After her husband, Charles Decker, died in 1909, Lydia (Mayo) Decker was left with six children. She married a man by the name of Abram Lott six years later. The marriage record is shown below.
Prior to their marriage, Abram was featured in the local news around the area. The following are articles about Abram and his counterparts, which made the family infamous in Orange County, New York.
Abram undoubtedly served jail time for 3rd degree arson. He doesn't appear again in the news until years later. Just how long his sentence was is unknown but on November 24, 1915, eleven years after the sentencing, he married my 2nd great-grandmother, Lydia (Mayo) Decker and became step-father to her six children. Her oldest child, Delaphina, was 17, and her youngest was about six or seven years old.
Abram and Lydia's marriage record states that it was his first marriage but if Abram is the "Abe Lott" mentioned in the April 30, 1903 article above, this was actually his 2nd marriage. The article states that Nettie Conklin had been married to Lott for two years. Furthermore, since Lydia married first to Halloway Ames, and second to Charles Decker, this was actually her 3rd marriage. They were married on November 24, 1915, in Warwick, New York. It had been six years since Charles had died.
Exactly six months after they were married, Abram was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for deserting his wife and children. "Other charges were also pressed". What charges were they? A visit to the County Courthouse may prove to be insightful. A visit to the library for a better copy of the newspaper with his photo would be interesting to see, too.
The following month, in December of 1916, Lydia was admitted at the Orange County Poorhouse, as evidenced in the following record:
Nevertheless, in 1918, when Abram ("Abraham") completed his draft registration card in 1918, he lists "Lidda" as his wife.
In 1920, Lydia was counted on the census in Warwick (Edenville). She was 51, and lived with her sons, Norman Decker (age 16), Theodore Decker (age 12), and Herbert Decker (age 9). For more information and photos, see Lydia's page. See also the Mayo page and the Decker page.