Madness Monday - One Man. Many Wives.

My madness Monday post qualifies on two fronts.

My husbands maternal grandfather, Ed Baker, was hospitalized in 1961 in The Connecticut Fairfield State Hospital. His official diagnosis was Institutional Psychosis. From the doctors notes found in Nanny's estate, I would guess he suffered from schizophrenia. That is part one of the "madness."

Part two was also found in the estate papers. Letters Nanny received from Ed Baker's ex-wife indicated that he was married multiple times. And not always divorced!

I began using the letters as a guide to build a timeline of Ed's life prior to Nanny.

11 Sept. 1902 Ed is born in Taunton, Mass.

14 Sept. 1902 Ed (legal name is Cyprian Edward Boulanger) was baptised in Holy Family Church in East Taunton, Mass.

1 Dec. 1919 Ed entered the Navy (after giving his birth date as 1 Dec. 1901) and served until 2 Feb. 1921.

1930 Census he is living in Detroit, MI and working as a Polisher in an auto plant.

17 June 1940 Ed marries Anna Maria Spaulding in St. Patrick's Church, Chanute, Kansas. The license indicates that he was living in Chicago, IL at the time of the marriage.

2 Dec. 1940 - Ed and Anna Maria are divorced.

7 May 1941 - Ed married Evelyn Marie Simpson in Kansas City, MO.

7 Oct. 1941 - Rose M. Belanger files for divorce from Christopher Edward Belanger in Providence, Rhode Island. (Since this divorce degree is found in Ed's papers I believe this was another marriage for Ed using a different name.)

3 Nov. 1941 - Ed marries Nanny in Bronx, New York.

1941 - letters indicate another divorce from a Laura Grace Martin of New York.

24 May 1942 - Nanny gives birth to my MIL and her twin sister in Kansas City, MO.

8 Jun 1942 - Ed and Nanny marry again in St. Joseph Hospital, Kansas City, MO.

I have been able to find the marriage certificate of Ed to Anna Maria Spaulding, also the marriage certificate to Evelyn Marie Simpson, the divorce degree from Rose M. Belanger and both marriage certificates of Ed and Nanny. The rest is a mystery....and a madness.