We were aware that in 1968
Ruth Ann Moorehouse married Edward Heuvelhorst so she could be an emancipated minor and not need
to answer to her parents and she would no longer be a minor in the eyes of the
law. Ruth Ann was 16 years old and Edward was 23 years old.
The story of their marriage
as I understood it was that Ruth Ann married Edward and left him at the altar. It
was a marriage of convenience for Ruth Ann but not necessarily for Edward. The
two were married May 20th 1968 in Scotts Valley, Santa Cruz County, California.
It has been said that she hitchhiked back down to Los Angeles and to the Family
the same day she married, leaving Edward behind.
Who was Edward Heuvelhorst?
Searching through records I
was surprised at the couple of things I found about Edward. Edward Lewis
Heuvelhorst, Jr. went by the nickname of Ted, nobody called him Edward. He was
born in Michigan and grew up in Holland Michigan according to his obituary.
Holland Michigan is where Ella Jo Bailey was from, she was about a year and a
half younger than Ted. However, I was not able to find Ted in any high school
yearbooks for schools in Holland.
Ted’s mother, Mary
Heuvelhorst, taught school in Holland MI beginning in the 1950’s but his father
lived in Grand Rapids MI. I surmise that Ted’s parents were separated or
divorced. BTW Ted’s mother’s maiden name was Good but I didn’t find a
connection to Sandy Good.
Edward Lewis “Ted”
Heuvelhorst Jr., is a distinctive and unusual name. The only other person with
that name in the US according to Ancestry .com was his father with Sr. as a
suffix. I found Ted in the 1962 and 1963 Ottawa Hills High School, Grand Rapids
Michigan, yearbooks for his sophomore and junior years. Then I found Ted in a 1964
Menlo-Atherton High School yearbook. That high school is located in Atherton CA
and today it is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the US. It was a very ritzy
area back in the 1960’s too.
I was not able to learn why Ted came to California for his senior year of high school. Ted did stay in California after graduating from high school. I found a city directory listing for him living in Palo Alto and working for a construction company.
The next thing I found on
Ted was a mention of his name in an April 26, 1968 article from the Ukiah Daily
Journal in Mendocino County. The article was about some hippies putting on
festival at the fairgrounds in Ukiah, naming it the 1st Annual
Calvin Coolidge Day Fair. I have no idea why that name, I couldn’t find that
the April 27th date had any connection to Coolidge. Ted was
mentioned because he was shoved by someone standing in the fairgrounds office
and he went to the police department to report it.
Hmmm, Mendocino County, Brooks Poston was mentioned in an ad taken out by one of the followers of Jim Jones extolling the reverend’s virtues that was published May 5, 1968. Rev. Jones made a deal with Brooks that if Brooks would get his hair cut, Jones would attend a non-violent peace march with Brooks.
Deane Moorehouse was in
Mendocino during that time frame, too. And towards the end of May 1968 or early
June 1968 five of the Manson Family girls rented a house in Philo, up the road
from Boonville, just over the hill from Ukiah. It’s possible that Ruth Ann met
Ted in Mendocino County.
It does not appear that Ted ever remarried or had any children.
25 comments:
Thanks DebS.
You could say he faired better than Joel Pugh.
In the summer of 1969 the biggest story in New England was Chappaquiddick and it involved a US senator who’s name was Edward but was called Ted.
Ted is also used by some named Thaddeus and Theodore.
Finally some concrete proof that one of Charlie's followers had indeed been connected to Jim Jones (even if it can still be argued whether or not Poston was actually a "member" of Peoples Temple). Incidentally, immediately upon relocating his then relatively small cult from Indianapolis, Indiana to Redwood Valley, California, Jones zeroed in on the Ukiah Daily Journal with cash and flattery and within a very short time, the paper basically became an unoriginal, fawning mouthpiece for Peoples Temple and it would stay that way until almost the very end at Guyana.
By the way, since apparently there's no way to edit posts (BOO!, thumbs WAY down)....the word "unoriginal" in the above should read "uncritical".
Good research as always, Deb.
Did you find any record of Ted's and Ruth Ann's divorce? I think she remarried.
Sixties, we published way back in Oct. 2012 the bit about Brooks having a connection to Jim Jones. (I can't believe that I've been with the blog this long!)
https://www.mansonblog.com/2012/10/who-was-in-mendocino-on-or-before.html
You are correct about the Ukiah Daily Journal and Mendocino County in general believing that Jones was the greatest thing since paper napkins to hit the county. Jones taught school in Anderson Valley, where Boonville, Philo, and Navarro are located. He arrived on the scene in 1965 and by 1967 he was appointed as the Grand Jury foreman. This was back in the day when the Grand Jury held sway over criminal matters. Jones lived and had his church in Redwood Valley, a town just north of Ukiah. Mendocino County's Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen was a huge supporter of Jones. Towards the end Stoen left the church but his wife and child stayed. Stoen lost both in Guyana.
Orwhut, I wasn't able to find a divorce for Ruth Ann and Ted. I do know that Ruth Ann remarried two times after her marriage to Ted. There are a couple of options about how the marriage could have been dissolved, if it was. It could have been annulled here in California or Ted could have filed for divorce in Michigan. Michigan divorce records are not at Ancestry.
When Ruth Ann married Fowler in Reno in 1972, she used her Moorehouse last name not Heuvelhorst. She could have lied about never being married before. She did divorce Fowler in Nevada in 1975. When she married the third time it was with the name Ruth Fowler.
Thank you, Deb. The "if it was" part of your rely is what I was thinking.
Sounds like Ouisch gave Ted the brown helmet. Beats gettin' stabby-stabbed though.
Great stuff, Deb. The moment I read Ted was from Holland, MI, I too thought about Ella Jo. So many other connections here: Ukiah, Brooks, Peoples Temple.
At this point it is likely that Ted and Ruth met in this area, but further clarification is warranted. But yes, taken together I'd say Ted got away lucky. He might have wound up building dune buggies at Spahn.
Ted did get away lucky. I imagine that he was horrified as things unfolded at the end of December '69 and into '70.
I learned a small tidbit when gathering the articles for this post. In 1978 there was an article in the Ukiah Daily Journal about the upcoming 10-year reunion for the class of 1968 at Ukiah High School. The article named several students that they were looking for to notify about the reunion. One of those students was Brooks Poston! I looked through a 1968 yearbook but there was no picture or mention of Brooks. I know that Brooks was from Borger Texas. He is named in his father's 1965 obit. This revelation begs the question, when did Brooks come to California? How did it happen that he spent his senior year of high school in Ukiah and who was he living with at the time? I'm guessing that an adult would have had to enroll him in school, and he would have had an address. Could that person have been Deane Moorehouse?
Not sure, but if he was 18 as an incoming senior, he may have been able to enroll himself.
Not that it matters much, I suppose.
Actually, the wife, Grace Stoen, left the church in 1976, leaving her son behind. Tim Stoen didn't leave till a year later. There was a bizarre custody battle over the son, John Stoen, who was born in 1972. Jones claimed that he was the father. This custody battle was the fuse that lit the Leo Ryan investigation and the subsequent mass suicide in Guyana, where the boy was among the many that died.
shoegazer, the age of majority in California in 1968 was 21. It was changed to 18 in 1972 when it was decided that 18-year-olds could vote. The age of consent which has to do with sexual activity was 18 in 1968. A minor could apply for emancipation at age 14. I think the age of majority would apply to registering for school but I'm not sure. Brooks was born Dec. 15, 1948 so he would have been 19 years old in June of 1968.
Deb, do we know if Brooks is still with us? I know he was active as a musician for a long time with his group, and appeared to be approachable.
As far as I know he is still living in the state of Washington.
Brooks is in Washington and if you do a little googling you can find his street address and phone number.
Fun fact about Brooks he married Paul Crockett's widow
Terrapin,
Do you have Mrs. Crockett's and Mr. Poston's respective dates of birth? I'm curious as to whether it was Paul or his widow that robbed the cradle.
Paul Crockett born Feb. 1924
Brooks Poston born Dec. 1948
Gail "Sylvee" Crockett May 1950
My searches tell me that Brooks lives at the same address as Jane Boltinhouse. Boltinhouse owns the home. But all of them live in the same town.
Deb,
Thank you, those dates satisfy my curiosity. Paul Crockett was born in the year previous to my parents and Sylvee in the year previous to me. If I remember correctly, 1950 was the year before the one when you were born, aswell.
This is interesting stuff, Deb! Thank you!
The Marriage Certificate clears up one thing, that Ruth did marry Ted. It still is foggy as to how the marriage legally ended or as to how Ruth became an emancipated minor and how well that played out to her, and others, advantage.
How Ruth and Ted’s marriage ended is (currently) unknown, but it had to be one of three ways: divorce, voided, or she was a bigamist.
Ruth is said to have spent time with her sister in Nevada and state is relatively easy to get a divorce in - you only have to reside for a short number of weeks. She still would have needed Ted to agree.
Ruth and Ted’s marriage may have been voided or annulled. It would have required for one of them to petition the courts and show the grounds, that something was legally wrong from the start.
The marriage was probably considered to be fraudulent.
If the marriage was not consummated could have been a reason. Ruth immediately abandoning Ted is probably enough reason.
But someone (Ted or Ruth), would have had to spoke up and file the necessary paperwork so a judge could void the marriage. This would have been in Ted’s interest from the start, but not in Ruth’s for there would be then a question if her emancipation would be reversed and she would again be a full minor.
It’s not known if Ted was just a do-gooder, marrying Ruth with no expectations or was he duped?
It’s also not known why Dean followed her, but I would think that it was because she tricked her parents and he didn’t want her to be with Manson.
There are at least three ways to become an emancipated minor.
Enlisting in the military and marriage are two of the ways but each requires permission from the parents.
A third way is to petition the courts to be declared an emancipated minor.
I’m not sure if all emancipated minors are considered to have reached to age of sexual consent of if it is only valid for those who have married. Ted would have not committed rape if he was sexually active with Ruth, but I think in the spirit of the law that didn’t give Manson and DeCarlo a free pass to be sexually active with a Ruth, without violating age of consent laws - but I don’t know how the courts would have ruled on that one.
I hope that Ted didn’t spend his live waiting for Ruth to return.
Off topic but relating to Ruth, how was “Ouisch” pronounced?
Was it “ooosh”?
Or was it “weesh”?
Or was it “ooo-weesh”?
Or ???
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