Big Mistake

 Meet George McClure Fueston (1878-1959) and his bride Edith Trent (1884-1966)

"America's most committed co-defendants:
George and Edith Fueston, partners in love, crime
and questionable sleeping arrangements."

What a handsome couple right? They were married in 1900, he was over 21 and she was over 18 indicating both were of age when married.  Let's peek into their lives and see if marring each other was a big mistake or if getting caught for misbehavior was the mistake. 

Big Mistake

A Weekly Family Story

Some people make a mistake and learn from it. Others marry the mistake, have a child with it, get arrested twice (maybe three times), and then have the good fortune to live out their golden years in peace. Such is the rollercoaster romance of George McClure Fueston and Edith Trent, a couple who redefined the phrase “it’s complicated.”

Meet the Fuestons

In 1900, George, a 22-year-old with a talent for making regrettable decisions, married 18-year-old Edith Trent.¹ 

By 1901, they had a child—an auspicious beginning for what would become a uniquely scandal-filled partnership.

Over the next few decades, their names would pop up in the most delightful corners of police records and local gossip columns. Arrests, scandal, mystery men—it's like they were trying to get a Netflix miniseries deal a century before it was possible.

The 1911 Oops

Their first known brush with the law came in 1911, when they were arrested for unlawful cohabitation and vagrancy.² 

It’s unclear whether the law was punishing them for being married but not behaving like it—or for behaving like they were brother and sister and not married when they were. 

At the time, family researchers suspected a fellow named Charles Francis might’ve been involved. But as it turns out, the true third wheel may have changed, more than once, over time.  

The 1916 Spectacle: Enter H. Courtney

In 1916, the Fuestons were arrested again—this time for gross lewdness, and this time, it wasn’t just the two of them. They brought along a third party: H. Courtney, a returned trooper and landscape gardener who found himself in the middle of a love triangle… that he didn’t realize was a triangle.³

Courtney testified that he’d been sweet on “Miss Edith Brown” (a.k.a. Edith Trent Fueston) for over a year. He genuinely thought he was going to marry her. In fact, he even slept in the same bed as her—and, oh yes, her “brother,” George Fueston.³

Imagine his surprise when he learned, just days before the arrest, that George wasn’t her brother at all, but her husband.

Poor guy. He brought love letters to court as evidence of his feelings. She had met him at the train station, thrown her arms around him, kissed him, and whisked him back to the house. George was there. Everyone was there. It was like a very awkward episode of Three’s Company, except everyone got arrested.

Let’s just say H. Courtney left the house with fewer illusions and probably fewer clean socks.

"Although the three slept in the same bed, [Courtney] was under the impression that George Fueston was her brother, and did not learn that Fueston and the woman were married until Monday, when the trouble arose..."
— The Spokesman-Review, 19 Oct 1916⁴

It’s the Victorian equivalent of a Maury Povich reveal. (“George… is the husband!”)

The Mysterious 1930 Arrest

Just when you thought they might’ve learned their lesson, the Fuestons pop up again in 1930. Arrested once more—but this time the charges are lost to history. Gambling? Moonshine? Public indecency? All of the above?

Whatever the reason, it was their final known run-in with the law. After that? Silence. Not a peep in the police blotter. Not a whisper in the local paper. Either they finally settled down, or they got really good at not getting caught.

Side by Side in the End

Despite the drama, the arrests, and the whole "surprise you're not my brother" incident, George and Edith stuck together. When they died—George in 1959, Edith in 1966—they were buried side by side. A permanent reminder that sometimes, the biggest mistakes are the ones you never walk away from.

Photo personal collection Barbara Fueston Grandon

What Can We Learn?

• Never assume the guy in your bed is anyone’s brother.
• If you’re writing love letters, make sure your “fiancée” isn’t already married (and sleeping in that same bed).
• And if you’re George and Edith… well, I guess the lesson is: go big, go bold, and go to court—together.

Sources Cited

¹ St. Louis, Missouri, Marriage License Book, 1900; Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.
² Family knowledge based on police blotter entries, 1911, location presumed St. Louis, Missouri.
³ The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), 19 Oct. 1916, p. 6, “Denies Charge of Lewdness.” Newspapers.com, clipped by barbgrandon, 9 Sept. 2022.
⁴ Ibid.

And that's a wrap!

Next week #15

Oldest Story

Keeping Family Story Alive

Barbara