Violet Viola Vandeburgh married five times and had five children with her first husband. She opened a restaurant to help support her children after her first husband died.

Violet Viola Vandeburgh was the daughter of Margaret Rosalee Kern, (1852-1898) who worked as a waitress to support her two children after her husband (John Andrew Mock) died in the Civil War. Margaret married Harvey Douglas Johnson, Violet’s father, around 1882. Violet was the oldest child of this marriage. Her family lived in Missouri, Nebraska and Idaho. Her mother died in a horse accident when Viola was about fifteen.

Viola met her future husband, Peter Vandeburgh (1877-1932), when he was training horses for the Spanish American War. She had to keep their engagement a secret from her father, but was able to elope to Grangeville Idaho to marry him in 1900. They moved to Washington State. Their children were Preston Oscar, Milton Horace, Martin Adam, Dell Cook (who died when one year old) and Douglas Dale. Her sons, Preston and Milton, joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Peter passed away in 1932 and Viola supported her family by opening a restaurant called Mom’s Coffee Shop. In 1937, she married Frank Morrell, who left her upon learning he couldn’t use her home and property as he pleased. A kind man named David Bloom came into Viola’s life, and helped her financially; unfortunately, he was killed in a car accident. Viola married Peter Smith in Reno, Nevada. They were married by President Nathan T. Hurst from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were very happy for a few years, but Peter became aggravating and even dangerous at times, to live with. With persuasion of her children, she divorced him. She married Ernest J. Hamlin in 1955 in Reno, Nevada. Viola Vandeburgh passed away on April 4, 1955.