EPILOGUE
Tim’s primary ancestry research objective had always revolved around that question, “Where’s Merrill?” Of course, Tim didn’t know his name when he began to get more than curious about his mother’s upbringing. The actual question asked at the beginning was “What happened to my grandfather—my mom’s father?”
Tim had feared that his mother, Laura, was terribly damaged by abandonment as a young child. It became apparent that this was too simple an explanation for her later-life instability. In fact it was an inaccurate statement. Laura was in contact with her father until the age of twenty. She was not exactly a child, by then. In my reckoning, it was what happened to Laura from age ten to twenty which wounded her psyche, more than the events which occurred in the first ten years of her life. Perhaps more than anything, one previously unknown fact stands out from the rest—and, my word, there were many things which Laura kept to herself. This is the fact that Laura never did marry her college boyfriend Alexander Brett.
After splashing the news of the impending nuptials all over the Mason City newspapers on more than one occasion, the event simply did not happen. This would severely hurt any young girl. However, after uncovering all the other family secrets, Tim thinks that is impossible to pinpoint any one event as the most influential in bringing about his mother’s sense of loss and sadness, and the pain she obviously felt. He looks upon it as a composite that is this thing we call life and which can cause both joy and discomfort, depending on fate and how things pan out. Yes, there was great sadness in Laura’s life—but great joy too.
Laura fell in love with Tim’s father (after Merrill’s permanent disappearance) and they had nearly twenty-one happy years together. She profoundly loved Tim’s father and it was only after Tim’s father died, a day before his forty-ninth birthday, that Laura’s fragility gradually became more apparent to her devoted son.
And what of the other characters who somewhat unwittingly affected the life of Laura Harrison? Well, without doubt, Aunt Edith contributed to Laura’s late-life misery, yet Edith was the most innocent party in the whole sorry saga. It is ironic that Edith naturally outlived Merrill; the man born ten years after her, and the man who spent about twenty-five years of his life waiting for Edith to pass away and bail him out of his financial messes. Edith lived until 1951. After a series of court cases, the two Harrison sisters eventually got their (relatively small) inheritance from Edith, following proper genealogical succession law. In the end, it seems like Mame Novak, christened by Tim as the “Black Widow,” just gave up the fight to keep hold of every cent.
After her death, in different probate court case files, Edith is alternately found to be the aunt or cousin of Merrill’s first wife, Madeline Forster. With Edith’s half-brother, Horace, long since gone, it didn’t matter anymore to the outside world how Edith fitted in to the Forster family structure. Madeline was one of the same three inheritance beneficiaries regardless of whether she was Edith‘s cousin or niece. Laura and Alice Harrison were due their share as the descendants of Madeline. As a consequence, in the cleaner environment of the 1950’s, Mame dropped all claims that Merrill had already taken the Harrisons’ entitlement. She risked losing everything if criminal charges were ever forthcoming.
As for the “Black Widow” Mame herself, she survived until the grand old age of ninety-five. She passed away in late 1967. When Edith died sixteen years earlier, the accumulated wealth of the Forster inheritance fund was mysteriously depleted to a great degree, after many unsupervised years under the management of Mame Novak Forster, a relative not even in Edith‘s bloodline. Mame and her two children, who never married, opportunely moved a good few miles east and over the Wisconsin state border. They set up a market gardening business and, to anyone looking in, they literally enjoyed the fruits of their labors. If you are partial to raspberries (the fruit variety), then you can still head out to the old Forster orchards and pick your own.
Mame’s children, Teresa and Leo, both entered the family grave in St. Paul during the 1980’s—the last of the Forster dynasty. The irony of all ironies is that when Teresa Forster died in 1986, she had no direct family left to benefit from the much fought over wealth created by her ancestors from the previous century. As a result, her Catholic church, charities and local horticultural society got unexpected windfalls (not the fruit variety).
The enigma that was Sabrina O'Hara also lived a long life. She passed away eight days after her ninety-first birthday in 2005. She remained in trusted high office secretarial positions for the U.S. government until her good friend, the U.S. Secretary of State, J. F. Dulles, lost his battle with colon cancer in 1959. Sabrina then hastily retired from government work, but she was employed immediately by top executives from the oil industry. She was successful enough to be able to retire fully at age fifty; the same age that the father of her only child retired from public view, permanently, back in 1937.
It is patently obvious that the meticulously well-organized Sabrina had prepared her own obituary in readiness for her death, also caused by a lingering cancer. She must have composed her parting words in collaboration with her son who disguised his nativity to a great degree by becoming known as “P. Edward.” To the end, Sabrina told the world that she was a devoted widow who had tragically lost her husband when she was aged only twenty-three. We know now that she never got married in the 1930’s—in fact, she never married at all.
Merrill’s secret son, [Paul] Edward, did indeed pass his bar exams and practiced law in the circuit courts of D.C. and surrounding states. His father would have been very proud of him. More so, considering that Edward was also a good athlete who excelled at the very sports which his father enjoyed as a spectator. He died in 2009, but this O'Hara did find a partner on the East Coast and fashioned a small family by adopting his partner‘s son from a previous marriage. When I found out that Edward’s widow was still alive, I sent the contact details to Tim and left him to decide what to do. As with this entire saga, the eventual exchanges were not straightforward.
In a brief phone chat, Edward’s widowed partner informed Tim that Sabrina was the “most beautiful woman” she had ever met, in personality and looks; quite a compliment from one lady to another. It certainly explained how Merrill became besotted, as maybe did a series of high-profile employers. Tim left his phone number with the O'Hara family should anyone ever wish to get in touch for a chat about nothing in particular.
A consequence of detailed ancestry research is that genealogists can often offer the opportunity for biologically related strangers to come together, if they so wish. However, a (perhaps surprisingly) high proportion of long-lost cousins, and the like, want nothing to do with their estranged family, when enlightened. It is each individual’s choice. Privacy must be respected at all times in professional genealogy. So, when Tim told me that he got a call-back from his newly discovered first cousin (via adoption), a man claiming to be the stepson of Edward O'Hara, I was delighted for him. This person accepted Tim’s reasoning for carrying out his research, and even empathized with some of his concerns about the behavior of his ancestors. Our project was going to get the happy ending it deserved.
The new “cousin” ventured so far into Tim’s parallel world that a disclosure was impulsively made about Edward O'Hara’s tendency to be economical with the truth when it came to questions about his background and character. Tim and his cousin had something in common. Then the phone call was rapidly wound up—not by Tim.
A short while later, Tim got a message to say that he was not to contact the O'Hara family again. He was told that the family wished to remember Sabrina for her many honorable achievements. Their wishes have been respected.
The demons of uncertainty created by the “Mystery of Merrill” have been exorcised by one family. Maybe not all.
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Tim tells me that he is now at ease. Uncovering the secrets has informed him about himself. He feels that he has a much greater sense of compassion for his mother, for which he is immensely grateful. Knowing the full story of “from whence he came” provides perspective and self-knowledge for my friend Tim, all of which adds to peace of mind.
Knowing that this is “true,” the whole process has been worthwhile.
Some of the more thought-provoking themes of the “Where’s Merrill?” story are discussed at more length on the author’s blog website, which also reveals some additional curious stories linked to the real-life Family Tree upon which the main novel is based.
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DEDICATIONS
This book is first and foremost dedicated to Tim and all of his ancestors who inspired a would-be author to become a confident can-do writer. Obviously, without their existence and true-life adventures, this story would never have come about. Thanks Tim for a research commission which has changed both our outlooks on life.
Personal thanks also to Susan, my soul-mate, who uplifts and supports me, day in, day out, in whatever I undertake, even when I don’t deserve it. You make the world a better place.
Special thanks to Connie for contributions, professional assistance and general all-round encouragement.
IN MEMORY OF Kathy’s father, Jack Haley, who died suddenly but peacefully during our joint search for Merrill. The pain in Kathy’s heartbreaking tribute to her proud Irish American father, written just after the tragedy, was felt by all who read it. The sentiments brought home to Tim and I that our ancestors are very precious, and that the loss of any loved one, in any era, can be totally devastating. “May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”