A New Chapter in Edesse's Life.

Remarriage.

On April 5, 1899, at the age of 70 (though she claimed to be several years younger) , Edesse married Odilon N. Myer at St. Sylvester Catholic Church on Humboldt Avenue in Chicago. He was about 18 years younger than she.

How might they have met? Most likely through the Odenbrett's. Odilon's daughter Emma, and Matilda's son Edward, were both confirmed in June 1897 by Archbishop Patrick Feehan at St. Sylvester. It is likely the Odenbretts and Myers knew each other quite well.

Odilon's daughter Agnes was one of the witnesses to the wedding ceremony performed by Father Michael O'Brien.

Edesse deeded the house on Russell Avenue in Milwaukee to Matilda in 1899 before her marriage to Odilon Myer. The little creek had long since dried up. In time, her son Edwin would occupy it.

Odilon Myer.

Like Edesse, Odilon Myer, the son of Francois Myer and Marie Hutenbase, was French Canadian. He first married Agnes Jarret de la Beauregard July 7, 1872 and settled in Minnesota [Dakota Territory] where Delia was born. By 1874 they were living at Fort Abraham Lincoln just south of Bismarck in the Dakota Territory where he was a stock farmer. Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer was post commander there when he fought the fateful battle at Little Big Horn in '76. By 1880 their family grew with the births of Nellie, Agnes, and Joseph.

They moved to Chicago within a couple years, where Juliane, Emma, Lizzie and another son named Joseph were born. There, Odilon made shoes. The Odenbretts lived just around the corner, had children around the same ages and worshipped at the same church.

But tragedy stalked the Myers'. Delia died at age 15, and four years later, in 1893, Nellie at age 18 succumbed to tuberculosis. Both girls had struggled for many months with this condition. Their mother Agnes died in this period as well.