Agnes and William had one son named James Shiver Bothwell. William's mother, Sarah Hooks Bothwell, apparently objected to the marriage between Agnes and William, perhaps because she felt that Agnes' family was not of the same social class as the Bothwell and Hooks families who were successful planters in Lee and Macon Counties. During Agnes' pregnancy and after the son was born, William's mother persuaded him that the baby was not his, prompting William to write an "anonymous" letter to the Sumter Republican about the woes of a husband with an unfaithful wife. The contents of the letter described the people involved so accurately that apparently everyone in town knew who had written the letter. After the letter's publication, Agnes' brother Youel wrote a reply to William defending his sister's purity and threatening to kill him if he ever came up to Americus. We have copies of the originals of both these letters (possession of Jane Mitchell, great granddaughter of William Bardin Bothwell from his third marriage). but not of the versions printed in the paper. Subsequent to this scandal, Agnes and William divorced (decree from Lee Co Sup Court Nov 22, 1882) and Agnes left town, presumably because of the damage to her reputation. Sarah Hooks Bothwell in her will refers to "the son of my son William's wife, whom I do not believe to be my grandson" and specifically cuts the child out of any inheritance from her estate.
Agnes with son James, mother Susan Atkinson and brother Youel Atkinson moved from Georgia to Apopka, Orange Co, Florida. There she met up with John Gilbert Pope, a member of the prominent Pope family of Lee Co, Ga. He was working for Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway as head carpenter building cabins for the work crews who built the railroad to Miami. Agnes was married to J.G. Pope in 1886 and had five more children. Mr. Pope died in Dec. 1899 during a the yellow fever epidemic in Miami when her youngest child was 2 months old. Mr. Pope died intestate and John Hines of Leesburg, Ga was named administrator of the estate.
James Shiver who was 5 years of age at the time of his mother's remarriage was then called James Shiver Pope, but was told by his mother after Mr. Pope's death that his real name was Bothwell and who his natural father was. He then assumed his legal name Bothwell. Being 18 years old at the time of Mr. Pope's death he was given a job at the FEC Railroad and eventually became head baggagemaster at the Miami depot. With his earnings he supported the family and helped raise and educate his siblings.
Agnes Rust Atkinson Bothwell Pope never remarried.
Census Dade Co, Fl, 1900 indicates that Agnes gave birth to 7 children and 6 lived.
Census Orange Co ,Fl, 1885, Distr. 11, p.5 lists:
Susan Atkerson 40 widow, Joel Atkerson 18 son - drummer- , Agnes Bothwell 23 daughter divorced,
S Bothwell 3
While in Kissimmee, Fl, her mother Susan Gertrude Atkinson met and married her second husband William Sigsbee who must have died before the 1900 census.
The fate of Agnes' brother Youel remains a mystery. His existence had never been mentioned in the family and was found only through census records in Ga and Fl and the letters he wrote the the Americus newspaper.
It is most likely that William is the father of Shiver, even if he (William ) did not think so. If it were not true, why would Agnes have upset Shiver, who was perfectly happy believing that Mr. Pope was his father? In addition, Agnes was clearly the only person who knew for certain who Shiver's father was, and she could have named anyone from her past life in Georgia as the father, but she named William Bothwell. Also when examining the photographs of James Shiver Bothwell a strong resemblence can be seen to William Bardin Bothwell, and especially to Sarah Hooks Bothwell and some other members of the Hooks family.