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The Romance, and the Realities for me to break suddenly away from my responsibilities, & enter on a course of life as diametrically opposite to the one I now pursue as can be imagined. There are some things in my domestic life 1 could wish otherwise, but thousands have more to complain of than I have." She pointed to her mother's need for her, also Nellie had just married and needed her mother's help. "The two little motherless girls, are greatly attached to me." "1 could riot go & leave the church, to whose interests I feel under lasting obligation." She had begun (o work in the temple and wished to continue, and "T need some faithful man to help me." "You may think 1 do not regret our separation: I do; more than you can: . . . had [rash and impulsive moves] . . . been avoided, all might have been well with us today." She promised consideration in time: "I wish we could form a second acquaintance, ascertain how our views agree." She wished to be his "enduring friend." Death took Ellen's mother September 8, 1880. By 1881 it was apparent that difficulties were developing between Ellen and John, and on June 26, 1882, they were divorced. A reconciliation with William McGary soon took place. Aunt Caroline records in her journal, September 3 and 4, 1882, "Evening came Wm Macgary and wife staid over night with us. They came Frid night, and staid untill Mon ... I believe Wm is a tolerable good Mormon, or will grow to be." The remarriage of William and Ellen pleased family and friends. During the years of separation William had affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, being baptized May 2, 1870. He spent several years at the mines in New Mexico as a carpenter. Ellen had insisted that Nellie keep contact by letters with her father. Just where in Beaver County William and Ellen lived the next year and a half is uncertain, but in October 1884 William purchased land near Minersvillc and from then until 1887, he and Ellen lived at Minersville, Milford, or Rocky Ford (now under Minersville Reservoir). On March 8, 1887, they sold their 71 |
