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.)
10 comments:
Can't wait, Barbara! And I love her name. Beats the daylights out the Prudences and Temperances I find.
Oh, my, this is gonna make Archie look tame! Cannot wait.
Oh, to finish it now, might take 2-3 days! Susan, all this is because of her name, I just had to find something, and boy did I ever. Now to write it, ha.
Oooh, sounds so good! Do we have to wait??
Delight-ful story!
I'm a great believer in the possibility of finding the most interesting stories if you just keep digging on "ordinary" ancestors - and your Delight is another piece of proof for this. I can't wait to read about her.
I'll be in Buffalo in December if you need me to look anything up for you in Batavia. Just let me know:-)
Thank you all for your comments, and Amanda what a kind offer, but I want you to enjoy life with your new husband, no need for genealogy.
I'll be "Delight"ed to hear more about Delight :-)
Jo, I am working on the follow-up, and it will be posted before Nov. 29th. Thank you for your interest.
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