My maternal Great Grandmother's sister, Laura Slinkard:
(photo probably taken 1894)
And the man she wanted to marry, Lee Jackson Danner:
But he didn't want to marry her, so she took him to court and won!
Mom's scrapbooks I found an article from our newspaper written in 1991, about this story. That was
the first I'd ever heard of it. So that was 2013, and I contacted the author to thank him, also telling
him that I was related to Laura Slinkard. Fast forward 4 1/2 years...About 2 months ago, the author,
Terry Ommen, contacted me again letting me know he had found some new info on the case and that
he was in the process of writing an updated version of this story for Visalia's magazine, Lifestyle.
That issue came out last week, and he graciously sent me a copy, which I was excited to read!
Here it is.
I broke it down in parts hoping to make it easier to read:
This is baby Delbert.
I'm assuming it was taken on his parents' wedding day
since he is holding flowers.
Not such an unusual occurrence,
until I remind myself this was 1894!
After Laura died, here is her husband Lee
surrounded by their children.
Left to rt: Guinevere Inez Danner (3 Jun 1900); Delbert Irwin Danner ( 2 Apr 1894); Lee Jackson Danner (26 Jun 1864); Lorita Alma Danner (12 Feb 1896);
Hazel Irene Danner (2 Jun 1898)
(Lorita had a twin sister who either died at birth or early on)
If I could just find Laura Slinkard's exact death date,
I could probably get a death certificate for her.
All I know is she died in 1903 at the age of 29.
I don't see how it could have been a happy marriage.
I also feel the need to add as a side note:
Noticing from family records, Laura's Mom died when she was 14, and her Dad died the following
year when she was 15. That's a lot of trauma for a young girl. Right in the middle of this period of
time, along comes this man 10 years older than her who gives her attention. Laura's younger siblings
went to live with her older sister (my great grandmother).
Laura perhaps was very poor and on her own, and very young.
I wish I knew more.