Divorce Action in Williams County, Ohio - Zuver

Harriett Barrett Zuver v William Henry Zuver

Abandoned During Her Confinement, Divorce in Williams County, Ohio, 1885

By Pamela Pattison Lash (updated 2010)

Benjamin Barrett married Roxanna Mary Morris in Williams Co, OH on 6 Apr 1851 (V2 p118).  They were the parents of three known children, William (1855-30 Oct 1873 @18Y 9M 27D, bur Barrett Cemetery, Madison Twp); Naomi (1857-28 May 1877 @19Y 10M 21D, buried beside her brother); and Harriet (1859).  Father Benjamin died on 22 July 1863 and Roxanna remarried a Mr. Fisher.  In the 1870 Madison Twp federal census, p20-21, Roxanna Fisher was head of household as 38 Canada, along with children William Barrett 15 OH, Naomi 13 OH, Harriet 11 OH, and Benjamin Fisher 1 OH.

In another part of Madison Twp there lived a Jacob Zuver family enumerated in the 1850 Madison Twp federal census p33 as Jacob 33 PA, Lydia 33 NY, May 6 OH, William 4 OH, John 2 OH.  By 1870 the Zuvers lived in Pioneer, Madison Twp as found in the federal census p5 as Jacob 54 PA, Lydia 56 PA, Laura 16 OH, and Calvin 13 OH along with sons Henry 23 OH, and John 21 OH.  Presidents, Soldiers, and Statesmen, 1892, p647, gives an account of the Zuver family.  Jacob, a PA native, had married Lydia Brown of NY on 3 Feb 1842 and they traveled to Wms Co c1847.  Jacob served in the Civil War as part of Co D 142 National State Guards and his son William H., also a Civil War veteran of the 38^th OVI, was severely wounded at the Battle of Jonesboro.  Jacob and his wife died on 10 Aug 1905 and 24 Aug 1887, respectively, and were buried in Floral Grove Cemetery, Pioneer, Madison Twp. 

Civil War soldier, William Henry Zuver, b 7 Feb 1846, near West Unity, OH, first married Mary C. "Kittie" Shaffer (date unknown) and had two children, both substantiated by Wms Co birth records, as Hattie E. (15 June 1872, V1 p42) and William Ellsworth (16 Dec 1877, V1 p109).  Kittie died in Apr 1878 and William next married Harriet Barrett on 21 Nov 1880, Wms Co (Marriages V4 p718).  This couple had two daughters, Naomi Melissa (16 Nov 1881) and Adella May (18 Oct 1883-2 Apr 1899; m. Morris V. Harmon, 2 Jan 1898, Wms Co [Marriages V7 #493]).

According to the Williams County, Ohio Civil and Criminal Court records (Journal 13 p161 - 12 June 1885; Roll 41 Box 138 case number 1464 - 21 Apr 1885) Harriet Zuver told the court that her husband never provided any clothes for the girls or herself.  In July 1883 he totally abandoned them; he was abusive to her and often locked her out of the house for long periods of time.  He used profane language around the children and had committed adultery many times with loose and lewd women in Pioneer, West Unity, and Bryan.  He abandoned her at the time of her confinement with the younger daughter and Harriet had only the kindness of friends and relatives to support her and the girls.  The court granted her request for this divorce.

William H. Zuver next married Clarissa L. Bowers, daughter of Elias and Mary Bohner Bowers, and they were the parents of seven children, some of whom were found in the Wms Co birth records as Charles (13 Aug 1886, Pioneer, V2 p90) and Erman/Harmon H. (29 Aug 1889, Brady Twp, V2 p126).  William died in 20 July 1938 and was buried in Floral Grove Cemetery, Pioneer, with his first and third wives.  Clarissa L. Zuver had died ten years earlier on 30 Dec 1928.  He was the last surviving Civil War soldier from West Unity and as family lore related, he once saw President Lincoln reviewing the troops.

The abandoned wife, Harriet Barrett Zuver, married widower Emmanuel Throne on 21 Sept 1890.  Emmanuel's first wife, Margaret Taylor Throne, was the mother of Arabella Susan, Albert Jefferson, Warren, and Viola J.  Harriet and Emmanuel had a son, Ernest Howard, b. 6 Sept 1891, Wms Co (Births V2 p151).  Harriet Throne died on 1 Mar 1930 and was also buried in Floral Grove Cemetery, Pioneer, OH.