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John G. Fitzpatrick and Pearl Hatfield were divorced on 1 Apr 1929. They were married about 1911, and had four children. According to the first article, Pearl filed for divorce in 1920, nine years before it was granted. Their youngest child, Mary Jo, was born in 1925. It seems that she may have retracted her first filing. There is also the possibility that the first article pertains to a different couple, but this seems unlikely.
Kentucky Post, 4 Mar 1920, p.4
Wife Charges Cruelty
Pearl Fitzpatrick, in her divorce suit, filed in Kenton Circuit Court late Wednesday against John Fitzpatrick, charges defendant with cruelty and inhuman treatment. She also seeks custody of her children and alimony.
Kentucky Post, 10 Feb 1931, p. 1
PARENTS FIGHT FOR CUSTODY OF FOUR CHILDREN
Mother and father battled late Monday in Judge Rodney G. Bryson�s division of the Kenton Circuit Court for the control and custody of their children.
The father, John Fitzpatrick, 13 Locust-st, Ludlow, was granted custody of the children when he was awarded a divorce from Pearl Fitzpatrick by Judge Bryson on April 1, 1929.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who now resides in Dayton, O., and is the wife of Joseph Storey, Jr., wanted to take the children from the father.
After listening to lengthy testimony, Judge Bryson ruled that the three oldest children, Dell [sic] May, 17, Helen, 15, and James, 13, could choose for themselves. The youngest child, Mary Jo, 6, he ordered to remain in the custody of the father.
Helen and James decided to remain with their father, while Della May expressed a desire to go to the home of her mother in Dayton.
Mrs. Storey contended her present husband was making $36 a week and was in a position to support the children and herself adequately. She stated that she thought every child�s place, especially a girl, is with her mother.
In defense, records of the Covington Police Court which showed Mrs. Storey was fined $20 and costs on Aug. 15, 1927 on a charge of operating a disorderly house, were introduced. It was further shown that Mrs. Storey had been fined $1 and costs on a charge of unlawful assembly on April 28, 1928. The first fine was imposed after Mrs. Cassie Mayer, police matron had conducted an investigation on a house on Craig-st, it was testified.
Mrs. Storey was at one time a waitress in the restaurant of �Tooty� Creighton, Newport gambler. Storey was a soldier at the Ft. Thomas Military Post when he was introduced to Mrs. Storey, it was stated. Fitzpatrick is a railroad mechanic.
Mrs. Storey married Storey in July, 1929, or three months after her divorce was granted.
After testimony was introduced, Judge Bryson said:
�I cannot take the children from the father who has stayed loyal and s[unreadable] his children. The mother here was divorced in April and married in July. Her place is really beside Mr. Fitzpatrick caring for the youngest of the children. Just simply because your present husband is making more than Fitzpatrick does not give me the right to turn the children over to you.�
Fitzpatrick told the court he had lived in Ludlow for 43 years. He said Storey had come to his home Christmas and that he had been drinking.
