SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

The judge granted Mrs. Holzgang the divorce on March 20, 1895 along with a decree that
declared her the owner of all property in her name and further, that she was clear of all right,
title, interest or claim of the defendant on this property. 94 In the judge’s statement, he granted
the divorce because Mr. Holtzgang had abandoned his family for eight years. The duty of the
husband was to provide for the family and Mr. Holtzgang was no longer providing for his family.
One suspects, however, that the finding of guilt on the part of her husband was of less interest to
Bertha Holtzgang than the title to their Kansas property.
In 1897, Bertha Holtzgang remarried and eventually sold the Pioneer Drug Store and
moved to Kansas City. 95 Even though she did not remain in Clay Center, Mrs. Bertha Holtzgang
Johnston was well known and respected for her business ability, fairness, and integrity. Mrs.
Holtzgang Johnston’s life was a testament to women of the day for their resilient nature and
ability to rise above the gender roles of the time by owning a business. When her husband
abandoned her, Mrs. Holtzgang used the legal system to her advantage to keep her property and
support her daughter.
Both of these Clay Center women had unusual property interests to protect, but in other
respects, their situation was typical. Marriage and divorce statistical data from the Bureau of the
Census within the Department of Commerce and Labor established that abandonment was the
primary reason for divorce in Kansas in 1897. In 1897, Kansas reported a total of 1226 divorce
petitions. Of these 1226 petitions, 492 or 40% listed abandonment as the reason for the
divorce. 96 What the statistics cannot indicate is the reason for abandonment. In both Clay
Center cases, neither husband responded to the divorce petition, and one must assume that both
94 Ibid.
95 Clay Center Register of Marriages, 175.
96 Carol Wright, A Report on Marriage and Divorce in the United States, 1867-1906, Parts I-II.
(Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1908-1909), 23.
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