Between 1855 and 1856 there was born to John Bay Van Ness and Cora Minerva Wright a little boy named Frank Wright Van Ness. Although by other accounts Frank was born in 1861 - it all depends on the record you are looking at. Frank was one of fourteen - 3 being full siblings are the rest are step-siblings. Noted in the 1870 Federal Census is that the Van Ness family is living in Westchester, New York. On October 23, 1875 Frank married Frances Augusta Wheelock in New York, New York. This is noted as his first marriage. They were married at the Church of the Transfiguration by Rev. George Houghton. After 7 years of marriage, things change for the Van Ness family. Frank begins not coming home at night and it gets to the point where Frances has to go looking for him. She finds him sitting in a restaurant with Lila Diaz. It seems Frank, using the name Frank Wright, had married Lila while letting her believe that he had divorced his wife. After a verbal altercation between Frances and Lila, Frances filed a formal charge of complaint on the grounds of bigamy against Frank. Frank and Lila were originally married on December 27, 1883 only to be remarried on January 9, 1884 due to the fact that her family did not believe the first marriage was binding as Frank was intoxicated at the time of their oath. The pastor of the Middle Reformed Church, William H. Ford, later sent a notice to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle stating that he was sure that Frank had not been inebriated at the time he married them. Once the formal charge of bigamy was brought against Frank, Detective Van Zandt traveled to Philadelphia to arrest him. On the train trip from Philadelphia Frank and Lila made quite the exhibit of themselves with their open displays of affection and Lila spreading out along the seat while puffing on a cigarette. Although Frank had made an open declaration of love for Lila in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, it seems Frank made things right with Frances. She spoke to the prosecutor and asked him to drop the charges. He explained to her that due to the nature of the crime he was unable to do so. She let the attorney know that if her husband was put in jail she and her children would become wards of the county since he was the sole provider for the family. In return for Frances not pressing charges, Frank agreed to return and care for his family. Frank was released on $1,000 bail and allowed to return home. In March 1884, Frank skipped bail. He and his family relocated to Chicago. While living in Chicago, they changed their surname to Vance to avoid detection by the police. Three months after Frank skipped bail, Frances gave birth to Gladys Edna. Adding further to the mystery that is Frank Van Ness (Vance), there is a record of the death of Frank Vance in 1907. While giving it a first look it could be said that this is a different Frank Vance but then, when looking through Chicago directories you find a listing for Frances Vance, widow of Frank. It appears that Frank Van Ness(Vance) is resurrected in 1908 as J. Frank Vance. There is a marriage record dated February 6, 1908 in Delaware of a J. Frank Vance marrying Irene Subers. It is listed that J. Frank is a widower - we have no record of Lila's death nor a divorce between the two. We also know that Frances does not pass away until 1916. For some reason, Frank and Irene married again in 1911 in New York City. I do not know why they would feel the need to do so. As far as the records show, Frank and Irene lived together until his death from alcoholism in 1926. He is buried among the Suber family in Philadelphia.
![Frank Wright Van Ness - Courtesy of the National Police Gazette](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/55d763_efbbd35e22f14cd08a76c802fefd4e94.jpg/v1/fill/w_487,h_746,al_c,q_85,enc_auto/55d763_efbbd35e22f14cd08a76c802fefd4e94.jpg)
![Frances Augusta Wheelock - Courtesy of Elaine Moss (mossek) on Ancestry.com](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/55d763_1e058c2b34194a5d97d2b20f73bd54b4.jpg/v1/fill/w_912,h_1037,al_c,q_85,enc_auto/55d763_1e058c2b34194a5d97d2b20f73bd54b4.jpg)
![Lila Diaz Wright - Courtesy of the National Police Gazette](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/55d763_305a95a61d614fbbba439b5e516a213a.jpg/v1/fill/w_435,h_675,al_c,q_80,enc_auto/55d763_305a95a61d614fbbba439b5e516a213a.jpg)