John Mortimer BERTENSHAW

                   Mary Helena died of cancer of the throat.  On her deathbed she requested her
youngest sister, Mabel Alice, marry her husband, Frederick Wilson, so her son
John Stanley Wilson would have a home to come to after the WWI.  Also, Mabel
had a 5 yr. old daughter, Iris, without a father and Melena or Lena as she was
called by her family, wanted to make a "proper" woman of her sister.  Mabel had
been raped by a "friend" of the family who had come to the Bertenshaw home to
order a hat from her mother, Sarah Ann, a milliner.  When he found her out, he
took advantage of Mabel and as a result of that rape she became pregnant.  The
family more or less shunned her after that.
     This story was told to Mabel's daughter, Mary (Mollie), when she started
doing research and Mabel knew if she sent for Iris' birth certificate she'd
discover she(Mabel) would be listed as a spinster and rather than have Mollie
draw the wrong conclusion she confided the true story.  It explained why Mabel
never seemed to like to talk about her brothers and sisters and when she did
she seemed somewhat angry.  It also explains why she didn't have much use for
men.