Laura Bettye Paxton nee Cain

 

From Left to Right: Laura Bettye Paxton nee Cain, her grand-daughter Bettye Edwards, her daughter Mary
Florence Werner nee Paxton, her great-grandson Fredrick Paxton Werner, and her daughter Jessie Elvira
Edwards nee Paxton.

 

Born: August 26, 1866 in St. Stephens, NE

Passed: June 24, in 1945 in Falls City, NE

 

BIOGRAPHY

 

Her life was a checkered one.  Her father was Judge William R. Cain of Falls City, Nebraska.  She married Dr. Galen Crowe Paxton who was 12 years her senior at age 16.  She bore three children but found living on the Great Plains in a sod house with a dirt floor distasteful and divorced him and returned to her home in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  Her only son, Fredrick died suddenly of appendicitis at age 20 which was miss-diagnosed by the local doctor.  She then re-married with a family name of Reid but that ended in divorce as well.

 

Finally, Dr. Paxton pleaded with her to return to him in Santa Monica, California and she did.   But after a few months, she returned to end her days in Nebraska City, Nebraska.  She is interred in Steele Cemetery in Falls City, Nebraska.

 

In a separate letter entitled “Paxton-Miller” we have a more complete account, to wit:

 

“Laura never forgave Doc [husband Dr. Galen Paxton] for not being home ‘where he belonged.’ She believed profoundly that he could have saved Fred’s life [her son who died of appendicitis]. Bitter quarrels ensued.  Doc had started to drink heavily some years before and this, coupled with Fred’s death, resulted in a divorce.  Divorce in those days was nearly unheard of, and not looked upon as a Christian way to solve things, but for her and Doc it seemed the only way.

 

Following the divorce Doc joined his brother Sam in Rigby, Idaho.  Same owned the drug store there and Doc the medical practice.  I was an ideal combination.

 

A few years later Doc married a fine [Mormon] lady, Emma Holstrom.  He had stopped drinking and even smoking black cigars.  Emma proved to be a good influence on him.  He prospered and they moved to California along with Sam and his wife Alice and children.  [Dr. Galen Paxton and Emma had a daughter.] Doc invested in real estate and never again practiced medicine.  At one time he owned land in what is now downtown Reseda [neighborhood in San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, CA].  He sold that and bought property in Ocean Park.  Emma died there and Doc lived alone.  Some years passed and he wrote Laura a beautiful letter begging her to join him, that he had never stopped loving her.  Her daughters, now grown with families, encouraged her to go, thinking she could have a free-from-financial-worry old age.  That didn’t prove to be the case, however, as she found a nearly senile old man.  She had become a nurse to support her children and herself, so she nursed him for a few months and then returned to Falls City, Nebraska.  Laura was bitter about Doc, declaring he hadn’t changed, and only wanted someone to take care of him.

Doc married again, this time to a much younger woman with three daughters.  He died there soon afterwards on June 23^rd, 1936.  At his request, his ashes were scattered of the Pacific Ocean.  At last this restless wild spirit was at peace.”