An article in the July 26, 1916 Pantagraph newspaper reported that the parents of young Minnie Ely of Clinton were in great distress because their daughter was missing. A young friend of Minnie's told them that Minnie had gone to be married to her sweetheart. The parents had no knowledge of such a man and searched her belongings, only to find that their daughter had answered a matrimonial bureau ad in the newspaper. They found the letters of a young man named Robert Louis Stevenson (!) from Kansas that confirmed the love affair by mail. As usual, the parents alleged that their daughter was not eighteen, but the 1900 census indicates that Minnie would have been 18 years and 4 months in July of 1916. But the police would look that much harder for an underage girl and would probably do very little to find a woman who was of age to be married.
A couple of days later the Pantagraph reported that the parents had received a letter from Minnie telling of her marriage to Robert Louis Stevenson.
Although no confirmation appeared in the Pantagraph, a family tree on Ancestry.com records the marriage of Minnie Ely of Clinton IL and Robert Stevenson of Rockbridge IL in 1916 and the birth of three children to the couple.
The story, which was printed in several papers in Central Illinois, stated the name of the father incorrectly, but did name Minnie's brother Fred correctly. Of course they also incorrectly reported the location of the groom. Robert died in 1942 in Alton IL and Minnie lived until 1979. Included is a photo of Minnie with a treasured(?) Chevy pick up. I hope this romantic couple had a wonderful life together!!!