More than likely, it was because of their father, Rodolph.
After Lilla's mother, Emma, died in El Dorado County, California in 1888, Lilla was sent back to Minnesota to live with her mother's relatives. Rodolph remained in California.
According to a letter Rodolph wrote to his brother, Orra, he kept in close touch with Lilla. Well, as close as one could during that era, anyway.
When Lilla grew to a young woman, she married a local fellow by the name of Arthur Eugene Hagen in 1899. Art was the son of Fred Hagen, a German immigrant, and Mary Everling, a New York native. The couple moved to Sacramento at some point before 1902, the birth year of their daughter, Nodene Grace. In 1904, a son arrived - Curtis Arthur Hagen.
For some reason, shortly after the birth of Uncle Curt, the marriage between Lilla and Arthur broke down. I remember reading a small notice in a newspaper online (of course, I can't find the article now), that Lilla was granted a divorce due to "extreme cruelty".
In 1906, Lilla married George Frederick Bundock. The witnesses to the marriage were Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Hendrix.
Meanwhile, in 1890, Susan is in Arkansas marrying William H. Hendrix. Somewhere between the time their oldest child, James Phalen was born (1893, Tennessee), and their second child, Florence Mae (1902, California), was born, the couple had moved to Sacramento County, California. Their last child, Leona was born in 1905. I can place William in Sacramento up to 1915, after that he disappears. According to William and Susan's granddaughter, it was said that he returned to Tennessee, but I have yet to find definitive proof of that. I am still looking, though.
Susan marries Hubert (Herbert) Mullins sometime between 1915 and 1920 when her and Hubert appear in the 1920 Census living in the home of John and Victoria Lewis along with Susan's daughter, Leona.
My search for William Hendrix has become my Hendrix brick wall.
Future posts will be on Art Hagen's branch, Hubert Mullins' branch, and anything more I might find for George Bundock's branch.
The last time Susan appears in the Sac City Directory under the Hendrix name, 1915
A letter to the editor, Sac Bee 1944 by Leona
Another Letter to the editor, Sac Bee 1949 by Leona
Marriage Record for Andrew Duke and Telitha Humphries Spencer.
Marriage Certificate for Lilla Spencer Hagen and George F. Bundock. Willam and Susan Hendrix were witnesses.
Birth Record for Liila Florence Spencer, daughter of Rodolph Spencer and Emma Curtiss
Civil War Pension Card for Rodolph Spencer
Marriage Record for Rodolph Spencer and Telitha Humphries
Marriage Record for Susan Spencer and W. H. Hendrix
The letter Lilla includes with her mother's letter to her father, Rodolph. Lilla is just 9 years old. A month later, her mother, Emma, dies and Lilla is sent to Minnesota.
