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William Albert VanBibber and Ann Mary Sutton (double first cousins) were married, July 5, 1880. During the next eight years Ann Mary bore five children, Lillian, Ethel, Olive, Martha and Raymond. Divorce records indicate that William was a drunkard who beat his wife and shortly after the birth of Raymond, deserted his young family. Ann Mary, alone with five children, untrained for any kind of work was probably desperate at this point. Whether she acted out of desperation or from the Courts intervension, we don't know. It was not uncommon in those days for the courts to find a parent unfit and would place the children in an orphanage. This is what happened to these children. One day Ann Mary simply showed up at the door of the Warrick Co. Orphan's home with five little children in tow.....and left them there, never to return. This was not a unique event, thousands of children passed through the doors of Orphanages during this time period. Few of these children were ever actually adopted. The best they could hope for was to be "indentured" out to a decent family who would treat them well. Most were indentured to people who were not looking for a child to love but one who was strong and healthy and who would be a free servant. This is what happened to all five of these children. They all have their own stories to tell which I will do in seperate stories. The last event to track the parents was a divorce decree (see copy in our photo section.)
Ann Mary divorced William in 1893, five full years after he had deserted her and the children placed in the orphanage. What became of William and Ann Mary....we would love to know. William was living with his Brother in the 1910 census and there the trail ends. Did Ann Mary remarry, we wish we knew..........

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