© Kathy Duncan, 2022
Bertha C. Sears was the daughter of William Lincoln Sears and Harriet "Hattie" Reed. They evidently divorced, and Hattie became a housekeeper.
In 1903, a birthday party was held for Bertha in Springfield, Illinois, at the home of her aunt, Ida Jane (Reed) Maurer, wife of Augustus F. Maurer. Bertha also frequently traveled with her aunt to Indiana. Note that Harry Mayhew was also in attendance at this party. This was Bertha's fourteenth birthday. Harry would have been fifteen years old. This indicates that they knew each other at least ten years before they married.
This article from 1904 places them together at another party. This time the party was at the Mayhew home and apparently, Bertha Sears provided the entertainment. It's possible that she was hired.
In 1905 Bertha Sears married Thomas Meagher. Their marriage lasted only a few years. She divorced him in 1911, accusing him of domestic abuse. This article appeared in the
Daily Illinois State Register on 1 September 1911.
Bertha's second marriage was to Harry Mayhew. They married on 4 December 1913 - less than eight months after the death of Harry's first wife,
Opal Miller, and before he went to trial for her murder. They married in LaPorte County, Indiana, which suggests that they chose to marry away from family, friends, and neighbors in Springfield, Illinois. The newspaper articles about Opal's death and all the trial delays had dominated the local newspapers for months. More than likely, they did not want their marriage to be hashed out in the papers.
Over the next few years, Bertha's name occasionally appeared in the newspapers as she held offices in various local women's organizations or entertained in her home. For all outward appearances, they seemed to be living an idyllic life.
However, in 1920, Bertha filed for divorce from Harry. It's important to remember that in this time period there were limited grounds for divorce - usually abandonment, adultery, and domestic abuse. Bertha cited abuse as grounds for her divorce.
However, Bertha went to a lot of trouble to document the instances of abuse. And the records certainly show escalating violence. It's not that hard to imagine that the man who almost strangled her to death was also a man who might force chloroform on his first wife to force her into undergoing an abortion that she did not want. It's worth noting that Bertha and Harry never had any children. One wonders if she also was pressured to undergo illegal operations to keep her mother-in-law and husband happy.
Opal's mother
Mary Ellen (Brown) Miller Brown was still living in 1920, and I can't help but wonder what went through her mind as she read this account in her newspaper.
