The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 6

Following her divorce to John Sweitzer, Malinda Robinson, lived in Casey with her brother-in-law Harry Shipley. One newspaper article concerning her move to Casey referred to Malinda as "Jennie Shipley Switzer Shipley," though there is no evidence that she and Harry were ever married. Malinda, however, was married three more times. In Effingham, on 30 Oct 1905, she married Thomas McKeever a marriage that ended in Mar 1910 with a divorce due to “drunkenness, cruelty and desertion.” Then, again in Effingham, Malinda married Dixon S. Carter on 10 Apr 1911. This time the marriage lasted just 2½ years. A divorce was granted in Nov 1913 on grounds of desertion. Finally, in 1914, Malinda married George W. Shull. This time the marriage lasted until death did them part, with Malinda passing away 17 Feb 1924. Malinda Jane’s last four marriages were to younger men, with a near 30-year age difference in the case of Thomas McKeever. Perhaps the suitors were fortune seekers rather than Romeos.

Walnut Prairie Cemetery marker.

York Twp.contained the Schweitzer homelands.

By 1910, John W. Sweitzer was residing with his three children (Everett John, Ethel Mae, and Charles) in York Twp, where he lived out his life, dying 28 Mar 1937. In the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses, John listed himself as widowed. But on their joint marker in Walnut Prairie Cemetery, Leora and John both have the same clearly inscribed death year “1937". This cannot be, can it? The answer is "no". From the 23 Jun 1897 Clark County Herald: “Mrs. John Sweitzer … passed away last Thursday morning … the remains were taken to the Brick Cemetery…”

John’s youngest son, Charles, whose life was almost ended by his father’s gunshot, spent most of his life in York Twp, as West Union’s long-time barber. His first marriage, to Goldia (or Goldie) Murine Cain, ended after less than two years when she died at age eighteen. Charles, who died in 1958 at age 63, and Goldia are buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery. Ethel Mae, who lived to be 100, dying in 1994, spent much of her life with her husband Harold Smith in Champaign County, Illinois. They rest in Rupp Cemetery near Martinsville. John’s oldest child, Everett, traveled west, ending up in California. No evidence exists for biological offspring from any of John Sweitzer’s three children. And it might be just as well considering the next phase of our tale.

I had hoped to make this the end of the Sweitzer sage. No such luck. I ran across a newspaper article with the following headline. We’ll eventually see what all of this means, though it may take a while. I’ll be away for a few weeks.