Today, I received the marriage record for Clara Belle (Dodge) Morgan to her second husband, Goodwin O'Grady. With the release of the 1931 Canada Census in June, I have found additional information on Clara during the 1930's that have helped fill in some gaps in her life. I was very surprised to find that she had remarried and was wedded to Goodwin O'Grady, a man who had immigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1914 (on the eve of World War One). I was also very surprised to find out that this marriage was short-lived and that it was annulled.
Below is the marriage record for Goodwin O'Grady and Clara Belle (Dodge) Morgan. They were married on June 19, 1929 at St. John's Anglican Church (Church of England on the marriage record) in the town of Unity, Saskatchewan. Unity is in western Saskatchewan, about half-way between the towns of Wilkie (where Clara lived with her first husband, William Morgan, from 1911 until his departure in 1922) and Winter (where Clara lived with her second husband, Goodwin O'Grady, from 1929 until their annulment in 1935).
According to their marriage record, Goodwin was 36 years old (he was born in 1893), was a bachelor, and was a Farmer. He belonged to the Church of Ireland and lived in Winter, Saskatchewan. He was born in Cork, Ireland to Carew O'Grady and Florence Hingston. Clara was 40 years old (she was born in 1884, which means that she was 45 years old), was a widow (at this time she didn't know whether her first husband was still alive or not), and belonged to the Christian Church (in the 1931 Canada Census, she lists her religion as Adventist - the religion of her parents). Her occupation was Housewife and she lived in Winter at the time of her marriage.
Clara was born in 'Beuna Vista' (judging by the spelling, she pronounced her birth town as BEU-na Vista as opposed to BUE-na Vista). The State or Country isn't listed (she was born in the State of Colorado, USA). Her father is Nathaniel Dodge and her mother is Fanny Stevens (while numerous records record the spelling of her mother's name as both Fanny and Fannie, her mother's birth and death records are both record her name as Fannie).
As mentioned in one of my previous posts, Goodwin filed for an annulment in 1935 when it was found out that Clara's first husband was still alive and residing in Ontario. According to the 1931 Census, there is a William John Morgan living in Fort William, Ontario (a town along Lake Superior about 40 miles north of the US-Canada Border, north of Minnesota). According to this Census, he is 63 years old and widowed. He belongs to the Church of England. His occupation is a House Painter, but was unemployed. It isn't known how Clara or Goodwin found out that her first husband was still alive. William John Morgan would eventually end up living in Toronto, where he passed away on June 23, 1941. His death record states that he was married, but indicates that the name is his wife was not known. I have a post from March of last year that details what I have found on the life of William John Morgan. Below is the 1931 Census for William John Morgan.
One final thought - Why didn't Clara return to the United States, and Colorado, after her first husband departed? At the time of her marriage to her first husband in 1906, the laws of the United States were such that if a woman married a citizen of another country (even if the marriage was performed in the United States), then she would lose her citizenship and be considered a citizen of the country of her spouse. There is no indication that William John Morgan became a U.S. Citizen, and that no immigration record was found for him when he entered the United States, or when he returned to Canada. Clara and her children (who were both born in the United States) immigrated to Canada in 1911, and were naturalized Canadian citizens as their husband and father was a Canadian citizen (They were actually subjects of the British Crown, as Canada was part of the British Empire). Following her first husband's departure, it is very likely that Clara didn't have the means to return home, as well as not having much to return home to. By the 1920's, each of her siblings had left Buena Vista, and her father didn't appear to have means to help provide for her to come back home, so remaining in Canada would have been her only option.
I am still waiting for a copy of the annulment case. In my previous post on Goodwin O'Grady, I shared a newspaper article I found regarding their annulment. I will share more on the annulment once I receive the annulment record.
