Tilghman was married 3 different times with two of the marriages ending in divorce. His first marriage to my great, great grandmother, Elizabeth M. Byers ended with her death sometime around 1872. Together they had 3 children with my great grandmother, Margaret Overton, being the only one to live to adulthood.
In 1876 he married for a second time in Sarpy County, Nebraska to a widow, Marie Algeo Adkins. This marriage did not last for long. We see them living apart around 1881 with Tilghman at a boarding house in Omaha and in 1886 he is living and working as a contractor in Lincoln Nebraska.
Later in land records it is stated that Marie is divorced. I am still searching for the divorce record for Tilghman and Marie.
His third and final marriage was in California to an Elvira C. ____. I found information about this public divorce in the newspapers and then was able to obtain a copy of the divorce. The divorce papers state that they were married on or about the 20th day of October, 1887 in Los Angeles, CA. No marriage record can be found.
*Oakland Tribune, 13 Feb 1894, Page 1
*The San Francisco Call, 14 Feb 1894, Wed, Page 10
According to the divorce record filed by Tilghman, Elvira had left him and could not be found. It states that she has been extremely cruel to Tilghman, she demands all of the money that he makes and then goes off to the Opera with another man. He states that she has said that she no longer loves him and calls him a "damned old fool". In the statement he says, "Defendant is a woman of much personal beauty and plaintiff was very fond of her and did everything in his power by kindness and attention and by giving her the money which he earned to make her happy and contented. One night he would not give her all of his wages because he wanted to retain a portion for his own use, she became very angry with him and cursed him and struck him several violent blows on the head with a heavy umbrella handle and broke it over his head and called him a damned fool and she said that she wished he would die and she took a large butcher knife and told him she would kill him with it and he had great difficulty in getting the knife away from her.
Elvira could not be found to serve her with the divorce summons so it was served by publication.
Tilghman did not venture to marry again....I guess he wasn't up to the challenge!
#52 Ancestors #Challenge
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