Elizabeth Snow

LIzzie Speer's life was a movie: a too-young romance that ended too soon; a second chance upended by her second husband's drinking and gambling in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles; a relentless,1,400-mile journey from her birth in Texas to Arizona and California (and back!); and ultimately peace with a man named -- really -- Don Juan.

In the 1870s in Denton, Texas, the early life of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Higgins -- born "Martha," if the 1880 Census is to be believed -- must have been colored by her mother's divorce: Catherine O'Brien remarried when Lizzie was just 11 years old, and Catherine was likely unhappy before her first marriage to James Higgins ended. Did Lizzie crave stability? Is that why she married DJ Dudley (whoever that is) when she was just 13? Or ran off to Dallas and got remarried two years later, to James Speer?

Lizzie gave birth to George Washington in 1893, but this new family tree would not grow roots in Texas. Jamie, who had already traveled 850 miles from his family's farm in Kentucky, clearly had travel in his DNA. Together with Lizzie's brother Hosea and her mother and step-father, they sold their land, packed up the farm, and continued Jamie's westward journey to Arizona, where they were listed in the 1900 census, and then on to California, where Charles was born in 1903.

But something happened: James fell into licentiousness, stayed in Los Angeles, and Lizzie returned alone to Yuma. Her mother joined her shortly thereafter, and stayed in Arizona until her death.

Lizzie filed for divorce on January 27, 1906, claiming that for the last 3 years, James has neglected her "by reason of his idleness, profligacy, and dissipation," and demanded custody of the kids. A newspaper clipping from February detailed the summons demanding that James appear in court. It was sent to his last known address, in Los Angeles, records show.

A lengthy court transcription of her testimony from April 13 of 1906 detailed his absence and fecklessness: "What did he do with his money, if you know?" she is asked. "I do not know. But I suppose it went to the saloons." Witnesses are called and heard as well, who speak to his gambling and drinking habits. James himself did not show, and divorce was granted -- at which point James returned, and the couple remarried in 1908.

Love is fleeting, however, and so was James, who vanished yet again. The 1910 census doesn't show him, but it does list Lizzie as married. This time she gave up on him, and marries John "Don Juan" Snow in 1913. The pair lived out their lives together in Yuma. Amor vincit omnia?