Robert Lee Dever

          Robert Lee Dever was born 15 Nov 1880 in Ohio County, the son of Henry Clay Dever (1844 – 1934) and Jamima “Mima” J. Wright (1855 – 1912), and died 25 Dec 1957 in Daviess County.  He was one of eleven children and his father, who previously lived in Larue County, was a farmer in the Sulphur Springs area of Ohio County. His father had a previous marriage to Sarah Frances Nicholas and three children were born of that marriage.

          Robert Lee Dever and Martha Jane (Coy) Ewing were married 18 April 1903 in Ohio County.  Martha Jane had previously been married to Jesse Ewing, who died about 1902, and two children were born to that previous union, Ervin Ewing (1894 – 1959) and Allen Ewing (1897 – 1963).

          Martha Jane (Coy), daughter of Nicholas Coy and wife, Elizabeth, was born 20 Oct 1878 in Larue County, KY and died 16 Nov 1910 in Ohio County. 

          Mr. Dever and Martha Jane had two children, Fronia Mae Dever was born about 1905. A second child, Carson Dever, was born 15 Apr 1907 and died 8 Sep 1909 in Ohio County. 

          Here is their wedding announcement for Mr. Dever and Martha Jane:

Hartford Herald, April 22, 1903 Jingo news. Married at the residence of H. C. Dever, last Sunday the 16th, at 2 o’clock, Robert Dever and Mrs. Janie Ewing of LaRue County, Ky.  The groom is the son of H. C. Dever and is very popular.  The bride was a pretty young widow.  They will start to housekeeping at once at Dundee.  May their pathway be strewn with thornless flowers.

          The 1910 census shows the family living in Sulphur Springs and Mr. Dever’s occupation is listed as a farmer.

          Here is the death notice for Martha Jane:

Hartford Herald, May 23, 1910:  Mrs. Dever, wife of Robert Dever, who lives near Sunnydale, died at her home Wednesday morning at 2 o'clock of tuberculosis. She had been sick for several months and her death had been expected for several weeks. She leaves a husband and three children to mourn her loss.

          Mr. & Mrs. Dever lost their son, Carson, in September 1909, and then Mrs. Dever died about a year later, 16 Nov 1910, leaving Mr. Dever with his only  living child, Fronia Mae, who was then about 5 years old, and his two step-sons, Ervin and Allen. 

          Mr. Dever next married Eunice Rock about 1913; she taught school in Ohio County.  They had a son, Earl Preston Dever, that was born 12 Oct 1914 and died 2 Dec 1914. Eunice died during childbirth in May 1918. 

Hartford Herald, May 22, 1918: Mrs. R. L. Dever, wife of Mr. R. L. Dever, the grocer on Union Street, died early Tuesday morning of childbirth, in the family apartment above the grocery. Mrs. Dever was 28 years old and before her marriage was a Miss Rock, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Rock of the Concord neighborhood. She was a member of the Christian church and her funeral will be preached this morning by Rev. Walter Greep at the Midkiff burying ground, near Mt. Vernon, where her remains will be buried.

           By 1918 Mr. Dever was operating a grocery store in Hartford and later operated a transfer service between Hartford and Beaver Dam.

          The 1920 census shows Mr. Dever as a widower.

          In January 1922 Mr. Dever married for the third and last time to Mrs. Lucy Ellen “Ella” (Gardner) Leach of Beaver Dam, the widow of Harney Leslie Leach, who had three children by her deceased husband.  Mr. and Mrs. Dever had one child, a son named Robert Lee Dever, Jr., born 1924.  The family moved to Owensboro and lived on West 11^th Street; Mr. Dever owned a shoe repair shop in Owensboro.

          This is the obituary for Mr. Dever from the Messenger-Enquirer 26 Dec 1957:

          

          This is a photo of the Dever family from his first marriage showing Ervin and Allen Ewing in the back row; Mr. Dever and Martha Jane in the middle row; and Fronia and Carson in the front row (since Carson died Sept 1909 this photo was probably made during the summer of 1909):

  

          The following photo is of Robert L. Dever and Lucy Ellen “Ella” (Gardner) Leach Dever, my grandmother, and I guess the photo was made in the 1950’s:

        

          Mr. Dever chose to be buried next to his second wife, Eunice, in the Midkiff Cemetery, Ohio County:

          Mrs. Dever chose to be buried next to her first husband, Leslie, in the Sunnyside Cemetery, Ohio County:    

   
         As to Fronia Mae Dever, the daughter of Mr. Dever’s marriage to his first wife, Martha Janie (Coy) Ewing, I found mention of her in the local paper in 1918 and it suggests that she was living in the Bennett’s community and was called Miss Fronie Dever in the article.  She is shown in the 1920 census living with her father on Union Street in Hartford – probably an apartment above the grocery. Later she married Guildford Donald Sawyer in Indiana on 21 April 1926.  Mr. Sawyer was born 21 Nov 1907 and died 31 Mar 1990 in Los Angeles, California.  His WWII draft registration in 1942 shows Fronia May as his wife.  They had one child, Guilford D. Sawyer, Jr., who was born in 1927.  Fronia died in March 1998 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.