John and Beryl met at a party in Mooresville, Indiana in December 1923.

Beryl and John were married on April 12, 1924 in Martinsville, Indiana at the Morgan County courthouse by Reverend V.W. Tevis. John was 20 and Beryl was 16/ 17 when they wed. "Hovious lied about her age, bumping it up to eighteen to get around parental consent - John Dillinger: The Life and Death of America's First Celebrity Criminal. 2005. pg. 20.

John Dillinger attempted to settle down. With no job or income, the newlyweds moved into Dillinger's father's farm house. Within a few weeks of his wedding, he was arrested for stealing several chickens. Though his father was able to work out a deal to keep the case out of court, it did little to help his relationship with his father. Dillinger and Beryl moved out of their cramped bedroom and into Beryl's parents' home in Martinsville, Indiana. There he got a job in an upholstery shop, they rented a house in Martinsville. According to Beryl, John liked to spend quiet evenings with her at home and was always very nice to her. The couple had little money, and their favorite pastime was going to the movies

Beryl's happy version of their married life was not the whole story. In addition to spending time with her, by the summer of 1924 Dillinger frequented pool halls in Mooresville and nearby Martinsville and hung around with some unsavory local characters."

- - -: Elliott J. Gorn. Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One. 2009. pg. 11.

After John was incarcerated at the Indiana State Reformatory in Pendleton, Beryl visited about once a month. But by 1927 the visits stopped.

As time went by, Beryl says, she began to realize that she was visiting a John Dillinger who was a stranger. It was not the john whom she had married. Prison had changed him. It was a hardened John, a tough guy, a smart guy. When Beryl kissed him, he sneered and told her not to be a softy, that the guards were watching them ... Beryl finally gave John up and divorced him."

- - - Francis F. Healy. "Dillinger First Went to Prison a Callow Youth, Came Out a Hardened Criminal Study Discloses: How He Was Turned Into Outlaw Is Told." Mansfield News-Journal. 3/27/1934. pg. 4.

Beryl filed for divorce on April 25, 1929. John and Beryl were divorced on June 20, 1929. The divorce devastated John.

"Decades later Beryl's great-nephew interviewed her about her time with Dillinger. She was very old and in poor health, but she recalled him as polite and well-mannered, upbeat and with a good sense of humor. She described their time together as quiet and domestic. Occasionally the young couple went to the movies or visited with family; mostly they stayed home, ate the meals that beryl cooked, read the newspapers, and played cards. Half a century after their marriage, and forty years after his death, she was still quite fond of him."

-  -  - Elliott J. Gorn. Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One. 2009. pg. 10

Author Tony Stewart, is a direct decendant of John Dillinger´s only wife, Beryl Hovious. Stewart resides in Bloomington, Indiana where he has been a resident for the past 13 years. Dillinger, The Hidden Truth is a book devoted specifically to crime and corruption of the nineteen thirties. The book provides updated factual documentation on the lives of outlaws and lawmen of the Great Depression era

Beryl divorced in July 1929 from Harold C. McGowen (deceased)