In 1843 Mrs. Eddy tells us she married "Colonel" George Washington Glover: He was in fact a bricklayer by trade, and took her to Charleston, South Carolina, whither he was attracted by higher wages. Six months later the young bricklayer died of yellow fever. Mrs. Eddy tells us she lost all her husband's property, except the money she brought with her. However, another account states the following:
"His young wife was left in a miserable plight, being far from home, among strangers, and without money. Mr. Glover, however, had been a Freemason, and his brothers of that order came to his wife's relief. They buried her husband and paid her railroad fare to New York, where she was met by her brother George, and taken back to her father's home. Here the following September, her son was born, and she named him George Washington, after his father" (M., p. 25).
Mrs. Glover's treatment of her son was unnatural and constituted a grave blot on her character. "Mary," said her father, "acts like an old ewe that won't own its lamb. She won't have the boy near her." Her mother, sister and neighbors cared for this child, to whom his own mother had taken such a curious aversion. When quite young she allowed him to be adopted, and some time after his foster-parents removed to a distant part of the country, and his mother did not see him till 1878, when he was thirty-four years old, and himself married with two children. She contrived to keep him at a distance from her all her life.
In 1853 Mrs. Glover married Daniel Patterson, an itinerant dentist. The marriage was not happy. Mrs. Patterson became chronically ill, peevish and exacting. In 1862 separation took place for two years; four years later absolute separation ensued, followed by her being granted a divorce in 1873 on the ground of his desertion. He evidently found life with her unendurable.
In 1877 Mrs. Patterson married Asa Gilbert Eddy, whom she describes as "Dr." Eddy. He had been a sewing-machine agent, a Christian Science student, and a peddler of her book. After his twelve lessons in the art of Christian Science healing, she imposed the title of "Doctor" upon him, even as she had called her first husband "Colonel" and her second "a distinguished dentist."
We say advisedly that Mrs. Patterson married Mr. Eddy, for when this "quiet dull little man," as he was described, broke the news of his impending marriage to Mr. Spofford, a Christian Scientist healer, Spofford said, "You've been very quiet about all this, Gilbert," Eddy replied, "Indeed, Mr. Spofford, I didn't know a thing about it myself till last night." "He then produced the marriage license from his pocket, and Mr. Spofford noticed that the ages of both the bride and groom were put down at forty years. Knowing that Mrs. Eddy was in her fifty-sixth year, he remarked upon the inaccuracy, but Mr. Eddy explained that the statement of age was a mere formality and that a few years more or less was of no consequence" (M., p. 175).
And yet Mrs. Eddy discounts marriage in her system, and only during the earlier part of the day on which she "annexed" Eddy as her third husband, she had written to Spofford, "I shall never again trust a man." But then, Mrs. Eddy was never consistent in her writings or conduct.