On 5 Nov 1879, John H Lett married Mary Driver in Jackson county, IN (book
Hp216)
I would like to learn more about Mary "Mollie" Driver.
Mary was John's second wife, his first wife, Zerelda Ann Randall died 2 May
1877.
At the time of their marriage, John Lett was 60 years old, and Mollie was
26--(if the information on her in the census record of 1880 is correct).
1880 census, Broadway st, Seymour, Jackson county, IN p145 (14 June 1880)
John Lett, age 58, a laborer, b IN father b GA mother b VA
Mollie Lett, age 27, keeping house, born OH, father b PA, mother b Conn
Jessie Nora Lett, (dau of John and his first wife), age 17, in school, b IN
parents b IN
Alfred Reynolds, age 42, boarder, married, no employment listed, b IN, fb NY,
mb OH
The Plain Dealer (newspaper of the area)
28 May 1872
list of letters at the post office
"Miss Mollie Driver"
John H Lett died of Cholera Morbus 22 July 1880. His obituary said only that
he had been a resident of the area for over 20 years, and left a widow and
one daughter still at home. [Seymour Banner 22 July 1880]
John had at least 5 other children still living at the time of his death,
the others had all married by 1879. John had been drawing a pension from the
death of his son, Thomas, at Gettysburg during the Civil war.
4 Nov 1883, Jessie Nora Lett married William Franklin Cox (Her sister, Emily
Lett was married to Cox's brother, Phillip Cox).
There was a big age difference between Jessie and her new husband
also--Jessie having been born in 1863, and Cox having been born in 1844.
The only other possible mention of Mollie Driver Lett is found in the Probate
records of Jackson county. In a multi-dated document, that appears to be a
collection of various documents that the clerk decided were all similar
enough to list together the name Mary B Lett appears....
Comes now Mary B Lett widow of John C Lett died 1884
Mandy C Harvey widow of James Harvey died 1890
Hannah Taylor widow of John Taylor died 1891
in vacation and file affidavit with the clerk of this court to the effect
that the entire estate of their late husbands were not of the value of $500
whereupon the clerk appointed a distinterested appraiser in each case to ask
in concert with one chosen by each said widow to make appraisement, and
afterwards, said appraisers returned to said clerk their appraisement of said
Estate verifeid by affidavit Whereupon they show that said estates both real
and personal do not exceed in value the sum of $500.
And the court having duly considered said causes orders that said Estate and
title be vested in the Widow of Each. And that no letters of Amninistration
be issued therein.
(The page is not numbered, and it is found in a book that has various odd
entries. At the top of the page is printed "Probate, Jackson county Term
187_". The listings near it were all from the 1890s or lter. The entry is
listed on the same page as cause No 44, sale of real estate of Richard
Rineharl??? vs John Rineharl??? I am not sure of the name, that is the best I
can approximate, perhaps it is Rinehart. The admin name on the "Rineharl"
sale is James H Crane).
I have tried to find any other information on the DRIVER family in the area,
with no sucess.I have many questions about this lady....the most important of
which is whether she gave birth to a child of John's after his death (which
would certainly be possible). I also wonder why she married a man so much
older than she--26 seems late for a first marriage, and yet there is no
evidence that she was a widow before her marriage. Surely as young as she was
when John Lett died she married again?
I am hoping to learn more about Mollie---in the hopes that it will help me
learn more about Jessie Nora Lett, who was my great grandmother....Did Jessie
go to live with her sister after her father's death? What became of the
step-mother? Had she encouraged Jessie to stay in school? etc....etc..etc...
Why did Jessie marry a man so much older than she, and why was she in school
so very long (17 was old-- it seems to me-- for a girl to be in school even
in the late 1800s, unless she was planning to become a teacher herself).
Jessie's marriage endly most unhappily in 1914 when her husband was killed as
a result of a head injury he received during a barroom brawl.