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.
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:
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.
My 5x great grandfather Luther Taylor was born about 1805 in Connecticut according to US Census records. He married Desire Norton/Newton prior to 1831. Desire died prior to 1860 (probably even before 1850). Sometime before 1860, Luther had relocated along with his three youngest daughters to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He died September 11, 1895 in Watson, Allegan, Michigan.
The Taylors had five known children, all daughters:
Cynthia Marie Taylor (my 4x great-grandmother) was born May 6, 1831 in New York. She married Levi Decker, the son of Wilhelmus and Mary Decker of Wayne Co, NY in 1850. Cynthia and Levi moved to Michigan in about 1858, settling in Allegan County. She died on the Decker family farm on Big Lake in Watson, Allegan, Michigan of Jaundice coupled with Senility on March 4, 1907. She rests in Hicks Cemetery in Watson.
Melissa Surviah Taylor was born May 3, 1833 in Fowler, St. Lawrence, New York. She married Eli Charles Spencer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan on June 24, 1855. Together they had three known children and she helped raise his older children from his previous marriage. They moved to Kansas where he passed away around 1877. She eventually moved with her son Allison to Delta County, Colorado where she passed away on April 27, 1919.
Caroline E. Taylor was born in 1836, also in New York. In 1850, a sixteen year old Caroline was living with her newlywed sister Cynthia in Ontario, Wayne, New York. She married a soldier with the Michigan 1st Regiment of Mechanics and Engineers named William Bates May 1, 1861 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. They had one daughter; Edith Bates. William died in 1863 in Tennessee. Caroline married James M. Flanagan of the same company and regiment as Bates on December 4, 1865 in Kalamazoo County. James and Caroline moved from Michigan to Kansas where she died sometime before 1902.
Emaline Louisa Taylor was born February 21, 1842 in NY. She married Irish immigrant John Shaw in Kalamazoo on April 1, 1862. They settled in Texas Township, Kalamazoo, Michigan and had many children. She passed away there on June 1, 1921 of Dropsy and is buried in the Hope Cemetery in Texas Corners.
Mary Taylor was born November 3, 1845 in NY. She married Charles Campbell in Kalamazoo on May 9, 1863. They lived in Cooper, Kalamazoo, MI with her father Luther in 1870, at that time their family also included their 10 month old son, Charles Jr. and Adeline Fuller and her husband farmhand Jonathan Fuller. Mary died of dropsy of the heart August 30, 1873 and was buried in the West Cooper Cemetery. Campbell then went on to marry Adeline Fuller, who was by then 21 and had been divorced from Jonathan prior to 1872. In 1880, Luther Taylor was still living with the Campbell family, his grandson was by then 11 years old.
Levi and Cynthia Decker are my 4x great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. According to a family bible (not in my possession) they were married on July 1, 1847 in Puttneyville, Wayne, NY.
Based on their graves located in the Hicks Cemetery, Watson, Allegan, Michigan I knew that Levi was born on February 22, 1818 and died August 27, 1891. Cynthia was born May 6, 1831 and passed away on March 4, 1907.
On the 1850 Census the couple was living in Ontario, Wayne, New York along with a sixteen year old named Caroline Taylor,her closeness in age to Cynthia makes me think that they could be sisters. The couple’s first child, Mary, would be born in October of that year.
By 1860, the family had relocated to Watson, Allegan, Michigan and had grown to include Mary, Francis, Levi Luther (my 3x great grandfather and the first to be born in Michigan), and George. Caroline Taylor is no longer listed as living with the family. The Decker family operated an 80 acre farm on Big Lake in Watson, and grew to include five more children by 1873.
Doing various Google searches on Levi, I found an article ordering all the children of Wilhelmus Decker to see the county judge on March 20, 1854 at 10 o’clock to prove their age and claim their inheritance.
This notice indefinitely ties Levi Decker of Watson, Allegany (Allegan), Michigan to to the late Wilhelmus Decker formerly of Ontario, Wayne, New York – where the couple lived while still newlyweds.
An interesting note is that George W. Cowles of Gallen, Wayne, NY, “special guardian of Nancy Decker”, was a republican member of the New York Congress from March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 and wrote a book on the history of Wayne County, New York. Why he was the “special guardian” of Nancy I do not know… yet!
Resurrecting Memories 