There was a time when they might have been considered a happy family.

Although truthfully it's easy to look back now and wonder if that was ever possible.

The final chapters certainly call a lot of things into question.

Andrew came from a prominent wealthy family, but forged his own path early on.

He started out working with his hands, making furniture for homes and even coffins for graves,

but it wasn't until he got into real estate that his fortunes really changed.

Family life was just as busy too.

He and his wife Sarah had their first child, a daughter, in 1851, followed by another

girl nine years later.

But all of that changed just three years after that when Sarah died at the young age of

just 39, leaving Andrew without a partner and if we're honest about the social norms

of the time, without someone to raise the kids and manage the household.

Which is probably why he remarried two years later.

From everything I've read, they seem like a happy couple though.

But kids process things differently and those two girls missed their mother, so much so

that their new mom didn't really have a chance.

Sarah's was a household filled with tension, frustration, and a whole lot of unexpressed

bitterness.

It was the sort of emotional time bomb that we've learned about over the years from the

movies.

It wasn't really a question of if things would reach a boiling point.

It was more a matter of when.

...