Robert Franklin Harrelson

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 19 2022, 0:22:17 UTC

brief biography and family

From an unidentified source:

Doss met her second husband, Jacksonville resident Frank Harrelson, through a "lonely hearts" newspaper column. He wooed her with poetry, and she responded with randy letters and a photo. They married in 1929, but the marriage soon became rocky, owing largely to Harrelson's alcoholism and violent temper. It was during this period that Nannie most likely killed her own newborn granddaughter with a hairpin to the brain shortly after birth, according to accounts from family members who were in the hospital at the time. A few months later, Nannie likely killed her two-year-old grandson, Robert, when he was left in her care. He died suddenly of asphyxia, and several months after his death, Nannie collected on a $500 life insurance policy she had taken out on him.

The marriage to Frank lasted 16 years until one evening in 1945 when he came home drunk after a night of revelry with friends who had returned from service in World War II. He forced Nannie to have sexual intercourse, and the next day she poured rat poison into one of Frank's hidden jars of moonshine, according to her testimony. He died on September 15, 1945, but it was assumed that he died of food poisoning or some other ailment. 

comments

Surname has also been reported to be Harelson.

Date and place of birth have also been (erroneously?) reported to be August 13, 1906 at an unspecified location (unattested, conflicts with his Find A Grave memorial).

links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Doss#Second_marriage