The Sad Tale of Evelyn Hazen

Evelyn had been born into a wealthy family. Her grandfather, Joseph Mabry, Jr., was a prosperous Knoxville merchant who wavered during the Civil War to form allegiances with whichever side was advantageous to his business at the time. His daughter, Alice Evelyn Mabry married Rush Strong Hazen, and, after his death, they lived in the house built for her father. They and their children were an important part of Knoxville society. 

Their youngest daughter, Evelyn, entered the University of Tennessee in 1914 at the age of just fourteen. The dark-haired beauty naively fell in love with Ralph Scharringhaus, the son of a wealthy businessman. They became engaged to be married in 1917, but the United States entered World War I, and Ralph joined the military to help fight. 

During his first leave, Ralph persuaded Evelyn that it was okay to be intimate, since they were going to be apart for so long and they were engaged. She said she immediately regretted it. Their engagement continued for fifteen more years, with Evelyn trying to get Ralph to marry her and him evading the ceremony but still seeking intimacy. In 1932, Ralph broke up with her and fled.

Evelyn was angry enough to kill the man, but she decided to sue him for breach of contract instead. The bold act defied social convention and many felt it doomed from the start. Media across the country covered the landmark case. When the facts came out, the jury awarded Evelyn $80,000, a huge sum to be handed out during the depression.

However, because of her admitted waywardness, Knoxville society ostracized Evelyn. For the last years of her life, she lived alone in the Mabry-Hazen House, with only her dogs and cats. Upon her death in 1987, her will stated that the property had to be made into a museum or razed to the ground. It opened as a museum in 1992, and you can tour it to learn of Civil War history, as well as see artifacts of that time period and those belonging to Evelyn.
(See the blog on August 14, 2015, for more about the history of the house and family.)

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