Marriages and divorces update

Previously I shared what information I had learned and/or collected about Leta's seven marriages. Naturally, there were details missing (dates and parts of names, for examples). During a family visit in Ohio, where I participated (for the first time) in my high school’s biannual Alumni Marching Band on October 1, 2010, I visited both the Toledo-Lucas County Courthouse records department(s) and Toledo Public Library’s archive of newspapers to conduct some research.

Following is an update, based on Leta Scott’s history:

In June 1922, after nine years of marriage, Leta filed for divorce from Ralph Chetister, her first husband and the father of her two children Vivian and Dale. That divorce was finalized in October. She subsequently married Albert E. Mohr on November 29, 1922. He was 37 and had not been previously married. She was 28. He listed his occupation as clerk, and she listed hers as housewife. A minister married them.

The information about Albert matches two census records from 1910 and 1920. In 1910, he was the oldest of four children and still lived with his German-born parents Casper and Anna. While his father was a stone mason/curb cutter, Albert was a glassblower in a factory. In 1920 at age 34, he still lived with his parents, but was employed as a laborer in a wholesale house.

Her third husband’s name was Ora Freeman. He was born on October 10, 1895, making him a little over a year younger than she was. They were married on December 27, 1927, barely six months after the murder and death of her second husband Albert Mohr. He was divorced and a painter by profession. Leta declared that she was a widow married once previously (although she was married twice.) When they married, they lived two blocks away from each other. This is a different address than the home she and her children shared with Albert Mohr (and where he was killed).

On October 14, 1952, Leta was divorced from Claud N. Bassett. She filed alleging “extreme cruelty.” She returned to the name Leta M. Fields. (The record of her divorce petition was not saved.) They were married nearly four years.

On September 22, 1960, she married her last husband Richard Eckman. He declared that he was married once before and divorced, as well as retired. Her registered name was Leta Fields, however she noted that her married name was Bassett. She declared that she had been married three times previously and also stated she was retired. Both were 66 years old. A minister named Myron R. Kell performed the ceremony. Their marriage ended on December 27 1963, when Eckman died of a heart attack.