True E. Agnew (1889-1968)

True Agnew was born on 11 Dec 1889 in Pulaski County,  Indiana, the daughter of Joseph B. Agnew and Ida Wagoner. She is a 1st cousin 4x removed of my son-in-law, on his paternal grandmother’s side.

True would marry three times, the first time at age 17 in Jan 1907 to Henry R. Everson, a Danish immigrant, who came to the US in 1893. He was a farmer. They had a daughter Alice, who in 1910 is living with True’s parents, listed as ‘adopted daughter.’ Henry remarried, he is listed in 1910 in Indiana with wife Ada.

True married the second time in 1910, to George Snyder. It was his first marriage, and in the 1910 census, it is listed as her first marriage also. I have not yet found the marriage certificate. They also have one child, a son Joseph, b. 1912, who lives with them at least through the 1930 census. George is a farm laborer, listed in 1920 as “working out’ (did he hire himself out?). Whether George remarried, I don’t know; he is listed in 1940 by himself (divorced) in Monroe Twp, Pulaski County as a farmer.

In 1932 True married again, to William Bridegroom. In the marriage certificate they are both listed as divorced. He was born c. 1883. They are together in the 1940 census in Logansport, IN. They pay $12/month in rent. She has an 8th grade education, he a 5th grade; they are living in same house as in 1935. Both are looking for work: he was a laborer, hauling dirt; she is a new worker.

I wonder about her life: three marriages, her daughter brought up by her parents; a lifetime of housework, and at age 50 she is looking for work outside the house. Because of poverty? the war? Did she have contact with her children? Was she present at their marriages (Alice married at least twice, the second time in 1932). What were the circumstances of her divorces? Life certainly cannot have been easy for her. She died in 1968, I hope she was mourned by many.