You got it...

Still digging...the story being told by this woman - again, she will not cough up anything she claims to have in writing, which seems to consist solely of the Bible - is that Essie married Elbert W Carr because she was pregnant with his son.

Only the "son" in question was born on 5 Sep 1891 in Fort Scott Kansas, a year and 8 months prior to this marriage while Essie was still married to Frank Shephard who is listed on the son's birth and death certificate as his father.

So personally, I think 1) Essie was a very independent woman who got around, didn't care who thought what, and made up some stories to tell her daughter (who supposedly knows more about the "secret" parentage of her brother than he did himself); OR 2) Essie didn't say this stuff...her daughter (who preferred to be known as Hubby Number 3's daughter instead of the daughter of Hubby #1, who was her real father) did, and who the hell knows what her motivation was; OR 3) all the women in this branch of the family were a few bricks shy of a load and willing to say/do a lot of stuff to get attention.

Or a combination of the above.

But I'm sticking to my historic documents, thankyewverymuch...