It seems it would be much easier to be the first wife. You are typically younger, you can set expectations, you don’t have to mother children that are your husbands (i.ie. avoid the “You are not my mother!”), and you don’t have the image of an earlier wife to get in the way of your relationship. However, in the past, being in the First Wives’ Club often meant that tragedy would strike.
Members of the Club
This article takes a look at eight of the members of the First Wives’ Club whose marriage ended and whose spouse went on to marry again.
Note: ♥ indicates a direct ancestor of myself or my husband. In some cases, however, if tragedy hadn’t struck the first wife, we would not be here since we descend from a subsequent wife.
Matilda (White) Jury ♥
Married
John Charles Jury Sr.
November 24, 1858
Oxford, Ontario, Canada
Children
Walter Abraham. Wilburt Henry, John Charles Jr., Matilda E.
The Tragedy
Died at age 30, cause unknown. The children were all under age 10. The family immigrated to the United States. It was eight years before John remarried to Harriett Warner. His mother and sister helped raise his children. He had 3 more children with his second wife.
Emma (Ackermann) Klinefelter ♥
Married
Judge Sharpless Klinefelter
October 25, 1886
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Children
Blanche Mabel, Daniel✝
The Tragedy
Died at age 25. Emma died in childbirth with her son Daniel. Daniel also died. Judge traveled as a part of his work as a builder. Blanche was raised primarily by his parents. Eight years later, he married Lois Betha Campbell. They had two daughters and then divorced. He married a third time to Martha Edwards. Judge outlived all of his wives.
Eleanor (East) Storms ♥
Married
Conrad Storms Jr.
March 14, 1814
Garrad County, Kentucky
Children
Lucy Ann, James M., Joseph E., Elizabeth, Martha Ellen
The Tragedy
Died at age 30, Eleanor died of complications of childbirth with Martha. Martha survived. It seems likely, however, that she had lost at least one or two children before as there are seven years between the birth of two of her children.
Lulu (Guthrie) Helm
Married
Philip (Jacob) Helm
June 9, 1927
Sidney, Iowa
Children
Edward William, Rosa Maria
The Tragedy
Died at age 26. Lulu died of tuberculosis. Even before she died, she was away from the family multiple times as she struggled with mental health. Jake was over 50 when he remarried to Minnie Louisa Carolina Kutzner♥, who was nearly twenty years his junior. They had three children. This tragedy allowed for the birth of my mother-in-law with Jake’s second wife.
Sarah Ellen “Sadie Ella” (Ashby) Thomas ♥
Married
James William “Will” Thomas
May 30, 1902
Fort Scott, Kansas
Children
Dessie May, Delbert Roy, Oren Glenn, Leland/Leonard William, Verda Leola, Theo Melvin “Bud”
The Tragedy
Died at age 34, Sadie Ella died from childbirth complicated by hemorrhaging and myocarditis. She lost three children at the time of birth or shortly after, including a son that died two days before she did. Will did not remarry until their children were grown. He did not have any children with his second wife, Belle (Tremain) Woodard.
Della M. (Conner) Pellett ♥
Married
Henry Pellett, Sr.
October 12, 1893
Fort Scott, Kansas
Children
Clifford Claney, Nina May✝, Henry B. Jr., Aseneth “Senith”
The Tragedy
Died at age 33. Della died after a short-illness. her sister-in-law (Henry’s broth Seth’s wife Emma [Miller] Pellett) died within hours of Della’s passing. Della had already lost her daughter Nina before her death. Henry remarried to Elizabeth Maxwell. They divorced after a very short marriage. Henry then married Emma Jones. They had one son.
Ida Jane (Welch) Van Allen
Married
John (Warren) Van Allen
July 18, 1882
Grant County, Wisconsin
Children
Arthur Wesley, Leon Leslie, John E., Alice, Charles Roe, Kathryn (Carrie), Floyd
The Tragedy
Died at age 37 after an illness of eight months. With his oldest daughter being only ten years old, Grinda Josephine Hanson ♥ came to work for Warren caring for his home. Within a few months, they married despite Grinda being 25 years his junior and younger than his oldest sons. They had seven children together.
Elizabeth (Edgerton) Peelle ♥
Married
Robert Peelle IV
January 29, 1728
Sidney, Iowa
Children
Robert, Passco, Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah
The Tragedy
Died at age 37. Robert remarried the following year to Charity Dickenson ♥. This one is complicated as I descend from both of his wives. Elizabeth’s son Passco and Charity’s daughter Judith have descendants that married. So, it is both a tragedy and a blessing from the perspective of people in my family line.
Ernstine (Stahlhert) Kutzner
Married
Herman Kutzner
July 5, 1877
Children
Wilhelmina “Minnie”, Caroline Mary “Maria”
The Tragedy
Ernstine did not die young. Instead, Herman and Ernstine divorced sometime between 1880 and 1882. She remarried in 1883 to August Meyer. They had four children. Herman remarried in 1885 to Wilhelmina “Minnie” Schmidt ♥. They had 10 children, but 4 died young. The sad part of this story is that although some of the half-siblings knew each other, the connection seems to have stopped there. Thus, my mother-in-law did not even know that she had half-aunts or half-cousins.
Sarah C. Dufer
Married
Lemuel Lawrence McCracken
September 23, 1854
Lee County, Iowa
Children
Delormah/Delarma”Del” (Lawrence)
The Tragedy
Sarah, it is assumed, died during or soon after giving birth to their son as Lemuel remarried to Louisiana (Matteer) Badgley ♥ a few months after she gave birth. Sarah would have only been 21 or 22 at the time. Lemuel had six children with Louisiana. After Louisiana died, he married Melissa (Eveline) (Donley) McKown Rhodes.