FultonHistory
1896 Jan 12, The Press Sunday Morning
Reunited in Old Age
A Widow for 30 Years Marries the Man Who Deserted Her
Returned a Bearded Penitent
A Romantic Life Story Spread Out Over Three Large Cities in the South and West
From a Special Correspondent of The Press
Raleigh, N.C., Jan 10 – Some time in 1862 Henry Monk, a Confederate, came to this city from Sampson County. He was detailed as a nurse in one of the hospitals and remained here until the war ended. While here he formed the acquaintance of Miss Julia Seawell and in 1864 they were married. One child, a boy, Hugh, was born. After the war Monk was employed by the Messrs. Adams of this city, who were large buyers and dealers in cotton, to travel and buy cotton for them. Of course he was absent from his family from time to time during the cotton season, but they heard from him regularly and he came home as often as business would permit. But from one of these trips, in 1865, Monk did not return. His wife used all the means at the command of herself and friends to ascertain his whereabouts without finding any trace whatever of him. And so she and her son and all who knew Monk settled down to the belief that he had been killed for the money he was supposed to have carried with him on his business trips.
A Visitor at the Prison
The widow Monk made a living with her needle for herself and son, and succeeded in giving him a fair education. The widow was a devout member of the Baptist Church and she brought her boy up in the faith, and he was a shining light in the church and Sunday school. Twenty-four years passed away. The boy married and became a widower with one child – a girl. The widow, her son and grandchild went to live in Richmond, Va., because the son had then a lucrative position there with a former business man of Raleigh. For three years there was peace, plenty and happiness.
The son embezzled money of his employer and ran away. His mother was crushed by disgrace and remained in Richmond, not having nerve to face her old friends in this city. After a short time the son was arrested in Denver, Col., was tried, convicted and sentenced to three years in the penitentiary.
One day an old, gray-headed man called and asked to see Hugh Monk. The young prisoner was brought out with his cropped hair and striped clothes, and the old man threw his arms around him and cried as if his heart would break, and then went away without any explanation. These visits were repeated several times, but Hugh could not get any statement from his mysterious friend. After Hugh had been in the penitentiary several months there came to the humble abode of Mrs. Monk a venerable old man He refused to give his name. Mrs. Monk thought him a religious enthusiast and gave him the full history of her life. After this, at regular monthly intervals, a remittance came to Mrs. Monk that removed want and anxiety from her mind, and there was nothing lacking to restore peace and happiness to the family but the liberation of Hugh.
A Happy Reunion
By good behavior he earned commutation, and at the end of twenty-seven months he stood on the streets of Richmond a free man, and his old gray-headed friend stood by his side. From the prison walls the pair went to Mrs. Monk. The grandchild had never been permitted to know of the crime and punishment of her father. The reunion of the mother and son, and father and child may be imagined.
After this was over they all knelt down and the old man prayed. When they arose Mrs. Monk turned to him and asked if he would not tell her who he was. The answer was “Julia, have I changed so much that you do not know your own husband – Henry Monk?” Mrs. Monk replied: “You are not my husband unless you can satisfactorily explain the long desertion of your wife and child.”
The explanation was that Monk had left a wife in Sampson County when he entered the Confederate army and that she had been reported dead. He had married the second time in this belief. In his travels, buying cotton, he had learned that his first wife was not dead. Before the war ended she had eloped with another soldier into South Carolina. After much search Monk found his first wife near Charleston, and believing that he had been guilty of bigamy and that his second wife and child would be disgraced if he went back to Raleigh, he concluded not to return and went to Frederick, Md.
A Second Marriage
He managed to earn money and saved the greater portion of it under another name. He kept track of his family by reading the Raleigh papers. He followed their movements in Richmond and was horrified at the crime of his son. Monk then found that his first wife was dead. He began to visit his son in prison and went once to see his wife. The money she had received each month was sent by him. The wife then clasped her long-lost husband to her bosom and wept. There was a second marriage of Monk and Julia. And in a thriving town in Colorado will be found the father and mother in comfortable circumstances in their declining years; the son Hugh employed in a responsible position, having told his employers of his downfall and punishment before they gave him work; and the granddaughter at school and budding into a good and beautiful woman.
1933 Apr 5, Albany Evening News, Albany, New York
Odd Epitaph Found Chiseled on Rock
Lanesboro, Mass. (UP) Jilted by a spinster, Capt. John M. Brown inscribed upon a rock the following epitaph:
“May God Bless Susan And All Her Barren Land.
And When She Gets to Heaven, I Hope She Finds a Man.”
The epitaph, chiseled 35 years ago next month may still be seen on a rock in Henry A. Newton’s pasture.
