52 Ancestors - Week 1 - Family Lore - Runaway Wives

 FAMILY LORE – Runaway Wives

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

  My Mom used to tell us the story of how two of her uncles had wives that ran off from the boarding house that my maternal great-grandmother operated with two other boarders. I know there was the discussion of the divorces that eventually followed.

 Apparently the brothers were devastated and this whole episode left quite an impact on my mother, then just a young girl. She would often reference this event when trying to explain away how some marriages and relationships do not survive. I have in turn used it to explain away the same thing to my own son and step-daughters.

 Now is the time to investigate and learn what I can about these great-Uncles of mine and their less-than-ideal love lives.

 My first challenge was to verify who all the “uncles” were and who they were married to. They were:

• 1.   Walter G. Robson. He was born in 1895 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and married a Dorothy “Goldie” Denman on 24 Oct 1919[1] in Washington, Pennsylvania.
• 2.   William “George” Robson. Born in 1897 in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and married first Fern Malloy on 1918[2] in West Virginia and later Bernice Gray[3] on 3 Feb 1933 in Washington, Pennsylvania.
• 3.   Norman James Robson. He was born in 1899 also in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and married first Helen Stoner[4] in 1919 in Ohio, West Virginia, and then later Pauline Willhoft[ 5] on 13 Mar 1943.
• 4.   Arthur Herbert Robson. Arthur was born in 1905 in Washington, Pennsylvania. He married only Thelma Vester around 1936. He had no other spouses.

 Based on just this, looks like there were several likely candidates but I could rule out Arthur since his one marriage survived intact. Next I needed to find out more about this potential boarding house. In a 1919 city directory[6] for Washington, Pennsylvania, the family was living at a W. Chestnut Extension, RD 6. The occupants were father John Robson, mother Ada, Norman, Walter, and William George. At the same time, Fern Malloy lived at 28 Shannon Avenue with her parents. Helen Stoner lived at a 141 Shrub Avenue. And Miss Goldie Denman was nowhere to be found.

 It turns out she had already had quite the life, having run off with a carnival worker when she was just 15 years old[7] and remanded to the Pennsylvania Training School in Morganza for young offenders after she returned home a year later. She married a man named John McGary in 1914, who she was divorced from on the grounds of desertion less than one month before she married Walter.

 None of the family members are found in the 1920 federal census, but a 1922 city directory[8] lists the brothers as:

           George (Fern), chauf, h 265 Fayette
          Norman (Helen), chauf, h 230 Fayette
          Walter (Dorothy), chauf, h 15 Hayes

 Again, no mention of parents John and Ada Robson in Washington in 1922. In the 1926 city directory[9], only two brothers are found, Norman (Helen) is listed as a taxi driver and Walter [no spouse] also a driver. Where were my great-grandparents living? Why did they keep missing the census taker (1920) and fail to be listed in city directories?

 By 1931, neither George or Walter is still married.[10] The listings are:

           George, slsmn, Washington Baking Co, r Wolfdale PA

          Norman J (Helen), driver, White Star Lines, h 139 Shrub Ave

          Walter, slsmn, Washington Baking Co, r rear 370 Houston

 The whole boarding house story is starting to be suspect, but the facts seem to point to either George, Norman, or Walter being the victims of the runaway wives.

 The 1930 census[11] shows George living with his parents, listed as divorced with his two children by Fern- William George, Jr. aged 10, and little sister Jean, aged 6. They live on a farm in Canton and his occupation is now listed as bakery truck driver. In 1933 he married Bernice who helped him raise his children and stayed with him until her death in 1954. George lived another 34 years, passing in 1988 still living on his farm.

 In the 1940 census[12], Helen (Stoner) Robson was living as a Lodger with a group of Italian immigrants. In the meantime, Norman had his son, Norman, Jr., his elderly parents John and Ada, and younger brother Arthur living with him. It wasn’t too long until he remarried Pauline. They were both divorced by that time, her on 6 Feb 1937 and him on 18 Aug 1941. She stayed married to him until his death in 1983.

 I find it very interesting that both George and Norman got custody of their children in their divorces, something probably not that common in the 1930s and 40s. It could be due to some of the circumstances that surrounded their relationships endings.

 By 1940, Walter was divorced, too, living on a farm in North Strabane, Washington County[13], where he would stay alone until his death in 1994. I went to his dairy farm as a small girl one summer and remember drinking the cream from the stainless-steel tank. I really liked mother’s Uncle Walter. I hope he found some degree of happiness after Goldie left him.

 

---

[1] Pennsylvania Marriages, 1852-1968; (ancestry.com: accessed digitally 20 Dec 2023); application no. 29431, Robson-Denman marriage.

[2] "West Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1776-1971", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZJ-Q76T : Wed Oct 04 07:44:47 UTC 2023), Entry for William G Robson and Fern Malloy, 1918.

[3]   Pennsylvania Marriages, 1852-1968; (ancestry.com: accessed digitally 20 Dec 2023); application no. B-89 (1933), Robson-Gray marriage.

[4] "West Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1776-1971", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZJ-WN9W : Thu Oct 05 19:04:38 UTC 2023), Entry for Norman Robson and Helen Stoner, 1919.

[5] Pennsylvania Marriages, 1852-1968; (ancestry.com: accessed digitally 20 Dec 2023); application no. 15829, Robson-Devenney marriage.

[6] Washington, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1919, p 301-302

[7] “Court Sends Girl to Training School,” Daily Notes, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 29 Jul 1912, front page; (newspapers.com : accessed digitally 25 Dec 2023).

[8] Washington, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1922, p 532

[9] Washington, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1926, p 414

[10] Washington, Pennsylvania City Directory, 1931, p 312

[11]1930 U. S. Census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Canton Township,  ED 19, sheet 4-B, dwelling 45, family 47, John Robson family; NARA microfilm publication T626.

[12]1940 U. S. Census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, Canton Township, ED 63-20, sheet 2-A (penned), household 27, lines 8-12 (Norman Robson family); NARA microfilm publication T627. Also sheet 8-1, ED 63-81, household 151, lines 4-9 (Victor Shipia) citing Helen Robson.

[13]1940 U. S. Census, Washington County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, North Strabane, ED 63-112, sheet 24-A (stamped), household 433, line 4 (Walter Robson); NARA microfilm publication T627.