Bankruptcy and Divorce

 

Elizabeth Cogswell Kuck (third from left) and George Washington Kuck (far right)

This is a treasured picture in my collection for several reasons. First, it is the only picture I have of George and Elizabeth Kuck in the same photo. I have many photos of them individually but only this one of them together. Second, it also has my great grandparents (fourth and fifth from the left), the ones who lived long enough that I have found memories of both and also my grandfather (blurry fellow on the left) and favorite great uncle (sitting next to blurry grandfather). It was taken during obviously a prosperous time in their lives. 

My grandfather always told me a story about how he was born during the start of the great depression and that his father had been away on business and had frantically called my great grandmother (in the process of giving birth to my grandfather) directing her to sell all their stocks. She couldn't and didn't, the stock market crashed and my great grandfather lost everything, including a bunch of inherited properties from my great great grandfather. I have written before on here at how that probably wasn't true since my grandfather was born seven months before the Black Friday stock market crash. I also theorized he was confusing his father with his grandfather, George Kuck, who indeed seemed to have lost everything in his life, and ended it in relative poverty, working at a grocery store until he grew ill and later died. 

I have also written on this blog that my great great grandparents were married not once but twice, for reasons I never really knew. The only story of marital discord came from another grandfather story that said his grandfather came home to find my grandmother painting (an oil painting that hangs downstairs in my house) and in frustration/anger through the painting down the basement steps (and indeed it shows signs of having been damaged and perhaps repaired in the distant past). 

Well in the process of gathering all my notes to type up, I think I discovered the real stories for both.

Bankruptcy

I first found a sale bill for a bankruptcy auction to take place in September 1924 first but soon found the above Sheriff Sale published in April 1924 that probably tells the story. Somehow, my great great grandfather George lost a court case and ended up owing J. O. E. Johnson a good deal of money. I have searched in vane for the reason for owing that much money but have yet to stumble upon an answer. But the bankruptcy auction advertisement does list a bunch of property in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa that would be sold to pay the above bill, 528 acres worth. So as with all of my grandfather's stories, there is usually a nugget of truth in their somewhere. In this case, a lot of property was lost but not inherited property belonging to my great grandfather Victor but those of my great great grandfather George. George would move to the big city after this and spend his remaining years working in a neighborhood corner grocery store, never regaining the prosperous days seen in the photograph above.

Divorce - Remarriage

30 Sep 1925 - Rockford Register

While typing all these notes up into a Word document, and before I had found the above article, I arrange everything in chronological order for easier reference and in this case. In doing so, I think I stumbled upon a reason why my great great grandparents may have divorced. The sheriff sale and bankruptcy auction all happened throughout 1924. My great great grandparents were remarried in September 1925. Whether it be because of the loss of everything they owned or the stress of losing everything they owned, I'm willing to bet the divorce was due in large part to the bankruptcy. Whatever the reason, they would continue to remain married for another 18 years until the death of George, my great great grandfather. The newspaper article above which I found a few days later after writing this post, shows that the community was aware of their separation and remarriage and handled the entire affair quite tactfully. 

29 Sep 1904 - Rockford Register

Finally I'll close with an article I found, online, that I'm 99% positive describes the house seen in the top photo of this post. It was evidently quite the talk of the town and a sign of their affluent times before the bankruptcy. My 2nd great grandmother Elizabeth must have though much of that house for this clipping can also be found in her scrapbook in my possession but until recently, I never knew which paper or on what date the article had been published.