Blanche Irene Hawn

Blanche Irene Hawn Rash Brimmer Tiernan, born Feb. 18, 1895 in Whitney, Iowa.

Daughter of:
Charles Hamilton Hawn (1864 - 1947) https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=97649990
Ella Cave Hawn (1868-1940) https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=97650776

Siblings: Lilla Mae Hawn Pratt, Charles Edwin Hawn, Woodworth Lent Hawn (1897–1973), Edna M Hawn Hannah, Harold Hawn

Spouses:
Floyd Ole Rash 1895-1952 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148285895
Arthur H. Bremmer 1888-Deceased
John Tiernan 1890-1935 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215958023
Charles Thomas Vaughn 1874-1946
Samuel Lee Howard 1885-1946

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LZ2D-WX3

Blanche's first husband was FLOYD OLE RASH, born Feb. 16, 1896 in Hardin County, Iowa and died Oct. 6, 1952 in Quincy, Ill. Occupation: baker. Floyd married Blanche Aug. 28, 1914 in Marshall County, Iowa. They divorced. The 1920 census shows their son Kenneth living in his grandfather Everett Rash’s house.

Children of FLOYD RASH and BLANCHE HAWN are:
i. VERDINE LUCILLE RASH, b. 1916 Marshalltown, Ia., d. Dec. 27, 1990. Married Dale Wright, twin sons Richard Wright and Robert Wright, b. March 16, 1936.
ii. KENNETH DALE RASH, b. Sept. 5, 1918 Marshalltown, Ia.
iii. MARY CATHERINE RASH, b. May 14, 1920, d. 1990. Married Don Wright.

In 1922 Blanche became part of a nationally reported scandal when she married Prof. John P. Tiernan of Notre Dame University immediately after his divorce from his wife Augusta, who allegedly had a son by another man. Tiernan reconciled with his first wife and Blanche was left on her own.

The findagrave entry for her mother Ella apparently was written by a relative and fills in some information about Blanche, her kids, and her parents:
"Ella had the heartbreak of a son dying at age 8 , then embarrassment of her daughter being in five or more major newspapers in 1922, when her daughter married a professor Tiernan for one day till the marriage was annulled due to her still married to another person, which turned out that marriage was no good due to him being married to someone else.
Ella took it all in stride and stood up for her daughter, and she and Rev Charlie even raised two of Blanche's children, Verdene & Catharine May."
Separate note, not part of the above findagrave entry: The 1920 census shows the third child, Kenneth, living in his grandfather Everett Rash’s house, so all three children lived with grandparents.
The findagrave entry for her father Charles also contains some information about her:
"AKA Our Miss Hollywood. She led a very colorful life and married five-plus times. She also was given the offer of two movie deals. She made headlines in all the national papers in 1922 being married to John Tiernan. She died somewhere out in Ca. around 1960."
As of this writing there is no findagrave entry for Blanche.

Newspaper stories and photos on the Tiernan scandal:

• http://notredamestoriesandstuff.blogspot.com/2014/09/on-photo-to-se...
• https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1978&dat=19221127&id=v88oAAA...
• https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19221127&id=IORiAAA... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
• Residence: 1900 - ED 153 Kedrow Township Anthon & Correctionville towns, Woodbury, Iowa, United States
• Residence: 1910 - Liberty, , Iowa
  • Updated from FamilySearch Family Tree by SmartCopy: Jul 12 2015, 17:05:41 UTC

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Evening Star, Washington, District of Columbia, page 2, Monday, November 27, 1922:

Some words are garbled because this text was created by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) from an image of a newspaper page:

TIERNANS, REUNITED, SEEK TO END SUITS
Their acquaintance was formed, he said, through correspondence during the trial In South Bend.

As many as three letters daily were written to him by the then Mrs. Brimmer, he said, and they were a mental stimulus to him. They met in Chicago by pre-arrangement the following night after he received his divorce and recognized each other from descriptions each had given in letters. The Tiernans plan to leave South Bend this week. The professor said he expected to go to Chicago, place the three-children in a private home for several weeks while they were getting settled again, then begin the practice of law.

"This is absolutely the final he emphatically concluded.

BRIDE'S CAREER TANGLED.
Blanche Hawn Rash Bremmer. second wife of John P. Tiernan. former professor of law at Notre Dame University. possesses a marital status at least as tangled as that of her husband for a day, according to revelations she made here before returning to Marshalltown. Iowa.

She planned to set about today learning whether she was entitled to legally accept Mr. Tiernan In their Crown Point. ceremony Saturday. left by Prof. nernan wun me jnjunt uuu 10 -ju and redeem yourself in my eyes." replying with a tearful "Oh. I will, dear John." Those came after Prof. Tiernan and Mrs. Bremmer were Informed their marriage had been rendered illegal by annulment of Prof. Tlernan's divorce from Mrs. Augusta Tiernan at South Bend.

And her own prior marital status possibly was beclouded. Mtoped Eight Tears Afs When she was sixteen years old, eight years ago. she eloped with Floyd Rash. Marshalltown baker, from the home of her parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Charles H. Hawn. then of Aredale, Iowa, and now of Hansell, Iowa, she said. Four days after receiving a notice that Rash had sued for divorce, she said, she married Arthur H. Bremmer at Oskaloosa, Iowa, only to learn atlll later that Rash had not obtained a final decree when she married Bremmer.

jvothing was done about the matter, she said, but she and Bremmer came to Chicago, where she became a check girl in a Chinese restaurant. While here she learned Bremmer then was being sued for divorce by an earlier wife, whereupon she returned home, but rejoined Bremmer later at Kansas City, Mo. Brother Said He Vm Dead. He disappeared there, she said, and 1 his brother Informed her Bremmer: was dead. "Is that all the proof of freedom i you had when you married me?" Prof. Tiernan was eald (o have exclaimed, Replying to a question regarding still another romance. Mrs. Bremmer said she had not married the man i named, but that she met him in Mason I City. Iowa, gone to Clear Lake. Iowa, and from there to his home in Uniontown, where his mother told her he was married and the father of a child.

The man's mother paid her i way back home, Mrs. Bremmer said. Shortly thereafter she became interested in the Tiernan-Poulin paternity case and began the penciled i correspondence with Prof. Tiernan, 1 which led to their meeting here last Thursday night, their first sight of each other, with two attempts to be married in Illinois before their successful effort at Crown Point, Ind.

Letters Grew Wanner.
Mrs. Bremmer's letters, as published by the Chicago Herald and Examiner, began by referring to Prof. Tiernan as "Dear Friend," and gradually increased In warmth or tons until Prof. Tiernan is said finally to have replied: "Some day I am coming after you," to which Mrs. Bremmer was quoted as having responded: "And when you do you'll find me waiting." Htm "Sakawawtn."

Regarding money.
Mrs. Bremmer was quoted as saying: "I have plenty. Money has no attraction whatever." In another letter this passage was said to have occurred: "But always you are and will be my Sakawawin." Reference to books on Indian lore failed to reveal the meaning of Sak awawin. Mrs. Bremmer the mother of two children, Verdene Rash, six, and Kenneth Rash.

WANTS TO KNOW STATUS. Br the Associated Press. MARSKtlXTOwX, Iowa. November Blanche Hawn Rash reached thia pitv nrnhahlv snma irns Hnrinc the night, and today sought County Attorney A.B. Hoover to inquire as to the status of her marriage with Rash. She told the county attorney that she expected Mr. Tiernan would reach the city some time this afternoon.