Grandma Elda's First Marriage to William John Zderick. New Information.

From the Fortress of Solitude
Pleasant Grove

Hello All,
Last Sunday I did a bit more research on Grandma Elda's (Elda Vercellino, mother to Charles Williamson) first marriage to William Zderic.
I found them in the 1930 U.S. Census.
This is the South Dakota record of their marriage.  You'll notice they wed in 1926.

The 1930 U.S. Census shows them still married.

That's four years married, much longer than I had originally believed.  Charles was just as surprised to learn that his mother was married to Mr. Zderic that long.  Everyone believed they were married for a short time before the divorce and the Catholic annulment. 

Elda and William lived at 632 Prospect Avenue, Lead South Dakota (shown below) 

  

  

This is William Zderic's entry in the South Dakota 1935 Census. He is listed as divorced. 

Elda Vercellino married Charles Williamson on May 4, 1934.  So we know Elda and William divorced sometime between 1930 and 1934.  I haven't found the divorce record.

According to Grandma Elda, William's mother was against the marriage in the first place and never liked her as a daughter-in-law.  The Zderic family obtained an annulment of the marriage from the Catholic church sometime before William married his second wife Ida in 1936.  You'll notice that William declares himself divorced in the 1935 state census, but changes that status to bacheler for the marriage license issued in July of 1936.

The Catholic Church grants annulments for many reasons, one of which is a civil marriage not blessed by the Church.  I believe William was given the Church annulment because he and Grandma Elda were married by a municipal judge.

The topic of Grandma's first marriage was taboo while she was alive.  However, she did say that they loved each other, but family pressure to divorce was more than the marriage could take.

 Simply,
Victor