A love story - told and retold .......

I love these two pictures of Annie Inglis and her husband, Alexander Campbell Stewart. Annie was my great grandaunt and she was born Oct. 7, 1863 in Lochaber, N.S. Her parents where John Inglis and Cecilia McLaughlin. Alexander was born Nov. 30, 1839 also in Lochaber. His parents were Peter Stewart and Janet Inglis. John and Janet Inglis were siblings which made Annie and Alexander 1st cousins. Annie and Alexander married in Lochaber in 1885. They had a daughter Margaret Cecilia on Feb. 6, 1887. Between their marriage and Margaret's birth, Alexander left Lochaber in search of employment. Annie did not hear from him for many, many years and so eventually moved to Massachusetts. In 1905, Alexander reappeared and they remarried. This story caught the attention of quite a number of newspapers and its retelling emphasizes the need to take what is written by others with a grain of salt.

Here are some of the conflicting/questionable issues that arise from the various articles:

When did Alexander leave for the west: One article reports that Alexander left a week after his wedding to Annie.  As noted above, they had a child born in 1887 so it seems he was around for a bit longer than a week.

How did they meet: One newspaper says Alexander and Annie met for the first time while traveling to Boston on a boat. This is highly unlikely since they were cousins and both lived in Lochaber.

Their families were not happy about the relationship. A number of newspapers mentioned this - a) They were married against the wishes of their parents; b) Annie's family objected to the second marriage and 3) Annie's parents kept her from meeting Alexander in Minnesota. This could possibly be true but I have no other evidence that this was the case. He was considerably older than her but I don't think that was not particularly unusual at the time.

What was Alexander doing for 20 years: One paper suggests that Alexander "rose to become a manger of one of the largest concerns in Minneapolis". According to the information I have found in Town Directories for Minneapolis, Alexander was a laborer, a hostler and at best a foreman with the Boston Ice Co.

Did Alexander look for his wife: One paper says Alexander, after returning from the west, went to the village where he was born (Lochaber), and searched unsuccessfully for many days for Annie. This seems odd to me since the two were related and both their families lived in the same area. Lochaber was not a large place with the 1901 census reporting only about 350 residents.

How did they meet again: One paper's version is that while visiting with his brother in Salem, Alexander accidently bumped into his wife on the street in Salem. Another newspaper says Alexander appeared unannounced at Annie's door in Salem after 20 years away.

The oddity of sharing a name in common: One report said "Another peculiar part of the affairs is that her name was Inglis and his mother bore the same name". This is not particularly odd. As noted above, the two were first cousins.

Regardless of the discrepancies, Alexander and Annie remarried in December 1905. Annie died just three years later at the age of 44 on April 6, 1908 in Salem. Alexander died on June 8, 1911 also in Salem.

I have added the articles. Hope you can read them as they are quite entertaining.