Mary Bissell Estey

Ironically, the first person of the past that I chose to stalk was actually stalked while she lived. I discovered her in 2007 during research for West Hartford Hauntings, a cemetery tour that I helped run for 11 years (research, scriptwriting, directing, costuming... the whole deal!). That year, I found an article about Mary Bissell who lived on Park Road in West Hartford, Connecticut. Her story was fascinating! And I became... I guess you could say I became obsessed with Mary Elizabeth Wentworth Bissell Estey. 

Over the past 10 years, I've created a genealogy of five generations of her family, discovered siblings that were nowhere to be found, traveled to multiple states, and even visited her former home (which was amazing, by the way, and thank you infinitely to the house's current owners!).

Me in Mary's parlor!

This post is just a snippet of the information I have about Mary and the events of June 1877.

Benjamin Franklin Bissell's property is at the top of the image.

In 2007, we wrote a script, cast the scene, rehearsed, I met my husband, and we put on the show. Yes, I met and fell in love with my husband in a cemetery. And he played Mary Bissell's stalker (and possible lover) John McGuire. 

Mary's life got complicated in November of 1876 when her husband Frank passed away. A rumor went around that he was poisoned, but no evidence was ever found. Why would someone poison Frank? He was a good guy as far as I can tell. He went to church, farmed his land, and ran an omnibus in the 1860s. He and Mary had and lost three natural children, and then adopted a child named Ida in the mid-1870s. In 1875, he hired a guy named John McGuire as a farmhand. Everyone loved John while he was on the farm. The family sat together in the parlor (shocking for a farmhand to sit in the parlor!) and exchanged Christmas gifts. He was the perfect employee.

Until Frank died. Then it all hit the fan. A letter he later wrote to Mary indicated that they might have colluded to get the farm and marry each other after Frank's death. Frank was twenty years older than her, and Mary had married him at the age of 20. John was noted in the papers as being in his mid-to-late twenties and very attractive. Could the two have had an affair and worked together to get their hands on the farm?

While the winter of 1877 seems to have passed fairly quietly, John was injured in the spring and Mary hired Elias Ives to replace him. This did not go down well with John. He was ticked and seems to have lost it. He started drinking, following her, and eventually threatening Mary, her family, and everyone she knew. She eventually paid him six months of extra wages hoping he would leave town, but he stuck around.

Throughout May and June, John threw stones at the house, broke windows, and actually chased her down the road when she was driving back alone from shopping in Hartford. After multiple incidents,  Mary went to the local police. Their advice was to get a gun and protect herself. So, her new farmhand Elias Ives got a gun and Mary hired men to watch her house every night. She slept in different rooms and wouldn't keep the lights on in case John came by the house at night.

On June 14, 1877, he did just that. The family was settling in for the night. Mary was in her upstairs bedroom, the farmhands were sitting outside the kitchen door, and Ida and Mary's roommate Mrs. Sedgwick were working in the kitchen. John's voice was heard outside, and Ives grabbed his gun and went around the side of the house to see if John would come onto the property. John stepped through the gate, speaking to Mary, and continued into the yard. John and Mary had a conversation that went something like this:

Mary: Is that you, John?

McGuire: Yes, how are you? Are you going to give me more money?

Mary: No, I’ll never give you another dollar!

McGuire: Won’t you? Then I’ll do what I said I would.  

John reached into his coat pocket, and...

You'll have to wait until my next post to find out what happened!

Mary received an unsigned letter on June 12, which she later said was from John. Do you think they were having an affair? Colluding to get the farm? Leave a comment below!

Hartford June 2d

Mary. A. Bissell

I have waited long enough to see you and I want to know if you are going to give me what you promised to give me when you got the title on the place[;] and that was only a third of what you promised to do and that as soon as you got the deed to your place[.] I never will ask you again[.] [Y]ou know it was you that Brought me in to Every thing (sic) and it was not my fault[.] I never will trouble you nor never be seen in this town afterwards[.] [I]f you do not agree to that[,]  I will wait until I get what I am looking for if it was to be five years[-] and that is you[;] and then I will go when I have you with you. You know when I was there you pressed me to do so and so[,] and you have not done it[.] [N]o longer than last week you offered me more pay and I would not take it. [Y]ou know you damed [sic] my soul and I will put the rest where it belongs[.] [N]ow think this over and let me know soon[.] You know you can see me any time you wish if you wanted to[.]  [I]f not[,] this the last word you will ever hear out of my lips[.] But rember (sic) I mean gust (sic) what I say and you know I always did.

No more. But I will see you if it was noontime in the daytime and More Be Sides you[.]

Good by (sic)

Let me Know Soon.