Marriage of Edward D. Chapin and Hattie E. McColley

[Erato]

I wonder what she sued him for?  By then he was already remarried.  But the legal situation might have prompted him to relocate to Texas.  Current Massachusetts law apparently permits divorce on the grounds of incurable insanity but requires that the "spouse must be judged permanently and incurably insane and be confined in an institution or a hospital for a minimum of 24 months before filing. To prove insanity, two or more psychiatrists are needed to testify that your spouse is incurable and that there is no hope of recovery. The court will appoint an attorney to act in the defense of your spouse whom you purport to be insane."  I don't know what the law was at that time.

http://www.madivorceonline.com/mapages/Divorce/divorcerequirements.asp#18

[Erato]

Many of the patients at the Worcester Asylum were buried at the Hillside Cemetery which was maintained by the state hospital.  The cemetery is being restored and the graves are being marked with names and dates.  The work is complete in the western section where the graves seem to go up to 1924.  The newer eastern section is not completed.  Olive is not among the patients listed so far.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtcstjoh/cemetery/hillsidelist.htm#east

[Fernz]

A question for Lisa of Cailfornia ... Did the marriage record/bond you found for Edward Chapin and Hattiesburg McColley give Edward's alleged marital status?  I have a similar mystery in England 30 years earlier, with a second marriage but no obvious death of first wife. At the second marriage, the husband said he was a bachelor - which he wasn't - and I'm starting to think the first wife could have been committed to an asylum. So I'd be interested in whether Edward Chapin thought he was a bachelor or a widower when he married Hattie McColley (but I can't access any of the paying sites at the moment). Thanks 

[Fernz]

Dratted auto spellcheck!! Hattie not Hattiesburg of course