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J. H. Sheffler and Josephine Sheffler v. John B. Montague

June 26, 1875 - November 16, 1876

Petitioned on November 11, 1876

Filed before the First Judicial District of Washington District Court (Walla Walla, Washington)

Case ID: hc.case.wa.0006

Case Summary

On June 26th, 1875, Josephine Sheffler allowed John B. Montague to adopt her daughter, Edna Elenor Edwards, as long as he properly cared for her. Josephine was previously married to Charles A. Edwards and was given custody of their child, Edna Elenor, at the time of their divorce. On November 11th, 1876, Josephine and her husband, J. H. Sheffler filed a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Edna Elenor. They claimed that Charles Edwards was not taking proper care of her and that she was being kept in a saloon with vile language being used and associating with women of ill fame. The outcome of the petition and the fate of Edna Elenor is unknown.

Case Information

Petition type(s)

  • Interpersonal

Petition subtype(s)

  • Child custody

Outcome

Writ allowed

Fate of bound party

Unknown

Case Citation

Walla Walla County Government, Clerk, Territorial Court Civil/Criminal Case Files, 1860-1889, No. 2398

Source material(s)

Case File

Case document transcriptions

Length of case file

Between 21 and 30 pages

Repository(s)

State

  • Washington

Tag(s)

  • Children

People

Citation

Katrina Jagodinsky, Cory Young, Andrew Varsanyi, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, William Dewey, Erin Chambers, Greg Tunink. “J. H. Sheffler and Josephine Sheffler v. John B. Montague.” Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924, University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Accessed November 21, 2024. https://petitioningforfreedom.unl.edu/cases/item/hc.case.wa.0006

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