Chapter 7: The Balancing Act
The Process of Sorting out Relationships
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Release Date: August 6, 2024
For the first time in her life, 21-year-old Aimee Henry knew who she was and where she belonged. She was the daughter of her guardian, the woman she'd called Aunt Martha since she'd been a toddler, Mary Martha Parker Taylor. Mary Martha's long-time nurse, Amelia Wright, had broken her vow of silence and revealed the secret hanging over Aimee for as long as she could remember.
It should have been a moment of overwhelming relief, affirmation, and excitement — she wasn't an orphan or alone in the world. She had a mother and a family. Maybe even a father out there somewhere — all waiting to claim her as their own!
And maybe it was for a time. But at some point, the reality of her situation must have become crystal clear to Aimee.
Mary Martha had known all along she was Aimee's mother. Other members of the Parker family had likely known the truth, too. Maybe even Archibald. Yet no one had stepped forward to welcome her into the fold. In fact, they'd done just the opposite. They'd allowed her to think she didn't belong. Not with them. Not anywhere.
Aimee recalled the times she'd been rushed out of sight when visitors had arrived at Mary Martha's country home. The loneliness of holidays and birthdays and summer breaks spent at boarding schools. The humiliation of not knowing who she was when those around her did.
The nagging sense that she was an unwelcome and unbearable burden to everyone and that she would never fit in anywhere.
That Mary Martha would tell her she was an orphan suddenly made sense. Who would continue to look for dead parents?
And so did her attempt to have Aimee committed as insane and locked away at Butler Hospital. Upon learning that Aimee had told Alice Bell her suspicions about their relationship, Mary Martha must surely have panicked. Everything she valued — the wealth and privilege, the reputation and respect, and the sense of belonging that came with the Parker name and lineage — was at risk if her secret became known.
The Boston Brahmin in Mary Martha simply would not let that happen. She couldn't. Sentencing Aimee to a life of institutional misery and potential abuse must have seemed a small price to pay to protect herself, her family, their reputation, and their wealth.
It all made sense, and so did something else: Aimee must also do her part to keep Mary Martha's secret. Her life quite probably depended on it.
On October 16, 1912, three months after Mary Martha’s attempt to have her declared insane, 21-year-old Aimee Henry and 31-year-old John Morecroft were married at the Rockville, MD home of Rev. Samuel R. White. The brief notice in the local paper noted the groom was a resident of New York, and the bride lived in Herndon, VA. Unlike with the announcements of Mary Martha’s marriage to Archibald, there were no mentions of lineage, wedding party members, guests nor honeymoon trips. 1
Years later, Aimee would justify her marriage to John this way:
“…sick at heart and tired of body, no support at all from my mother, a roof over my head afforded by the courtesy of Amelia Wright… I was virtually forced to marry.” 2
That characterization may or may not be true.
She would also later admit, "It seemed wonderful that someone, anyone, loved me." 3
How Aimee portrayed her relationship with Mary Martha to John is also unknown.
Prior to 1907, the relationship was often referred to in documents as that of “niece” and “aunt’, however, after Mary Martha and Archibald were married, Aimee was often referred to as “the niece of” Archibald, with no mention of her relationship to Mary Martha.
A 1912 newspaper headline proclaimed: Niece of Mr. A.H. Taylor Roamed from Providence Hotel. And, in case anyone was confused about the relationship, the accompanying three-paragraph article repeated the niece-uncle bond four more times. 4
Later, John would insist Aimee had led him to believe she and Mary Martha were blood relatives, and that could well be true.
It could also be true that John saw what he wanted to see.
Aimee was, after all, a proper and cultured young woman. She'd attended exclusive finishing schools up and down the East Coast; she was fluent in French and German, well-dressed and well-mannered. And she understood and was comfortable around the type of people an ambitious man like John needed to impress if he wanted to advance at Columbia University and beyond.
A union may have seemed like a win-win deal for them both.
By early summer of 1913, the newlyweds were expecting a baby.
Twenty-two-year-old Aimee must have been beside herself with joy. With John and their child, she could begin to build a family of her own, tied together by blood that could not be denied. In a child, she must have seen a new beginning and a sense of belonging which she'd never experienced.
But there were also doubts.
Aimee would later say the obsession with heredity and lineage which had begun at Mrs. Mead's School for Girls returned with a vengeance when she was pregnant. Although she knew Mary Martha was her mother, she had no idea who her father was — and, now more than ever, she needed to know. 5
Despite her relationship with Mary Martha, Aimee may have held out hope that things would be different with her father. She likely recalled the special bonds she’d witnessed between classmates and their fathers, the loving smiles and generosity, the palpable sense that these men would die for their children without hesitation.
She’d never had a consistent male role model in her life, and that deficit had been felt. A father, her father, Aimee may have reasoned, would change that.
If her father knew she existed, Aimee was certain he’d stand with her, support her and love her.
And he’d be there to do the same for her child.
All she had to do was find him.
To get the information she needed to do that, Aimee turned again to Mary Martha's elderly nurse and companion, Amelia Wright.
And the news she got was more confusing and difficult to process than even she could have imagined.
Copyright 2024 Lori Olson White
What do you think? Was Aimee’s marriage to John a marriage of mutual convenience, a love match or an escape hatch? Let’s throw some theories around in the comments!
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Chapter Endnotes
1 Personals, Times Herald, Washington, District of Columbia, October 17, 1912, P. 13.
2 International Feature Service, Inc. Great Britain, “Astonishing Secrets behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that She is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates She Would Share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, November 25, 1928.
3 International Feature Service, Inc. Great Britain, “Astonishing Secrets behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that She is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates She Would Share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, November 25, 1928.
4 “Miss Aimee Henry Found: Niece of Mr. A.H. Taylor Roamed from Providence. Hotel, Baltimore (MA) Sun, Baltimore, MD, July 11, 1912. p. 7.
5 International Feature Service, Inc. Great Britain, “Astonishing Secrets behind the Morecroft Fight for Millions — and the Bar Sinister; Sworn Statement of the Dainty Divorcee that She is the Natural Daughter of Rich “400” Widow, Whose Vast Estates She Would Share after Harrowing Experiences in Schools, Hospitals and Sanitariums while kept in the Dark,” Star Tribune, November 25, 1928.
I am totally bewitched by this saga! Love it.