More on Margaret Fecht (Bost) Sullivan:
The United States _______ census for West Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania indicates that “Maggie” Fecht, age 18 was employed as a domestic servant for one Richard Bickerton. Her parents were listed as being born in Germany and her birth in Pennsylvania in 1862. She was single at the time of the census.
It is not sure, at this time, when Margaret Fecht Bost came to Mexico, Missouri. But, it is apparent that she came with her children and without her husband. Your author, Gerald Fecht’s father recalled that one day, when he was a youth, the “husbands” of Margaret and her sister Katherine Fecht Leger, came looking for their wives in Missouri. Bill Fecht said that his folks were courteous and respectful of the men, but that Margaret refused to return to Pennsylvania, and Katherine was “out-west” in Kansas. As Catholics the two women were not allowed to divorce their husbands, unless they had not been married with a priest as a witness to their vows. Other grounds included the marriage of a first cousin without church “dispensation,” a non-Catholic party in the marriage who would not allow the Catholic partner to practice her or his religion, the refusal of a mate to raise the children as Catholics, etc. Margaret went through a Church court of Inquiry ( Latin - Inquistion) but Katherine appears to have simply ignored her family’s religion and married the man with whom she left Pennsylvania, Lorin Robbins.
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