Iva Was a Bad Girl

Iva's mother Amelia was an outspoken
lady of the Victorian Era.

Prologue

Where did this whole mess start? If you ask Amelia, it started with Silas. He was a little older by about six years. On an upward march toward becoming a U.S. Army officer, Silas was hard-working and focused. More importantly, he was a well-kept and well-groomed sober young man who recognized that a wife and family provided the kind of stability the Army favored.

If you ask Silas, it started with Amelia. Compared to most demure ladies of the Victorian Era, she was soft, but outspoken and held a desire to learn. Amelia completed the eighth grade, a fact she liked to pull out and wave around like a kid with a toffee apple whenever it helped her make a point. At 18, she’d reached the age when Father worried she’d become one of those much-to-be pitied spinsters of her day.

Silas served with honor in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, and reenlisted with the idea of making the military his career. The discipline fit Silas’ demeanor. “Better than farming,” he liked to repeat.

Amelia needed a suitable husband, and Silas suited her just fine. If it wasn’t an ideal union, it certainly wasn’t the first time a bride and groom wed out of practicality and under a cloud of lowered expectations.

At any rate, Lt. Silas Webster McNeil and Amelia Zephra Coleman married in 1867. She was 18, and he was 24. They had one surviving child. This child, Iva Elizabeth, is the subject of our story today.

Iva was born in 1871 somewhere in Michigan. At age 17, she married Frederick Collings. The two also produced only one surviving child, Zilpha Elizabeth. Silas was stationed at Fort Brady near Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan. Amelia, Iva, Frederick and Zilpha lived in a small Michigan town about 50 miles south of the fort until 1900. That’s when events occurred to change their lives.

The facts of what transpired will never be known today. It’s doubtful they were fully understood back then. There are no diaries, no biographies, no Internet accounts or video postings. Left behind are only the sketchiest of family trees, verbal supposition and second-hand gossip.