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Subject: Re: [PIATT] Elijah Peyatt/Mary Woods
Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 04:30:27 +0000
For Robin,
I have two wives for Elijah Peyatt, too. Elijah's first wife was Mary A _____. Their divorce is of record in the courthouse in Summersville WV. I saw the document a few years ago when we had Piatt Conference in Elkins WV but did not make a copy. The document is a humdinger and a must for any researcher interested in this line. I believe the divorce occured prior to the end of the Civil War, but that is from memory, and could certainly be wrong. As I recall Elijah filed for divorce, but Mary responded and the divorce was granted to Mary.
On 12 Aug 1873, Elijah married Sarah J Schoonover in Nicholas Co WV (Book 1, page P). He was 51 having been born in Augusta Co VA, she was 15, that's fifteen, born in Gallia Co OH.
The 1880 census shows Elijah, 59, living in Kentucky Dist of Nicholas Co WV with Sarah J, 22; Nancy A, 10/12 (born July 1879); Sarah C Schoonover, 56, mother-in-law; and Hettie A Schoonover, 19, sister-in-law. The census indicates that Elijah's father was born in NJ.
The 1880 census for Summersville District of Nicholas Co WV shows Mary Peat [sic], 53, divorced; Ferguson Woods, 23, nephew; and Marshall Adams, 55, boarder. The fact that Ferguson Woods is given here as Mary Peat's nephew along with the other information you found would strongly suggest that Mary's maiden name was Woods. And, if memory serves, Marshall Adams may have been the "other man" named by Elijah in his divorce complaint. At any rate, the alleged "other man" was a cobbler who rented a room and workspace in the home of Elijah and Mary Peyatt.
--
Laverne Ingram Piatt
Ontario, OH
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