Can I Eliminate this Valentine?

Date: Wednesday, November 3, 1875  

Paper: Cincinnati Daily Gazette (Cincinnati, OH)

  obtained on  Genealogybank.com

It has been a while since I worked on Valentine Hess.

This reference may or may not be for the Valentine for whom I am looking. The Valentine in my family was last heard from in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1860s-1870s according to the estate records of Michael Trautvetter. Trautvetter's estate was probated in Hancock County, Illinois, and, Hess, a nephew of Trautvetter, was the only heir who could not be found when the estate was finally settled in the early 1870s.

This Valentine C. Hess apparently disappeared as well, which is why the reference struck my interest. This item indicates that Fanny's case was heard in the Common Please Court before Judge Avery, apparently in late October or early November of 1875. Fanny wanted at the very least to be allowed to sign a deed transferring some property she had sold--hence her desire to be declared a femme sole. Otherwise, she'd have to have her husband's name on the deed and apparently he could not be found.

The local court records should provide more detail on Valentine, perhaps enough for me to determine if this is the one for whom I am looking. It is always possible that there won't be enough information in the file to assist in that endeavor.

Before I try and obtain a copy of these apparent divorce proceedings, I probably should:

• summarize what I already know about my Valentine (which isn't much): 
• I don't know Valentine's date or place of birth
• I don't know his father's name
• His mother's maiden name was Trautvetter
• He had a sister, Wilhelmina Rothweiler who lived in St. Louis
• determine if Valentine can be located in other records from Cincinnati--particularly ones that are available online.

Obtaining the copies of the divorce records might not be cheap and if there is some "easier" way to eliminate this Valentine, that might be a good idea.

I've been trying to find newspaper references to Valentine on Genealogybank.com. My searches on Ancestry.com resulted in many hits for Valentine and "has" even though I wanted  a search for Hess.