Stepmother kicks Izola out.

 

In Malaga, Spain, a sixteen-year-old sailor met and seduced a sixteen-year-old girl. He was Abraham Mills, and she was Izola Maria Mendoza.

Three years later, Abram's ship returned to Malaga. He went looking for Izola. When he found her, she had a two-year-old girl with her. Izola informed Abram the baby was his.

According to the Catholic Church's teachings, Izola had committed one of the greatest crimes against the church. She had a child out of wedlock. Only murder was considered a greater sin. The church elders expected Izola to give up her child. Defying them, Izola kept her baby. The church elders and her neighbors saw her as an immoral woman.

Abram wanted to take Izola away from her judgmental neighbors and asked her to marry him. After they were married, Abram took his wife with him aboard ship. Some Captains allowed their sailors to have their wives and children with them. Aboard ship, wives with their husbands shared the same congested space below deck. They lived in full view of everyone with no privacy. It was dark, dirty, and the smell was awful. Izola got sick and died as the ship was taking her to America.

Seven years later, Martha's father remarried. At ten, Martha wanted to start using her mother's name. She began insisting that everyone call her Izola Martha Mills. Also, at ten, her father died. Two years later, Izola's stepmother kicked her out of the house. 

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This excerpt comes from the audiobook Izola Martha Mills.