The Bootheel Wife: Elizabeth Lewis Romine Zint

My great-grandmother through her daughter.

On July 27, 1900, Elizabeth Minnie came into this world in Marrs Township, Posey County, Indiana. This area is wedged between the Ohio and the Wabash Rivers, which divide the state from Kentucky and Illinois. She was likely brought into this world on the Lewis farm on Caborn Road. Her parents Nathaniel Lewis and Lena Benner had four daughters before her.

After her, many more daughters and only one son were born. Based on Elizabeth’s brother’s birth and death records, the Lewis family moved to Missouri sometime between 1913 and 1917.

Many Lewis daughters with Elizabeth third from left, mother Lena next to her, Lewis sons seated. About 1911.

Elizabeth married Albert Clayton Romine on August 16, 1917 in Parma, Missouri. The Romines were part of the population boom in the town at the time, surging from 900 in 1910 to over 1200 in 1920. I’ve yet to discover why the town grew by 33% over that decade. Unfortunately, Elizabeth raised their three children there, including my grandmother, seemingly without Clayton’s help.

In 1920, Elizabeth lived with her parents in Parma, Missouri. She has a toddler, and husband Clayton was nowhere in the records even though his draft card says he worked in town for his father.

Clayton Romine of Parma was brought to New Madrid Saturday…and lodged in jail to serve a sentence of six months for wife abandonment… Sikeston (MO) Standard, 2 Sep 1921.

I assume Elizabeth and Clayton divorced because Elizabeth married John Zint on 17 June 1926, and Clayton remarried in 1932. I haven’t found a divorce record yet.

Marriage License, John Zint and Elizabeth Romain both of Parma. Sikeston (MO) Standard, 25 Jun 1926.

Elizabeth was six months pregnant with a daughter at the time she married John. They lived a peaceful life in Parma. Elizabeth was a homemaker and John was a bus driver and hardware store clerk.

Unfortunately, their daughter Betty died in 1955 of a heart attack complicated by ovarian cancer at 28 years old. A month later, the Sikeston Standard reported that Elizabeth traveled to Detroit, Michigan, to visit her father, Nathaniel. In my mind, those two facts are related.

Guests this week of Mr and Mrs John Zint are their grandchildren…Sikeston (MO) Standard, 5 Aug 1955, p11.

Elizabeth lived with John in Parma until her death on 11 Sep 1984 at the age of 84. She passed six months after her son Wilfred died. She was survived by her husband and her two daughters from her first marriage.

(l to r) Mary Lou Romine, Delana Smith, Nathaniel Lewis, Mary Lou’s other daughter, baby boy, Elizabeth Lewis Zint, girl. 5 Aug 1955

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Sources

Certificate of Birth
Elizabeth Lewis, Woodrow, Lewis. Posey County Health Department, Mt Vernon Indiana, Record #2040257, Personal records. Received from State of Indiana Vital Records 13 Oct 2016.

US Federal Censuses
(1910 – 1950)
Posey County, Indiana; New Madrid County, Missouri. Accessed on Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org.

Application for Social Security Account Number
Elizabeth Minnie Zint: 486-46-5886. Personal Records. Received from NARA.

Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991
U.S., Marriage Records, 1911-1914. New Madrid County, Missouri; Albert C Roumine [sic] and Elizabeth Lewis, p 418 of 493. Accessed on Familysearch.com.

Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991
New Madrid County, Missouri; John Zint and Elizabeth Romaine [sic], p 275 of 950. Accessed on Ancestry.com.

Missouri Certificate of Death.
Elizabeth Minnie Zint as reported by John Zint. Personal records. Certificates, 124-84-020680: New Madrid (Missouri). Woodrow Lewis as reported by Nathaniel Lewis.