The Time Capsule | Roy Marshall
A century ago this month, our front pages were about the U.S. entry into World War I. Between now and the 100th anniversary of the armistice of November 1918, we’ll be reminded of various events that took place during that war.
Because this column looks for Iowa connections and stories you might not otherwise hear, this week we’ll delve into the Lusitania, an illegitimate offspring, a Welshman from Ottumwa, and a strange lawsuit.
Evan Jones was born in Wales in 1850. In 1883, when the mother of his baby girl filed a bastardy lawsuit against him, he fled the country. He passed through Ellis Island, found work as a coal miner in Wapello County, and became a naturalized citizen.
While coming here, he traveled on the same ship as Mrs. David Jones of Oskaloosa. Whether David Jones and Evan Jones were related is uncertain; so many from Wales were named Jones the genealogy is sometimes impossible. Regardless, Evan Jones met Mrs. David Jones and married her when David died a few years later. They had no children. She passed in 1914.
Although Evan Jones rejected his parental responsibilities, he was apparently hard-working, thrifty, and a wise investor. He amassed substantial holdings that included two farms, some city real estate and a savings account. In 1915, at the age of 65, he decided to retire and move back to Wales. He had relatives there, including siblings and his illegitimate daughter.
Jones sold everything except a few personal belongings. Acting upon advice from his banker, he deposited the cash along with a note on an additional sum owed to him. In today’s money he had over half a million dollars, which he intended to transfer to an account in Wales once he arrived. He then bought a ticket on the RMS Lusitania.
The Lusitania sailed from New York on May 1, 1915. Seven days out, she was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Over 1,000 souls were lost, including Evan Jones. He left behind a good deal of money and a number of people who felt entitled to it.
His brothers and sisters retained a law firm in Wapello County. The daughter did likewise. The crux of the matter was whether Jones’ domicile was the home he left in Iowa or the one he was bound for in Wales. There is a distinct legal difference between residence and domicile. The latter provides for both “domicile of origin” and “domicile of choice.” Jones was born in Wales, so that was his domicile of origin. He later attained U.S. citizenship, making Iowa his domicile of choice. Upon retirement he had taken steps to make his domicile of origin, Wales, also his domicile of choice. He died, however, before getting there.
If his domicile was the place he was leaving, his property would go to his daughter, as this was provided for under Iowa law. If his domicile was Wales, the place he was going, then laws of the British Empire were applicable. English law generally excluded bastard children from estate inheritance. Jones’ money would go to his siblings; not the daughter.
It took six years and the Iowa Supreme Court to sort this out. They ruled for the daughter, who waited a long time and probably incurred substantial legal expenses.
Lawyer friends may see things differently, but I suspect the intestate Mr. Jones would have done his relatives a great favor had he written a will.
This wasn’t the only legal loss for the siblings of Evan Jones. By 1925, relatives of American citizens killed on the Lusitania were being awarded compensation from the German government, in part because the sinking was an unprovoked attack on an unarmed ship before the U.S. entered the war. Jones’ brothers and sisters had their case presented. They were ruled ineligible because, regardless of the decedent’s legal domicile, they themselves were subjects of Great Britain.
If there’s a trifecta for being connected to noted disasters on the high seas, Montgomery County can cash a ticket. Danboms of this county went down with the Titanic, Darwin Merritt was trapped inside the Maine, and Einer Johnson survived the Bataan Death March to perish with hundreds of other POWs in the sinking of a Japanese Hell Ship.
There was also Carlton Broderick, 28, drowned on the Lusitania. Broderick had relatives in Villisca.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.