WOMAN, 53, ADOPTED BY FOSTER MOTHER.
Court Rules Paper Legal, Although Mrs. Marshall Died Without Signing.
Judge J. E. Guinotte in the probate court yesterday held legal the adoption of Mrs. Minnie Evans, 53 years old, by Mrs. Lorinda Marshall, 80 years old, at the time of her death, on last Wednesday. While the adoption of a person of 53 years is in itself a very unusual occurrence, whit is of deeper interest is the fact that for fifty-three years Mrs. Evans believed she was the real daughter of the elder woman.
Two days before her death Mrs. Marshall, who lived at 1119 Olive street, called her foster daughter to her bedside and told the story of how the Marshalls had taken a 3-months-old girl to rear fifty-three y ears ago. They had not adopted her, believing it was unnecessary. The waif, she said, was mrs. Evans. All these years Mrs. Marshall had kept the secret. So also had her husband as long as he lived.
In the meantime, Minnie Marshall had grown to womanhood as the daughter of the Marshalls. She had married and has five children, one of them also married. As Mrs. marshal had property of her own and was also an heir to another estate, there was need for a legal status of her heirs. An attorney advised her adoption by Mr. Marshall and papers were made out. Although Mrs. Marshall died before she could sign them, the probate court ruled the adoption legal.
