass have an affair? Was J.P. infatuated with her? Was Nancy flattered by his attention? Did she marry Charlie for love or to escape the scandal?  Did Charlie marry her to protect her? I would like to believe Nancy and Charlie married for love and found happiness in Truro.

[1] According to the newspaper, Lou was having affairs with “lewd women of ill repute” in Chicago. The divorce papers reported Lou treated Nancy with extreme and repeated cruelty; beatings; threatening her with a gun; and using vile and abusive language and failing to provide proper and necessary clothing for Blanche and Nancy, Aurora Beacon News. (Aurora, Illinois)