A River Runs Through Us: Alwilda Collins Jones

Before I move on to the next generation, I must tie up one lose end -- the marriage of my g-grandfather, Charles Henry, to Alwilda Collins in 1898. There is pretty solid evidence that although it may have been a good decision for my g-grandfather to marry someone 16 years his junior, it was not perceived so well by his children and extended family.

I have written extensively about Alwilda on Jones Family Matters and you can read about it here. (Great read if you haven't already read it). My grandfather, Pop, certainly didn't care for her. I believe the picture at the right may have been from Charles' wedding to Alwilda, but no picture of Alwilda survives. She was cut right out of the picture! Secondly, I only discovered recently that her stepdaughter, Edith, sued Alwilda to get her portion of her inheritance by forcing their home to be sold and the proceeds divided among the heirs. My Aunt Margaret Ann's notes say that my grandfather swam out into the river at about the age of 13 to be a cabin boy on river boat. It was said that this was in response to the death of his mother, but I think it was in all probability a reaction to the remarriage of his father to Alwilda. He would have been 14 years old when his father remarried. It was at this time that John and Caroline Zins befriended this young boy and later were to become landlords to Fred and his wife Norine. John and Caroline were also Godparents to their first-born, Edith.

Alwilda survived her husband by 27 years. She never remarried and there is no evidence of much of a relationship with her stepchildren. Even in her death notice there was no mention of her stepchildren. In a time before Social Security, life could not have been easy. She died in 1937 and is buried next to her husband in Walnut Hills Cemetery. It seems, in hindsight, that she got more respect in death than Rachel who is buried across the river in Kentucky with a grave marker that very much immortalizes the stresses in the family.