Interesting enough, while JSW & Signa built a comfy home at Trempealeau Valley, they were also at Black River Falls a great deal as well. Who knows, Signa may have brushed
shoulders or shared conversation with Sarah Wright Strang on the dust covered streets of Black River Falls. While both were big with babies, it transpired that on
October 26, 1856, Signa gave birth to her first son, Omer Wing Smith at Black River Falls, Wisconsin. She gave birth just 15 days before Sarah Wright Strang delivered James Phineas Strang.
It had to be during this time that JSW made the acquaintance of the Wright family. The Wright family was up & coming and in the next few years would establish the prosperous lumbering communities of Alma & Wrightsville. And, while they probably kept it hidden, they were still engaged in the religion of Mormonism, most assuredly doing their best to hide the fact that they had once been Stangites. Wrightsville
Something was in the air. The Smith family have a document which is a Quit Claim Deed, dated February 26, 1857, which transferred the land (Mound Springs) from Benjamin Wing to Omer Smith. One would wonder why Benjamin would transfer the land to Omer instead of JSW. Did Benjamin already know something that Signa did not? Was JSW already enamored of the winsome Sarah Adelia Wright? By now JSW & his brother were also working together to establish their own business at Black River Falls, because by 1858 it is recorded that B.F Wing & J. W. Smith build 3-story building on #34, 35, 36 & 37 (from the History of the Black River Falls, Wisconsin Business District 1839-1977).  Apparently JSW is doing well as a doctor (how he ever was trained to that profession we do not know) and is apparently doing very well for himself at Black River Falls, Wisconsin. He has a lovely, well bred wife who compliments him in every way, a new son and a home in Trempealeau Valley that may still be standing. It was located at Mound Springs, Trempealeau Valley, Wisconsin. Evidently Mound Springs in not a town anymore but the home later became a post office. It was known as the oldest home in the valley. It was still standing when Milan was alive but I have no idea if it is now. If anyone can help, please do! But, back to my narrative. Everything was great. JSW had finally put the past behind him...even if the past would jump out and bite him every now and again by the uncertain living conditions of his two children in Pike county, Illinois. But, like the "truant jade" that he mentions in one of his own letters to Rebecca, he seemed compelled to vine out in destructive directions. Signa and JSW have another son, Milan Wing Smith on February 10, 1858 at Black River Falls, Wisconsin. I wonder why both boys were born at Black River Falls? Why not in their home at Trempealeau Valley? It is clearly evident that by now JSW and Sarah Adelia Wright Strang were "involved". Wouldn't it be far easier to keep the wife at home, nursing the new baby, rather than have two women you care about in the same town? Signa gave birth to Milan and the following month, probably around March 6, 1858, JSW impregnated Sarah Adelia Wright Strang. So, when did he marry her? Or had he married her already? The date of marriage was originally given as January 1, 1859. The problem is we cannot find the marriage recorded anywhere. But that really is not unusual for those times and in places like Black River Falls. What is unusual is that JSW had no proof of his marriage to Sarah Adelia Wright Strang when he pulled into Salt Lake City, Utah. Now just what did he do? The question is how did he fool Sarah Adelia Wright Strang? Not only her, but her family. 
Omer Wing Smith & Milan Wing Smith circa 1868 As far as violating her before marriage, by all accounts, Sarah Wright was a pious young lady who was also guided by good common sense. She was a woman who became noted in her lifetime as a medical practitioner, a good mother, a strong individual who lived her life on her own terms. But, in 1858, she was still a young widow, with a small son, living in a shanty with two other families. Dr. Joseph Smith Wing came into her life when she was very possibly at her lowest point. He was charming, he was handsome, he was prosperous and he told her everything a lonely young woman wanted to hear. It is very possible that he "staged" a marriage before they knew each other intimately. One of the reasons I think that is possible is that he had to have her somewhere by herself. It seems unlikely that they would consummate their relationship in a busy shanty with easily ten different people in and out at all times. This was probably the last time Sarah ever trusted another man or believed a word they said. I do believe that as the years went by her love for JSW turned into something very ugly for her. She would recall James Jesse Strang with admiration for his character but there is nothing recorded that flatters JSW in any way. The drama that was developing at Black River Falls, Wisconsin was a serious, even deadly drama. There was violence within and without the Mormon way of life. Those folks that were violently opposed to the practice of polygamy would just as soon kill a man as look at him. The Wright family was just now picking up the pieces of a shattered life on Beaver Island. The very last thing they needed now was for a man to come along and damage one of their own again. Dr. Joseph Smith Wing was in way over his head. There had to come a time when he realized that his dalliance with the sad eyed Sarah put him in immediate danger. Not just him, but his brother, Benjamin as well. They were business partners, they bought land together, they were actually successful and even prosperous. All of that was just about to come to an end. On November 7, 1858, Sarah Adelia Wright gave birth to a daughter who they named Elizabeth Jane Wing. For me that is proof that JSW knew better than to mess around with the Wrights. Here he had a legal wife in Wisconsin who still believed his name was Joseph Wing Smith but he somehow felt compelled to share his real last name with his mistress. No one that I know of is in possession of a birth certificate or proof of Elizabeth Jane's birth. However, in the census for 1870, Sarah Adelia records that Elizabeth Jane was born in Illinois. In the 1880 census, Elizabeth is married by then and someone tells the census taker that she was born in Utah which we know is impossible. For now, let us assume that Sarah Adelia was being perfectly honest with the census taker. Why wouldn't she? She lists that her oldest child, James Phineas was born in Wisconsin. She just doesn't tell the census taker that James true last name is Strang. If we can rely on Sarah Adelia's memory and honesty, they must have moved to Illinois sometime around September of 1858, maybe earlier, but there is no way to know at this writing. The most likely place they would have moved to in Illinois would have been the home of his mother and daughter, Amy Pettis Wing and her young granddaughter, Adelia. For reasons that still aren't clear, Adelia's mother, Rebecca gave up all rights to her firstborn. Amy & eight year old Adelia lived at Newburg, Pike County, Illinois. This house and the land was probably what JSW inherited from his father, Joseph Wing. Amy was ready to pack it in. She was getting too old to handle a eight year old by herself. She had decided to move in with JSW's older brother, Stephen Wing. Deeds and documents yet to be found would probably clear this up and I do have a lawsuit between Rebecca Davis Wing Cheek and Benjamin Wing concerning this property. The lawsuit originated in 1857 and it was probably when Amy deeded it to JSW who deeded it to his daughter, Adelia. There must have been some tricky legal maneuvering by deeding your property to your children. Possibly it was that you were still in control of the property and yet it could not be taken from you by a sneaky ex-wife or something. It appears that things were getting very tight for JSW. He had two wives again, how and why he would even do that is truly beyond comprehension. He was at least smart enough to know he did not want to invite several loads of gunshot into his body so he got Sarah Adelia out of Black River Falls. So, for as long as he could, JSW successfully lead his double life. A wife in Illinois and a wife in Wisconsin. He was getting to know his first two children again, Adelia and Byron. Everything seemed to be working just like he wanted it too. In fact, it must have been fairly easy, after all, he was a doctor and a businessman. He had so many fingers in the pot why would one of his wives even question his dedication to his medicine and his business pursuits? I bet he thought he was a saint. After all, who was he hurting? He managed to house and feed two families and keep them decently clothed. For someone with his mindset I am sure he felt no guilt at all. In fact, just the other way around, he probably thought both wives were lucky to have him. As far as Signa was concerned, he left in March of 1859. She knew he traveled to Illinois a great deal and had probably even asked if she and the boys could go along with him a time or two, but he surely had a good excuse every time about why they couldn't accompany him. He always came back. In fact, I think he probably didn't leave for good until after the fall of 1860. He had business to attend to since the three story building he and Benjamin had built had burned to the ground on March 18, 1860. Not to mention that letters from the Wright family announced that his nephew, Samuel Joseph Wing, was going to tie the knot with Sarah Adelia Wright Strang Wing's sister, Elizabeth Wright. There is every reason to believe that Sarah Adelia would want to attend the wedding in Alma, Wisconsin. JSW might have had a harder time saying no to Sarah than he did to his long suffering wife, Signa. In fact, that might have been when somehow, someway, Signa got some kind of clue about JSW's predilections for other women So it happened that Amy moved in with Stephen while Adelia probably stayed with JSW and Sarah Adelia, they possibly even had Byron living with them. The 1860 census for Pike County, Illinois show that a Luther Wing and his wife, Clara, lived at Newburg, Pike County, Illinois and they had four children living with them. All about the same ages of Adelia, Byron, James Phineas and Elizabeth Wing. CHAPTER ONE - CHAPTER TWO - CHAPTER THREE - CHAPTER FIVE |
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