He Got Away With It, But The Apple Falls Nearby

     After writing yesterday's blog about the unfortunate Nettie Garner, my curiosity was piqued about what became of her husband and killer Jacob Henry Livingston.  You will recall, three years after Nettie's murder Jacob tried to kill his second wife.  I did a quick search on Ancestry for Jacob in the next census, the 1900, and found nothing in Wolcott or statewide. Today I rechecked the 1900 census and found him under the name "Henry Livingston" with wife Mary and son Roy.  I was astonished, this man killed one wife and tried to shoot the second and not only did he get out of the asylum in a ridiculously short time, (if indeed he ever made it there, the newspaper said he was being taken there, not that he had arrived), SHE TOOK HIM BACK!

1900 Census Wolcott, NY

     I'm sure Mary is in fact the second wife and not a third one acquired after his release, in the column for years married it says 8 for both of them.  By the time of the next census in 1905 Mary is not shown in the household.  A newspaper search for her name turned up an estate settlement in 1905 but no obituary. 

1905 Census Wolcott

     You can see in 1905 he has resumed using the name "Jacob Henry" and Roy is still living with him.  Sorta makes you wonder what happened to Mary doesn't it?  In 1910 this reprobate is again calling himself "Henry" and identifies himself as widowed,( I'll just bet), and Roy is still included in the household.  1915 is about the same though now he is "Jacob".  
 

1920 Census Red Creek, NY

     The 1920 census is interesting, here we see "Henry Jacob" aged 65 living in the household of his son Leroy and Leroy's family.  What were these people thinking?  Newspapers at the time of Nettie's death reported Jacob to be a vile man with no control over himself who even abused his own mother. I can't imagine him around children?  But keep reading, it gets more awful.

     When Jacob died in July of 1926, his obituary was very short, not the obituary of a man respected or beloved by his community:
     Henry Jacob Livingston died at his home west of this village early last Wednesday evening aged 69.  Funeral was held at the home on Friday.  He is survived by one son, Roy Livingston.  Burial was made in the Livingston Cemetery,

    This next discovery blew me away!  I did a newspaper search for Roy Livingston, and found this in the April 6, 1943 edition of the Oswego Palladium:
     Double funeral services for Roy Livingston, 50, and his wife Hazel, 45, will be held Thursday...  The couple met death Sunday morning in the Livingston home, two and one half miles northeast of this village, in a double tragedy resulting from an argument when Livingston shot his wife in the back with a shotgun and then shot himself in the right side of the head.  A verdict of homicide and suicide was entered yesterday by Acting Coroner S. W. Houston of Wolcott.  

      What more can I say?  I'm just glad I'm only related through marriage.