Johnson v. Strickland Et Al‪.‬

Mathew Strickland and Ella Griffin Strickland instituted a proceeding in the Superior Court of Ware County to adopt John Henry Johnson and Jennie Irene Johnson. They alleged that the said children were their grandchildren, that their daughter, the mother of the children, was dead, having died in October, 1943, and that the father of the children, John Henry Johnson, had abandoned them, making it unnecessary that his consent to the adoption be attached to the petition. The father filed an answer in which he denied that he had abandoned the children. At the interlocutory hearing evidence was introduced by the petitioners and by the father on the question of abandonment; the father made a motion that the interlocutory order be refused and that the petition be dismissed, but after the hearing the trial court denied that motion and entered an order granting temporary custody of the children to the petitioners and finding that the father ""has just cause to be relieved of the care, support, and guardianship of said children."" To this order the father excepted and filed his bill of exceptions to this court.