MAMA MARGARET DIVORCES PAPA CHARLES: THE TOUR: ~INTRODUCTION~---the list of tour stops---other links---site navigation
Papa Charles, the father of the Five Stokey Siblings, was not single-minded. The documents that are in this website show that he had several different interests, as well as a couple of issues that developed in his life. I've separated the documents related to them into different Tours so as to get handle on them.
The Tours related to Papa Charles are:
Now for the subject of this particular Tour:
Mama Margaret filed for divorce from Papa Charles in January of 1900, after five children and 25 years of marriage.
Why?
In later years, the children - the Five Stokey Siblings - didn't talk about it much at all. They said that Papa Charles had a bad temper. It had apparently grown worse over the years, to the point where the children insisted their mother divorce their father, and after the divorce none of the children ever communicated with their father again.
That short summary was the children's point of view. I think there was more to it than that. The first document in this Tour gives Mama Margaret's petition for divorce. It lists a lot of abuse of Mama Margaret by Papa Charles. I haven't studied the history of divorce, but I imagine that in 1900 domestic abuse was the surest way for a woman to succeed in getting a divorce from her husband.
But the petition also mentions that Papa Charles was contemplating selling Mama Margaret's home out from under her. Papa Charles owned two back-to-back lots, one on Eighth Street and one on Ninth Street. It may be that by 1900, Papa Charles was living in the house on one lot and Mama Margaret was living in the house on the other lot. I'm not sure of that. But I know that Papa Charles lost his job in the Canton Public Schools in the late 1890s (reason unknown; that's another subject for speculation), and was scrounging for money. Since he owned two property lots, an obvious way to bring in some money would be to sell one of the lots.
It sounds to me as though the children were appalled by their father's abuse of their mother and wanted her to divorce him before the money problems cropped up, but Mama Margaret was willing to put up with the abuse - until Papa Charles started to threaten to leave her homeless. Maybe he thought she could go live with her mother? I don't know. But I think that the threat of having her home taken from her was what persuaded Mama Margaret to do what her children already wanted, and file for divorce. And then in later years, what the children remembered was the abuse that so horrified them, and not the financial threat.
The newspaper clippings about the divorce in this Tour, other than the initial one with the divorce petition, don't give much information; all we see is the case moving through the courts, and eventually, apparently, being settled. I think that in the end Papa Charles got one of the back-to-back lots and Mama Margaret got the other. But I don't know for sure. I could try to see what I could find in the Canton OH records, but it's not at the top of my very long list of things to do.
Then there is the post-divorce period, when, according to the family story, the Five Stokey Siblings never had anything to do with Papa Charles again. This turns out not to be true.
When Mama Margaret's mother, Jane Gracey Provines, died at the end of 1900, Papa Charles was the executor of her will. I assume that Grandma Provines had named him as executor in her will before the divorce, and that then nobody thought to get Grandma Provines to update her will, but I don't know.
When Will was sent in 1903 by the army to the Philippines, halfway across the world, Mama Margaret wrote him regularly, giving him (while she still lived in Canton) updates on all of the family, including Papa Charles. The updates that she gave included the fact that Fred worked with Papa Charles in 1903 on an experiment that the latter was doing. Eva mentioned to Alma that Papa Charles had given her a present for her high school graduation. Alma was off at Oberlin College, so it would have been easy for her to cut off contact with her father, but Laura maintained contact with her father for the rest of her life; she even lived with him for a while. I've included in this Tour letters and documents showing the contacts between Papa Charles and Fred, Laura, and Eva.
In 1904, Mama Margaret, Fred, and Eva moved from Canton to Oberlin, selling the Canton house that Mama Margaret apparently now owned.. It made sense to do so, because Fred and Eva would be attending Oberlin, and Alma was about to start working towards her PhD at the University of Chicago. But conceivably it also suited Mama Margaret to get further away from her ex-husband. Canton had always been more a home of the Stokey family than of Mama Margaret's family, the Provineses.
In 1912, Will's first wife, Margaret, died following childbirth. Laura told Papa Charles about it; I think that at that time Papa Charles and Laura were living in the same place. Papa Charles sent Will a condolence letter, and mentioned that Will had written him in 1910 previously about his engagement to Margaret, sending pictures of her. I strongly suspect that Margaret had suggested to Will that he write his father about the engagement, because Margaret liked maintaining ties within Will's family. I don't know that for sure. At any rate, it is clear from Papa Charles's condolence letter that Will's 1910 letter to him had not re-established contact between the two.
Mama Margaret said something in a 1913 letter to Eva about Papa Charles tormenting Laura. It's unclear what he was doing, and also unclear whether this had happened in the past or was happening in 1913. But, as previously noted, Papa Charles was-probably living with Laura at this time, so he would have had access to torment her. The impression I get is that Mama was willing to put up with being tormented herself by Papa Charles when she was married to him, but that to have Papa Charles tormenting their children was a different story. But that's just an impression.
Papa Charles died in 1916, and there is no mention of his death in any of the letters that I've looked at. Laura held a funeral service for him at her home, however.
As is standard with the Tours, each stop in the Tour has links to the previous stop and the next stop in the Tour.
The Tours related to Papa Charles are:
- PAPA CHARLES AS TEACHER/ADMINISTRATOR: THE TOUR
- PAPA CHARLES AS GOVERNMENT WEATHER OBSERVER: THE TOUR
- PAPA CHARLES IN POLITICS: THE TOUR
- PAPA CHARLES'S DISABILITY PENSION: THE TOUR
- MAMA MARGARET DIVORCES PAPA CHARLES: THE TOUR (this Tour)
Now for the subject of this particular Tour:
Mama Margaret filed for divorce from Papa Charles in January of 1900, after five children and 25 years of marriage.
Why?
In later years, the children - the Five Stokey Siblings - didn't talk about it much at all. They said that Papa Charles had a bad temper. It had apparently grown worse over the years, to the point where the children insisted their mother divorce their father, and after the divorce none of the children ever communicated with their father again.
That short summary was the children's point of view. I think there was more to it than that. The first document in this Tour gives Mama Margaret's petition for divorce. It lists a lot of abuse of Mama Margaret by Papa Charles. I haven't studied the history of divorce, but I imagine that in 1900 domestic abuse was the surest way for a woman to succeed in getting a divorce from her husband.
But the petition also mentions that Papa Charles was contemplating selling Mama Margaret's home out from under her. Papa Charles owned two back-to-back lots, one on Eighth Street and one on Ninth Street. It may be that by 1900, Papa Charles was living in the house on one lot and Mama Margaret was living in the house on the other lot. I'm not sure of that. But I know that Papa Charles lost his job in the Canton Public Schools in the late 1890s (reason unknown; that's another subject for speculation), and was scrounging for money. Since he owned two property lots, an obvious way to bring in some money would be to sell one of the lots.
It sounds to me as though the children were appalled by their father's abuse of their mother and wanted her to divorce him before the money problems cropped up, but Mama Margaret was willing to put up with the abuse - until Papa Charles started to threaten to leave her homeless. Maybe he thought she could go live with her mother? I don't know. But I think that the threat of having her home taken from her was what persuaded Mama Margaret to do what her children already wanted, and file for divorce. And then in later years, what the children remembered was the abuse that so horrified them, and not the financial threat.
The newspaper clippings about the divorce in this Tour, other than the initial one with the divorce petition, don't give much information; all we see is the case moving through the courts, and eventually, apparently, being settled. I think that in the end Papa Charles got one of the back-to-back lots and Mama Margaret got the other. But I don't know for sure. I could try to see what I could find in the Canton OH records, but it's not at the top of my very long list of things to do.
Then there is the post-divorce period, when, according to the family story, the Five Stokey Siblings never had anything to do with Papa Charles again. This turns out not to be true.
When Mama Margaret's mother, Jane Gracey Provines, died at the end of 1900, Papa Charles was the executor of her will. I assume that Grandma Provines had named him as executor in her will before the divorce, and that then nobody thought to get Grandma Provines to update her will, but I don't know.
When Will was sent in 1903 by the army to the Philippines, halfway across the world, Mama Margaret wrote him regularly, giving him (while she still lived in Canton) updates on all of the family, including Papa Charles. The updates that she gave included the fact that Fred worked with Papa Charles in 1903 on an experiment that the latter was doing. Eva mentioned to Alma that Papa Charles had given her a present for her high school graduation. Alma was off at Oberlin College, so it would have been easy for her to cut off contact with her father, but Laura maintained contact with her father for the rest of her life; she even lived with him for a while. I've included in this Tour letters and documents showing the contacts between Papa Charles and Fred, Laura, and Eva.
In 1904, Mama Margaret, Fred, and Eva moved from Canton to Oberlin, selling the Canton house that Mama Margaret apparently now owned.. It made sense to do so, because Fred and Eva would be attending Oberlin, and Alma was about to start working towards her PhD at the University of Chicago. But conceivably it also suited Mama Margaret to get further away from her ex-husband. Canton had always been more a home of the Stokey family than of Mama Margaret's family, the Provineses.
In 1912, Will's first wife, Margaret, died following childbirth. Laura told Papa Charles about it; I think that at that time Papa Charles and Laura were living in the same place. Papa Charles sent Will a condolence letter, and mentioned that Will had written him in 1910 previously about his engagement to Margaret, sending pictures of her. I strongly suspect that Margaret had suggested to Will that he write his father about the engagement, because Margaret liked maintaining ties within Will's family. I don't know that for sure. At any rate, it is clear from Papa Charles's condolence letter that Will's 1910 letter to him had not re-established contact between the two.
Mama Margaret said something in a 1913 letter to Eva about Papa Charles tormenting Laura. It's unclear what he was doing, and also unclear whether this had happened in the past or was happening in 1913. But, as previously noted, Papa Charles was-probably living with Laura at this time, so he would have had access to torment her. The impression I get is that Mama was willing to put up with being tormented herself by Papa Charles when she was married to him, but that to have Papa Charles tormenting their children was a different story. But that's just an impression.
Papa Charles died in 1916, and there is no mention of his death in any of the letters that I've looked at. Laura held a funeral service for him at her home, however.
As is standard with the Tours, each stop in the Tour has links to the previous stop and the next stop in the Tour.
MAMA MARGARET DIVORCES PAPA CHARLES: THE TOUR: ---introduction---~THE LIST OF TOUR STOPS~---other links---site navigation
- 1900-01-30 DIVORCE PETITION FOR MAMA MARGARET ----- The initial petition from Mama Margaret, in a newspaper article.
- 1900-03-16 NEWSPAPER ITEM ABOUT THE STOKEY DIVORCE ----- Papa Charles denies Mama Margaret's allegations of abuse.
- 1900-05-22 NEWSPAPER ITEM ABOUT THE STOKEY DIVORCE ----- Papa Charles's lawyers request postponement of the hearing.
- 1900-06-01 NEWSPAPER ITEM MENTIONING THE STOKEY DIVORCE ----- The hearing is delayed again due to outside factors.
- 1900-06-19 NEWSPAPER ITEM FEATURING PAPA CHARLES ----- The hearing, previously set for sometime in the week of June 18, is now delayed until June 27.
- 1900-09-11 NEWSPAPER ITEM MENTIONING THE STOKEY DIVORCE ----- The hearing is scheduled for September 21.
- 1900-09-25 NEWSPAPER ITEM MENTIONING THE STOKEY DIVORCE ----- Still working on a settlement. Apparently the difficulties were worked out, and the divorce was finalized.
- 1901-02-12: ARTICLE FEATURING PAPA CHARLES AND GRANDMA PROVINES ----- Papa Charles is the executor for the will of Mama Margaret's mother, who died in December 1900.
- 1903-04-24 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO WILL ----- When Will is assigned to the Philippines by the army, Mama Margaret encloses a poem from the newspaper that Papa Charles wanted to send to him.
- 1903-06-28 LETTER FROM EVA TO ALMA ----- Papa Charles gives Eva a present for her high school graduation.
- 1903-08-26 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO WILL ----- Fred helps Papa Charles with an experiment for a lecture.
- 1903-09-13 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO WILL ----- More on Fred helping Papa Charles with an experiment for a lecture.
- 1904-04-25 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO WILL ----- Papa Charles is renting out rooms in his house.
- 1909-09-23 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO WILL ----- Mama Margaret remembers the early days.
- 1912-11-27 LETTER FROM PAPA CHARLES TO WILL ----- Papa Charles sends condolences on the death of Will's wife.
- 1913-03-06 LETTER FROM MAMA MARGARET TO EVA ----- Mama Margaret says something about Papa Charles tormenting Laura.
- 1913-12 OSTEOPATH JOURNAL ENTRY FOR LAURA ----- Laura is listed as having the same address as Papa Charles's return address in his 1912 letter to Will.
- 1916-01-06 OBITUARY FOR PAPA CHARLES ----- Laura holds a funeral service for her father in her home.
MAMA MARGARET DIVORCES PAPA CHARLES: THE TOUR: ---introduction---the list of tour stops---~OTHER LINKS~---site navigation
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