SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University
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he failed to provide for his family financially. The lack of a detailed response and counter<br />
argument from Mr. Selts left the judge with little option but to grant Mrs. Selts the divorce.<br />
There is no reason to suppose that Ida Selts filed this petition with anything other than<br />
honest intentions, but it was clear her divorce petition is centered less on the heartbreak of a<br />
broken marriage than on a concern about protecting her business and financial assets. Benjamin<br />
had left Ida to pursue an auctioneering career. While he was gone, Ida’s business became quite<br />
successful. It was very possible that Benjamin had left the area for good; however, no one knew<br />
if or when he would return. Ida used her divorce petition to legally separate herself from the<br />
marriage union, and by doing so, she protected her assets from the possibility of Benjamin’s<br />
return and his potential claim on the “family’s” resources. She used this divorce to make sure<br />
that what was legally “theirs” became only “hers.”<br />
Another Clay Center wife took similar precautions. Bertha Holtzgang was born in<br />
Switzerland where she met and married her husband Carl. Later the couple moved to Germany<br />
before immigrating to the United <strong>State</strong>s. In 1868, the pair moved to Clay Center from Germany<br />
and in their new community, they established the Holtzgang Drug Store, later known as the<br />
Pioneer Drug Store. This business was one of the first three businesses established in Clay<br />
Center as well as the first drug store located west of Manhattan. 90 Carl Holtzgang was an expert<br />
chemist, having studied in Germany before immigrating to the United <strong>State</strong>s. Bertha Holtzgang<br />
also worked diligently at the Pioneer Drug Store, which she started with her husband. According<br />
to her obituary, “She was a registered pharmacist, possessed fine business ability, and took an<br />
90 The Times, “Bertha Holtzgang Johnston,” 30 November 1933, 2.<br />
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