The story of Marie and Thomas
Marie and Thomas are my second-great grandparents on my father’s maternal side of the family.
I’ve been doing family history research for a long time, and I think most family historians will tell you that the real stories of our ancestors rarely emerge. The internet has made it easier to dig up the tidbits though with more and more newspaper archives going online. Before accessing these articles online, researchers would have to flip through endless reels of microfilm at the local library, trying to locate any information we can about the people we might be related to.
I had been researching my Kentucky relatives since I had started in on my Ancestry account. The Kentucky side is my father’s paternal side. One of my cousins had started some research and gave my grandfather a book of information, and that’s when I initially began my genealogy journey. I signed up to an Ancestry account right away and have been doing this for 12-13 years now. The Kentucky ancestors didn’t give up many secrets though, and it wasn’t until a few years ago, with a message from one of my cousins on Ancestry, did I start digging into the wild world on the other side of my dad’s family. Little did I know that my father’s maternal side not only had secrets, but a lot of them were so much out in the open, it has been a difficult task keeping track of everything.
The story of Marie and Thomas is not happy. Their story is also one that’s still unfolding for me, so I can’t even tell all of it here now. But using a long series of newspaper articles that my cousin gave to me, and a few other records, I have been able to piece together a timeline for these two.
My second great-grandmother married Thomas after she arrived in the United States from Germany. She came to live with her brother, Otto, in Port Huron, Michigan. She was pregnant with her first child, Freda, on the ship over from Hamburg. Though this story doesn’t begin with Marie, it starts with Thomas, born in St. Catherine’s, Canada in 1863 and brought to Port Huron, Michigan by his parents when he was probably about 4 or 5, along with some of his other siblings.
Map of Port Huron, Michigan - Port Huron is on the bottom of the 'thumb' in Michigan and over the border from Canada.
Life of crime
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 1 Jun 1877. p 4.
Thomas begins his life of crime
Age 14 - 1 Jun 1877
Thomas, also known as ‘Tosh’ in many of the accounts of him, was first mentioned in the Port Huron newspapers in 1877, starting his life of crime the age of 14.
He was selling obscene literature in Sarnia, Canada, just over the river from Port Huron, and caught by local authorities there.
Because of his age, or maybe because this was his first offence, he was “set at liberty by the Goaler about five p. m.” and let go “evidently ignorant of the grave position in which he was placed.” There were no warrants against him, at least none in the town of Sarnia, but Thomas becomes a well-known figure from this point forward in Port Huron.
Thomas arrested, his father is convicted
Age 20 - 11 Jan 1884
The paper reports Thomas’ arrest for robbery in 1884. This news article is the first and only time that his father, Richard, covers for Thomas and takes any blame for his son’s misdoings.
It’s not completely clear why Richard takes the blame for his son. However, a clue might be in a military record found for Thomas around the same time, plus the information only briefly mentioned in the last paragraph of this article. “The son was afterward re-arrested on a charge of being a deserter from a Western military post, and will be delivered to the authorities at Fort Wayne by Constable Cox.”
The military record both confirms his desertion as well as his discharge from Fort Wayne.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 11 Jan 1884. p. 2
Thomas’ military record is challenging to read, but his official enlistment date is 18 September 1883. He is noted both as a sailor but also what looks like the ‘Mounted Service’. I know his father was a sailmaker, and military was probably an expectation for Thomas at this time. Though his military record also states that he deserted on 25 September 1883, only a few days after enlistment. Then he’s back again on 10 January 1884, which corresponds to the information in the article, published a day after.
Thomas Lenthall; Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls); Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1780’s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Thomas’ military career was incredibly short-lived after this, he was discharged only a few months later, probably around the time that his father was finishing his 90-day jail sentence (the handwriting looks like March 1884). I think there might be the possibility of a plea bargain here, maybe Richard went to jail in order to get his son back into the military. Though with such a short-lived military career, it does make me wonder how he was discharged so quickly.
While Thomas did not carry the military tradition through, both of his brothers did. I do have additional colourful accounts of both brothers from their station in Cleveland. One brother even landing himself a stay in Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. Rest assured there are stories to be found in the entire family here.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 24 Nov 1888. p 4.
Thomas on trial and sent back to jail
Age 25 - 24 Nov 1888
Thomas charged again with breaking and entering. The jury here seems unsure on whether to convict him. I like that instead of releasing him, they send him “back to jail until the next term of court, when he will be tried again.”
It’s interesting to me, after going through all of these articles, that there is even one sympathetic member of this jury towards him. But this is still early days for Thomas.
Thomas arrested for the 27th time
Age 27 - 1 Dec 1890
The tone of the articles starts to change around 1890. During these years you get the sense that The Times Herald, and even Thomas himself, begins to embrace his minor celebrity around Port Huron. This fact though is one of the sad tragedies of Marie’s eventual fate. By the time the two of them met, she was already doomed to a lifetime of public exposure, putting the lowest parts of her life out in the open for the entire community to witness.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 1 Dec 1890. p 5.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 20 Jun 1891. p 5.
Thomas and others arrested for burglarising Murray’s saloon
Age 28 - 20 Jun 1891
This article is two for the price of one. It seems in one paragraph Thomas is arrested for burglary with a few others, while in the next he’s being accused directly by the paper that he was a thief in a different robbery.
I have a lot of feelings going through these articles, but one of them is the questionable indifference that The Times Herald has to journalistic integrity during this time. So many of these news snippets are the most mundane thing you’ve ever read, stuff like “Mrs Petigrew is visiting her sister from Chicago this weekend.” (yawn). But when they latch onto something else in another snippet, they go for it.
I’m not saying that Thomas has zero guilt, but I do wonder if being egged on by the newspaper in some of these situations created what he eventually became. I do get the sense that Thomas liked seeing his name in the papers, even if it was for the most despicable reasons.
Thomas borrows money for the Chicago Exhibition
Age 29 - 6 Mar 1893
Known as the Columbian Exhibition, the world’s fair in Chicago celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to “The New World”.1 Thomas has petitioned the poor master’s office for a loan to travel to the fair and work as a janitor. They did grant the money with the condition he pays it back.
In context, it’s difficult not to feel from this that Thomas is taking everybody for a ride again, though he does pay back the money. There’s no follow up to this though. There’s nothing that says he did go to Chicago (maybe he got lucky with gambling before anybody knew wiser). But I like the slight optimism in this article. You do get the feeling that perhaps he has turned a corner and is on the up. And it could be for a short time he had. We don’t hear much from him until he marries Marie, at least nothing that found reported in the papers during the next few years.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 6 Mar 1893. p 5.
“Lenthal says he is doing well and expects to become a millionaire during the fair.”
Thomas meets Marie
Marie was born in 1877 in Danzig, then known to be a part of Prussia, but now is considered Poland. She is one of three ancestors on my dad’s side of the family that came to the United States from Prussia, all of them German-speaking. The other two settled in Toledo, Ohio, and my great grandmother, Marie’s second daughter, Clara, would eventually marry their son.
Marie travelled from Hamburg, Germany and arrived in New York in April 1899; her passage possibly paid for by her brother, Otto, established already in Port Huron. I know from records that Marie travelled on her own. I also know from records that she had a daughter, Freda, born shortly after her arrival, I believe around September 1899, which would mean that Marie was likely pregnant as she made the journey. I don’t know anything more about the circumstances in which she left, or what happened with Freda’s father, but just imagining this experience on her own while carrying a child seems remarkable to me today, especially two weeks across the Atlantic by ship.
Thomas and Marie marry
Thomas is 36 and Marie is 22 - 9 Feb 1900
There was quite a buzz around this event. It’s probably evident by now that Thomas doesn’t do much quietly.
Thomas borrows money for his marriage license
6 Feb 1900
It turns out Thomas didn’t make his millions after all from the Chicago Exhibition, because before he could marry, he was in the county clerk’s office trying to bargain a marriage license off of them. He eventually finds the funds and the two were married three days later.
The article states that they only met on Sunday night, which was two days before the article’s publication. So in less than a week, the two had met and were married.
There’s a bit of insight in this article that he was afraid if he didn’t act, then she would back out of the marriage. It would be interesting to know what Marie was thinking during this time, having arrived in the country the year before and with a baby at home.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 6 Feb 1900. p 6
“As he was leaving the clerk’s office, he volunteered the information [that] he was in an awful hurry for fear she would go back on him.”
Kalamazoo Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan). 11 Feb 1900.
Thomas calls in an interpreter
11 Feb 1900
A bit of additional insight comes from the Kalamazoo Gazette. It turns out that the marriage license was in German and Thomas had to call in an interpreter. I’ve only recently been in contact with the church where Marie was a member, but the name of the clergyman on the register does not match the sitting reverend at the time according to church history. It is not impossible, though, and I could still get something back from the church in Port Huron demonstrating their actual marriage. Thomas and his family did not seem all that religious, so I initially did assume this wasn’t a church wedding, but Marie’s family undoubtedly was.
Tragedy strikes Marie
Baby Freda passes away
Age between 9 and 11 months - 8 Aug 1900
Only six months into her marriage, her baby is now dead. Freda was just under a year when she passes away from cholera. The cousin who initially contacted me is a great-granddaughter of Otto, and she told me that they buried the baby near them, her mother probably also nearby. My cousin also remarked that her grandmother recalled the funeral of Freda and how sad it was to see the tiny coffin.
I don’t have Freda’s birth record; I don’t think it was ever registered in the state of Michigan (it’s possible that Marie didn’t know she needed to do this). However I’m hopeful that their church in Port Huron will have her baptism. The 1900 Census, which was taken two months before Freda’s death has her age at eight months, so assumes she was born September 1899. This record says that Freda was nine months old, so that would put her birthdate in November 1899.
While the father listed here is Thomas, there’s no possible way he could be her biological father. Marie was the informant, so she may have only put Thomas as the father because they were married at this time.
Freda J. Lentha (6 Aug 1900). Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 13 Aug 1900. p 1.
Marie tries to commit suicide
Age 23 - 13 Aug 1900
Things don’t get better for Marie, and I think this article has always brought me so much sadness and anger, for so many reasons. I guess again I’m critical of The Times Herald for making my second great-grandmother’s depression front-page news. I should also point out that this is the first time that the paper had Thomas’ name published on the front page, and it won’t be the last concerning Marie either.
I can’t imagine Marie’s sadness at this point. It must have been awful for her, and then to have her grief plastered on the local news though I am also grateful to Dr Patrick for saving her life. I think it was this article that started to make me realise that our near misses in life often happen before we are even born.
Marie suffers injuries from a fall
Age 23 - 27 Aug 1900
Marie dodges fate again when she fell from a streetcar no more than two weeks after her suicide attempt. A Dr Cote saved her this time, and the article mentioned she was “injured internally”.
Again plastered on the front page, Mrs Thomas Lenthal “lies at the point of death.” They claim that “her condition was delicate before the fall and she is now in a precarious state.”
I have a lot of opinions about how the paper presents this story, and I always feel that Marie was a bystander in this exposure. I have wondered though if people reading this article would have been sympathetic to Marie, or would they only be interested because of the man she married?
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 27 Aug 1900. p 1.
The Times Herald (Port Huron, Michigan). 30 Aug 1900. p 6.
Marie leaves Thomas
Marie is 23, and Thomas is 37 - 30 Aug 1900
I like to think that this is the point that Marie decides to take back control of her life. This point is also where I believe Thomas’ true despicable nature shines through. Only a few days after his wife’s second near-death experience, and weeks after she lost her baby, he is in the newspaper office crying to them about how he feels like he’s the victim in all of this.
“He told The Times that since his recent marriage his life had not been as pleasant as he had anticipated. His baby died for want of care, his wife once attempted suicide and on Sunday last had fallen from a street car. To cap the climax she had deserted him.”
Good for you, Marie.
“Lenthal for 29 years has been a vagabond and has a police record a yard long. Most any self-respecting woman would commit suicide rather than live with him.”
There’s much more to this story, as my great-grandmother isn’t even born yet. But this is a good place for a cliff-hanger.
To be continued…
References
“World’s Columbian Exposition.” Wikipedia, 25 Feb. 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Columbian_Exposition