Case Summary
George Steward and Irene Baker were married on February 15, 1911, after Irene had an affair with him while married to Norman C. Baker. They had a son named George W. Steward Jr. on January 18, 1917. However, there was controversy about the child's parentage, as George Steward traveled frequently in his job as a waiter. Irene claimed that the child's father was her common-law husband, John L. Stewart, and thus referred to the child as John L. Stewart Jr. According to Irene's friend Mrs. M. Elliott, Irene visited her for a month shortly before her death from tuberculosis on March 18, 1918. She told her that if she died, she wanted Mrs. Elliott to take custody of her son. Despite this, after Irene's death, George Sr. took his son to Battle Creek, Michigan briefly. However, through correspondence, he and Elliott decided that Mrs. Elliott would take care of the child until Steward had settled into a comfortable home in Michigan.
They met in Chicago to exchange the child in May 1918. While they did not have a formal child support agreement, George Steward gave Mrs. Elliott $385 over the period in which she had custody of the child and Steward took out an $800 life insurance policy for George Jr. Once Steward had established a life in Battle Creek and remarried, he sent for the child, but Mrs. Elliott refused to surrender him. Because of this, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on June 4, 1924. The sheriff and his deputy could not find Mrs. Elliott or George, however, and thus served the writ to her husband, Donald C. Elliott.
During a hearing on June 13, 1924, custody was granted to George Steward Sr., despite Mrs. Elliott's protests. She claimed that George was not the child's father—she believed Irene's claims that John L. Stewart, who she had lived with since 1914, was her son's father. She also said that George had not taken a fatherly role in George (or John) Jr.'s life, and while Irene and John Stewart were living in Chicago, he had represented himself as Irene's brother. In fact, Mrs. Elliott said that George and Irene had never lived together at all. Because Mrs. Elliott intended to appeal, the court agreed to leave the boy in her custody until the legal processes concluded. The Supreme Court filed their opinion on the case on April 16, 1925. They claimed that, while George Steward was the boy's father, Mrs. Elliot should retain custody of the child, as it was in George Jr.'s best interests. They had no idea if George would be welcomed into his father's new family, and giving him into George Sr.'s custody would require him to leave the court's jurisdiction. However, they left the case open for a potential further appeal by George Sr. if he could prove that he was capable of caring for the child.
Case Information
Petition type(s)
Petition subtype(s)
Outcome
Writ allowed
Fate of bound party
Remained in custody
Case Citation
Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series: Criminal Appearance Docket Books, Vol. 27: ca. Jan. 1924 - Jan. 1925, p. 247; Douglas County District Court, Omaha, NE, RG230: Douglas County Records, Subgroup 10: District Court, 1855-1972, Series 7: Criminal Case Files, 1897-1920, Reel 121: 27-196 to 27-331, May 15, 1924 - Jul. 5, 1924, No. 27-247
Source material(s)
Docket |
Case File
Length of case file
Between 31 and 40 pages
Repository(s)
State
Point(s) of law cited
Schroeder v. State 41 Neb. 745
Norval v. Zinnmaster 57 Neb. 156
Thomsen, 1 Neb. 751
Tag(s)
