Case Summary

Joseph L. Williams petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to establish custody of his son, Joseph T. Williams, which was granted. The younger Williams was being held by a man named Elmer Harris, whose wife appeared in court to surrender the boy to his father. Elmer Harris was the boy's grandfather, and his daughter, the boy's mother, had died shortly after the child's birth. Since the respondents attempted no defense, the younger Williams was released into the custody of his father.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

• Interpersonal

Petition subtype(s)

• Child custody

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Released from custody

Case Citation

RG207 Lancaster County Subgroup 9: Series 3 Appearance Docket N, p. 56; RG207 Lancaster County Subgroup 9: Series 4 Daily Journal #82: Mar 15, 1921 - Oct. 1921, p. 604; RG207 Lancaster County Subgroup 9: Series 4 Daily Journal #84: April 28, 1921-Oct. 1921, p. 439

Source material(s)

Docket | Journal

Repository(s)

• History Nebraska (Lincoln, Nebraska)

State

• Nebraska

Tag(s)

• Children

People

• Williams, Joseph Thomas (bound party)
• Williams, Joseph Lafayette (petitioner)
• Harris, Elmer (respondent)
• Harris, Mrs. (holding party)
• Harris, Mrs. (responding party)
• Morning, William McClellen (judge)
• Greene, Robert J. (petitioner attorney)

• Additional parties

  Miller, Ira (sheriff)

  Hughart, Charles A. (deputy sheriff)