Mrs. William Harry (Mary Belle Savage) Bishop

At age 17, on 9 April 1879, Mary Belle Savage, born in Farmington, Fayette Co, PA on 20 Sep 1862, married William Harry Bishop, born 19 Nov 1856 in West Virginia. On 18 Sep 1884, after having had 3 children, Zella, Roy, and William, her husband deserted them. He returned to WV, and in 1888, was married to Nora Anna Coyne by a minister of the gospel. On 20 Aug 1884, Mary Belle's father had brought divorce action forward on behalf of his daughter, but it was not until 3 Oct 1890, when the judge learned that William "was living with another woman in WV," that he granted Mary Belle a divorce. At first she supported herself and her children as a seamstress. She then moved her family to Pittsburgh, and started to run a boarding house. Eventually one of her tenants, Charles R. McKinnon, born 17 Aug 1874, proposed marriage. She accepted, they married on Nov 15, 1900, and moved to another house. However, Charles moved to WV in 1902 where he was able to continue working as a bricklayer. When he could not persuade Mary Belle to join him there, he filed for a divorce and got it on Jan 25, 1909.