M. 18 Feb 1898 in Los Angeles, California
Husband: James William Elwood
D. 21 Nov 1942 in Los Angeles, California
Eleanor Mabel Hewes knew she had made a bad marriage, but after her husband died, she didn’t want to dig up the dirt on him. Which brings up the question — did she know who he really was?
Eleanor had her beginnings in Boston, born there to George Hewes and Nancy French on July 6, 1880; she was the oldest of their five children. Eleanor had no memories of growing up in New England, because when she was about 3, the family moved to Le Mars, Iowa. The years they spent in the Midwest came with challenges, especially severe weather. In June 1885, a tornado struck their house, knocking it five feet off the foundation. A couple years later, in November 1889, the family boarded a train and moved to the milder climate of Los Angeles, where Eleanor would spend the rest of her life.
Eleanor wrote this in her mother's autograph book in about 1891.
Eleanor grew up just south of downtown Los Angeles, where her father worked part time as a minister of his own church. The Church of the Neighborhood was a settlement house "for all races and religions." Eleanor attended the Ninth Street School, and at age 15, a story she wrote was published in the L.A. Times. The title was, "An Old Time Thanksgiving," and it was written from the viewpoint of a girl named Prudence. "Thanksgiving morning as I lay in bed I could hear my mother and sisters at work below. I climbed out of the high old fashioned bedstead, which I occupied with my sister, Patience, onto the warm fox skin rug...." It should be noted that what she wrote didn’t in any way reflect her actual childhood.
A couple of years later, Eleanor helped out as a secretary for her father’s church. She also did clerical work for the Kingsley Club, a socialist group her father was involved in. It was during this time that Eleanor came into contact with a man named Jim Elwood, whom her father had recruited to his settlement house as someone down on his luck. Reportedly, she found herself attracted to him when he sang to her with his banjo. This led to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and Eleanor married Jim on February 18, 1898. Her father administered the service, and afterwards, the two settled in a small house, probably with support from her family. Her baby, Sophia Mabelle, known as May, was born in September. By the time Eleanor was 21, she had three small children, and had two more by age 25. One child, a boy called Eddie, died young, but the others thrived.
Eleanor in about 1900
The fact Eleanor got mixed up with someone like Jim shaped her life. He was more than just a man needing a little a financial help; he was a drifter who kept his past a secret from everyone. Although he worked painting carriages, his drinking habits kept their relationship tense. By 1906, Eleanor had enough and filed for divorce. In the court proceedings, she reported that Jim once threw several eggs at her in an argument. He also had refused to summon a doctor when she needed one, instead ignoring her while he strummed on his banjo. A divorce decree was granted on October 8th.
Eleanor’s parents and siblings had moved to Berkeley that year, leaving her alone in L.A. with her children. To bring in some money, she did laundry for her neighbors. She listed herself as “widowed” in the city directory, even though Jim lived nearby, providing food and money for her every couple of weeks. The house Eleanor lived in was little more than a wooden shack. She sometimes sent the children out to dig in the trash behind restaurants, ordering them to bring her the best of what they found. By the time Eleanor was in her thirties, she began to put on some pounds, and she developed a severe problem with her weight. Some described her as “five feet tall and five feet wide.” Her obesity led to diabetes and hypertension, which plagued her in middle-age.
In 1916, Eleanor’s father became widowed and moved back to L.A. into her home. He would eventually settle in a town north of the city called Tujunga, and Eleanor looked after him. When her father died in 1923, she had to convince her siblings into letting her take ownership of his small house. Sister Gertrude stubbornly refused to the arrangement, and this caused a cloudy property title that was never cleared up.
The Tujunga house, which the family called “the cabin,” became her home. Other family members lived in houses on the same block, including daughters Maudie and Hazel, and elderly Aunt Bessie. Eventually, Eleanor got a second home in Glendale, living there during the week. On the weekends, she would return to the cabin and it became a lively gathering place for the family. A player piano that sat in the living room went into use, and Maudie played the violin while Hazel sang. Son George expressed creativity in a different way, by painting pictures which hung on her walls. Only oldest daughter May had moved far away from Eleanor, serving as a missionary in Calcutta, India.
Meanwhile, in November 1925, the family got word that Jim had died in a downtown hospital. Eleanor was given his ashes, which she kept in an urn on the mantle of her stone fireplace. Not long after this, Maudie was traveling to Chicago, and had the idea of making a side trip to Vincennes, Indiana, a town where her father supposedly had lived. She wanted to find out who her father really was, but when Eleanor was told of this plan, she begged Maudie not to go, emphatically saying, “Let sleeping dogs lie.” So Maudie backed off, and never visited Vincennes.
The truth about Jim didn’t come out until way after everyone in this story was long dead. His real name was John Edeline and he was a fugitive wanted for murdering a man in Vincennes. This happened in 1895, and after escaping capture for his crime, he fled all the way to Los Angeles. It’s possible that Eleanor learned of this while they were married. This would explain the abrupt divorce, and the fact Jim offered her money during the years when the kids were young (perhaps he did it to keep her quiet). And if she did know something, she became an accessory for not turning him in, which offers a reason why Eleanor would beg her daughter not to go to Vincennes. However it’s also possible she actually knew nothing and she really just wanted to stay in the dark regarding her mysterious husband.
Eleanor lived long enough to see the birth of all six of her grandchildren, and the adoption of a seventh. She died November 21, 1942 of congestive heart failure at the Los Angeles County General Hospital, and was buried at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Eleanor hosting a family gathering in 1939.
Children:
1. Sophia Mabelle Elwood – B. 6 Sep 1898, Los Angeles, California; D. 3 Jun 1987, San Leandro, California; M. Walter Geraldson Griffiths (1897-1970), 30 Dec 1921, Calcutta, India
2. George Henry Elwood – B. 13 Dec 1899, Los Angeles, California; D. 1 Feb 1977, Los Angeles, California; M. Eileen Edythe Kelterer (1899-1989), 1 Apr 1934, Los Angeles, California
3. Hazel Laura Elwood – B. 10 Apr 1901, Los Angeles, California; D. 11 Jul 1964, Encino, California; M. (1) Thomas Michael Mitchell (1893-1980), 11 Feb 1921, Los Angeles, California; (2) Juan Marte (1901-1973), 19 Aug 1943, Lordsburg, New Mexico
4. John Edward Elwood – B. 22 Nov 1902, Los Angeles, California; D. 17 Apr 1904, Los Angeles, California
5. Maude Louise Elwood – B. 15 Jul 1905, Los Angeles, California; D. Nov 1983, Douglas, Alaska; M. Samuel Robert Graham (1903-1968), 31 Jan 1925
Sources:
Birth certificate of Eleanor Mabel Hewes
Family Bible of George and Nancy Hewes
"The Wind's Work," The Evening Sentinel, Le Mars, Iowa, 16 Jun 1885
"An Old Time Thanksgiving," Mabel Hewes, Los Angeles Times, 8 Dec 1895
Marriage certificate of James Elwood and Eleanor Hewes, Los Angeles, 18 Feb 1898
1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 U.S. Censuses in Los Angeles, California
City directories of Los Angeles, 1907-1932
Death certificate of Eleanor Elwood, Los Angeles, 21 Nov 1942
Interviews of Thomas Milton Mitchell, Maude Elwood and Nancy Elwood, 1976-1997
California Death Records, 1940-1997
Birth Certificate of Hazel Laura Elwood, 10 Apr 1901
Death Certificate of Thomas Michael Mitchell, 14 Mar 1980
Marriage record of Hazel Mitchell and Juan Marte, 19 Aug 1943
California County Marriages, 1850-1952
Family Bible of Maude L. Graham
