Who was Doris Althouse?

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.

Oscar M. Vanness

Oscar M. Vanness was the older brother of my 4x Great Grandfather, Lewis Vanness Sr. He was born 1834 in New Jersey to Euphemia Dey and Aaron Vanness. The Vanness family (including Aaron, Euphemia, Oscar, Lewis, Anna, and boarder Jabez Tucker) settled in Afton, Dekalb, Illinois.

On September 22, 1859 he married Samantha A. Duffey (b.abt 1840, she may have been the daughter of George & Sarah Duffey) in Dekalb County, Illinois. On the 1860 Census he was listed twice; once with his parents and again with Samantha and their son William H. Vanness who was born in May or June of that year. Oscar worked as a carpenter. I couldn’t find any further records on Samantha or William beyond that, but I assume that they died or that Oscar and Samantha divorced by 1870…

Oscar enlisted as a Private in the 42nd Illinois Infantry, Company K on August 10, 1861 in Chicago, Illinois. He was discharged December 20, 1862 in Atlanta, Georgia due to re-enlisting with the 16th United States Infantry, Co. D as a Sergeant and resumed his service on December 24, 1862. He was honorably discharged August 10, 1864 near Atlanta due to his term ending.

Once out of the service, Oscar married a woman by the name of Ann Ellis who was born in Wales. In 1870, they were living in Newton, Jasper, Iowa along with their two daughters; Helen (3), and Mabel (2) and Oscar still worked as a carpenter there. By 1878, Oscar and Ann had divorced and she was remarried to Martin L. Phillips on November 9, 1878 in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Ann and her new husband, along with Helen Vanness were living in Chicago, Cook, Illinois in 1880. Mabel isn’t listed with them – she may have passed away but I was unable to locate Oscar on the 1880 Census, so I cannot conclude anything.

At 61, on March 20, 1894 Oscar was admitted to the Illinois Soldier and Sailors Home. He listed Lewis Vanness, his brother, of Shabbonna Grove, Dekalb County, Illinois as his nearest living relative. Oscar was 5’8″, had a light complexion, dark hair, and blue eyes. He was a carriage-maker living in Chicago, Illinois before coming to The Solders and Sailors Home. Curiously, he also wrote that he was a widower.

Oscar died at the Illinois Home for Soldiers and Sailors on May 12, 1899. Thirteen days later, his ex-wife Ann Ellis Vanness Phillips filed for a pension, her second husband had died some point previous to 1888 and she had been running a boarding house. In 1900, Ann was using the surname Vanness again and still taking boarders in, she was the mother of 10 children out of which 4 were living in 1900 and 3 in 1910. She died in Chicago in 1912.

Helen Vanness had married at sixteen on January 23, 1883 in Chicago to Charles Dougherty and again at age 20 to Albert E. Connolly on February 4, 1887 also in Chicago. I couldn’t locate her after that.

Oscar M. Vanness is buried in the Sunset Cemetery in Quincy, Adams, Illinois under a military headstone.