Husband Asks for Divorce

In Dekalb County, Illinois during July 1900, a 33 year old bachelor named Lewis A. VanNess married a 22 year old woman named Mary Smith. In June of 1901, Mary gave her husband a little girl whom they named Mary after her. And in November of the following year little Mary, my 2x great grandmother, became a big sister with the birth of Grace Ann. By 1905, the budding family had moved to Juneau, Wisconsin where Lewis engaged in farming. In census records, they seem like a typical farming family, but there is much more to the story of my 3x great grandparents Lewis and Mary VanNess.

The above excerpt was taken from an article from the True Republican May 1906, back in the couple’s home town of Shabbona Grove, Dekalb, Illinois. An article that followed the headline: Husband Asks for Divorce. The subtitle of the article reads: But Wife Files Cross-bill Denying Allegations of Cruelty.

Lewis’ claim was that his wife was cruel to him and had a habit of using vile language while speaking to him. He also claimed that Mary was abusive to little Mary and Grace, striking them on occasion. And of course, that his wife had attempted to murder him,

Mary’s claim for her cross-bill divorce were that she was always affectionate and kind to her husband, and that he was cruel to her and the girls. She also went on to claim that they had not always lived happily together, and that their home life was an “utter failure” which she attributed to her husband’s excessive drinking. She asked for custody of the children and a share of Lewis’ property, which included 80 acres in Wisconsin, a team of horses, a wagon, a cow, and household furniture.

By mid-July 1906, the divorce was finalized. The court ruled on Mary’s behalf, awarding her custody of the girls. Below: Grace, Mary, and Mary Smith Vanness probably around 1905-1907.

In a surprising twist to the story of the VanNess family, on September 8, 1906 in the True Republican’s Court House Notes section in a list of names of couples with approved marriage licenses were some familiar names: “Louis Vanness, 38, and Mary Vanness, 28, both of Shabbona.” A little over a month after their divorce was finalized, the couple remarried each other. It’s unclear how the two reconciled, but they remained married this time until Mary’s death in 1945 and added a few more children to their family.

Above: (back to front, L to R) Clara Della, Laura Ella, Louis, and Margaret circa 1920-1922

• Laura Ella VanNess, named after Lewis’ mother, was born in 1908
• Clara Della was born in 1910
• Margaret Ethel was born in 1914
• Louis W. was born in 1917
• Carl H. was born in 1924

The couple moved north to Michigan between 1917 and 1920, settling in Otsego, Allegan, Michigan where Lewis worked one of the town’s paper mills and Grace worked at a shoe factory. Mary, now 18, worked in nearby Allegan as a waitress and boarded with the family of the restaurant’s manager.

In 1930, the VanNess’ were making their home in Trowbridge, Allegan County. Lewis was back to farming by that time. And at 63 and 51, they had two sons aged five and thirteen to care for. The couple lived out the remainder of their lives on that farm. Mary died in 1945 and Lewis followed her in 1953. They, as well as many of their children are interred in the Mallory Cemetery in Trowbridge, Allegan, Michigan.

Below: Lewis and Mary VanNess.

Louella.

Louella Bender has been mentioned in passing here before, the younger sister of my great grandfather Jesse “Joseph” Preston Bender, she and her brother were the children of Martha Magnora Fast and the enigmatic William G. Bender. Like her father, Louella has always been under a veil for me. Unlike her father, I know where and when she was born, I’ve seen her name on every census right up to 1940. I know when, how, and where she died. I know where she was buried. What is so curious about Louella? She never married or had children. Now, I’m not saying that makes her bizarre – it just got me to wondering… Was she just against it? Did she just never fall in love? Did her father abandoning her at the tender age of two affect her that profoundly?

I was testing out Newspapers.com when I found the above article from the Delphos Courant dated August 6, 1949. Delphos lies partially in Allen County, Ohio and partially in Van Wert County, Ohio. Louella’s mother, Martha Fast Bender Couts, died in Van Wert County on May 3, 1949. I believe Dillie Showalter was actually “Dollie” Lydia Anne Showalter nee Mowrey, mother of Sarah Jane Showalter whom married Robert Stanley Bender (son of Louella’s brother, Jesse P. Bender) in 1941. If I hadn’t already been curious about Louella’s life, I certainly was now. Why would a 54 year old woman need to have a guardian of her estate?

Louella was born January 8, 1894 in Mercer County, Ohio. In 1896, her father left the family and seemingly disappeared. In 1900, her mother divorced her father after running a notice in the Celina Democrat for six weeks straight. In 1903, Martha remarried James M. Couts, a laborer on the steam railroads, they also ended their marriage with a divorce. From at least 1910 to 1940, she lived with her mother at 137 East Third Street, Van Wert. Louella would complete the third grade, one year more than her mother – but five grades less than her brother. She knew how to read and write. And in 1920, at 26, she was a domestic worker and was paid wages. She hardly sounds like she would need a caretaker of her estate, perhaps she was just a more independent woman than most in that time.

In the neatly typed letters resting in the four little lines that lay out the borders of the box where other significant conditions contributing to death lie; I found why Louella never married, never had children, and why she needed someone to handle her finances for her. Mental retardation. My heart sank when my eyes found the words. Obviously, I knew that would be the most likely reason for her needing to have a guardian of estate appointed to manage her affairs. But she went to school (it would be unlikely she would have been sent to a school as a mentally disabled child to school around 1900).

Was she born that way? If so maybe that contributed to her father abandoning the family… Or was there an accident or illness that caused it to happen?

I called the probate court for the guardianship record hoping for answers, unfortunately all that is on there is the following:

• She was “feeble minded”.
• She was 54.
• She had a brother, Jesse Bender.
• She had a relative named Robert Bender (her nephew).

Hopefully I’ll find out soon whether or not it was an accident, illness, or the way she was born.

Thomas King’s Resting Place

Thomas B. King (sometimes listed as Thomas Buchanan King, although I have yet to find a record proving his middle name) was the father of my great great grandfather, John William King. I knew his wife was buried in the Compton Cemetery, Fayette, Ohio after her death in 1911. But where was Thomas buried?

Thomas B. King married Eliza Jane Starkey on November 12, 1880 in Gallia County, Ohio and I found them living in Fayette County, Ohio on the 1900 US Census, living in Union, Fayette, Ohio. Eliza Jane is the mother of eight children, with eight surviving and neither Thomas nor Eliza were literate.

I knew that John Wm. King and his family lived in Indiana and in Muncie during 1938 when my great grandmother, Mazie Mae King, married. While browsing Findagrave to see if any of my King family members were buried in Muncie, I found a Thomas B. King who died in 1912. Because King is a fairly common surname and Thomas is certainly an extremely common given name, I didn’t think much of it.

Later, I took to searching the digital archives on Muncie Public Library’s website for Kings. I found the burial record and the funeral home record for that Thomas King that died in 1912. I figured a peek couldn’t hurt!

To explain the significance of this record, I have to first fill you in on some details on the family of John William King’s wife, Lillie Ann Coder. Lillie Coder was born to George Washington Coder and Mary Swift in Ohio. Mary Swift (born Feb 17, 1883) was the daughter of Elijah Swift and Sarah E. Mongold, she had a younger brother (born in 1885) named Grover Cleveland Swift.

So, when I saw Swift, my eyes just about popped out of my head. I looked more into the life of Grover Swift and found that he was married in 1904 to a girl named Anna King. Thomas B. King was his father-in-law, which is why he paid the funeral home expenses and burial fee at Beech Grove Cemetery.

The Zachary Family’s Prohibition Blues

This is taken from a copy of a search warrant served to the home of my Great Great Grandfather, William Zachary. The search was conducted at 1209 Hazel Street, a home rented by William Zachary and his family in Muncie, Indiana. The search was conducted on May 17, 1930 and bore William’s name as the person believed to be in the possession of intoxicating liquors in violation of Prohibition. At 9:30PM that night Muncie Police officers found what remained of a half pint of red whiskey in Zachary’s backyard.

But this court records come from the trial of another man, John Simpson, a house cleaner who rented a room from Zachary and his family. According to Captain of Police, Frank Bennington’s affidavit given on May 19th, during the execution of the search warrant for Zachary’s property Simpson “did then and there unlawfully appear in a state of intoxication”. On May 27th, Simpson plead not guilty. On June 4th, he was bailed out by Essie Belle Hammel.

Simpson issued a motion to surpress evidence on November 25th. Explaining that his rented room was not searched and nothing was recovered from his possession during the search on Zachary’s leased property. He also claimed that for the evidence to be used against him would be a violation of his constitutional rights, and therefore that was illegally obtained and could not be used against him.

On November 26th, summons were ordered for the following list of men: Bryan Willis, Spence Zachary, Stokie Zachary, and Thomas C. Oland, the landlord and owner of the home. Stokie & Spence were affectionately referred to by family as Stokie &  Pokie. Were the sons of William Zachary and his wife Oda, also in the home were older sister Dora, and younger brother Eddie. Stokie may not have been living with his family at that time.

John Simpson was declared not guilty for violating prohibition by a jury at an unknown date. Although the original warrant bore William Zachary’s name, he was never prosecuted in this case or any others involving alcohol in Muncie.