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.
Lewis D. Vanness of Shabbona Grove, Dekalb, Illinoisis my 4x great grandfather on my mother’s paternal side. He died in 1914 and left a will which asked for the following items to be sold and the funds (which totaled to almost $13,000 in today’s money) to be left to his wife of 49 years, Laura Ellen Spicer Vanness, who died in 1920. The couple had the following children: Anna Vanness, Lewis Aaron Vanness, Bartholomew Vanness, Nettie E. Vanness, and Willard Vanness.
A 1914 Magazine
Typical for a farmer at that time, Lewis kept bees, a cow, a horse, chickens, and grew corn.
Most interesting to me was that he had an automobile and a talking machine (phonograph) and records, for a farmer in a small town he must not have lived too shabbily.
I loved the fact that he had an organ. Organs were huge on my Great Grandma Grace Decker‘s side of the family, Grace would have been Lewis’ granddaughter. I was seven when Grace died, but I remember going to her home and seeing an organ on her enclosed porch. Her mother, Mary Smith Decker also had one which was given to her by her father Samuel Smith.
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.
Lewis D. Vanness of Shabbona Grove, Dekalb, Illinois is my 4x great grandfather on my mother’s paternal side. He died in 1914 and left a will which asked for the following items to be sold and the funds (which totaled to almost $13,000 in today’s money) to be left to his wife of 49 years, Laura Ellen Spicer Vanness, who died in 1920. The couple had the following children: Anna Vanness, Lewis Aaron Vanness, Bartholomew Vanness, Nettie E. Vanness, and Willard Vanness.
Resurrecting Memories 