As a descendant of what we call the "westward Frankenfield movement," I might be able to shed some additional light on this.. lol

My grandfather's parents' married in KS, but had grown up together in Lycoming & Tioga Co. area. My grandparents grew up next door to each otherin Kansas. He went to work for the railroad.. She went to college. He realized after several years that his heart belonged to her.. and went back to claim his school teacher bride.

Suffice it to say.. it appears that in those days.. our family, like many others, hung with and married the neighborhood kids.

My guess, from reading your tale is that Mary is Lydia's mother. I imagine that her first husband died.. or he might have been abusive, causing her to divorce him.

Check the court documents in Northampton County for that time period.

I read about a case in TN where the husband was a abusive *NOT RELATED TO A Frankenfield HERE*, and the wife, because women had no rights, had to get the neighbors to attest to the brutality. The judge granted her the divorce, because her husband treated his horse better than his wife and children. You might check the papers, too. A divorce in those days was FRONT PAGE NEWS!!

There is a book that has great family history on our family. It's entitled, "Frankenfield Kin and Family Data" by Alfreda Patton Davidson. Alfreda is a professional genealogist and did a GREAT job. She collected data and information from Frankenfield descendants all across the country. I contributed the info. for our branch.

You might check with Amazon.com and see if you can get it there or try the family website. The book is well worth the price.

Happy Hunting..