Edna Cudahy was born Edna Margaret Cowin on October 31, 1877 in Omaha, Neb. Her father was a prominent Omaha lawyer and politician who would later go on to be a signatory to the 1914 manifesto of the Nebraska Men's Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. She married John P. "Jack" Cudahy, son of wealthy Chicago meat packer Michael Cudahy. They had four children, Edna Catherine (c. 1900- ), Marie (c. 1902- ), Anne Elizabeth (c. 1904-), and Michael (1908-1947). Edna and Jack began married life in Kansas City, Mo., where Jack managed his father's meat packing plant. In 1910, Jack attacked Jere Lillis, President of the Western Exchange Bank, over suspicion of an affair between Lillis and Edna. Following the attack, Edna and Jack divorced, and custody of their children was entrusted to Jack's parents. In 1912, the couple reconciled and remarried, and settled in Pasadena, Calif. with their children. Jack joined the Army during World War I, served at Camp Lewis in Tacoma, Washington, but secured a medical discharge following a nervous breakdown in 1918. After Jack returned from the Army and regained his health, the family moved from Pasadena to a mansion in Hollywood, where, in 1921, Jack committed suicide. Throughout their married life, Edna maintained connections to the theater society of the United States, Canada, and Britain. Edna died in 1949.
From the description of Cudahy family papers, 1901-1925. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 263428245
