Hang Down Your Head, Frank Doole

I have been digging away at various pieces and parts, hither and yon, and took a second look at this fellow who had married three times - two of those times into families that are connected to me.  He seems like less than a pleasant character, but a character for sure.

Lydia Hinmon

Francis Doole was born 20 Jun 1823 in Antrim, Northern Ireland. His wife, Martha Shaw, born in 1825 in Ireland, traveled with him to the United States, arriving 25 Dec 1843 in New York City. They moved to Ware, Massachusetts, where they became US citizens in November of 1854.

Their daughter, Mary Jane, was born in Ware, but by the time the first of their three sons came along in 1854, the family was in Floyd County, Iowa, which is a hop and a skip from both Bremer and Butler counties.

Martha died in 1879 and Frank remarried to Lydia Hinmon Stuck Harshman.

Lydia was born about 1839 to George Richard Hinmon and Anna Lewis in Erie County, Pennsylvania. Her first husband, William Stuck, died during the Civil War. They had been married in 1855 and he died in late 1863. They had one son. She married George Harshman next, in 1866, and it appears that marriage ended in divorce. George seems to have moved on from Iowa, where several Hinmon's had settled and headed West to Nebraska. Lydia then married Francis Doole, widower, on 05 Jun 1880 in Floyd County.

The 1880 Agrigultural Schedule 2 of the Census indicated Doole was fairly successful. He owned 130 acres of farmland in Floyd township and his farm was valued at over $5,000. Just looking at the record, it seemed all was pretty normal.

Things changed - he had fractious relations with his children which culminated in the following event involving the desecration of wife Martha's grave:

I have not discovered whether Lydia died or they divorced, but Doole married my 2xGG William Custer Smith's sister Sarah Jane, a long-time spinster who had spent many years living with her mentally disabled brother and mother and big brother WC Smith and his wife Mary Ann. That marriage occurred in 1887. In 1888, Frank made the news again:

"A "Blind Pig" which has been successfully operated the past two years at Floyd by Frances Doole, was raided and a large quantity of beer and whiskey seized. Doole is in jail at Charles City.

Atlantic Daily Telegraph, Dec 26, 1888, pg 4 Atlantic, IA"

I wasn't able to find out what happened to this case, but perhaps it led to the divorce that followed between Aunt Sarah and Doole. It was a sad situation for Sarah, who had been cared for by her relatives her entire life. She was left without a place to go after the divorce, and ended up residing in the Bremer County Poor Farm and Asylum for the rest of her life, dying there in 1924.

Doole most likely died prior to 1900, since there is no record of him in the 1900 census.

What's a blind pig? In the Midwest, Blind Pigs started in the 1880s and were quite a problem, according to the anti-alcohol crowd. It got it's name because some wily proprietor would sell tickets to a back room to see a "blind pig," and the ticket price included a drink.

Jacob Smith Line: Mary Catherine Randolph, Sarah Jane Smith Doole and Isaac Smith

JACOB SMITH > ISAAC SMITH
JACOB SMITH > SARAH JANE SMITH m Frances Doole

My 2nd great grandfather, William Custer Smith (married Mary Ann Munson), came from a family

of seven children: James, John R., Isaac, William Custer, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Sarah. Elizabeth, born about 1836, is presumed to have died young. Their parents, Jacob Smith and Mary Catherine "Catherine" Randolph **UPDATE: Through DNA, it was discovered that this was in fact, Mary Katherine Schmidt,  moved from Ohio to Fennimore, Grant County, Wisconsin, where they settled in 1846. Jacob is believed to have died prior to 1860, but the Jacob Smith many people have listed on Ancestry.com is not our Jacob (more on that another time--view the probate records for that "other" Jacob, frequently confused with ours, here).

Isaac, born about 1827 in Ohio, was classified as an "idiot," who did not read and write. He was listed as living with his parents 1850 and with his mother "Cathie"  and sister Sarah in 1860 in Fennimore.

Sarah was born 03 Jul 1842 in Jefferson County, Ohio.

Fennimore, Wisconsin

In 1870, Cathie, Isaac and Sarah were living with William Custer Smith and his wife Mary Ann Munson in Butler County, Iowa. Cathie is not seen after 1870. I need another trip to the courthouse to see if there's a death record.

Isaac was living with brother John back in Fennimore in 1880, but by 1885, was back in Butler County with William. Sarah was with William in 1870 and 1885, but not with him in 1880.

No trace of Isaac is seen after 1885.

Sarah, on the other hand, finally married for the first time at age 45 to Frances Doole. They were married 27 May 1887 in Floyd County. Francis "Frank" Doole  was born in about 1812 in Ireland. He had two previous wives and was 75 years old when he married Sarah.  The name Doole in reference to Sarah is spelled alternatively, Duell, Dewell, Deull, and Dual; none of which is correct. Frank appears to have been an entrepreneur:

"A "Blind Pig" which has been successfully operated for the past two years at Floyd by Frances Doole was raided and a large quantity of beer and whisky seized. Doole is in jail at Charles City."

Atlantic Daily Telegraph December 26, 1888

A "blind pig" is an after-hours illegal drinking establishment. Clearly he was a sparkling citizen.

Sarah divorced. Doole was more than a bit problematic and thoroughly nasty. 

She lived in the Bremer County Poor Farm and Asylum from at least 1895 until her death of old age in 1924. She was not buried in the Poor Farm cemetery as many paupers were, so someone in the family ponied up for a burial, but there is not stone that I can find. She was buried in Willow Lawn Cemetery in Plainfield, where William and Mary Ann and many of their children are buried.