Yda Hillis Addis

Yda Hillis Addis (born 1857, disappeared 1902 in California, U.S.) was the first American writer to translate ancient Mexican oral stories and histories into English, some of which she submitted to San Francisco-based newspaper The Argonaut. and moved with her family to Chihuahua, Mexico, at the start of the American Civil War. Before the trial date, Addis left San Francisco for Mexico City to write for the bilingual newspaper Two Republics, owned by J. Magtella Clark. When the editor, Theodore Gesterfeld, reportedly became distracted by Addis' wit and charm, the editor's wife, Ursula, sued for divorce and named Addis a co-defendant. In Gesterfeld's testimony, he admitted to committing adultery, but not with Addis.

With this unfavorable publicity, Addis left Mexico for Santa Barbara, California, and began collecting material about prominent people of the area for a book of biographies to be published by Lewis Publishing Company. During one of her interviews, she met Charles A. Storke, a local attorney and owner of the Santa Barbara News-Press, whom she married shortly thereafter. Storke was reportedly attracted to Addis for her quick mind, her good social standing and her fame as a writer. Addis may have viewed Storke as a man who could offer her financial security. They were married on September 10, 1890.

Addis' history of Santa Barbara, her only book, was published in 1891. However, Addis claimed she was treated badly by both Storke and his teenage son Tommy, accusing Storke of peculiar intimate behaviors and violence toward her. Storke retaliated with a divorce complaint on the grounds that Addis was insane. On January 24, 1894 she was involved in a trial with Cottage Hospital over the sum of $225.00 for medical treatment which she lost. On December 28, 1894, in the divorce suit of Charles Storke vs Yda Storke, the trial was resolved in favor of the plaintiff.

During the divorce Addis discovered that her attorney, Grant Jackson, was assisting Storke. Addis subsequently broke into Jackson's home one night carrying two .38 revolvers and threatened to shoot him. One bullet was fired, which passed through the floor. Jackson overpowered Addis and called for the police, and she was placed in jail. After serving ten months she was released in May 1900 with two months credit time. In June 1901 in the case of C.A. Storke vs Ada Storke order dismissing motion for new trial.

When Addis was released from jail, her divorce from Storke was not final and she requested alimony. At this time Clara Shortridge Foltz stepped in briefly to defend Addis. Storke refused to pay the $500 a month that Addis requested and instead had Addis committed to an insane asylum. Addis later escaped from the asylum, and disappeared.

While it was long assumed that Addis disappeared in 1901, with some sources claiming she was committed by Storke to an asylum, from which she escaped, research by Ashley C. Short suggests that Addis reinvented herself as Adelayda Hillis Jackson, taking a name from her mother's family and that of her purported second husband Grant Jackson while tacking on "Yda" to her new first name, and spent nearly thirty years in Texas (after perhaps living in San Francisco and México). Mainly residing in San Antonio, Adelayda Hillis Jackson spent the last decade of her life committed in the state hospital in that city and died in 1941.