119 years ago today my grandmother, Betty Fedigan Miller, was born. Too little is known about her life, though I have many memories of her affection, love and car. She died on November 9, 1966.
Her parents, my great grandparents, were married under “unusual” circumstances. The local paper notes that my great grandfather was arrested for “seduction under promise of marriage.” He was released, married my great grandmother, and they had nine children, one who died before living a full year.
It appears my grandmother’s mother lived a very difficult life. Whatever the circumstances of the “seduction”, she eventually was badly burned in a fire and ended up in the Willard Asylum where she died at the young age of 36. Married at 18, she gave birth to 9 children
My grandmother’s father and his mother (that’s my great grandfather and great great grandmother) lived at 301 Meigs St. in 1910 according to the US Census. Shortly thereafter the children were committed to an orphanage. Family oral history has it that Betty worked hard to get all of her siblings out of the orphanage.
The 1920 census records tells us a little about her siblings situation at the time…
- James L Fedigan lived in Auburn with his wife Irene
- John Peter and his wife Emma lived with their daughter Louise in Henrietta.
- William Joseph Fedigan was 25 but does not appear in the Census.
- Martha was married to Robert Cooper and lived on South Goodman
- Bud does not appear in the Census
- Lillian is at the Convent on Raines Park
- Betty does not appear in the Census
- Lucy does not appear in the Census
One possible scenario is as follows: James, John, Peter and Martha were on their own and married, Lillian was at the convert at Nazareth, and William, Bud, Betty and Lucy were still at the orphanage. I am not sure of this; perhaps someone reading the post can help me out. Shortly after the Census Betty and the rest were released from the orphanage and moved to Henrietta.
My grandmother met, though I do not have any details as to how, when, or where, Lewis Miller. Lewis was 8 years older than Betty. Betty felt very at home with Lewis’ family, and especially with Lewis’ Mom, Caroline. There are pictures of the Betty and Lewis from this time frame with pencilled captions on them. These captions are a surprise to me: it is not my grandmother’s handwriting. It is Gramps. I will eventually post them all but they show a couple that were very happy, had a gang of friends and family, and the world in front of them.
They married when Betty was 18 and Lewis was 26, on 30 June 1924. 18 months later, 3 days short of her 21st birthday, Lewis lost his vision in a construction explosion in Irondequoit.
Funny, as often as I’ve thought of this event, I had not done the math for my Grandmother. 3 days before her 21st birthday. Ouch. And so her life, their life, took that unexpected turn. And somehow the two of them kept facing life’s challenges. But my grandmother never really got a break. In 1950 her only daughter began struggling with vision issues of her own. I believe that the final “bad news” that Betty Anne’s vision loss was significant and permanent arrived on January 11, 1952, 25 years to the day that Lewis / Gramps lost his vision.
SO Betty had a difficult life to say the least. Her mother died when she was very young, a not pleasant death in an insane asylum after a terrible fire that left her severley burned. Her father appears to both have had a major drinking problem and to have left his 8 surviving children in an orphanage. When she gets free of that with her siblings and finds the love of her life, he loses his vision. 25 years later her daughter also loses her vision. And then, approaching 60, she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, probably really breast cancer, and dies at 60.
Yet I remember my grandmother as a very loving and devoted lady. She had phenomenal penmanship, which in itself is special as she was left handed and the nuns forced her to write with her right hand. She had many and good friends and worked very, very hard to care for her family and friends.
She went too soon. All of us might learn much from her today. Happy Birthday!