Love Letters, Lies, Half-Truths – Who Knows?
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 were piled on top
of her head. 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.
My grandmother, Nancy Ames Hansen
Worthing, was nothing more to me than a name on a family tree before I took on
the task of writing about her. I was
always curious about the grandmother for whom I was named. That curiosity leads
me to find out more about her. I know a
little about her from Mom’s faded recollections, census records, newspaper
articles, divorce papers, pictures and a death certificate. Nancy died from a
brain tumor when Mom was twelve years old. My mom, Grace’s memories faded
throughout the years. Mom remembered her walking her to school and as the mother
who held her close, hugged her a lot, and read stories to her in bed on rainy
days. To honor and remember her, Mom and her cousin Margaret named their
daughters Nancy.
Nancy grew up in a one-room shack on
Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin. They lived a hardscrabble life. She was born in
1883, the eighth of twelve children, three living older brothers and three
living younger brothers. Her father,
Ira, was a Civil War veteran who suffered from alcoholism, PTSD, and chronic
pain from measles pneumonia. Newspaper accounts stated, he sold his wife’s
garden for booty. Ira started out married life as a farm owner, then laborer,
then a fisherman living five miles from his nearest neighbor.
Nancy’s mother, Cornelia, died from
pneumonia and starvation in childbirth when Nancy was nine years old. Her three
older brothers were sent out on their own and she and her three younger
brothers lived with their father for three years. Ira died when she was twelve.
Nancy was sent to the Sparta Orphanage until age seventeen. After discharge
from the orphanage she worked as a servant in Wisconsin and Illinois. I think
she met her first husband, Lou (Ludwig Hansen) while living in Illinois.
Lou lived next door to Nancy’s
brother, Hiram. Lou, too, was orphaned at age twelve in New York City. I have
no information on how Lou ended up in Illinois or where he met Nancy.
Blanche was born in 1908. Soon after,
the marriage deteriorated. Nancy and Lou divorced in 1913. After the divorce,
Lou publicly humiliated Nancy accusing her of having an affair with a man
named, J.P. Glass. Lou published accusations in the newspapers with contents of
letters Glass had sent to her.
The newspapers throughout the Midwest
carried headlines:
Values wife’s love at $ 10,000. L. Hansen
claims former spouse’s affection alienated
by J. P. Glass of Plainfield. Plethora of
burning
love letters claimed as evidence by
plaintiff
against former clergyman.
The article went on to say:
Mrs.
Hansen got a divorce in Wheaton, September 10, 1913.
Her present address is unknown. She is said to
be living in Chicago . . . .
Hansen said that Glass convinced Mrs. Hansen
that he was her soul mate.
Hansen says in his bill
that that he told Glass’ wife
that her husband was not
faithful but he admits that he could not
convince her that he was telling the truth.
Mrs. Glass took in Mrs.
Hansen
as a [domestic] servant after she left her husband.
My mother died not knowing about
these published letters. Our neighbor,
Mrs. Hamer once told my mother that there was a scandal about her mother’s
first marriage but would not give Mom any details. It was only while I was
doing genealogy research that I stumbled on to the newspaper articles.
On the envelopes of a letter
postmarked Joliet is: “Nancy, read this when you are all alone. Be sure no one
sees you. Then destroy.” Obviously, Glass did not want Lou to find the letters.
Nancy did not destroy the letters. I picture her feeling infatuated with Glass
and possibly thriving on the attention. If her marriage was in trouble the
attention by Glass must have boostered her ego and made her feel desirable
Excerpts of a letter bearing the date
of September 18, 1912: “I am sending you
$2—am sorry it is not more—will probably make up some day. I received your
letter and card O.K. It is always safe to write in care of J. & S. at
Joliet, for no one else will see any letter that comes there. [Glass was
working as a railroad conductor at this time.] Of course we could not do any
talking when you were over: for there were too many ears and eyes. But I want
to give you credit for being close mouthed. You are all right, kid. No one will ever learn anything from you.”
This leads me to believe that Nancy answered Glass’ letters and that while she
was working as a domestic servant at the Glass household, Mrs. Glass and the children were around so she
and Glass could not talk. I am not privy to what she may have written but I
hope she asked Glass to stop.
Glass was sneaking around trying to see Nancy.
He wrote to her saying: “I will be in Aurora next Tuesday, September 24 and if
O.K. will come at 10 in the forenoon or 3 in the afternoon, whichever is best
for you. Let me know for I don’t want to take any chances. Write me to the same
place as before or if any other day is better for you, I can meet your
convenience. Think over that telephone proposition I made you and make the
brute treat you right or leave him. You can take care of yourself. You have
done it with him thrown in. Besides you know you have friends. Good-bye till I
see you. Yours with love. J.P.”
From one of the other letters written
by Glass it appears my Grandmother did not have clandestine meetings with him? “Dear Nancy,
Where the Dickens have you been all
afternoon? I have been hunting all over h _ _ _ for you since 3 o’clock. I looked for you at the transfer station and
when you did not come, I went up to the house twice and found no one at home….”
Some of the neighbors looked me over
when I rang the bell, but if anyone says anything just tell them I happened to
be in town and came up to pay you for some work you did for us and arrange to
have you come and do some more. I don’t want to do anything that will cause
talk or make any trouble, but I can’t tell you how disappointed I felt. Now,
dearie, let’s not try to make any more dates by mail, but you come over the
first chance you have and manage some way to see me on the side and we will
talk it over and make arrangements. I am so impatient to see you that I could
fight some one. I wish you had a phone – it would make things so much handier.
Hoping for better luck next time, I
am your loving affinity. J.P. He sounds like a cad to me and that Nancy was not
interested in carrying on with him. She may have been gone that afternoon or
just not answered the door, or afraid Lou would come home and find Glass there.
I want to believe this was a one-sided affair on Glass’ part.
Glass wrote to her again and again on
September 12 1912 he wrote:
“Dear Nancy, I have wanted to talk to
you so long and never had a chance, as there was always someone around. Dear
girl, you do not know how much you mean to me. I would not say that I love you,
for I am not sure that I ever really loved anyone or that I know what real,
true love is.
But I will say this much, I think so
much of you that if we were both free and you would have me, I would marry you
tomorrow…. Yours, J.P.” Neither was free. Just wishful thinking on his part. He
was married with three children and Nancy was married with one child.
Nancy’s
divorce papers state that Lou beat her and infer that she was in the hospital
from the beatings. The papers also stated his affairs with lewd women in
Chicago, and that he once held a revolver to his wife and daughter’s heads. Lou
was in contempt of court for not paying alimony and child support. During the
marriage and the divorce proceedings, Nancy hid her daughter, Blanche, with her
brother Marvin in Janesville, Wisconsin, sixty miles away.
Lou
responded to the charges by claiming Nancy was out all night with other men and
came home intoxicated. After the divorce, Nancy worked as a maid in an affluent
Wheaton, Illinois household. There she met and married Charlie Worthing, the chauffer.
They married on September 15,1915 and moved to Truro, Iowa. I know when they
lived in Truro that they belonged to the Worthing Baptist Church. Nancy was an
Eastern Star and Charlie was a mason.
I
know a little more about my Grandmother, Nancy’s life. However, much of what
I’ve found provokes more questions. Did circumstances turn out the way they did
because her role model growing up was a mother aged beyond her years from
raising twelve children on the prairie in a one-room shack? Or a father who was
an alcoholic? Did being an orphan and working as a servant lead her to marry a
young, wealthy man (Lou) who showered her with affection and worldly goods? Was
she a distraught wife? Did Lou beat her? Did Lou actually hold a revolver to
their heads as the divorce papers state? Was she involved with Mr. Glass
romantically or were the Glass’s sheltering her from Lou? Was she infatuated
and craved the attention Glass showered her with? Did she marry Charlie for
love, security, or escape from publicity? Did Charlie offer her the anonymity
of living in Truro, a town of 300?
The
discovery of finding these published letters long forgotten, brought sorrow to so
many more unanswered questions and me. Of the letters published, there were
only the ones written by Glass. Although the newspaper indicates Nancy wrote
back, Glass must have destroyed them. The letters only provide a glimpse into
my Grandmother’s life. I wonder if my Grandmother ever imagined her
granddaughter would find these newspaper articles. I wish to paint a picture of
my grandmother being mistreated in her first marriage and living “happily ever
after” in her second marriage. However, from my own experience, I know there is
always some truth to rumors and innuendos. I want to think my grandmother was
not having a clandestine affair with Mr. Glass. I want to believe she was very
humiliated and saddened by the exposure of the letters. And that she was
infatuated with Glass’ attention since her marriage did not work out. I hope
she found some happiness in her Truro life raising her two daughters, Blanche
and Grace.
I
knew Lou from a child’s view. After Blanche died, Lou came to live with us. He
had no relatives. My mother felt sorry
for him being alone and elderly. He lived with us for six years until he died.
I remember him as a bitter, mean, nasty old man who only loved his mint condition Model T Ford and his parakeet. He
always told my sister and I at the dinner table that, “Children should be seen
and not heard”. In other words no talking about our day I remember him baby
sitting for us one night and chasing us through the house with a razor strap.
We hid behind a rocking chair for hours until our parents came home after
midnight.