Did you get my e-mail? Sometimes it doesn't work too well.
I may have found what happened to Mary. The Oberlin Herald has a listing from 7/11/1895 for burial of child of Wesley. The years would fit between Berte and Art. As far as I know, Mary is the only child they lost.
Berte kept a diary from the 1930's until the late 50's or early 60's. I made a list of Art's whereabouts from the diaries.
In 1940, Art had a seeing eye dog and a house in Caney
In 1941 when Wesley died, Art was in Brewster
In 1943 when Lillian died art was still in Brewster
In 1949, Art sent Berte a clipping about himself and his blindness "progressive atrophy"
In 1951 Art sent Berte a clipping from the Eagle about a housefire where a child died and Art was burned.
1952 found Art at the Ks School for the Blind in Kansas City and then did demos for the blind
In 1953 Art's address was c/o a publisher in Cincinnatti
In 1954, he was in Bossier City, LA
In 1955, Art was back in Wichita
In 1956, Art was in Phoenix and in Wichita at the VA hospital then in Memphis This is the final entry in the diary
Art died 3/30/1959 at the VA hospital in Denver.
Art was drafted for WWI and was in Oberlin.
From what I have heard, Art was always a rolling stone and a showman. I'm not sure what time period the circus came into being. I know he did not enjoy working for Berte when he homesteaded in Colorado and disappeared for a year and joined a circus. That was probably his first taste of the animal trainer life. He seemed to reappear in Brewster or Oberlin on a fairly regular basis.