The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-02-21
AFTER THIRTY YEARS..
The Romance in the Lives of
Two Persons.
Reunited After Long Years of Suffer-
ing, Suspense and Vicssitude-
A Happy Couple.

CLAYTON, GA, February 1S.-TSpecial. /
Your correspondent has recently had the pleas
ure of interviewing Mr.. James II. Whiten,
who has just returned from thirty years stay
i'll the wild west. His experience in frontier
life, which is full of Indian skirmishes, bear
hunts, etc, is quite interesting; but the sepa-
ration from his wife for period of thirty years,
and what led to their meeting, is the most in
teresting feature of his story.
In January 1857, Mr.. Whten was married
to Miss Nancy Fowler, a beautiful young lady
who resided near Westminster, South Caro-
lima. Young Whten was very ambitious to
prepare for his wife a commodious home, both
being very poor at the time of their marriage
He madeu his mind to try his fortune in the
west. The gold fever was spreading through
this country at that time like contagion and
Pixies Peak was the objective point. SO in the
following spring, when winters winds had
given place to the breezes of spring, and be-
fore the honeymoon had fairly waned, VOWS
of everlasting devotion and fidelity were ex-
changed and Mr.. Whiten turned his face
westward.
After roughing it five years among despera-
does and Indians, and having gathered CON
siderable money, he decided to return to his
Nancy: but not so to be. The civil war was
then in full blast, and, while passing through
the state of Texas, Mr.. Whiten was called on
for his services and had to respond. During
his term many letters were written to the
precious one, but no answer ever came.
Through an acquaintance he was informed
that his wife had refugeed to parts unknown.
In the soldiers camp, in the state of Kansas,
the news of Lees surrender reached him. Be
ing destitute of means on which to travel, and
having learned through an effort to establish q
communication that the one was dead for
whom it was his pleasure to live, he returned
to Colorado, there to spend the balance
of his days in the solitude of the
west. For twenty-five years, said Mr..
Whiten, II wandered over the plains and
prairies, my thoughts ever carrying me back
to the place where kissed her goodbye" 1T
seems that his grief, instead of relaxing, grew
more poignant. In the fall of 1887 he met an
old friend, Joe Steel, in Montana. Mr.. Steel
told him that it was very likely that his wife
was still living; that he had n faint recollec-
ton of a marriage in an adjoining county of a
Mr.. Southern to Mrs. Whiten, who had long
since given up her former husband for dead,
and that Southern was dead, so he was in
formed, and that the widows postotfice was
Fort Madison, S. c. Elated by these glad
tidings, Mr.. Whiten directed three letters to
Fort Madison, one to Mrs. Southern, ono to
Mrs Whiten and one to Mr.. -- Whiten a
supposed son of his. Eagerly did lie wait for a
reply, but none came. The letters remained
in the office till one day the postmaster at that
place was fixing to make a legal disposition of
them, when a countryman, Mr.. John Latham,
Glanced to step in. The postmaster casually
asked Latham If he knew any one by the name
OF Nancy Southern or Nancy Whiten. Latham
happened to be well acquainted with
the widow, and, by request of the
postmaster, carried the letters to Mrs South
ern. She answered him at once, explaining
her second marriage; that she heard he was
dead, and expressed great anxiety to see him.
Mr.. w at once took the train for Westminster,
S. c., having been, by her letter, informed
that she lived at the same old place. Arriving
at Westminster. he proceeded to the old coun-
try homestead, where the parting took place
There under the willow tree in the yard, where
they parted thirty years before, they met again.
Time and trouble had, of course, left its inn
press upon both. Said Mr.. Whiten: Though
the black curls she once wore were streaked
with gray, and the sparkling eye was dimmed,
and the tint of the rose had left the cheek, yet
she was as dear to me as ever We arc now
living together as happily as when we parted
and we all had jolly time"