Jewel Is My Name

When I was just eighteen and full of myself, I met Frank Rossiter at a Tazwell County, Virginia Social. I ignored my mother's warning and latched on to the well-dressed gentleman when he asked me to dance.

My mother was recently remarried. Her new husband had a way of looking at me that made me uncomfortable. Without being vain, I knew when men stared,but having my mother's husband do it, caused discord and anger between us. She urged me to choose a man and get my own home.

There were plenty of farmers I could have married. But, I didn't want a man who smelled of pig manure or hayfields. When the sweet-smelling gambler came courting, I happily accepted his attentions.

I sold my grandmother's sixty acres and Frank and I ran off to get married. He bought me a new wardrobe, telling me that my clothes were too country and embarrassed him.

I didn't really feel comfortable in the type of dresses Frank chose. Most of them were cut scandalously low and displayed too much of my bosom. Then, besides my attire, he said I needed a new name--we'd call me Jewel, sort of like a stage name. He said, Julie was too frumpy for a wife of his.

I tried to argue, but soon found that when Frank didn't get his way, he flew into a violent rage and used his fists in anger.

I didn't love Frank Rossiter when I married him. I didn't even know him. But, I thought love would grow. I thought he did me a favor by getting me away from the small-minded community I despised. I thought if I did what he asked and tried to please him in every way, things would settle down between us.

I was wrong.

Julie Fulton Rossiter

I hid my face so that they wouldn't be able to see my relief. Nobody cared that Frank Rossiter was dead. I was his wife, and I didn't care...no that wasn't true. I did care, I was glad.

Frank Rossiter was a millstone around my neck. Am I sad that he's dead? My God, no! Whoever killed him did me a favor.

I had already fled, taking the girls, and difficult as it had been, I'd found work in the next town, taking in washing. "My how the mighty are fallen," my mother would say.

It wasn't what I had planned for my life but I had twin daughters to care for and they would not be reared with a gambler's shill for their mother.

So, I left Frank. He didn't seem to mind until the money ran out. Then he came hunting. I told him to leave us alone. We wanted nothing from him, and he had no use for us. We would be fine on our own.

But Frank always liked to use persuasion. He knocked me down, took the twins and promised me that I wouldn't see them again until I came back to work for him.

It was a relief to have him admit that I was no more than his employee. It severed any remaining feelings I might have once had for the girls' father.