Homicide or Suicide? You Decide.

By Karen Jenkins

A prominent San Francisco family in the 1890's. A young wife dies unexpectedly leaving three children under the age of seven. The young wife is my great grandmother, the seven-year-old is my grandmother. A gold bead necklace has passed through the generations. This fact is important.  Other facts are included in my story and are very important, Read Elise's story and reach your own conclusion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Jenkins
• Release date: Apr 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386343004

Karen Jenkins

I homeschooled our boys so that they would be well read, be critical thinkers and so that they would learn to express themselves effectively when speaking and writing.  They are both lawyers, so maybe I was successful : )  These abilities have helped me as I have pursued my passion of genealogy for the last 40 years. I hope you enjoy reading a bit of research on my own family.  If you will, after you finish reading HOMICIDE OR SUICIDE, please click on Karen Jenkin's site below which will take you to my website, Your Family History. Once there, click the Contact tab and contact me by the form and let me know how, and why, you vote for homicide or suicide. I've been pondering this conundrum for decades and would love to hear the opinions of others! My husband and I live in Chapel Hill NC

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

C:\Users\miahbj\Desktop\MY FAMILY HISTORY\elise photo cropped.jpg

But why, Momma, why won’t you tell me about her?  On a white wall hung an oval frame with the picture of my beautiful great grandmother. My mother always ignored my perpetual question.  At a family dinner, I asked my Uncle John about the frame.  His deep grey eyes widened, and he said, Ohhhh that’s a question for your mother to answer.  Their refusal to discuss my great grandmother Elise was the beginning of my passion for genealogy. Since that time sixty years ago, I have brought to life my own family history.  (When my mother was 85, she did discuss Elise’s life with me.)

Following is the story of one my great grandmothers. We all have four great grandmothers, you know!  I have another great grandmother who is beckoning to have her story written.

My Great Grandmother Communicated with Me

Iknew nothing about Elise, but even at such a young age, I felt a strong connection with her.  Years later when my grandmother died, I inherited a necklace of gold beads that had belonged to Elise.  Words fail me when attempting to describe my feelings when I wear her necklace. A warm feeling.  A protected feeling.  But more. I don’t believe in ghosts but I know Elise communicated with me.  Yes, my great grandmother in the picture who died in 1893.

In the spring of 2005, my husband and I were having Saturday brunch at a diner on 2nd Avenue in Manhattan.  It is important to note that my hands were in my lap.  We were talking about a ghost story I had re-read the night before about the Greenbrier Ghost. I found the story particularly interesting because it took place just four years after Elise’s death.  A state highway marker several miles west of Lewisburg WV sums up the ghost’s amazing story: Interred in a nearby cemetery is Zona Heaster Shue. Her death in 1897 was presumed natural until her spirit appeared to her mother to describe how she was killed by her husband Edward. Autopsy on the exhumed body verified the apparition’s account. Edward, found guilty of murder, was sentenced to state prison. My husband looked askance at me and asked How would Elise contact you if she wanted to?  Not a second elapsed before my string of beads broke, gold beads scattering everywhere.  My husband’s eyes widened in astonishment; he didn’t speak or move.  Neither did I.  The manager of the diner approached our silent table and asked permission for his servers to gather the beads.  I barely nodded yes.  The beads were gathered and handed to me in an envelope.  Still no words had been spoken.  Then an older woman dressed like a hippie/gypsy came up to our table and said she had been sent to tell me that when beads break it’s a message to stop; you’ve done enough.  I think you know what I mean, don’t you?  I nodded yes.  She then hurriedly left the diner.  When I finally felt I could move, I nodded toward the door indicating to my husband I was ready to leave.  The manager, who knew us well, walked over once again and said, Obviously something of great importance has happened this morning. Your meal is on the house.  I nodded thank you and we left. We walked for a bit before my husband spoke. Even I know what that means, he said. Yes, it means I’m to stop obsessing over the circumstances of Elise’s death.  We had been to San Francisco the previous July and researched Elise’s demise and the facts surrounding it had followed me like a cloud. What are you