Have you come across an elopement in your genealogy research? If so, did the parents contest the marriage? While researching a potential DNA ThruLIne, I came across such a situation with a son of Ida B. Harding and her husband, James Vinsonhaler.
At the age of 20, James Harold Vinsonhaler and Vera A. Vogele left their homes near Rulo, Nebraska and traveled south to Hiawatha Kansas where they were married by a Probate Judge.
Probate Court
James Harold Vinsonhaler, 20 Vera Marie Vogele, 18, both of Rulo, Nebr., were married in probate court of Brown county, Thursday.
“Probate Court,” Hiawatha Daily World (Hiawatha, Kansas), 24 April 1924, page 1; digital image, Advantage-Preservation (https://morrill.advantage-preservation.com/ : viewed online 14 February 2024).
Unfortunately, Vera’s parents did not give permission for her to get married and claimed she was sixteen years old instead of being eighteen as she told the judge.
Girl, Married, Puts One Over
“Girl, Married, Puts One Over,” Hiawatha Daily World (Hiawatha, Kansas), 25 April 1924, page 1; digital image, Advantage-Preservation (https://morrill.advantage-preservation.com/ : viewed online 14 February 2024).
Marie Vogele, 18, of Rulo, who was married in probate court here Thursday to James Harold Vinsonhaler, 20, also of Rulo, apparently “slipped one over” on her parents. According to telephone call probate judge received from Home Kirk, of Rulo, Friday morning, girl was but 16 years old. She had told probate judge that she was 18 years of age in January. After being informed that couple were married, Kirk inquired where boy, girl went from here, but probate judge didn’t know Vinsonhaler had consent of his parents.
Vera’s parents sought the help of the Richardson county sheriff’s office and journeyed to Hiawatha where they found the married couple and brought their daughter home.
Are Too Late to Halt Elopement
So Parents of Bride, 16 years old,
May seek to Annul Marriage;
Wed at HiawathaVera Vogele, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Vogele, living two miles north of Rulo and Harold Vinsonhaler, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Vinsonhaler of Rulo, eloped form the home of the bride’s parents Thursday, were married at Hiawatha, during the day. The young couple were accompanied to Hiawatha by Gertrude Kermode and Mrs. James Winn of Rulo, who witnessed the ceremony.
“Are Too Late to Halt Elopement,” The Falls City Journal (Falls City, Nebraska), 25 April 1924, page 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 February 2024).
The parents of the bride, in an effort to halt the couple, appealed to the local authorities at Rulo and Sheriff Young was called in to help in a search in the evening.
Young and deputy Sheriff Smith wen tot Rulo at 7 p.m. and with the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vogele, drove to Hiawatha, where the couple were found enjoying themselves at a picture show. Both were induced to accompany the party back to Rulo and the bride, who the parents say, is but 16 years of age, was taken home with them.
It is said an effort will be made to annul the marriage on the ground that the bride was under age. The groom is said to have given his age as 20 to the license clerk at Hiawatha.
Based on the newspaper reports, James Vinsonholer did not want his marriage dissolved. Instead, he went to court challenging the sheriff and Vera’s parents.
Youth Moves to Keep His Young Bride
Harold Vinsonhaler, whose Bride Was
Taken from Him, Files Habeas
Corpus ProceedingsSays She Was Abducted
Sheriff Young and Parents of Girl
Charged with Unlawfully
“Seizing” His BrideLoath to give up the youthful bride he won in an elopement to Hiawatha but who was rudely wrested form his hands by officers just as the newlywed couple were enjoying their first moving picture show as man and wife, James Harold Vinsonhaler of Rulo, son of Mr. and Mrs. James Vinsonhaler, Rulo, late yesterday filed habeas corpus proceedings against Sheriff Albert R. Young and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Vogele, parents of Vera Marie, 16, the bride
Youth Moves to Keep His Young Bride,” The Falls City Journal (Falls City, Nebraska), 30 April 1924, page 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 February 2024).
Young Vinsonhaler, who is 20, and his 16-year-old bride stole a march on their friends by eloping to Hiawatha and being married there last Thursday. Gertrude Kermode and Mrs. James Winn of Rulo were witnesses to the ceremony.
The young couple had just begun to enjoy married life and began their blissful marital career by going to a movie at Hiawatha that night when in walked Sheriff Young and the parents of the girl and int he language of Vinsonhaler’s petition “without lawful authority, process or warrant from any court or tribunal did forcibly seize, kidnap and take into custody Vera Marie.” They “carried her against her will and with the consent of the husband,” the petition further reads.
Hearing on the habeas corpus petition was to have been held before County Judge Falloon this morning but was continued until this afternoon pending the arrival of F. M. Pearl of Hiawatha, young Vinsonhaler’s attorney. The hearing however will be postponed until a later date.
While the outcome of the Habeas Corpus suit have not been located, the young family is found on the 1940 census living in Richardson County, Nebraska.
- James – 37 years old head of household
- Vera – wife aged 31
- Gertrude – daughter aged 15
- Harvey Dale – son aged 13
- Ardyce – daughter aged 5
- Denny – son aged 3
- Loyd – son aged 1
In 1950, the family is found in Contra Costa county, California.
- James – 47 year old head of household
- Vera – wife aged 42
- Ardyce M – daughter aged 15
- Denny L – son aged 13
- Loyd R – son aged 11
- Myrna K – daughter aged 8
Nine years later, Vera passes away. Her obituary identifies her as ‘beloved wife of James Vinsonhaler’.
Vinsonhaler, Vera A., in Berkeley, December 25, 1959, of 610 Glenside Drive, Lafayette, beloved wife of James Vinsonhaler of Lafayette; three daughters, Mrs. Jean Jones of Lafayette, Mrs Ardyce Daughtery of Colma, and Myrna Vinsonhaler of Lafayette; 3 sons, Harvey Vinsonhaler of Chino, Denny Vinsonhaler of Pleasant Hill, Loyd Vinsonhaler of Lafayette. A native of Nebraska, aged 51 years.
“Vinsonhaler, Vera A.,” Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 27 December 1959, page 11; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 14 February 2024).
Friends are invited to attend the funeral services Tuesday, December 29, at 2 p.m. at the Chapel in the Valley. Lafayette Mortuary, 985 S. Thompson Rod, Lafayette. The Rev. William Mays of the Lafayette covenant church officiating. Interment Lafayette Cemetery.
Four years later, James would also pass away.
Vinsonhaler, James H., at his home 610 Glenside Drive, Lafayette, November 25, 1963, beloved father of Mrs. Jean Soares of Lafayette, Mrs. Ardyce Daugherty of Clayton, and Mrs. Myrna Felix of Walnut Creek, Harvey Vinsonhaler of Los Angeles, Denny Vinsonhaler of Walnut Creek and Loyd Vinsonhaler of Moraga; also survived by a brother and two sisters, 15 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. A native of Nebraska; aged 60 years.
“Vinsonhaler, James H,” obituary, Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), 26 November 1963, page 29; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 23 October 2020).
Friends are invited to attend funeral services Friday, November 29, at 10 a.m. at the Chapel in the Vally, Lafayette Mortuary, 985 South Thompson Road, Lafayette. Burial Lafayette Cemetery.
Even though documentation concerning the outcome of the court case has not been found, the census records and obituaries indicate that the young couple stayed married.