"She has a club laid up to break Mike's head:" The Quarrels of the Agnews

The February 17, 1880 Bovina column in the Stamford Mirror carried this item:

Last Sunday seems to have been a high day for family quarrels in Brushland. A row was begun that day … between Robt. Agnew and wife. Agnew is a blacksmith by trade, and located here some time last fall. This worthy couple have been in the habit of quarreling occasionally ever since they have been here, and on Sunday (according to Mrs. Agnew’s story) Agnew shut her up stairs, and kept her there all day, with nothing but two cold griddle-cakes to eat. On Monday, she went up to Mrs. Boyd’s (a relative of Mrs. Agnew’s) and returned home on Tuesday. Agnew came from his shop in the evening, and finding his wife at home, the quarrel was again commenced, when Agnew put his wife out of doors, and threatened to kill her if she came in again. Soon after this, Thomas Miller was crossing the stone bridge, near Strangeway’s store, and heard a noise, as if some one was trying to break the ice, and going down the stream a short distance found Mrs. Agnew, who acted as if she intended to drown herself. She was then taken to M. Dickson’s, where she remained over night. The next day she went to Boyd’s, and is there at present, but is said that she intends to leave Agnew and go back to her mother, who we believe, lives in Scotland.

It seems that Robert left first. In the Stamford Mirror for August 17, 1880, it was reported that “Robert Agnew, blacksmith, has sold out to McPherson & Salton.”

Mrs. Agnew showed up in the papers again a week later in the August 24 issue. It seems she ended up staying at Dickson’s and overstayed her welcome. 

Michael Dickson having obtained a judgment against, Mrs. Agnew served, an execution on her Monday last, and levied on "three silver dollars, also the potatoes and apples in the garden at present occupied by her," and ordered her to vacate the premises within three days.  The three days have expired and she is still in possession of the premises, and says she has a club laid up to break Mike's head with if he troubles her again."  

We don’t know much about Mr. and Mrs. Agnew. They were both from Scotland. Mrs. Agnew’s maiden name was Margaret McBurney. In 1871, they were living in Renfrewshire, Scotland with their one-year-old son Robert. Mr. Agnew came to the U.S. in 1873. We don’t know when Mrs. Agnew came but by 1880, they were living in Bovina with their ten-year-old son Robert and three-year-old daughter, Margaret. The information on daughter Margaret is confusing. Her death certificate in 1963 gives her birthyear as 1879 and her birthplace as Renfrew, Scotland. 

At this point, Mr. and Mrs. Agnew disappear from local newspapers. Robert appears to have headed on to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September 1885, a Robert Agnew died in an accident working on the railroad in September 1885 in Pittsburgh. This likely is the same Robert who briefly was a blacksmith in Bovina. 

In June 1914, the Andes Recorder reported “Robert Agnew, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was a visitor here this week.  His father had a blacksmith shop in Bovina some thirty years ago.”

What happened to Mrs. Agnew I cannot determine.