Throwback Thursday: Loren and Clara (Wilson) Finch

Mrs. Clara Finch had already seen her fill of the Tama County District Court by the time it convened on January 7, 1913. She wasn’t a criminal – far from it. She was a plaintiff, and that particular Tuesday marked the end of a four-year struggle to gain divorce from her husband, Loren.

They were married December 5, 1896, in Marshalltown. Clara Wilson, 26, was the educated daughter of a wealthy Tama County farmer. Her mother had died when she was nine and she had spent her life up to that point helping raise her younger siblings. Loren, 22, was a railroad fireman from Boone. After marriage they would live in Boone, where their first two children were born.

Clara’s problems started early. Loren, she discovered, was an alcoholic, and an abusive partner. She never said Loren was physically abusive, though his emotional abuse, coupled with his habitual alcoholism “preyed upon her mind as to undermine her health and make her a nervous and physical wreck.”

They moved to Des Moines in 1900. In 1901 their five-week-old daughter, Dorothy, died, while they were in Boone visiting Loren’s parents. That year they moved back to Boone and began a semi-nomadic life as Loren chased work and ran from his demons. His railroad career was over by 1905 and his drinking was out of control. Clara was left raising their four children, scraping together what money she could and sometimes calling on city or county agencies for support. Once, when Clara had just five cents left to her name, Loren stole it to buy whiskey. By the time their marriage ended, she estimated Loren had spent $1,800 of her money – approximately $45,000 today.

It’s unknown what finally made Loren leave for good, but on January 9, 1909, he and Clara parted ways for the last time. Clara was 39, broke, and pregnant with their sixth child. She filed for divorce on April 13, but Loren couldn’t be found to serve papers. The case languished on the court docket for four years, coming up each term and getting postponed because the defendant was not present. By 1913, the court was satisfied that Loren wasn’t going to show. They found in favor of Clara, granting her sole custody and ordering Loren to pay alimony. It was money she’d never receive from a man she’d never see again.

Loren’s ultimate fate remains a mystery. He was estranged from his parents and siblings, who lived very close to Clara and her children, but had no association with them after the divorce. Their youngest daughter, Mary, was born three months after Clara filed for divorce. She would grow up being told her father was dead.

Clara managed the emotional and physical toll of her marriage as best she could. She lived to be 89 years old, most of her life spent moving between her children’s homes. In later years, when Clara’s grandchildren would ask what happened to their grandfather, she would simply remain silent. If she knew what became of him, she took it to her grave.