Divorce Action in Williams County, Ohio - Dodd, 1869

Rercis Fidelia Robinson Hill Dodd v Peter Marriner Dodd (Journal 7 p282 - 17 Mar 1869; Roll 20 case number 66 - Mar 1869) – see Meeks 

 

By Pamela Pattison Lash (updated 5 December 2021)

 

The couple was married in Ft. Wayne, Allen Co, IN on 18 Oct 1864.  Fidelia told the court that Peter was a habitual drunk for three years or more and that he was guilty of gross neglect.  On 28 Jan 1869 Peter, who lived in Huntington, Huntington Co, IN, gave a deposition stating this was not true.  Fidelia was granted a divorce.  

 

Peter M. Dodd, the son of Jacob and Eunice Marriner Dodd, was born c1799 in Delaware and in 1824 moved to Athens, OH.  Dodd was a distant relative of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.He married Eliza Donley on 25 Aug 1825 in Hocking Co, OH.  They had the following children: Jacob, Cinderella, Lavina, Jane, Hugh, George, Eliza Ann, Amos Loranzo, Catharine, Harriet Augusta (the subject of a Williams County divorce), and Edna Isabel.  By 1833 the Dodd and the Donleys moved to Williams County, where wife Eliza died in Aug 1854 of cholera (area then Defiance County).  According to the Ohio Land Records Peter purchased 40 acres in Section 19 on 9 Oct 1835 and from the 1839 Washington Twp Poll Book (Williams Co), Peter M Dodd was a voter and township clerk.  In 1839 he helped set the newspaper Defiance Banner, a Whig paper, by hand. By 1850 he was listed as a constable in Noble Twp.

 

Peter M. Dodd next married Rosann Newton in Defiance Co, OH, 14 Feb 1857 (Marriage V1 p129); Rosann died tragically in Paulding by being crushed between two railroad cars on 22 Apr 1859.  Peter and his youngest daughter Isabel were enumerated in the 1860 Defiance, Defiance Co, OH Federal Census as Peter 64 DE printer and Isabel 11 OH.

 

In the 1850 Highland, Defiance Co, OH Federal Census one finds the Hill family as Melvin J 24 NY, Fidelia 20 OH and Henry 1 OH.  In the same location for the 1860 enumerated Fidelia Hill as 34 OH with husband MJ 37 NY carpenter and children Henry, Nathan, Albert, and Olive.  Melvin, a Civil War veteran, died in Kentucky on 9 January 1863 in the hospital at Bowling Green, Warren Co, KY as shown in his CW Pension information and The Defiance Democrat (Defiance, OH), 31 January 1863 p2 c1.  Fidelia Robinson was born in OH sometime between 1826-1830. After Melvin’s death his farm was sold on 18 April 1863, about 1 ½ years before she married Peter Dodd.  

 

After the divorce, Peter, a printer, lived in Henry Co c1870 and is believed to have died in 1876. J F Deatrick was selected as the guardian of the minor Hill children on 11 February 1871.  Perhaps Fidelia had died or remarried again – this is not currently known.