Recently, I located another article on Lewis Decker and Mary Smith Vanness’ marriage. This article ran March 15, 1915 in the Daily Chronicle in Dekalb, Illinois. I already knew from the couple’s 1906 divorce that Lewis was a drinker, and sometimes a violent one, but the name “Bud” threw me off…
So, I went to Ancestry and typed the name “Bud Vanness” into the search. And the second item on the page was Laura Ella Vanness’ marriage record from 1927. Her father’s name was in fact listed as Bud VanNess!
Laura Ella VanNess’ marriage certificate to George E. Werner – Allegan County, MI – November 12, 1927.
Looking at photographs I have received of Lewis, I cannot see a scar or any other kind of deformity but, perhaps it just isn’t easy to make out from a photo. I have emailed another descendant of Lewis and Mary’s to see if she knows anything about the incident.
Lewis, Mary, and their children packed up and left Dekalb County, Illinois in 1917. Perhaps it was due to all the gossip that must’ve been spread about their marriage.
In 1910, in the home of my 3x great grandparents Platt and Minerva McKeeby Eichler in Lee Township, Allegan County, Michigan, there was a two year old little girl named Doris G. Althouse and she is listed as the daughter of 50 year old Platt and 41 year old Minerva – not impossible, but unlikely seeing as their next youngest child would be Elba Eichler, 18. Doris was born in Illinois, her mother in Michigan, and her father’s birthplace was not known.
Doris G. Althouse, 2, in the home of Platt and Minerva McKeeby Eichler – Lee Township, Allegan County, Mich., 1910.
In 1920, Doris is not listed with the Eichler family, Platt died in 1916 and Minerva remarried in 1918 in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan. I finally located Doris, 11, living in the Children’s Home on South Westnedge in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Children’s Home was not solely for orphans, but also for children who came from troubled families. The Home was an industrial school where girls were instructed on household duties.
The marriage record for Doris (Georgia) Althouse and Charles Ulam ,1925
Doris’ parents names were Nina Elwell and William Althouse per her marriage record. They were married on November 11, 1903 in Oceana County. Nina was the daughter of Jane Reames and Bert Elwell, Jane Reames Elwell was a witness on the document. On November 26, 1907 the couple became the parents of Doris Georgia Althouse in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. By 1909, the marriage between Nina and William had dissolved and in January of that year William married Laura Star Butler back home in Oceana County. Nina was remarried in South Bend, Indiana in October of that year to John Berg, a German immigrant. In 1923, she married Rueben Parish in Paw Paw, Van Buren, Michigan.
Doris’ mother, Nina Elwell, was the daughter of Lovina Jane Reames McKeeby, who later in life went just by “Jane”, and Burton “Bert” Elwell. Bert was Lovina’s second husband whom she married after the death of her first husband, Henry McKeeby. My 3x great grandmother Minerva McKeeby Eicher was the daughter of Lovina and Henry; making her and Nina Elwell, Doris’ mother, half-sisters. Perhaps Platt and Minerva intended to adopt Doris following the divorce of Nina and Mr.Althouse.
Anna Decker, the daughter of my 3x great grandparents Lewis Luther Decker and Margurite/Margaret Edith Layton Decker. She was born in Hopkins, Allegan, Michigan on February 3, 1894. She lived on the family farm in Hopkins with her siblings Oren George (b.1887), Lee Aaron (b. 1889), and Maude (b. 1891). Her life ended in tragedy on the farm one warm fall day on November 9, 1899 when she asked to run and play in the yard without her shoes.
**Caution, this is a very graphic and sad story**
Little Anna was running through the yard while her brother Lee Decker (if the news article is accurate in saying the brother was about ten years old) was cleaning a stable when he unintentionally hit his sister with the fork. It punctured her eye and entered her brain four inches… she died almost instantly. It is also worth note that at the time of Anna’s death, Mrs. Decker was seven months along with her sixth child, my 2x great grandfather William Decker. In 1902, the Decker’s would have another daughter and name her Anna in honor of the little girl they lost so tragically.
Below is the actual news article from the paper in Otsego, Allegan, Michigan:
Dean Eichler, my 5x great grandfather, was born in February 1825 in Chenango County, New York to John Eichler and Ruth Warner. Asenath Elvina Nostrant, was born in August around 1825-28 in Onondaga County, New York to James Nostrant and Laine VanPetten. The two were married in about 1847-1850 in Onondaga County, NY.
In 1850, the Eichlers are living in Lafayette, Onondaga, New York with their daughter, 2 year old Ellen Eichler.
Between 1854 and 1856, the family moved to Michigan. In 1860 Dean, Asenath, Ellen, Rosette, William, Sarah, Ruth, and Platt (my 4x ggfather) were living in to Pokagon, Cass County, Michigan where Dean farmed. Asenath’s maternal uncle Arent “Aaron” Van Patten died in Millgrove (in Valley Twp.), Allegan, Michigan in 1857.
In 1870, the family was living in Keeler, Van Buren, Michigan and now included Matilda, Ida, George, and Mary. Dean was still farming and his son William helped on the farm.
In 1873-74 the family moved from Keeler to Lee, Allegan County. Youngest child Lana was born there, their second youngest David was born in Keeler. Dean was still farming and was ill on the day the enumerator came in 1880, but I can’t make out what it says specifically. Widowed daughter Rosette Eichler Houghton and her two children were living in the household as well. Rosette remarried later that year to a widower named Silas Randall ofPine Grove, Van Buren, MI.
In 1900 the couple was living with their daughter Mary J. Eichler Nightingale and her family in Hamilton, Van Buren, Michigan. In 1910, Dean and Asenath are living in Marcellus, Cass, Michigan with their daughter Ida Eichler Knoll and her family.
Dean died in about 1911 (I haven’t located his death certificate on Seeking Michigan yet). Asenath died August 12, 1919 in Benton Harbor, Berrien, Michigan, according to her death certificate she was buried in the Grand Junction Cemetery.
I am impatient, I don’t like waiting. Right now in my personal life this is a very difficult thing, I am frustrated with how long it is taking to make progress. So, I thought I would share part of a story I found in A Twentieth Century History of Allegan County, Michigan (compiled under the supervision of Dr. Henry Franklin Thomas of Allegan in 1907) about my 4x Great Grandfather, Ransom Aaron Layton who made his progress slowly with hard work.
“He always manifested the progressive spirit which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding and development of agricultural interests in this great state.”
Ransom was born to Francis Layton and his wife Margaret Ann Wagner Layton (both originally from New Jersey) on July 16, 1841 in Genesee County, New York. His mother died when he was four, and when he was nine he and his father relocated to Cooper, Kalamazoo, Michigan where he was educated and eventually became a laborer on a nearby farm until he had earned enough to purchase his own land and begin his own farm.
He chose Watson, Allegan, Michigan as the site of his homestead and farm and purchased 80 acres. As he continued to work, he was eventually able to purchase 80 additional acres. Making his total 160 acres – which was all forest land at the time of his purchase. In addition to clearing his own land and farming, Layton also worked at an area sawmill for a number of years spending half the day and half the night being spent at the mill and the remainder of his time was spent working on his land. On that land, he built a home and several outbuildings.
In 1868, Layton married Hannah Elvira Leach (born 1848 in Ohio), daughter of Justus Leach and Mercy D. Mason Leach. He and Hannah became the parents of three daughters and one son:
Margaret Edith Layton Decker (my 3x great grandmother), wife of Luther Decker. They had seven children: George Oren Decker, Lee Decker, Maude Decker, Roy Decker, William Decker, Annie Decker, and Leota Decker.
Arthur J. Layton who married Gertrude Mabel Goucher. Their childrenwere Garnet Clara Layton and George Russell Layton.
Alta Almeda Layton, wife of Simon Fox. Mother of Pearl Myrtle Fox and Juanita Fox.
Bell Ethel Layton
In politics Layton was a Republican, and he never ran for office, instead focusing on his farm, but he was always interested in what was best for the people.
“He may, without exaggeration be called a self-made man… Starting out in early life in the humble capacity of a farmer being employed by others, through industry, economy and careful management he worked his way year by year until he was the possessor of a valuable property of 195 acres”
“To know him was to respect him, and his many friends yet cherish his memory, for he was a man of excellent character and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to every worthy cause.”
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.
Resurrecting Memories 