A Call from Southwick: Unwanted News
— A Southwick Time Machine Original
Around 6 o’clock on the evening of Saturday, August 19, 1922, Mrs. Joseph Bouchard of West Springfield, Massachusetts, received a telephone message she would never forget.
The caller was Mrs. Cora Root of Southwick, a member of the well-known Root family, which operated a large tobacco farm in town. She informed Mrs. Bouchard that her daughter, Zelia, had married Mrs. Root's son, Carleton E. Bigelow, that afternoon in Westfield, and that the newlyweds had left on their honeymoon in Northampton. She then hung up the receiver.
Despite the telephone call, Mrs. Bouchard refused to believe the marriage had actually taken place.
The following day, Zelia's parents traveled to Southwick. They went to the Root farm with the local deputy sheriff and then brought their daughter back to West Springfield. The events quickly erupted into a public dispute between the two families over the bride's age, her home life, and even who had purchased her clothing.
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| Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Bouchard, circa 1931 |
Long before the whirlwind marriage, Carleton Bigelow had found himself in trouble with the law.
On Friday evening, April 27, 1917, Carleton, then sixteen years old, and two teenage companions were arrested in Springfield, Massachusetts, after being accused of stealing oranges from a fruit peddler’s wagon on Boston Road. According to newspaper accounts, the boys caught the peddler off guard and made off with a partially filled crate of oranges. The peddler gave chase, recovered the fruit, obtained the boys’ names, and reported them to a patrolman.
The three appeared in Springfield Police Court the following day, where they pleaded not guilty. Finding probable cause, the court continued their cases to Juvenile Court the following Friday.
Two years later, on August 25, 1919, Carleton was accepted for enlistment in the United States Navy for service aboard the battleship New Jersey.
Sometime after returning home, Carleton met Zelia Bouchard of West Springfield.
According to one of Zelia’s brothers, Carleton had previously been courting Pearl Pelletier after meeting her while painting her father’s house. When he later met Zelia, however, he “immediately fell in love with her” and ended his relationship with Pearl. The young couple had been sweethearts for about six months before deciding to marry.
Pearl apparently knew their plans before anyone else.
She told Mrs. Bouchard that Zelia intended to get married. When questioned by her mother, however, Zelia denied that any such plans were underway.
On August 19, the eve of her birthday, Zelia left home, telling her family she was going to a theater in Springfield. She never returned home for supper.
Instead, she and Carleton went to Westfield, where they were married at 9 o’clock that evening by Reverend Henry Arthur Kernan.
Competing Stories
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bouchard insisted that their daughter had been born in 1907 and was only fourteen years old when she married. Mrs. Bouchard maintained that the marriage should never have taken place and said she had Zelia’s birth certificate safely stored away at home to prove her age.
She also spoke warmly of her daughter, describing Zelia as “my favorite daughter,” adding that she was “a good girl” and “a pretty girl.”
Mrs. Cora A. Root offered a very different account.
She stated that Zelia had always told her she was seventeen years old and would turn eighteen the day after the wedding. Mrs. Root maintained that Zelia had been born in 1904, making her legally old enough to marry without her parents' consent.
The disagreement extended beyond Zelia’s age.
According to Mrs. Root, the young woman’s home life had been unhappy, and she had been forced to “slave” for the ten other members of her family.
Mrs. Bouchard vigorously disputed those claims. She pointed out that five of Zelia’s brothers and sisters were already married and living elsewhere, making it “hardly possible,” she said, for her daughter to have been slaving for ten family members.
She then leveled an accusation of her own, stating that Mrs. Root wanted Zelia to work on the Root tobacco farm because she was a good worker.
Even Zelia’s clothing became part of the public dispute.
Mrs. Root reportedly claimed that Carleton had purchased Zelia’s wedding dress as well as most of the clothing she had worn the previous spring. Mrs. Bouchard acknowledged that Carleton had bought the bride an $8 wedding dress, but insisted it had been purchased only so her parents would not suspect the couple intended to elope.
As for the rest of Zelia’s wardrobe, Mrs. Bouchard said it had all been purchased by her husband, who comfortably supported their large family on his wages.
The very public dispute showed no signs of ending.
Mrs. Root reportedly said she intended to travel to West Springfield and speak with the school board to learn why Zelia had not attended public schools for the past several years.
Questions arose about the circumstances surrounding the ceremony.
Although Reverend Kernan officiated the marriage, he had
not asked to see the marriage license beforehand. The general public did not
hold the minister responsible, but some openly questioned why the document had
not been examined as permissible by law.
The dispute surrounding the two families eventually made its way into the courtroom.
On October 11, 1922, Zelia filed a petition in Superior Court seeking an annulment of her marriage to Carleton. In the petition, she alleged that Carleton had misrepresented her name, age, and place of residence when the marriage license was obtained.
She further alleged that she had been born in 1907 and was only fourteen years old—not eighteen, as declared at the time of the marriage.
On December 20, 1922, a Superior Court judge annulled the marriage.
What Became of Them
Carleton and Zelia each went on with their lives.
Zelia remarried. She wed Joseph L. LeBer on Easter Monday in 1925. Her marriage certificate said it was her second marriage.
Following a short illness, Zelia died at Mercy Hospital on December 28, 1943, at the age of 36. She was born in Canada on April 20, 1907. She sometimes went by Celia after immigrating to the United States with her parents.
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| Zelia Leber (far left) plucking pinfeathers at a turkey shoot in East Longmeadow (November 1940) |
Carleton E. Bigelow was born in Torrington, Connecticut, on June 21, 1900, to William and Cora (Morrison) Bigelow.
On December 23, 1923, Carleton married his first cousin, Ruth Minnie Bigelow. Their daughter, Doris, was born less than a month later, on January 18, 1924.
After serving in the United States Navy, Carleton eventually settled in New Hampshire, where he worked as a railroad brakeman at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
On the morning of January 22, 1945, Carleton's automobile broken down along the roadside as he was driving to work.
It appeared to authorities that he had wiped sleet from the windshield and was attempting to crank the stalled engine. As he moved away from the front of the vehicle, he was struck by another automobile driven by a cook stationed aboard a submarine at the Portsmouth Navy Yard.
The impact overturned Carleton’s car, leaving it resting on top of a mailbox with his body pinned beneath the wreckage. It took rescuers approximately twenty minutes to recover him.
The medical examiner determined that he had died instantly.
Carleton was survived by his wife, Ruth; his daughter, Doris; and four sons: Donald Carlton, Richard Elwin, Kenneth Ray, and Wesley Jack. Following Carleton's death, Ruth was appointed administrator of his estate.
The family would suffer another heartbreaking loss six years later.
Richard E. Bigelow was working in the cafeteria of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard when he entered the United States Army on April 16, 1950. He was sent overseas that November. Early in February 1951, newspapers announced his engagement.
Just weeks later, Ruth received word from the Department of Defense informing her that Richard had been reported missing in action on February 14 while serving in Korea.
In July, the family learned the outcome they had feared. Richard had been killed in action. He was only eighteen years old.
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| Pfc. Richard E. Bigelow |
Richard's body arrived in San Francisco aboard the Valdosta Victory in September. At Ruth’s request, the Army allowed Richard’s older brother, Cpl. Donald Bigelow, who was then stationed in California, to escort his brother’s remains across the country to Massachusetts.
Richard was laid to rest in Northfield, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1951.
Ruth (Bigelow) Bigelow later worked for many years as a clerk at the Portsmouth Navy Yard before retiring in 1964. She died on January 15, 1997, at the age of ninety-four.
— Uncovered and preserved by the Southwick Time Machine
Carleton Ebben Bigelow
June 21, 1900 — January 22, 1945
Zelia "Celia" Bouchard
April 20, 1907 — December 28, 1943
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Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Zelia sometimes went by Celia. She married Joseph Leo LeBer and lived at 15 Burford Avenue, West Springfield, Massachusetts. He was a chauffeur.
Carleton's name is sometimes spelled as Carlton. However, Carleton appears correct.
It is unclear if Zelia's mother ever produced the birth certificate.
Zelia was born in Canada and came to the United States at six months old. Some sources say Zelia was born on April 2, 1907; others state April 7, 1907. However, April 20, 1907 appears correct.
When they came to pick up Zelia from the Root farm in Southwick, Mrs. Root tried to speak to the deputy sheriff alone, but he refused, saying that any conversation must be done in front of the others present. The deputy would later recall that Mrs. Root was the only difficult one and that Carleton and his stepfather said nothing.
Cora Root has a middle name discrepancy. Some sources have it as A; others have it as B or Belle. She was born June 25, 1868. She died on February 11, 1932. She married William Bigelow in Torrington, Connecticut, on October 10, 1888. He died in 1919. Cora married Burton Lewis Root on December 24, 1921.
Donald Carlton Bigelow died on April 5, 2018. He was born on Halloween 1929. His sister wanted a kitten - she got an amazing and heroic brother instead.
Daughter: Doris Martin. Later remarried and became Doris R. Northcott.
Reverend Kernan died in 1940.
The Bouchards reportedly said they didn't like Carleton because he didn't have a job.
The Bouchards may or may not have made Carleton an offer in August. The offer was to get a job, live with them until Zelia turns 18.
All four of Carleton’s sons served in the military.
Richard was born in Massachusetts on October 15, 1932.
Mr. Bouchard said his daughter looked more like 20 than 15.
Richard was killed while serving in Korea in 1951.
Ruth was living in Kittery, Maine, in 1951.
Richard was stationed with the Second Division in Korea.
Richard worked for Crotty Brothers, Inc. in the cafeteria of the Kittery Naval Shipyard.
Kenneth Bigelow was in the United States Air Force. He was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in flights over Vietnam. He later became a flight mechanic.
One source said that only Mr. Bouchard and the deputy went to the Root farm. This does not appear correct. Both parents went.
Carleton’s daughter, Doris, was married to Thomas Glenn Martin. They wed on October 11, 1942. She filed for divorce. The divorce was granted on July 13, 1946, on the ground of extreme cruelty. She later remarried.
Carleton’s father, William Bigelow, was born in New York in February 1866. He worked as a gardener. He eventually went to work for the Springfield Gas and Light Company. Carleton’s mother was born in Vermont in June 1868.
Carleton’s father died at his home in 1919. It is unclear how he died. He was only 53. He left a widow, a daughter, and two sons. (Daughter Bessie died in 1918)
Doris Ruth (Bigelow) (Martin) Northcott died on November 28, 2007. Doris Ruth Bigelow was born on January 18, 1924. Doris worked at the notorious Belchertown State School. Citing desertion, Doris filed for divorce from her second husband, Raymond Rex Northcott, in 1969. They had married on February 19, 1954. Doris kept using the Northcott name.
Carleton also lived in Turner Falls and a handful of other places.
The church were Zelia's funeral was held closed in 2008.
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| Crotty Brothers Food Services ad (circa 1949) |
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