Kenneth H. Winn tells the seldom-heard story of Indian agent George Sibley and Ellen Lorr, whose failure to marry touched off a legal and political battle in early 1800s Missouri, on Sunday, May 16, at 2 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

In 1812 Sibley asked Lorr, the daughter of his Indian language interpreter, to live with him, making a written promise to protect her from the “frown of fortune.” When the War of 1812 drove them from Fort Osage, near present-day Kansas City, to St. Louis, Lorr sued Sibley for failing to marry her. The battle soon became political as the old French colonial elite rallied to Lorr, while their new American opponents took Sibley’s side.

Winn is currently the director of the Missouri Supreme Court Library.