Montie – also called Montego, Monte, and Montia – was a daughter of Leander W. C. Lincecum (d. 1882) and Tennessee Levy / Levi. Montie was born about 1867 in the state of Texas, and spent her entire life there. She married Wiley Saulsbury at Bell County about a week before Christmas, 1885. The couple had five daughters, including one who died from scarlet fever at the age of just four years.
After their marriage, Wiley and Montie remained at Temple in Bell County, TX for the next 20+ years. Wiley was a livestock trader, and Montie kept house and raised the girls. Wiley also served the town as constable for a number of years. Some time after the taking of the April 1910 Federal census, Wiley died. He was only in his mid to late fifties.
After Wiley's death, Montie moved to Waco in McLennan County, Texas. Likely to be with a couple of her daughters that were living there: Belle and Willa.
A "personal paragraph" in the social section of a 1921 Temple Daily Telegram newspaper, stated Mrs. Saulsbury was ill and had been so for some time. She improved and life went on.
But not for too terribly long. Mrs. Wiley Saulsbury died a few days before Thanksgiving just three years later in 1924. Her last vital record provides a curious cause of death: "Died suddenly, supposed to be accidental dose of Carbolic acid."
So who administered the dose? Did Montie do it herself? Well, there is a rumor Mrs. Saulsbury was poisoned by her son-in-law. But which one? For the 1920 McLennan County, TX Federal census, Monte was living with two sons-in-law, Will Parker (husband of Belle) and John H. Hall (husband of Willa).
I haven't uncovered any more evidence, yet. So I'm still wondering who did the deed.
Are you wondering what's up with all the "letter" posts? I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (links to official page). This challenge lasts through the month of April, with Sundays off. Each day follows a different letter prompt, in order, from A to Z. Click here to see all my letter posts on one page (in reverse order). Though this is my second year in the challenge, it's my first with two blogs. My theme here is "kinfolk direct." Versus any name from the one name study, these genealogy and history posts all involve someone to which I am related. You may follow along with me by RSS feed and other social media platforms listed at the top of the sidebar. I and other bloggers in the challenge on Twitter will also be using #atozchallenge.
I'm also participating with Southern Graves. This blog as a whole is one of my themes – telling the tales of tombstones, primarily from those found in the Southern United States and usually the State of Georgia.
Are you participating in the challenge, too? Please leave a link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to pay you a visit. Good luck to all involved!
3 comments:
This sounds like the plot for some sort of crime book. It would be fascinating to get the the bottom of it.
Cait @ Click's Clan
How awful! It seems like it would be hard to do that accidently and the person who wrote on her death certificate didn't seem to be positive that it was an accident.
Finding Eliza
Well, this is certainly a shocking turn of events. I looked up carbolic acid after reading this post, and it says death can also be caused by touching it...perhaps that's why it was ruled an accident in the days before CSI-type investigative methods.
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