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| Vida Bell Cabanaw possibly around age 4 |
When I started researching her, I had a name (misspelled), and a few photos. Not much to go on, I was also told that she died young, right after she gave birth to my grandmother. What unfolded was a turbulent short life that my Great Grandmother led. Whenever I think of my ancestors, I think of an idyllic life on a farm with a loving family. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Vida Bell.
Although I knew she was no longer with us, I felt like I got to know her and her family and then was overwhelmed by great sadness when I found her final resting place.
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| Vida Bell Cabanaw possibly around age 7 |
I can only give a timeline of events and don't know how they transpired, it makes me wonder...Did she have a mental illness? Was her mother the culprit of her instability? Was she a wild child that couldn't be controlled? I will never know.
The bits and pieces I have uncovered are interesting to say the least.
Here is what I do know. Her existence started out unlike any other. Her father Arzen Jacob Cabanaw met and was engaged to marry her mother, Edith Florence Morra. But during this engagement, Arzen had a daughter with Edith's half sister Anna Mayo Shelpman. That daughter was Mary Mabel Cabana (b. 1894). Edith would not release Arzen from his engagement to her, so despite the affair, he married Edith in 1893. Daughter Vida Bell was born in 1895. After a while, Edith and Arzen were divorced at which time Anna Mayo and Arzen were wed.
Vida Bell first shows up in the 1900 census living with her mother Edith and Edith's new husband, Fred Hackbirth.
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| Fred and Edith Hackbirth circa 1897 |
Also showing up on this census is another daughter, Pearl, although she does not show up again in any other records. The family lived in Grant County, Indiana.
The marriage between Edith and Fred began in 1897 and dissolved in 1909 on the grounds of cruelty, non-support and drunkenness. Vida Bell had a half brother, Ernest Hackbirth who was born in 1902.
In 1910, Vida Bell is listed as an inmate at the State Reform School for Girls in Adrian, Michigan. (Her mother Edith is now living in Berrien, Michigan with her third husband Art Walters.) This school was founded in "1879 for the reception, care, and training of convicted female juvenile offenders between the ages of seven and twenty. Each girl is detailed for a certain period to look after all the domestic duties in the cottages, all becoming proficient in this important branch of household lore. Washing, ironing, mending, cleaning and decoration are also looked after. A sewing school is in operation, and every girl is taught to sew, put garments together and make calico dresses. During this preliminary instruction, when any girl shows an aptitude for sewing, cutting, and fitting, she is advanced to the dress-making department where custom work is done. There is a horticultural department, and all learn the cultivation and propagation of plants,shrubs, and flowers. Music is taught in many branches, and all the ordinary accomplishments so acceptable and necessary in a happy home, are sought to be developed as much as possible. There is a fine orchestra selected from among the girls with musical talent in the Home."
I don't know why Vida Bell was sent (or sentenced) to the reform school. It could have been that her mother filed for a divorce in 1909 and was unable to care for Vida Bell and her half brother by herself. Or Vida Bell could have been an unruly girl that warranted being placed in the girls home.
In the 1906 Biannual Report of the Michigan State Industrial School for Girls, the cause of commitment to the school were listed as: prostitution, disorderly conduct, larceny, willfully wayward, lounging on streets, attempted suicide or some were mothers. The records for this school are sealed and can only be accessed by the person themsleves. Well, that isn't going to happen, so we will not know why she was committed to this school.
Vida Bell was eventually released from the State Reform School for Girls. On December 30, 1912, Vida Bell was married to Harley Palmerton in Auburn, Indiana.
On December 29, 1912 the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported:
"Mr. Harley Palmerton who has served three years in the navy returned home this week from China, for a visit with relatives. He thinks of re-enlisting."
Hmmm.....I wonder why they got married. Clearly he did not want to be at home. How did they meet? It was a short engagement...or did they already know each other?
Right after they got married, Vida Bell's father fell ill.
On March 17, 1913 according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:
"Mrs. Harley Palmerton was called to South Bend this week on account of the illness of her father, Arzon Cabana."
There were happy times ahead. On October 17, 1913 Lucile Edith Palmerton was born!
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| Top Photo: Harley, Lucile and Vida Bell Palmerton. Bottom Photo: Vida Bell on right, her mother Edith in the middle holding Edith Lucile and Abigail Topper, Vida Bell's grandmother on the left. |
From what I can tell, she was living the high life! Traveling to see relatives in nearby counties, always in the paper, The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported on March 31, 1914;
"Mr. and Mrs. Harley Palmerton and daughter Lucile returned home from Auburn, where they were the guests of their aunt, Mrs. E.H. Crooks."However, in 1914, Harley Palmerton had joined Company K and was stationed in the Philippines. This was the demise of Harley and Vida Bell's marriage. Harley was "tired of traveling in double harness." (I admit, I had to look that up....it means being married.) Vida Bell was alone. Did Harley still support her and their daughter? Why did he leave her?
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| The Fort Wayne Sentinel April 12, 1917 |
It must have been too much for Vida Bell as she tried to commit suicide around Thanksgiving in 1915.
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| The Fort Wayne News, November 26, 1915 |
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| Ernest Hackbirth on left with Lucile Palmerton in the middle and her mother Vida Bell Palmerton on the right. |
Vida Bell did recover from her suicide attempt and asked for a divorce in 1917 along with custody of their daughter, $20 a month and her maiden name back. It took 3 years for Vida Bell to request a divorce from the time that Harley left her to rejoin the Navy.
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| Vida Bell in an undated photo |
Remember Joseph Moritz? He was the man that Vida Bell told she was going to die. He claimed that he only knew her as she lived in the same area and he just happened to be outside washing his car when she drank the acid. Well, they got married in 1917, after she received a divorce from Harley.
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| Joseph and Vida Bell Moritz sometime between 1917 and 1919. |
Joseph and Vida Bell lived in Fort Wayne at 1319 Summit Avenue (It's still standing!). Joseph was a clerk at Wolf & Dessauer (a department store famous for its Christmas lights and was eventually sold to the L.S. Ayers family. He also had two brothers that owned a prosperous fruit and dry goods store.) I have spoken to a relative of the Moritz family and he said Vida Bell was known to be very colorful. The Moritz family also thought she married Joseph for his money and was very suspicious of her. He did say she always had a good time!
If she finally did find love, it didn't last very long. Vida Bell died of tuberculosis in the morning of September 16, 1919 at the Irene Byron Hospital in Fort Wayne. She is buried at Lindenwood Cemetery. She was 25 years young.
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| Fort Wayne News Sentinel, September 16, 1919, page 10 |
I felt sorry for her, I rooted for her, I was saddened when she tried to commit suicide and then I was heart broken when she finally met her demise. It was a life I was just learning about and it ended abruptly.
Poor Vida Bell, we will never know the full, true story. I hope I did her life story justice, I just wish I knew more.
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| Undated photo of Vida Bell |
