Bigamy & Jail: Rachel Eves & Her 4 Husbands

A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion. But for Rachel Eves Fardy her many marriages led to trouble. On 19 August 1899 a lurid headline hit The Globe newspaper:

HAMILTON: Mrs. Rachel Faraday Pleads Guilty of Bigamy

 

The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. 19 Aug 1899: 20.

I was curious. I wanted to know more about Rachel. Why was her husband in the Home for Incurables? It was established in Hamilton Ontario in 1890 as St. Peter’s  Home for Incurables and cared for patients suffering from dementia or other chronic ailments.

An interesting tidbit is that her second husband was also a bigamist and was using the aliases of George Mavery and George Smith.

To give Rachel a voice and to tell her story I needed to find out more. A search of historic newspapers found several more articles that provided clues to further research.

After her short prison sentence was done, Rachel married two more times - to Frank Van Norman and then to Elias Slote. Her life was full of tragedy and challenges, from the deaths of two sons to the suicide of one husband and the chronic illness of her first.

Bigamy & Jail is Rachel's story - the story of a young woman enduring endless hardships yet finding the strength to go on, all the while doing the best she can to protect her children.