The Mystery of Lena Stanley Myers – Solved

We think. Over six years ago one of my hubby’s high school friends asked for help in finding out who her grandfather was. Her father was adopted, and he let the family know that he never wanted to know who is birth parents were. Years after his death, his children did want to know.

Our friend’s brother had a couple of documents that got us started, but it took a number of months (years) and much searching to figure out that the mother – Lena Stanley of Trumansburg, New York, but we could never be sure who the father was. We found out that Lena married Cornell prep school student Joseph Myers of Des Moines, IA, and that they had took a steamer to Texas for their honeymoon. These events were reported in the newspapers.

When Joseph’s father found out he had married, Joseph was pulled out of Cornell in Ithaca, NY and sent to Harvard. A year and a half later Lena had a child – our friend’s father.

The adoption situation of this child created questions. But the bigger question was – Who was the father of the baby born in 1906? We developed a number of scenarios.

The baby was born in February 1906; Lena and Joseph’s annulment proceedings were in the fall of that year. The annulment documents state nothing about a child. Instead, Joseph agreed that the marriage had never been consummated (remember the newspaper articles about their honeymoon cruise), and the reason was he was being treated for venereal disease at the time of their marriage. The annulment took place in a county away from where the couple would have been known. So many twists and turns to this story.

The mystery continued all these years, until recently when our friend’s brother had his DNA tested through Ancestry.com and someone contacted him with a close match. Our friend received an email recently with a photo attached – Here is your grandfather!

The man identified as the father is Gonzalo Martinez-Fortun, a Cuban, possibly in the area attending Cornell University. The census shows him living in Trumansburg, New York a couple of blocks from Lena’s residence. Gonzalo returned to Cuba 1 July 1905, eight months before the baby was born. His family suspects he never knew Lena was pregnant.

Our friend sent a photo of her father, and a photo of Gonzalo, and we can see the similarities.

And so another mystery solved. It took years of research and the miracle of DNA to finally five our friend the closure she desired.When Gonzalo's eldest grandchild was told of the story, she now wants to come to New York and meet everybody. What fun that would be.

For more on this story, scroll down and click on the links to Lena Stanley of blogs written In February and April 2011.

The long-term consequences of the abuse of power

For those who have been reading this blog for a long time . . . you might remember that a few years ago hubby and I were helping one of our friends find the identity of her father’s birth parents.

In a nutshell: Through many years of research we identified the birth mother’s maiden name as Lena Stanley of Trumansburg, NY. Against her parent’s wishes, and without the knowledge of Joseph’s family, Lena and Joseph Myers were married across Cayuga Lake in Ludlowville, New York (abt 1906). According to local newspaper articles the loving couple honeymooned on a cruise to Texas. And that is where Joseph’s parents caught up with them and sent them home. Joseph was taken out of Cornell University and sent to Harvard. Lena went back home to live with her parents. It was a year and a half later that a son was born. And herein lies the difficulty. Who was the baby’s birth father? Was it Joseph (who could have traveled back through Ithaca from Boston on his way west to his home), was it the adopted father, or someone else?

Every adopted child has two birth certificates. Our friend had her father’s, but it listed his adopted parents as his “parents.” Sealed in the New York State archives is the original birth certificate for our friend’s father. It has the same number as his “adopted” certificate, but the original is sealed forever and would only be released if our friend hires an attorney and makes a good case as to why the adoption file should be unsealed.

WHY?

We just learned the reason for why New York State adoption records are sealed forever. Former Governor Herbert Henry Lehman. He was governor for the years 1933-1942, and in 1935 he signed a law sealing birth certificates for New York adoptees. That was because he and his wife Edith had adopted a child through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society run by Georgia Tann.

Georgia Tann was a child trafficker. She stole babies, using a number of tactics, sometimes telling birth mothers that their child had died. She then sold the babies to wealthy people, the Lehman’s being one. Lehman signed a bill sealing adoption records into law to protect his family from finding out from where they came. Unfortunately, that decision has caused harm to the many people trying to find their birth parents.

If you wish to read more of this fascinating story, you can find a book on Amazon – The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller who Corrupted Adoption.

Back to the couple Lena and Joseph Myers. They divorced in another county (where they weren’t known) and both claimed (yea, right!) the marriage was never consummated (will save you the gory details of the divorce decree), and the marriage was annulled.

We don’t know if Lena listed the child’s father on the original birth certificate, and thanks to Governor Lehman, we may never know. Hopefully New York State residents will learn about why this law exists and request that it be repealed.

The Saga of Joseph Myers and Lena Stanley continues...

Mrs. Joseph Myers now Miss Stanley

Ithaca Journal, September 10, 1906

Trumansburg Free Press and Sentinel, September 15, 1906

A Trumansburg lady, who for a time was Mrs. Joseph Myers, of Trumansburg, has resumed her maiden name and is again Miss Lena Stanley. The annulment of her marriage to Joseph Myers took place in Supreme Court in Owego last week before Justice Sewell. The marriage of Miss Stanley to Joseph Myers, occurred in Ludlowville, November 19, 1904. Miss Stanley is the daughter of a Trumansburg barber and studied music at the Conservatory in this city. She is a tall blond and of striking appearance. Joseph Myers was a student in the University Preparatory School. He became infatuated with Miss Stanley and one evening they went to Ludlowville where they were married by the Rev. Mr. Humphreys.  They returned immediately and left for Texas by steamer from New York.  Mayer’s (sic) father, who is a wealthy manufacturer residing in Denver, Colorado, read of his son’s marriage through the Associated Press dispatches and hastened to Ithaca. Mr. and Mrs. Myers returned to Ithaca after only a week’s absence and the happy bridegroom was taken to Cambridge, Mass by his father to enter Harvard. Mrs. Myers sometime ago began an action for annulment of the marriage, claiming fraud. She was represented in court by A.P. Osborn of Trumansburg. Young Myers was in court and made no defense. He was represented by Attorney William N. Noble of this city.  No alimony was mentioned when the annulment was granted by the court. Miss Stanley still resides in Trumansburg.

So…

How powerful was Joseph’s father?

Was it he who needed to see public announcement of the annulment?

Again, no mention of the child born in February 1906.

Perjury most probably was committed by this couple in the annulment documents.

The Myers-Stanley saga continues.

Mystery Monday - Joseph P. Myers

Joseph P. Myers was born 19 June 1883 to Dorance D. and Mary Matilda Pratte Myers of Dubuque, Iowa.  Dorance ran a successful family business as a wholesale manufacturer of cigars and tobacco products at least through the years 1910 through the 1920s. 

Joseph served in World War I as a First LT in the 133^rd Infantry. In 1921, he married Marie Spahn, and they had two daughters, Ann M. Myers and Jeanne A. Myers.  In 1930 he was president of an automobile company.  Joseph P. Myers died 10 June 1949 and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Dubuque, IA.

Joseph’s life seems rather routine, until you trace him through the years 1904 through 1909 when his life becomes pretty bizarre. In 1904 Joseph was a student, possibly at Cornell University, living in Tompkins County, New York.  That same year he married Lena Stanley of Trumansburg, NY, just a few miles northwest.  The marriage took place, however, in a town on the east side of the lake with the minister’s family as witnesses, which might indicate that none of Lena’s family were in attendance. The 1905 New York census shows Lena Stanley Myers living at home with her parents; in February 1906, a son was born to Lena. This baby was given up for adoption.

In late August 1906, Lena Stanley Myers filed for an annulment of her marriage to Joseph Myers. By this time Lena had moved to Madison County, NY where her married sister lived, but the annulment papers were filed in Tioga County.  Lena stated in the official annulment document that the marriage had never been consummated, she and Joseph had never lived together, and she had had no contact with Joseph until the trial in the fall of 1906. Lena stated that as soon as they were married, Joseph confessed he suffered from a serious communicable disease, and consequently they never lived together.  For the annulment proceedings in September 1906 Joseph traveled from St. Paul, MN where he was living at the time, to Tioga County.  He swore that everything Lena said was true and he paid all court costs.  There was no mention of a baby in these proceedings.

Since the baby was adopted, its birth certificate is sealed forever. Even if it could be revealed, Lena might not have given the father’s name.  The adoption papers for this child, however, show the baby’s name as that of the foster parents, even before the adoption took place.

By 1910 Joseph was in Dubuque, IA, living in the family home that was occupied by his unmarried siblings.   

It seems that with each piece of information we find on Joseph’s life, another question presents itself. We continue to work on this conundrum, and the questions we would love to find the answers to are:

-       Was Lena and Joseph’s marriage contrived? If so, why? Or, was it she brought back home by an overbearing father?

-       Who was the father of Lena’s child? Is it Joseph, the foster father, or ?

-       Was perjury committed with their annulment document?

This is one of the most interesting and challenging cases we have ever worked on, and we continue to work on solving the mystery of Lena Stanley and Joseph P. Myers.