They Eloped

Are you a fan of the hints the various genealogy sites provide linking someone in your tree to a record? I have to admit that I am a fan of those hints, particularly the Ancestry leaf hints. Some would say that I’m a lazy researcher when I’m doing descendancy research since I often don’t dig any further than those hints.

And then I run across Maude Mabel Harding with hints for three different surnames. At first, I dismiss those hints since FamilySearch does not show Maude (KCW7-CK2) with only one husband, Clayton Cook, whom she married in 1892 in Bremer County, Iowa. But those hints keep ‘poking’ at me, wanting me to pay attention. Thus, I decide to look at the three suggested trees. And I find the Sears Family Tree with the three husbands and SOURCES.

One of those sources is a 1930 Iowa marriage record where Maud Mabel (Harding) Dean lists her parents as Thomas Harding and Mary Briner – the same parents that I have for Maud Mabel Harding. According to the record, Maude Mabel Dean married Conrad C. Funk on 6 Aug 1930.

With this 1930 record and the 1892 record from Bremer County, Iowa, I now have identified two potential husbands for Maude Mabel Harding: Clayton Earnest Cook and Conrad C. Funk.

But in the 1930 marriage record, her surname was Dean. Thus, I need to look for a marriage sometime between her marriage to Clayton Cook in 1892 and her marriage to Conrad Funk in 1930. The Ancestry tree that led me to the marriage record identifies the second husband as Harvey W. Dean. It also indicates that Maude and Harvey Dean had a son born in 1908. This would place their marriage sometime between 1903 and 1908.

I decided to search Iowa newspapers to see what I could learn about Harvey Dean and his wife, Maude Harding Cook. I found an article in The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) indicating that Harvey Dean and Mrs. Cook eloped.

Waverly Has an Elopement Sensation
Harvey Dean and Mrs. Clayton Cook Left Town Together
Waverly, Iowa, Oct. 13 — One of the greatest sensations which has occurred in Waverly for several years has just come to light in the discovery that one woman’s husband and another man’s wife, who left Waverly on the same day for different destinations, really went together and are now supposed to be living in St. Paul as husband and wife. The man in the case is Harvey W. Dean, a carpenter by trade, and one of Waverly’s best known citizens. He is the only son of the late G. R. Dean, once county superintendent of Bremer county and for many years mayor of Waverly. The woman with whom Dean is said to have eloped is Mrs. Clayton Cook, who for the past few years has resided in the third ward. Mrs. Cook took with her her three small children.
Harven Dean has led a rather unusual life. His wife secured a divorce from him and soon after married him again. They have four small children, one of which was born before the divorce and three since they were remarried. about two years ago, Dean, who is a splendid specimen of physical manhood, and conceded to be the strongest man in Bremer county, discovered that he posessed rare hypnotic powers. For several monthes he successfully toured the country giving demonstrations in coutry school houses. It is now believed that this hypnotic power has played an important part in the elopement. Parties in position to know state that for some months past Mrs. Cook has acted as one under a hypnotic spell. A particularly atrocious feature of the elopement is the fact that at the time of leaving home, his little children were under quarantine, being afflicted with scarlet fever.

“Waverly Has an Elopement Sensation,” The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), 13 October 1905, page 1; digital images, Newspaepers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 6 October 2021).

Several other Iowa newspapers had a version of this same story. Then a year and a half later, the Waterloo Iowa Courier contains a notice of the marriage of Harvey Dean and Maude Cook.

The City in Brief
A license to wed as issued today to Harvey W. Dean, 33 and Maude M. Cook, 30, both of Waterloo.

“The City in Brief,” The Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), 8 February 1907, page 8; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 6 October 2021).

A search of the Ancestry database, Iowa Marriage Records, 1880-1951, found a marriage record for Harvey Dean and Maude Cook.

Name: Maude M Cook
[Maude M Hardy]
Gender: Female
Race: American
Age: 31
Birth Date: abt 1876
Birth Place: Bremer Co. IA
Marriage Date: 8 Feb 1907
Marriage Place: Black Hawk, Iowa, USA
Father: Hardy
Mother: Mary Brown
Spouse: Harvey W Dean

These newspaper articles and marriage records support the tree with multiple husbands for Maude Mabel Harding. Now, I need to go back and pay attention to those hints that I ignored. This experience is teaching me to dig a little deeper when the hints keep pushing me in a different direction.