The Man Who Divorced His Wife And Then Adopted Her As His Daughter
Few marriages have evolved in such a strange way as one Missouri couple from a century ago
Usually, when a marriage ends in divorce, the formerly betrothed partners can’t wait to get away from each other for good. In what was certainly one of the strangest cases to hit family court, that wasn’t the case for a Missouri couple a century ago. After being granted a dissolution of their marriage, a man filed a petition and formally adopted his ex-wife as his daughter.
Hans Arentzen was an elderly man living in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he made a living as the caretaker for a local church. In 1921, he met a young woman in her early 20s by the name of Elizabeth. Despite the great age gap between the two, they married.
Three years into the marriage, perhaps underestimating the differences between them, Elizabeth petitioned the court for a divorce. Although her husband was content with leading a simple life, she wanted to make new friends and be social — living a life more befitting a woman like her in early adutlhood. There was genuine affection between the two but when it came to being romantically involved, they determined that the spark just wasn’t there.
