Tag: Gettysburg crime
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Revealing John Wolford: His Legacy and Connection to Caroline Shenabrook
Previously, we looked at the case of Isadore Keefer, Caroline Shenabrook, and John Wolford. You may recall that Shenabrook had a child out of wedlock with Isadore Keefer—a girl named Annie that we’ll cover in a subsequent article. However, census and death records show she also had three other children out of wedlock with a…
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How Caroline Shenabrook Challenged Social Norms in 1869
The 1869 court case brought by Caroline Shenabrook may have been a landmark moment in the decline of Isadore Keefer. It remains a powerful illustration of the function of law in this era in dealing with “moral offenses.” But who was Caroline Shenabrook and what became of her after the case?
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From Union Soldier to Outcast: The Downfall of Isadore Keefer
In the tumultuous decades around the Civil War, the lives of three Adams County residents – Isadore Keefer, Caroline Shanabrook (later Wolford), and John Wolford – became unexpectedly intertwined. Their story, marked by war, scandal, and survival, offers a window into mid-19th-century life, morals, and policing in the Gettysburg area.
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Cases of Moral Offenses: Fornication and Adultery in Adams County
In 1869, a case of adultery coupled with a case of fornication and bastardy were brought before Adams County courts. The adultery charge resulted in acquittal, but the latter charges led to convictions and the judgment that the man involved, Isadore Keefer, had to pay some measure of support for his child to the child’s…
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Farmer, Tailor, Soldier, Poet: The Life of James A. Wade, Half-Brother of Jennie Wade
The life of James A. Wade started as a crime. It continued into the worst poverty—time in the Adams County Almshouse and a period of being bonded out. Then it pivoted to the Civil War, which was made worse by the death of his sister, Jennie Wade. And for all that, Jim, as he was…
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Till Mellinger: The Missing Woman in the Chambersburg Brothel Shooting
The story of Frank McLaughlin and Till Mellinger echoes other sexually charged crimes of the era, and like those crimes, it has a huge hole in the plot—who was the woman? And like Captain Wade’s former victim, we know almost nothing about the woman in the Kobler house case. In June 1859, Matilda “Till” Mellinger…
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Frank McLaughlin: From Youthful Indiscretion to Battlefield Sacrifice
The first shooting of Frank McLaughlin could not have been more pointless. In 1859, various local newspapers in Chambersburg and Gettysburg broke a salacious story: a plasterer from Gettysburg had been shot in the neck near a house of “bad repute” in Chambersburg. The wound was grave, and writers believed the man would die, though…
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James Green: Murder, Trial, and Mysterious Aftermath
The trial of James Green was straightforward—after shooting Samuel Mars, he turned himself in to a justice of the peace, acknowledging he had shot Mars but claiming he wasn’t guilty. He was arrested, and in short order, he was brought to trial. A parade of witnesses verified that Green carried a gun and that he…
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Jim Green and the Killing of Samuel Mars
Jim Green is believed to be the brother or uncle of Catherine Payne, and he came to the Gettysburg area when Mary Maddox first manumitted the enslaved people she had inherited from her husband. Jim was not captured or caught up in the legal drama following Catherine’s kidnapping, but from then on, he carried a…
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The Legal Cases of Catherine Payne
For Catherine Payne and her family, three different legal cases emerged. In Virginia, after being taken to the county prison and with the support of Mary Maddox and local Quakers, Catherine Payne filed a suit for damages against Samuel Maddox for kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment. Likewise, Samuel Maddox sought to have the manumission of the…