Bertha “Bertie” Wells
Submitted by Tiffany Bowman
Bertha “Bertie” Wells was born on 7 November 1881 in McKee, Kentucky, to Jacob Henry Wells and Margaret Wood. She married Levi Hisel/Hisle in Jackson, Kentucky, on 7 November 1900, at age 19. They had one daughter, Efford, born in 1903, who died in 1904.
On 21 May, 1906 she was admitted to the Eastern State Hospital for epilepsy that she had suffered from for seven years. The records listed her as a 24-year-old married woman from Jackson County. Her father J. H. Wells (Fox Town, KY) was listed as the contact.She was assigned patient number 9654. After three years, she was discharged on 31 Dec 1909 as "improved".
In the 1920 United States Federal Census, Bertha Hisel/Hisle/Hysel, age 38, was enumerated as a widow living with her parents in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio.
She married James Flemmon Spivey on 12 October 1921 in Butler County, Ohio. In the 1930 United States Federal Census, James Flemmon Spivey and Bertha Spivey were residing in Miamisburg, Montgomery County, Ohio, with James F. Spivey’s four children.
Bertha Wells Spivey died on 7 September 1970 in Miamisburg, Ohio, at age 88.
Research Notes
- Her brother, Owen Wells, also died in a state hospital in Ohio.
- Her brother Colonel W Wells spent the last 12 years of his life at Eastern State Hospital.
Sources:
- Kentucky marriage record (1900)
- 1920 United States Federal Census
- Butler County, Ohio marriage record (1921)
- 1930 United States Federal Census
- Ohio death record (1970)