Annie Smith Hudson

The following text was received from Martin L. Stephens of Rochester Michigan USA. His Great Grandmother was Annie S. Craig. His e-mail address is: nostars@woway.com

Annie S. Craig - 1850/1922

From her Declaration for Naturalization it is clear that Annie arrived in northwest Minnesota along with her parents in about 1869, but from there her trail almost immediately becomes hazy.

It is certain that Annie wound-up in St. Paul, but uncertain as to why. St. Paul in 1870 was quite a wild and woolly town and hardly a place for a young, single woman on her own. It seems reasonable that 20 year-old Annie may have left to start her own life, but began by staying with family or friends. As previously stated, there were other Craigs in St. Paul; the 1870 US Census of St. Paul lists Mather Craig, age 57 and his wife Agnes (41), both born in Canada living in the 4th ward with 3 children. There was also Robert Craig (40) living in the 2nd ward with his wife Maggie, again both born in Canada, and their son, Robert. Either family could have moved there from Lanark. (By the way, Robert seems to have been a very common name among the Craig clan).

There are a few possible traces of Annie between 1869 and her marriage to James Prentice in 1874: First, the 1870 Census lists an Anna Craig of the right age (21) as a chamber girl at the Metropolitan Hotel in St. Paul. This person’s place of birth is listed as Ireland, but if the enumerator had conducted the census by interviewing the hotel management, and not by interviewing the individuals themselves, Anna’s Scot-Canadian heritage could have been mistaken for Irish.

Then there is her Declaration for Naturalization, which was signed by her own hand back in Otter Tail Co. in May 1873.

The next certain documented trace of Annie is her license and certificate of marriage to James Prentice, dated 5 Jan. 1874. Their first son, Charles, was born on New Year’s Day of 1875. Although I could find no birth record for him in St. Paul, it is not unrealistic that the birth was in St. Paul but simply not recorded; however, it could be that Annie returned home for the birth.

It seems that Annie appears next in the 1875 MN census the next summer living with four other (apparently unrelated) individuals in a home in Fergus Falls, which could have been a boarding house or a rented room. There’s no mention of baby Charles, and spelling of this person’s name is a little off (“Prentiss”), but the age is right (24) as well as the place of birth of the individual and her parents (Canada). Perhaps she was home to visit her parents with their first grandson, or perhaps this was a harbinger for what was to come with her marriage. Annie had two more children; Harry (born 26 June, 1877) and Daisy (born 25 Mar. 1880).

This is where the complications begin; Annie petitioned for a divorce from James Prentice on 15 Aug. 1882, on the grounds of abandonment for more than five years, and since before Charles’ birth! This is somewhat consistent with the St. Paul City Directory, which listed Annie by herself from 1877 through 1884, and as early as 1879 as the widow of James (which could have been an effort to maintain propriety and deflect the disgrace of abandonment), but then who was the father (or fathers?) of Harry and Daisy?

On the other hand, the 1877 St. Paul birth record of her son Harry Craig certainly implicates James as the father;

Prentis, Henry

Place of birth of child; St. Paul

Full Christian name of each parent;

       Father; James 

Mother; Annie
Birthplace of each parent; Canada

All the same, this information could have been given by Annie with James nowhere around.

Alternately; James could have been present the whole time, or at least long enough to father the three children, and the claims made in the divorce petition were a fabrication. Perhaps James had left Annie, but she hadn’t been immediately inclined to file her divorce petition, until she met someone and wanted to clear herself to re-marry as soon as possible.

The next summer, on 28 July, 1883, the divorce decree was issued and just two weeks later Annie married Gillette Beecher in Aitkin, MN, 100 miles north of St. Paul.

There is obviously a great deal of room for speculation here; plainly, something is just not true. It seems likely that Annie and Gillette were acquainted for some months before they married; even a year or more could be reasonable. Assuming so, it could be that Annie had not been motivated to pursue a divorce until after she met Gillette, and from then it was just a matter of waiting for the legal process to conclude.

Annie lived the rest of her life in Aitkin, although she divorced Gillette in February 1898. It is unknown whether Gillette ever legally adopted Annie’s three children, but they did take his surname. Daisy and Charles both died relatively young; Daisy in 1888 at only 8½ years old, and Charles the next year at 24: Both lie in Lakeview cemetery in Aitkin. Harry lived to maturity, also in Aitkin, where he served for a time as County Auditor. He married twice; first to Abigail Pickett on the first day of summer 1911 in Duluth, with whom he had two daughters, Marian and Harriet (Bonnie). Abigail died only 4 years later, on 7 Aug. 1915. The account of her passing in the Aitkin Republican of 10 Aug. 1915 states only that she suffered from “a lengthy illness”. Harry re-married, to Martha Osterheim of Aitkin on 30 June 1917, and together they had 4 daughters and 2 sons. Of these, the second-born, Charlotte, was my mother. Harry Craig Beecher passed-away at age 70 of a heart attack, 29 April, 1949.