The couple's joy (if there was any) was short-lived as eventually Fannie could no longer feel the infant stirring in her womb. In August 1887 Fannie was delivered of her stillborn child.
If there is an undercurrent of cynicism in this story it is precisely because of this: Within four months of the death of their baby, Fannie was back on the exhibition circuit!
If there was ever a sign for Mr. Brown to have a heart, let his wife quit the business and take responsibility for her care and support that would have been it.
But then, that's what a loving, supportive and selfless Mr. Brown would have done. Unfortunately for Fannie, the Mr. Brown she was married to was lazy, spineless and self-involved. Fannie continued to exhibit off and on another five years until she got so ill that she was not physically able to show anymore.
Although I have no proof, I wouldn't be surprised to discover that about this time Brown divorced her.
Fannie died in 1899 "of an abcess" and was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky. She was only 39 years old.
William Brown, as you might expect, lived to be an old man, dying in 1904, aged 70 of cancer (probably of the heart). |
