SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

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