The death record is the smallest size of any I have received, shown below.
I have blogged about two of her nephews. The first, Yates Adams, was discussed in A Suicide or a Murder. Her other nephew was John Anderson Adams, the manufacturer of vanilla and discussed in Google and the Movies.
From these three documents, I have been able to place all the people named and find additional bits of information. Delight did not have any children, but when she married Franklin Benham, he was a widower with an infant and a toddler, thus she immediately became a step-mother. It was interesting that, in her will, she left nothing to her step-sons. However, six years after her death, one of the sons named his daughter, Delight presumably after her.
She was buried at Batavia Pioneer Cemetery, Batavia, Genesee Co., New York, per several old records, but my cousin was unable to locate a stone on a recent visit there.
With such a pretty name of Delight, I like to think she was happy most of her life. Her ending was pretty sad, being an invalid, but for her Benham in-laws, it was tragic.
I really wanted to find something interesting about her, in other words, I wanted to write a story, not just show copies of documents. With a bit of time, I soon began rolling in information. I had material for a Hollywood movie...murder of a wife, a sentence to death, a reprieve from Gov. Roosevelt, another trial, acquittal, a father who mismanaged money of his deceased daughter-in-law and more. The New York Times, and other newspapers covered this story for almost three years. I will be writing a follow-up. Stay tuned.
Part
11 Delight Adams Benham and There is a Story. (I hope
you will read the comments, among the best I've ever had.)
