Digging through family photos is never dull.

… especially when you uncover a photo like this:

Dad! You look like a mobster!

Dad was 12 or 13 years old in this photo. His family still lived in Lowell, Massachusetts, but would soon relocate to New Haven, Connecticut.

Alas, Dad doesn’t have a story to go along with this photo.

But while digging around in Fold3.com (the military arm of Ancestry.com), an FBI Report caught my attention …

FBI Report?

Before we get started, please understand the Vayo(s) involved are not part of our family tree. Truth be told, though, it’s too good a tale not to tell.

Nearly a dozen documents make up this FBI file. There was money involved.

Allegedly.

And a woman. With three last names.

Bigamy?

The year was 1918. A woman by the name of Jewel Copeland (insert one of three aliases here) claimed she was due spousal benefits, since her husband was in the service. Times three.

She was … a Jewel thief?

Jewel Copeland Ashton.
Jewel Copeland Vayo.
And Jewel Copeland Culver.

When this Jewel caught their eye, the FBI went to visit one of the grooms’s mothers.

Mrs. Culver pleaded ignorance. She had no knowledge of the alleged marriage.

So now we potentially have three grooms and one mighty ticked off mother-in-law.

Mother Culver wrote a letter to her son. Oh, how I wish that letter was part of the FBI file.

Meanwhile, agents searched through records in Dallas. They ascertained there had not been a marriage between Edwin Vayo and Jewel Copeland. (Whew!)

Meanwhile, Mother Culver heard back from her son, who was now stationed in South Carolina:

” … he knows no woman of this name, he is not married to any woman, and does not intend to be.”

Poor Clarence! Poor Edwin! And don’t forget poor Harvey!

The government check issued to Jewel came back.

The file ends here. What happened to Jewel? Did the trail grow cold?

Did she manage to elude authorities?

The war ended. The soldiers went home. A frighteningly virulent strain of influenza killed millions worldwide.

The young woman who conspired to commit fraud again the US Government quietly disappeared.

And so, this Jewel case was closed.

Would you like to receive an email notice when there’s a new Too Much Brudders post? Sign up here: