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| Jacob Frank McAdams & Fannie Manion |
Jealousy can be a big problem in personal relationships. In the case of Jacob Frank McAdams, his jealousy drove him to the ultimate horror - murder and suicide.
Frank was one of two sons and one of six children of John Lafayette McAdams and Josephine Amanda Newburn. He was born 17 Dec 1879 in Illinois. The family settled in the Cuba area of Fulton County, Illinois. He married in about 1898 to Fannie Manion, daughter of Martin and Louisa Manion. Fannie was born 08 Feb 1880 in Illinois.
They quickly had four children: Vera M, Ray Scott, John Martin, and the baby, Mary Ruth, was born in 1909. In 1900, Frank was coal mining (Fulton County was rife with mines). In 1910, he was a contract carpenter. The couple separated some time prior to 1913.
The best way to tell the story of what happened the fateful night when the entire family's life changed, is to just set it up. Picture it, the town is having a festival on 27 Nov 1913, and there is a dance going on. Fannie is sitting at the dance and has her baby Mary Ruth on her lap. Her angry husband comes roaring in, races up to her and shoots her three times, killing her instantly. Her baby was uninjured. The horror did not end then, but the next day, when Frank met his end as well. He most likely knew there was no coming back from what he had done.
Interestingly, on the funeral day, the sun shone for Fannie and it poured for Frank's.
I don't know where the two boys and Vera went after their parents' death, but little Mary Ruth went to her aunt and uncle William and Minnie Evans. By 1920, the boys were both working as a hired hands at two different Churchill family farms.
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