Jul 8, 20202 min read

Christine Marguerite Sweetin 1875-1910

Christine Marguerite Sweetin was the second or third child of William Sweetin and Mary Ellen McInerney. She and her twin sister, Mildred Elizabeth Sweetin, were born on August 9, 1875 in Cuba, Missouri. They grew up there, two of twelve children.

She left home at 18, heading to St. Louis to find work. She instead found a young man named Joseph Frey and in October of 1895 she moved in with him. Four months later, the couple was arrested and charged with counterfeiting. The two were not convicted, but when William Sweetin arrived, she lied and told him that she and Joe were married. He asked for paperwork, which she promised to send him but never did. In May of 1897, the couple was arrested again. When William read about it in the paper, he came again to St. Louis, but this time he had Joe thrown in jail and was only released when he agreed to marry Christine. So the two were married on May 18, 1897.

It is no surprise that Christine's family was not fond of her new husband, but things reached a peek in February of 1898. Christine took a trip to Cuba to visit her family, but must not have let her sister know. Soon the police were called and Joe was accused of killing his wife. He was arrested and taken to court. He was only let go when she appeared in court proving his innocence. The marriage did not last much longer after that.

For a while Christine lived with her sister Jessie in St. Louis. Then on May 4, 1907, in Clayton, MO, she married Richard Shannon, a printer from New York. He was seven years younger than her. Sadly their life together would not be long. Christine was killed in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 28, 1910. Her body was brought back to Cuba and buried at Kinder Cemetery. Her husband committed suicide at her grave a year later.

Born: December 1, 1892 - Cuba, MO

Died: September 28, 1910 - Tulsa, OK

Children: None

Author's note: I have not been able to locate her in the 1910 Census. Her husband Richard is living in St. Louis and marked as married but she is not on the Census with him. I cannot find why she was in Tulsa or how she died. The newspaper reported she was killed but I have not found her death record. I would also be interested to see if the St. Louis court as any record of their arrest or the newspaper article that supposedly got W. H. Sweetin to travel to St. Louis the first time.