character.

 

Full Name: Margaret May Bennett (Nee: Davis), goes by Margaret May Austin

Date of Birth, Age: March 11th 1842, 25 years of age

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual, though she's fascinated by the ladies at the brothel as she thinks they are the most beautiful women she's ever seen.

Occupation: School Teacher

Current Residence: The town's boarding house, renting a room.

 

Appearance:  Standing five foot seven with a thin frame, Margaret isn't much to look at on a daily basis.  Her long curly blond hair that she attempts to straighten out sometimes is usually pulled back when she's teaching and her blue eyes are lined with dark circles underneath.  When she attempts to clean up though, which is very rarely, Margaret manages to do so nicely.  Her youthful beauty is still there, but it now takes a bit of a spit shine to make it come through.  If ever asked out for a social call, Margaret will put in that extra elbow grease to make herself look presentable, she figures she owes her mother at least that.

 

Wearing mostly dresses to work and about town, Margaret's things that were once lustrous have now become rather dull from usage.  Margaret isn't in much of a position to have lovely dresses made for her any longer and so she makes a point to keep the clothes that she has that are nicer in low rotation of her dressing.  She purchased in her travels, however, a pair of trousers, her first, and has fallen in love.  She's taken to wearing them when she's spending time outside of the school house with her son just in their private time, as she was raised even from a young girl to dress according to what a proper lady would.

 

She keeps her son in well dress though, figuring it's important that he at least look presentable.  Ash generally dresses in trousers and button down shirts with a nicer vest on.  He complains some of being too dressed up compared to the other boys, but Margaret insists that he look a little fancy.  She lets him relax though when she relaxes and at the end of the school day they both let their hair down changing in to their 'rough and tumble' clothes.

 

PB: Laura Harris

 

Personality: Margaret was always a quiet girl growing up, spending a lot of time just listening and doing as her mother and father said.  She had a strange relationship with her brother as well, as neither of them felt all that close to the other.  That continued still, even after their parents came in to money.  The sudden wealth caused her brother and father to become boisterous, loud people.  Arrogant and forgetting the past from which they came.  The money however did the opposite for Margaret who retreated in to her shell, feeling as though her family was living a lie.  While her mother still insisted upon her daughter becoming a social butterfly, she recognized that Margaret just wasn't that person.

 

Her marriage to her husband did her no favors in that department as well.  She continued to be rather timid through their relationship, only finding that her hate for him built inwardly.  It exploded the night that he struck her and with her sudden confidence boost, Margaret found herself to be alone in the world with little to her name.

 

She had to toughen up after that, there was no way she'd make it on her own, especially with a little boy to take care of if she didn't find a way to survive. She learned quickly how to calculate fast situations to her benefit and a confidence that she'd never displayed before came to rise.  She's still very secretive, trusting few but her own son, but she does yearn for a close friend, somebody to confide in her troubles from her past.  She's also not very trusting of men, and often will reject their advances swiftly, cutting them off from the beginning. She doesn't like strangers, even if she's still a stranger herself.

 

Her positive traits include her mindful thoughtful way about her.  She is very generous, especially when it comes to her son, Ash.  She enjoys helping people and has a keen intuition that she follows as so far it's not steered her wrong. She's very kind and her need to help has aided her in becoming a very good teacher.  Though she can be pragmatic when needed, she's also very dreamy, and sometimes wishes her life had turned out differently.   Her negative traits include her sometimes too easy going nature.  She's been stepped on many times and unfortunately it's cost her.  She usually is a little more strong against things she feels are wrong but if somebody she cares about tries hard enough they can wear her down until she agrees.  Before leaving her husband, she used to have a very hard time saying no, but she's currently working on fixing that within herself, having to learn the hard way.  Her once trusting nature, is a thing of the past.

 

Special Skills/Weapons Used:  Her quick wit and her charm that she can turn off and on help her out of sticky situations, but her old Walker Colt that she picked up for protection purposes...that's her quick way out of things.  She's also a great cook and knows a way to a man's heart through their stomach.

 

Weaknesses: She can't dance to save her life even though her parents paid for lessons, she's as clumsy as a lame horse.  She's also tends to be nosy.  She can't help herself because she's always wondering what people are saying about her.  She has a habit of sneaking about and surprising people.  She also has the worst timing ever and tends to walk in at the most inopportune times possible.  She can loose her temper quickly though in certian situations and in turn, sometimes can have quite the mouth on her.

 

 

family.

 

The Estranged:

Mother: Lucinda Davis (Nee Pike)

Father: William Davis

Brother: John Davis (28) = Missy Davis (Nee: Montgomery)

Twin nieces and Nephew: Sarah Beth and Lucy Jane (9), David Michael (4)

Husband: Warren Bennett

 

In Contact:

Son: Ashley Wade Bennett (5)

  

History: Born three years junior to her brother John, and second to her parents William and Lucinda Davis, Margaret May had a fairly poverty filled childhood.  Both of her parents, poor from their own fallen beginnings, but both well educated, worked hard scrimping and saving as much as they could and providing their children with what they were able to.  Margaret, named after her mother's favorite author who wrote Gone With The Wind grew up happy though, well loved and educated by her mother.  Spending a lot of her time helping out her mother, when she wasn't doing lessons, Margaret was well adjusted and didn't mind that her family seemed to move around constantly as she grew up.

 

In 1849 when Margaret was just seven her brother then, their father who had moved them to a small mining town a year earlier, finally managed to find a large amount of prosperity in the gold rush.  Though nobody knows just how, William managed to come out ahead monetarily but behind a few friends.  This led to trouble for the Davis's, physical altercations and death threats to William, the family stole away during the dead of night to start anew.  Though Margaret doesn't remember a lot of what happened before running away that night, she knew that her life would be changed from that moment onwards.

 

Moving the family to San Diego California, the Davis family was considered to be a wealthy additon, buying up 160 acres of land in 1850 in what would be considered 'New Town' they set up home in this new town finding that none of their past troubles had followed them.  Hiring tutors from out of town for their children, Lucinda spent her time keeping house for her family while throwing lavish parties for William's business acquaintances that were slowly growing in numbers as the man dabbled in many ventures with his new found fortune.  One of his more notable contribution's would be his investment in to the city's first News Papers The San Diego Herald. 

 

While John would eventually go on to work for his father at one of his venues, Margaret found herself drawn to the idea of teaching.  Her mother encouraged this, as she herself had once had aspirations of becoming an educator.  Margaret grew up in to a pretty young woman, and while her parents attempted to socialize her as much as possible through their connections in town, she was still kept a very shy and timid persona.  Her father, when Margaret turned nineteen felt that his daughter had enough education and needed to be married, that she'd put it off long enough.  He had changed over the years, and had fallen in to societies ideas of social structures.  He arranged for his daughter to meet several suitors that he deemed appropriate for her to choose from.  When Margaret refused, William chose for her.  Margaret was married to Warren Bennett, a man eleven years her senior and one of Mr Davis's business partners. 

 

Margaret would immedately become with child after their wedding night, and spent the next nine months of her time miserable as her husband was verbally abusive towards her, the marriage was nothing like she'd ever imagined it to be as a little girl.  She gave birth to her son Ashely Wade Bennett without complications in 1962.  She spent the next few years mothering her son best she could, as she mostly did it alone (with help from her mother), as her husband was off spending the very large amount of money that Margaret's parents had given them, along with a house as a wedding present.  It was in 1865 when Margaret finally found a new life breathed in to her.  The city's first Public School House was being opened, and she fought hard against her husband, telling him that she wanted to work there as the school teacher, but with Warren pulling strings, the position would eventually go to a woman named Mary Chase Walker, a woman from San Fransisco.  Margaret was devastated, and had only her mother to turn to for support. 

 

Mary Chase Walker however, would eventually disappoint the town by inviting a colored woman to dine with her at a nice restaurant in town, causing quite the stir among the patrons and then the residents.  After such a debacle the School Board requested that Margaret, a trusted member of society, work as the teacher to the one room school house.  Elated, Margaret had her mother watch her son as she taught for the next two years.  On the outside, Margaret seemed quite happy, she did her job well and the children at the school house adored her.  She eventually brought with her Ashely to begin schooling him as well.  Unfortunately, most of this was an act, as the situation at home with her husband was getting worse and worse.  Angry that his wife was not at home tending to the things she should have, her 'wifely' duties he turned to drinking heavily.  This would eventually end up turning to a night of violence that would once again change Margaret's life forever.

 

After Warren released his wrath on her, Margaret released her wrath back, hitting him over the head with a large cast iron frying pan.  Panicked that she killed her husband she gathered what she could while Warren was lying on the floor in the kitchen, and ran with her son to her mother.  Lucinda, who had many sympathies with her daughter over the years of the ill fated marriage and anger towards her husband for causing it, gathered up what little money she could find in the house, and gave it to Margaret.  She knew that if Warren was dead, Margaret would end up in prison, and she didn't want that.  Biding them a tearful farewell as her daughter and grandson, they stole away in the night.  It was coming to the end of summer then, fall just around the corner and Margaret had no idea of where she was going to go.  She may have killed her husband, and didn't want to go in to any big cities where she might be found.  Spending her money carefully she managed to take her son and travel them north east, stopping in at small towns and finding travel as they could.  Shelby was not a place that Margaret had planned on staying at, it's history left a sour taste in her mouth, as there was far too much bloodshed on the town's grounds for her to be comfortable calling this place home.  Time passed though, and no opportunities arose for her to continue traveling, the holiday's were coming and Ashley by then was getting tired of living on the run, as was Margaret.  Her money was running out and so were her wits, not having run all that far from where they had originated, worried that she may be found far too easily.  So she purchased herself a Colt, and learned how to shoot it, learned how to shoot it well.

 

That was six months ago.  Margaret found herself a boarding house to stay in, not too far from the middle of town and resides there in a room she rents by the month. She easily found herself a job as one of the town's school teachers, as Shelby had a need for one and Margaret came with a good education.  Fearing her husband would come looking for her, as she heard nothing in the papers about his death (and she kept a close eye), Margaret at first kept to herself.  People though were of course curious about her and her young son, so she gave the fake last name of Austin.  She's currently not close to anybody in particular, but is slowly getting to know the residents of the town, as several of them have children that attend the school.  She has little to no social life though, because of taking care of her son when they aren't in school together.  She does however, keep her gun under her pillow.

 

 

in game history.

May 2, 1867, Afternoon - Eli Donovan takes his work outside where Margaret May Austin and her class happen by. A friendly exchange is passed.  [Comeplete]

May 2, 1867, Afternoon - Quinlan Hyde is outside of the MacNamara Press and Company when Margaret May Austin comes around to use his services.  A dinner invite is given and accepted.  [Complete]

May 2 1867, Evening - Margaret May Austin comes back to the MacNamara Press and Company for her dinner with Quinlan Hyde, with a surprise guest in tow.  An evening of learning and kindness is shared.  [Comeplete]

May  6 1867, Evening - Margaret May Austin has decided it's her duty to find Quinlan Hyde a nice girl.  An evening at The Heel Kicker is in order, but turns in to a romantic date that only Margaret hadn't expected.  [Complete]

May 13, 1867, Afternoon - Margaret May Austin is out shopping but an errant bottle of shampoo eludes her and she ends up bumping in to Stella Cooper.  Conversation and fascination is had.   [Incomplete]

May 13, 1867, Evening - Margaret May Austin is dropped in on by Quinlan Hyde unexpectedly.  Previous thoughts of finding him a good woman are all and forgotten now.  [Complete]