My family is not Italian but sometimes our ancestral lines look a lot like a bowl of spaghetti.
Once upon a time, Eliza E. McMillen (1888-1954) was my Granddad Gentry’s fourth cousin in the Timberlake clan. She married Aldine Joseph Brenneman (1883-1968) on 13 Sep1905 in Auglaize County, Ohio. Life got complicated after that.
Aldine & Eliza were “blessed” with a dozen children, but the ninth one is the one who caught my eye. Robert Dean Brenneman (1922-1999) went on to marry six and a half times. The interesting part is who and how he married.
Wedding #1 was to Erma Jean Colley (1924-2000) on 26 July 1941. This was a good start to Robert’s marriage career. At 19 years old, he had a solid job at the local locomotive manufacturer in Lima, Ohio. Erma was likely still in school at 16 years old but, you know, “young love”. Well, young love doesn’t always work out. Within six months Robert had filed for a divorce for “gross neglect of duties” which was granted in February,1942. Erma must not have been doing her homework.
Wedding #1.5 is complicated. I threw it in here because maybe there should have been a wedding. On 1 April 1946, Robert became a father for the first and only time (that I know of). The mother was Fontella Newland Downey (1927-1990). Fontella was also from Lima, Ohio and she had been married to Gail C Downey since 1942 but, “for some reason”, they were divorced sometime after the birth of their son in April 1945 and before the birth of his daughter with his second wife in 1947. Fontella’s maiden name had also looked familiar to me. I had previously seen that although Robert and Fontella did not get married when they had a child, the event likely brought the two families closer together. In 1948, Robert’s older brother, Albert Dale Brenneman (1917-1989), married Fontella’s younger sister, Anna Faye Newland (1930-1995). Albert and Anna had 22-year marriage that produced six children, including one boy named for his Uncle Robert. I mention that as it might just come up later.
Wedding #2 was to Josephine Mildred Long Curl (1922-2023) on 3 July 1946 in Montana. I wonder if Montana was where Robert was hiding out, only three months after his daughter was born. Both Josephine and Robert were living in the small village of Darby before their wedding. Anyway, Josephine was also originally from Lima, Ohio and she was a war widow. Her first husband, Harold Curl, had gone missing during WWII and was declared dead in September 1945. This marriage lasted longer than Robert’s first one. After no children were produced but by the time of the 1950 census in April of that year, the couple had separated, and the divorce was finalized in October 1950. They could go on with their own lives.
Wedding #3 was to Josephine Mildred Long Curl Brenneman. You might recognize that name. Josephine and Robert apparently didn’t enjoy living separate lives. They married again on 13 February 1951 in Lima. I guess they couldn’t wait until St. Valentine’s Day but four months after their divorce was finalized, they were husband and wife again. Until, at least, January 1952 when they filed for divorce again.
Wedding #4 was a surprise to me. Robert was obviously looking to settle down and raise a family. On 30 April 1955, Robert tried again and married a woman who was raising a nine-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. If you haven’t figured it out already, his new bride was Fontella Newland Downey, his brother’s sister-in-law and the mother of his child. I think this is called the circle of life. Robert, Fontella and their daughter must have been a happy family as this marriage lasted all the way to April 1962 when the next divorce was finalized.
Wedding #5 was not a surprise to me anymore. Sometime in 1965, Robert married Fontella Newland Downey again. This marriage lasted another six years until November 1971. The only surprising part was that it was Robert who filed for divorce, and it was Fontella who was charged with gross neglect and extreme cruelty.
Wedding #6 can
only be addressed if you are sitting down.
Six weeks after Robert’s divorce from Fontella Newland, on 8 January
1972, Robert married Anna Faye Newland Brenneman. That’s right, his double (triple?) ex-sister-in-law. Remember, Anna was the sister of his two-time
wife, Fontella, as well as the wife of his older brother. Albert. Anna was fair game since she and Albert had
divorced in September 1970 when Albert was charged with gross neglect of duty. Somehow, someway, Robert finally found his
soulmate. This marriage lasted until
Anna’s death in 1995. It must have made family
gatherings a bit awkward for both the Brenneman and Newland families, but it at
least gave everyone something to talk about other than politics.
*** As a bonus twist - After Fontella and Robert were divorced the second time, Fontella married Maurice Bernard Fuerst (1932-2018) in May 1973. Maurice had been married with eight children, but he married Fontella just ten weeks after his divorce to his first wife. To come back full circle, a little over five years after Fontella died in 1990, Maurice re-married his first wife. What a hopeless romantic. Maurice's obituary did not address his 23-year lapse. That's okay though; you would not believe what Robert Brenneman's obituary glossed over.
