Beulah May Parker, 17, of Carlock and James Andrew Denis, 23, also of Carlock, appeared at the McLean County Clerk's office September 5, 1913 to apply for a marriage license. The couple had the forethought to ask Beulah's mother to accompany them and give permission for her daughter to be married. However, County Clerk P A Guthrie informed them that in the paternalistic State of Illinois, the consent of Beulah's father was required for her to be married -- and the hopes of the small party were crushed.
Strangely enough, John S. Parker then appeared (like an avenging god) at the County Clerk's office and stated his opposition to the marriage -- there was nothing to be done, Beulah's father had the final word.
Beulah and James, like so many before them, decided the thing to do was to slip away to a place where they were not known and obtain a license there. They made for the train station, but once again, the all-seeing father knew what they were up to, set the police on them and foiled their plan. How do these fathers know exactly what it is you are doing???
But all was not lost! Mrs. Parker had a card to play. The day ended with two couples united. John S. Parker and his wife had been separated, and she agreed to return to the marital bliss that was the Parker union if John Parker would give his consent to Beulah's marriage.
Did James and Beulah remain married and have a fairy tale ending? Possibly not. There were three different men named James A. Dennis' in McLean County (and even one that had been killed in an accident in May of 1913), none of whom were married to a woman named Beulah. No record of their marriage appears in Ancestry.com, so I was unable to determine which Dennis family James belonged to. There was a woman known as "Mrs. Beulah Dennis" in Carlock, but she never appeared in a census or had an obituary in the Pantagraph, so there is no confirmation this was the same woman. A James A. Parker the correct age was married to Mary Denham and is buried in Lexington.
The joyous Parkers, James and Luella, moved to Missouri, where he died in 1927 and she died in 1940. They are buried in the same cemetery, which may indicate some level of marital bliss, along with their son named "Ogbert." I do wonder who had to give consent to that name!!!