Guardianship of Wisdom
Before: Barnard
BARNARD, P. J.
This is an appeal by the father of a 6-year-old girl from a judgment appointing the maternal grandfather as guardian of the person and estate of the minor, and denying the appellant’s application for a writ of habeas corpus.
The appellant and the mother of the child were married on September 6, 1947, and separated on March 21, 1949. The mother was granted an interlocutory decree of divorce in May, 1949, which awarded her custody of the child and ordered the appellant to pay $35 a month for the child’s support. The child was 9 months old at the time of the divorce, and for about a year and a half thereafter the mother and child lived with the mother’s parents at Corona. For several years thereafter, the mother lived, with the child, in her own home at Corona and the appellant lived at the nearby town of Pomona. In May, 1954, the mother returned to the home of her parents, later became ill, and died on February 4, 1955. Prior to her death she requested her parents to care for the child, and they agreed to do so.
The appellant married another woman on June 28, 1950, and separated from her on March 10, 1951. He obtained an interlocutory decree of divorce from that wife on October 25, 1951. Fifteen days later that wife filed an action for an annulment of the marriage, alleging that the appellant had falsely represented to her that he loved children and
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wanted a family; that after the marriage he informed her that he did not want a family, and did not want to be burdened with family responsibilities; that he refused to permit her to become pregnant; and that she would not have entered into that marriage if she had not believed his representations. The appellant signed a consent that the matter might be heard without notice and as a default, and a decree annulling that marriage was entered on December 6, 1951.
The appellant married another woman on May 29, 1953. They separated in November, 1954, and three weeks later became reconciled. The father moved from Pomona to Waterloo, Iowa, on January 17, 1955, where he was living with his wife, her two children and her mother. He started to work at Waterloo on January 31, 1955, worked a week, and then came to Corona.
On February 10, appellant came to the home in Corona where the child was sick in bed with a temperature of 104 degrees. When the grandmother let him see the child he threw back the covers but was told that the child was very sick and must be kept covered. He told the child that he was going to take her with him when she got well. The grandmother told him he could not take the child, and that he had never acted like a father. He replied that he had seen a lawyer and was going to take the child, and then left. He returned in about 20 minutes and, when the grandmother tried to prevent him from entering the house, he shoved her aside, went into the bedroom, and took the child out of bed. He got as far as the driveway, with no blanket on the child, when the grandmother and her sister succeeded in getting the child away from him. They returned the child to bed and called the police.
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