A Shot Gun Wedding

In June of 1883 Miss Jennie Wolson went to the Bloomington police and complained that August B. Segerland had toyed with her affections and then failed to marry her when the toying resulted in a baby. Officer Hegarty of the Bloomington police then descended into the coal shaft and invited Mr. Segerland to his wedding.

Presented with her groom, in all his coal-begrimed glory, Jennie refused to marry him unless he dressed for the occasion. He was escorted home, bathed and returned in his Sunday best, and the couple was united. The two do not appear in the record again until a couple days following, due to an excess of hilarity at a keg party thrown by August which resulted in a knife fight at the Chicago & Alton train platform. I hope that the self assertiveness evidenced by Jennie assured her of a satisfactory life thereafter!

A similar contretemps did not end happily in Woodford County. The death of Miss Julia Woods, the daughter of Dr. Woods of Eureka, was announced the same day as the Segerland/Wolson wedding. The cause of her death was puerperal fever (following childbirth), and her son was left in the Home of the Friendless in Peoria. Her fiancee at the time was Will D. Meek, the son of Judge Meek of Woodford County, but the judge strenuously denied that his son could be the father of the orphaned boy. Will had gone to Chicago to make enough money for setting up a home with Miss Julia Woods and none of her letters to him had hinted at the dilemma she faced. Whether she had betrayed him during his absence or he failed to acknowledge his responsibility was never explained. Julie had told her friends that she had a tumor, and that her father was sending her to Chicago for an operation, but in reality she went to Peoria's Cottage Hospital (pictured above) where she awaited the birth of her child in secret.

Was Julia's puerperal fever avoidable? Was the staff at the Peoria Cottage Hospital guilty of giving her less than the best care? Would anyone in that society fault them, when the victim was merely a fallen woman, shamed by her fall from the pedestal of womanly virtue? The statistics on maternal mortality and infant mortality at that hospital would certainly be interesting reading.

#Childbirth #Marriage